Chapter 276: Absolute Crisis

"WHAT?!"

This sudden turn of events left not only the Marines and Revolutionary Army soldiers below completely dumbfounded, but even Fleet Admiral Akainu—standing alongside the Five Elders—stood in utter, wide-eyed shock.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Akainu demanded sharply, his voice laced with rage.

These two were sovereign pirates!

To openly enter into a devil's bargain with them under the bright light of day—how could the governing body of the world speak such words aloud before the entire Navy assembly?

Handling shady, under-the-table dealings behind closed doors was one thing, but to drag it out into the open for all to see...

Have you old relics completely lost your minds to senility?!

Akainu didn't utter those exact words, but the sheer fury etched across his face made his thoughts crystal clear.

"Akainu, look at the active strategic layout!" The Five Elders cast a cold, indifferent glance at the Fleet Admiral, speaking in low, measured tones. "You should know full well who our premier enemy is in this war."

The words struck Akainu like a sudden bolt of lightning, his expression darkening to an absolute, hideous extreme. Naturally, he understood.

The most dangerous, rampant threat in this era was neither these old-guard Yonko nor the mysterious Revolutionary Army Supreme Commander, Dragon. It was the Legendary Four Brothers—the four young monsters who had forcefully altered the trajectory of the whole world!

Two years ago at Marineford, the regime had failed to execute them, leading directly to the crisis unfolding today. Over the past two years, he had read countless classified intelligence logs detailing their rapid rise.

Every record confirmed the same terrifying reality: all four of those young men had attained combat power equivalent to a Yonko.

If a single variable went awry today, even mobilizing the full, combined military mass of the Navy and the World Government might not prevent the total collapse of their regime.

So this is the existential horror driving your actions...

Casting a dark glance at the grave-faced Five Elders, Akainu clamped his mouth shut, rotating his focus back to the sprawling battlefield.

"Oh? You're claiming you'll hand over that Road Poneglyph to us?" Big Mom's face contorted into a terrifying mask as she locked her unblinking gaze onto the Five Elders.

Down on the plaza, a wave of chaotic muttering rippled through the Marine ranks. News of executing a transaction with notorious pirates triggered massive, conflicting shocks throughout the military formation.

Some expressed fierce, indignant opposition, while others quietly accepted the dark necessity. The active crisis granted them zero margin to indulge in moral hesitation.

Three old-guard Yonko were present on a single field. Recalling how a single Whitebeard had dragged them through a living hell two years ago, the sheer weight of this confrontation...

"This is a binding transaction. What is your response?" the Five Elders answered flatly.

Even Red-Haired Shanks hadn't anticipated the World Government resorting to such a desperate, compromised play. Wouldn't this maneuver plunge the battlefield into an infinitely more severe crisis?

Curious to see how Dragon would react to this paradigm shift, Shanks cast a glance at the Revolutionary Army leader—only to be met with immediate confusion.

Dragon preserved that exact same calm, unruffled demeanor, looking entirely detached as if the geopolitical transaction meant absolute zero to him. It was a bizarre, incomprehensible response.

The Five Elders noted Dragon's reaction as well. Though mildly perplexed, they knew the arrow had been notched to the string; there was no turning back now.

What brought the Elders a degree of solace was their belief that this compromise would remain insulated from the public eye. Otherwise, the World Government's global prestige would suffer total, irreversible ruin.

What lay completely beyond their awareness, however, was that news syndicates across the four seas had long since abandoned all restraint, deploying every available asset to breach the blackout surrounding the Holy Land.

Prior to the battle, the World Government's security grid had been nearly impenetrable. Their field journalists had been intercepted, captured, and thrown straight into the deep cells of Impel Down—the copper-and-iron fortress of the world.

Yet Big News Morgans, the supreme chief of the global press network, was hardly a man to sit quietly by the rules. To him, a world-shaking headline superseded all laws and boundaries.

And so...

"Very well! Our sole objective for stepping onto this land is that single Road Poneglyph. You lot... will keep your word, won't you?" Big Mom offered an eerie, innocent smile, though the glint in her eyes remained as bone-chillingly cold as ever.

