A drastic turn of events!
The entire square was engulfed in a strange, suffocating atmosphere.
No one could comprehend why the promising rising star, Mundo, would do something so outrageous.
Was he insane?
Even Vice Admiral Garp couldn't make sense of it.
"Mundo, are you out of your mind?!" Garp cursed loudly.
He had never placed so much hope in a young man before. He had even considered taking Mundo in as a disciple. But now, this same young man had played him for a fool.
Thankfully, Sengoku had advised him to wait before officially taking Mundo under his wing. Otherwise, the title of "master and disciple" would have been sealed, and now Mundo had pulled this stunt in public.
"Garp-san, I'm sorry," Fenric said quietly. "I failed your expectations."
"Colonel Mundo, do you even realize what you're doing?!"
Sengoku's voice thundered across the square.
Of everyone present, Sengoku undoubtedly wore the ugliest expression.
As the Fleet Admiral, this sort of catastrophe had unfolded under his command, right at Marine Headquarters. He couldn't possibly avoid responsibility for it.
"Colonel?" Fenric sneered. "Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I am no longer a Marine!"
He turned to face the crowd, his voice echoing across the plaza:
"I! Mundo! Am a pirate! Remember my name, all of you—because from this day forward, I will kill every last one of the Celestial Dragons!"
As soon as he finished speaking—
Fenric moved!
Sengoku's face darkened in an instant. "Stop—!"
He tried to intervene, but it was too late.
With a swift motion, Fenric raised his blade and beheaded the Celestial Dragon standing before him.
Splurt!!
Blood sprayed across his body.
The severed head rolled across the ground and stopped at Sengoku's feet, its eyes wide open in disbelief, forever locked in a death stare.
"Om—!"
Sengoku's fury boiled over.
His body began to swell like an inflating balloon, radiating a blinding golden light.
Within seconds, he had transformed into a towering Golden Buddha—his Devil Fruit ability in full effect!
This was the Mythical Zoan: Human-Human Fruit, Model: Great Buddha.
This form was why he was often called "Sengoku the Buddha."
Without hesitation, Sengoku struck.
A golden fist the size of a building hurtled toward Fenric, no words, only raw fury.
Facing the mountainous attack, Fenric simply smiled—and raised a strange bracelet in his hand.
It was a special item he had obtained in the "The Mountain Village Old Corpse" dungeon world.
This bracelet didn't just dispel ghosts—it had another, much more critical function:
Random Teleportation.
Once activated, it could instantly teleport the user up to 5,000 meters away in a random direction.
Naturally, such a powerful ability came with restrictions—it could only be used once every 24 hours.
Without this bracelet, Fenric would never have dared to carry out such a reckless plan.
Kill a Celestial Dragon and try to escape?
Not with the Admirals around.
Who did he think he was?
Suddenly, a deafening sound ripped through the air—
"Whoosh!! Whoosh!!"
Sengoku's golden fist, glowing with white light, came crashing down like a locomotive.
It wasn't just brute force—it carried a shockwave!
Sengoku had poured everything into this punch.
But he hit nothing.
The next moment—
Fenric vanished.
Truly vanished.
This was no illusion, no high-speed movement.
Even Issho and the other Admirals couldn't sense his presence.
BOOM!!!
Sengoku's fist slammed into the platform, obliterating a large section of it.
Under normal circumstances, the sheer destruction would have shocked the recruits.
But today, no one cared about the damage.
Because something much, much worse had just happened.
A representative of the Celestial Dragons, visiting to bestow honor, had been beheaded by a pirate impersonating a Marine—right in Marineford!?
And that same pirate had escaped!
If they hadn't witnessed it with their own eyes, no one would've believed such a thing could happen.
Mundo hadn't just slapped the face of the Navy.
He'd taken a dump on it—then shoved it in their mouths.
Everyone stood frozen, too stunned to speak.
All eyes turned to the high platform.
To Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
What would he do?
Sengoku stood, breathing heavily.
"Huff... Huff... Huff..."
He slowly dispelled his Devil Fruit powers, his golden glow fading, and shrunk back to his normal form.
"EVERYONE—PURSUE MUNDO IMMEDIATELY!"
His voice was thunderous.
"And issue a bounty—2 billion Berries! Report this to the World Government and circulate it across every sea. Mundo must not be allowed to escape!!"
A collective gasp echoed among the soldiers.
Two billion Berries?!
It was unprecedented. Since the founding of the World Government, no one had ever received such a massive bounty so quickly.
This was the kind of figure reserved for the Four Emperors of the New World.
Even the Admirals and Garp stared at Sengoku in surprise.
"Sengokus, calm down!" Garp said sternly. "A 2 billion bounty—for a rookie?"
Sengoku shook his head. "Two billion is already too little."
"Mundo didn't just kill anyone. He murdered a Celestial Dragon. And what he declared was a direct challenge to the entire Celestial Dragon bloodline."
"For someone that dangerous, a 2 billion bounty is justified—and the Celestial Dragons will approve."
"But more importantly—what he said at the end."
At those words, realization dawned across the officers' faces.
The bounty wasn't merely punishment—it was a statement to the Celestial Dragons.
Anything less than a billion would be an insult.
Mundo had struck a fatal blow to their pride. If his bounty had been too low, the World Government would be seen as weak.
Now, no one objected to Sengoku's bounty announcement.
In fact, many silently admired his political instincts.
This... this is why Sengoku was Fleet Admiral.
"Garp," Sengoku said quietly, "are you interested in taking my position?"
"What? At a time like this, you're joking?" Garp frowned.
Sengoku sighed. "Someone has to take the fall for this incident. As Fleet Admiral, I bear responsibility. After I step down... I haven't decided on a successor."
Garp fell silent, his expression grim.
A Celestial Dragon had been murdered—at Marine Headquarters.
This wasn't just an incident.
It was a world-shaking catastrophe.
Only a change in leadership could begin to pacify the Celestial Dragons' wrath.