"Also, this is the footage sent back from Enies Lobby. It's not very long, but you should see it for yourself."
The three main institutions of the World Government: Marine Headquarters, Enies Lobby, and Impel Down.
Now, Marine Headquarters has been destroyed in the war, Impel Down has suffered the most severe prison break in history, and Enies Lobby, which is also one of the three main institutions, was not spared either.
This place serves as a formal institution of the World Government. Although it bears the name of justice*, there has never been any law upheld on the island. As long as someone is escorted to Enies Lobby, no matter what they've done, the outcome is always the same—guilty. [TN: Enies Lobby is also called judicial island.]
The screen shifted to footage of Enies Lobby. From the looks of it, everything still seemed fine for the time being.
"This was taken before the war ended—roughly not long after Marine Headquarters was hit by the tsunami. You should take a look yourself."
As a major institution under the World Government, Enies Lobby had a comprehensive surveillance system capable of recording events that occurred there. This batch of recordings happened to capture the cause behind Enies Lobby's destruction.
Some time ago.
After Regice received Arceus's order to depart, it had been following that warship all the way, gradually approaching Enies Lobby.
On the way, Regice kept using Zap Cannon to drive the warship away, but it never actually managed to hit it.
That's the biggest downside of Zap Cannon—its low accuracy.
In battle, it usually has to be paired with a Lock-On move to ensure a successful hit.
Without Lock-On, even if Regice took aim, it might still miss. Let alone the fact that it wasn't even trying to hit in the first place.
But this led to an awkward problem: since Zap Cannon's accuracy was uncertain, and Regice's aim was off, it ended up blasting one of the warship's masts instead—nearly wiping them all out.
Fortunately, it was a close call without real danger, and they eventually made it back to Enies Lobby safely.
"Alert! Something followed us here!! It's a really dangerous monster!"
The soldiers who returned to Enies Lobby shouted in a panic. The guards on duty had no idea what had happened, but seeing how frantic these people were, they still pressed the switch in their hands.
Accompanied by mechanical sounds, the Gates of Justice began to close. And as it shut, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't relax yet! Get the heavy weapons ready—that thing can fly... no, wait, maybe float? Whatever it is, that thing is definitely problematic!"
The Gates of Justice is impassable for ordinary people because the sea currents on both sides of the gate are reverse currents caused by a whirlpool, using the sea's own power to prevent other ships from advancing.
This is the restraining mechanism of the Tarai Current—it doesn't rely on walls or similar structures.
Building a fence around the entire massive whirlpool is simply impossible. Even Wang Duoyu wouldn't invest in such a project. [TN: Wang Duoyu is a character in movie Hello Mr. Billionaire]
After Arceus left for a while, the whirlpool resumed its activity, but it had no effect on Regice.
It was floating over. The sea currents couldn't restrict it at all.
Shortly after the soldier's warning, Regice had already drifted past the Gates of Justice from the outside and arrived directly on the Bridge of Hesitation at Enies Lobby.
This was originally the only route for transporting prisoners in Enies Lobby, but Regice, invading in reverse, broke straight into the heart of Enies Lobby. Seeing the enemy's flag also flying over the Tower of Justice, Regice knew it had come to the right place.
"Re—gi—ce."
The glowing dots on its face flashed one by one. Regice believed it had found the "mastermind behind the scenes," and then came the merciless destruction of Enies Lobby.
At first, Regice didn't do anything. It merely stood on Enies Lobby's ground. But then, extreme cold began to seep out from within its body, and layers of ice began to spread across the island.
The defending forces tried to bombard Regice with cannons, but the exploding shells couldn't even scratch its ice crystalline body.
Neither the Watchdog Unit of the Law, who rode dogs, nor the Guilty Jury, who swung enormous flails, could do anything to Regice.
Boom!
A massive iron ball from the Guilty Jury slammed into Regice, but the cold instead spread along the chain, freezing the wielder's hand and turning them into an ice sculpture.
Meanwhile, Regice's arms began firing Ice Beams in all directions. In an instant, it turned Enies Lobby into an ice hell. Anyone who came close to Regice was mercilessly frozen.
Staring at the towering block of ice, the soldiers of Enies Lobby were completely at a loss. In the end, even the two Giants guarding the front gate were dispatched to stop it.
These two had once been members of the Giant Warrior Pirates, but they had been deceived by the World Government.
Due to their duel, Dorry and Brogy had lost contact with the outside world. The World Government seized this opportunity and lied to the two giants, claiming that their captains had been imprisoned by the government and that if they served the World Government for 100 years, the two captains would be released.
Deceived by this lie, the two Giants became guards of Enies Lobby, responsible for guarding the main entrance.
In order to free their captain, they picked up their weapons and chose to fight—even if their opponent was an unknown creature. But it was all in vain; all they accomplished was becoming two even larger ice sculptures on the island.
When Regice departed, there was nothing left on Enies Lobby but ice.
"That unidentified entity destroyed all the buildings on the island, virtually flattening Enies Lobby. And it clearly had a strong sense of purpose. Whether it was the two Giants or the ordinary soldiers, they were all still alive after being thawed.
However, the officials inside the Tower of Justice were all killed in the bombardment. According to intel, this thing also has a direct connection to the Beasts Pirates.
Of course, this incident must not be leaked to the public. If news gets out that all three main institutions were destroyed by pirates, the World Government's reputation would be completely ruined.
This footage can be shown to high-ranking Marine officers, but there's no need to circulate it around everywhere."
Enies Lobby and Marine Headquarters are two independent institutions. While Impel Down is mostly managed by the Marines, Enies Lobby is managed by the Cipher Pol agencies, which is why Sengoku hadn't known about the incident earlier.
"I understand. Also, after Blackbeard's betrayal, he was killed by King. Gecko Moria has gone missing—presumed dead—so there are vacancies in the Shichibukai."
"Fill them as soon as possible. The Shichibukai positions cannot remain empty. If you find any suitable pirates, you may report them."
"As for the losses to the Marines, don't worry. The World Government will soon launch a new round of mass recruitment worldwide to quickly fill the gaps. Compensation payments will also be issued promptly."
In this regard, the World Government never delays. They were well aware of the importance of the Marines on the seas—this organization plays an extremely crucial role in maintaining the World Government's dominance.
With new orders in hand, Sengoku left Mariejois, and new wanted posters soon spread across the seas via News Coo. Within the Beasts Pirates, for the first time ever, Arceus's bounty surpassed Kaido's.
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