"Naturally!" the Five Elders affirmed without a fraction of hesitation.

"Good!" Big Mom erupted into a booming laugh, before turning her massive head toward Kaido. "Kaido, what say you?"

"If you've agreed to the terms, Linlin, what reason do I have to refuse?" Kaido shouldered his pitch-black, spiked kanabo, his features twisting into a savage snarl as he rotated his focus toward Dragon and Shanks.

"Red-Hair! You're firmly aligned with those subversives, aren't you? Come! Step forward and clash! We'll settle all our past scores right here and now!" Kaido drove his boots violently into the stone, converting his massive frame into a high-velocity gale as he rocketed straight toward Shanks.

KABOOM!

The raw, explosive aura unleashed by a Yonko launching an attack sent waves of primitive terror through every soldier on the field. Had a stray shockwave of that magnitude brushed against an ordinary trooper, it would have signified instant, gruesome death.

A battle between monsters of this tier allowed zero weaklings to approach their perimeter.

"Come then!!" Shanks' eyes flared with a brilliant light as his long blade cleared its scabbard to meet the incoming strike.

BOOM!

The two weapons collided without even physically touching, the stone plaza beneath their boots fracturing into countless jagged fissures as the surging Conqueror's pressure cleared every object from the surrounding sector.

Marines and Revolutionary Army soldiers caught near the point of impact were thrown backward like leaves in a hurricane, flying hundreds of meters through the air. A single strike, yet so catastrophically terrifying!

"So this... is the absolute strength of a Yonko..." Koala stared at the destruction in speechless horror. Even a Marine Admiral lacked an aura of this sheer, crushing magnitude.

"You see? We've already moved out. What about your end?" Big Mom narrowed her eyes, addressing the Five Elders atop the platform. "You don't honestly expect us to fight your war without handing over the goods first, do you?"

"If you renege on the deal afterward, what then? Don't treat us like absolute fools!"

The Five Elders exchanged a silent, heavy glance before nodding in agreement. The spectacled Elder stepped forward, pulling a compact, ornate box from his inner robes.

"Inside lies a complete rubbing of the Road Poneglyph. However, the key remains in my possession. Once the campaign concludes with our total victory, I shall hand the key over to you." With those words, he tossed the box straight toward Big Mom.

Meanwhile, hidden deep within a tiny crevice among the shattered stones of a nearby pillar, a lone Transponder Snail opened its eyes wide, capturing every single detail of the exchange.

At this exact microsecond, the entire civilized world erupted into absolute, unprecedented shock. The live visual feed captured by that covert Transponder Snail was being broadcast seamlessly across every quadrant of the globe—from the Four Seas to the Grand Line, and even across the isolated islands of the Calm Belt.

Wherever a public projection screen stood, populations were watching a live, unedited broadcast of the absolute highest-tier powerhouses clashing upon the ultimate battlefield!

The Five Elders' disgraceful transaction was actively being laid bare before the gaze of all humanity!

"Ah? Is that...?" Big Mom stared in surprise at the box flying through the air, instinctively reaching out her massive palm to catch it. Yet right before her fingers could clamp down around the prize, a sudden, fierce gale erupted, sweeping the box straight up into the high heavens.

"WHAT?!" Big Mom stood completely frozen in shock.

On the other flank, Kaido's heart slammed against his ribs. Was that truly the key to the final Road Poneglyph...?

In the very next microsecond, the small box glided smoothly into an extended palm.

Dragon looked down at the box resting in his hand, murmuring silently to himself: So this is one of the ultimate keys guiding the way to the final island—Laugh Tale.

"YOU BASTARD! RETURN THAT RUBBING TO ME THIS INSTANT!!" Big Mom roared toward the sky in a fit of manic fury. A Road Poneglyph rubbing was unlike any ordinary treasure; only the first entity to secure its contents held the absolute strategic initiative.

Securing it second meant one was already far too late!

"ZEUS!!"

Accompanied by a violent sonic boom, Big Mom brandished her massive sword and rocketed straight into the heavens.

"A golden opportunity! Ryokugyu, Fujitora—STRIKE NOW!" Akainu bellowed, issuing an immediate command.