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"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!"

The propulsion system was pushed to its absolute limit. The fully charged [Thor] tore through the clouds, flying towards Loguetown at an astonishing speed.

Roger's execution was in three days. They had spent one day getting to Asuka Island, and another waiting for Shiryu to subdue the Seven Star Sword. That left only one day—

The man who stood at the pinnacle of the seas, the great Pirate King Roger, was about to die.

Perhaps feeling a sense of injustice for a man like Roger, the crew on the ship all fell silent, not saying a word.

Arthur, meanwhile, sensed Shiryu's overall condition and was finally able to put his mind at ease.

The [Thor] transformed into a streak of golden light, soaring through the sky.

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East Blue, Loguetown.

The news that the first and only Pirate King—Roger—was to be publicly executed had long since spread throughout the world. And the actual execution was today.

The entire world was in shock, unable to recover for a long time.

The great man who had conquered the seas was to be publicly executed by the Marines in the most humiliating way, as a tool for their propaganda.

Was it tragic? In the eyes of everyone, even the crew of the Roger Pirates had vanished, forced to watch their captain die.

Loguetown was heavily guarded, its defenses arguably the strongest in history.

Fleet Admiral Kong led the proceedings as the supervisor. At his side stood Admiral Sengoku and the Marine Hero Garp, who had just arrested the other sea legend, the Golden Lion.

The Admiral candidates, Akainu, Kizaru, and Kuzan, also stood by with solemn expressions—

The strongest forces of Marine Headquarters were all assembled to prevent any chaos.

The Marine patrols in Loguetown, led by more than a dozen Vice Admirals from headquarters, had completely surrounded the execution plaza.

They had even abandoned the forces defending Marineford to ensure that Roger could be successfully executed.

Even "Impenetrable Fortress" was not enough to describe Loguetown at this moment.

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"What should we do?!"

In a corner of the plaza, Shanks pressed down on his straw hat, tears welling up in his eyes, fighting to keep them from falling.

Only when a person realizes their own powerlessness do they discover how helpless they are in the face of unstoppable events.

When an average person faces a flash flood, a volcanic eruption, an earthquake, or other natural disasters, how can they possibly resist?

"Captain Roger..." Even Buggy was extremely distraught. After all, he had been indebted to Roger for so long.

The great plaza of Loguetown was already packed shoulder to shoulder, so crowded that not even a drop of water could leak through.

It was impossible to count how many people had come. Fifty thousand? A hundred thousand? There were at least several hundred thousand outsiders on the island.

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"Kuahahahaha! Only when Roger dies... will the throne of the Pirate King be empty!" A cigar clenched between his teeth, a black greatcoat draped over his shoulders, his hair slicked back, Sir Crocodile grinned.

The area where he stood was extremely dry, so much so that no one dared to get close to him. The moment they did, their mouths would go dry.

For those with true ambition, who cared how powerful the Marines were? What they cared about was when Roger would abdicate his throne.

"Fuffuffuffuffu! What a gathering of monsters!" Donquixote Doflamingo emerged, surrounded by his crew, a wicked smile on his face.

In a corner, Dracule Mihawk, with a long, cross-shaped sword on his back, waited with a serious expression.

"Kishishishishi! It's all up to you, Pirate King Roger... Only your death can bring vitality back to this silent sea!" Gecko Moria, nearly twenty-three feet tall, his stomach as round as a balloon, held a pair of scissors, his dark hands clenched into claws, letting out a high-pitched laugh.

With Moria's height and bizarre appearance, he didn't even stand out among the crowd. Almost every race on the sea had gathered here.

The taciturn Bartholomew Kuma did not yet have the calm demeanor he would in the future. Perhaps something had happened to him, because he looked extremely tyrannical.

"Jararararara! Searching for treasure is the most exciting thing about sailing the seas! The world's Greatest Secret Treasure... belongs to me!" Mad Treasure, wearing small sunglasses, his upper body bare and wrapped in iron chains, laughed wildly.

In a house at the edge of the plaza, a young Smoker was also watching this scene.

Monkey D. Dragon, shrouded in a green cloak, and many other figures who would have great potential or influence in the future could almost all be found in the plaza.

A single glance revealed that almost all the terrifying monsters of the future were gathered in Loguetown.

In the sea further away, a whale-headed pirate ship floated—the Moby Dick. The Whitebeard Pirates had also slowly appeared.

The Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates were perhaps busy fighting over the empty territories in the New World, so they hadn't even come to such a grand event.

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The wheel of the era would not stop, no matter what. It moved forward endlessly.

In the eyes of the monsters whose sights were set on the New World, this was the best, most wonderful of times.

Two seats at the pinnacle of the seas had suddenly become vacant, allowing more ambitious people to rise.

So what if the Marines were powerful? As long as you chose to become a pirate, you were never afraid of the Marines in the first place.

This conviction... almost everyone who could think for themselves was already prepared.

Those who were unwilling to be subservient, no matter how difficult or dangerous, had already set their sights on that incredibly coveted position at the top.

The more powerful the Marine forces became, the happier they were, because the Marines would clear out their enemies for them, reducing the number of competitors on the road. Could there be anything more wonderful than that?

The sky was gray and overcast, as if it were about to collapse.

Even so, it could not stop the passion of those who had come. The countless people in the plaza were all whispering and discussing among themselves.

Opposite the execution platform, a new, equally high platform had been erected.

Fleet Admiral Kong sat in the main seat, with Garp and Sengoku on his left and right. Behind them were Akainu, Kizaru, Kuzan, Vice Admiral Tsuru, and other high-ranking Marine officials.

At this moment, they were all silent. Even the usually jovial Garp was uncharacteristically without a smile, not picking his nose, not eating senbei.

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"CONNECT THE VIDEO DEN DEN MUSHI! BROADCAST THIS TO THE ENTIRE WORLD! LET THE AUTHORITY OF THE MARINES SPREAD ACROSS THE GLOBE!!" Fleet Admiral Kong ordered, his face grim.

"SIR!"

A Vice Admiral gave a military salute, immediately walked down from the high platform, and gave instructions to the Marines who had long been prepared for the live broadcast.

"CLICK!"

He pressed the button. An invisible electric wave began to connect. All over the world, one by one, the Video Den Den Mushi automatically turned on, projecting the scene in Loguetown's plaza onto the walls.

"GASP..."

Everyone in the world who was paying attention to this event gasped, simultaneously stopping what they were doing and staring at the suddenly appearing image.

Fleet Admiral Kong's robust figure appeared in the picture. He cleared his throat and said with utmost seriousness.

"Everyone on the seas... this is Loguetown in the East Blue, the hometown of the heinous Pirate King Roger. The Marines will execute this man of monstrous sins here, to bring peace back to the seas, so that the common people may live and work in peace..."

After a boring speech, Kong waved his large hand.

"BRING OUT ROGER... FOR EXECUTION!"

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