At the mere mention of “Lord Imu,” the five old men fell silent in unison.
Saint Topman Warcury was the first to break the stillness.
Clearing his throat, he steered the conversation in another direction.
“Kong just sent word.
That man, Garp…
he nearly attacked Saint Dio.” “Garp…” The Five Elders’ reaction to the name was uncannily consistent; they all collectively developed a headache.
The Marine Hero, who had achieved countless military victories yet remained stubbornly defiant, was the hardest bone to pick in the World Government’s system.
Worse still, he bore that name—the D.
Clan.
“Why would Garp be at the Sabaody Archipelago?” Saint Ethanbaron V.
Nusjuro asked, his brow furrowed.
Saint Warcury sighed.
“He was closest to the incident’s location at the time, so Kong ordered him to handle it.
But Garp seized the opportunity to demand a vacation.
Kong had no choice but to agree to his terms before he would even set out.” “Hmph.
His bargaining skills are second to none,” Saint Saturn sneered, his voice dripping with obvious displeasure.
The Five Elders’ intense focus on Saint Dio—going so far as to embed Stussy by his side years ago—all traced back to a single year.
The year Saint Dio was six, an earth-shattering incident occurred.
That year, the six-year-old Saint Dio used his cheat ability to successfully synthesize a legendary Devil Fruit: the Snake-Snake Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: World Serpent.
He then sealed it within his own sword.
Of course, only Saint Dio himself knew the truth.
To this day, the Five Elders still believed that Saint Dio had simply obtained such a Devil Fruit and, by some accident, had it bestowed upon a sword.
Yet, as the saying goes, the commoner is innocent, but possessing a jade pendant is a crime.
The sword, imbued with the power of a Mythical Zoan, soon caught the eye of another World Noble.
This World Noble hailed from one of the nineteen Founding Families.
Relying on his family’s power and his adult strength, he attempted to seize the sword by force.
He even planned to use the opportunity to “consume” the orphan Saint Dio’s inheritance.
After all, Saint Dio was only six years old at the time, his parents long dead.
In the cutthroat world of the World Nobles, he was nothing more than a piece of fat meat delivered straight to their mouths.
That World Noble and his retinue burst into Saint Dio’s residence, seizing the hilt of Jormungandr by force.
Then, the nightmare began.
Jormungandr had already recognized Saint Dio as its master.
When a stranger’s hand grasped its hilt, the slumbering Mythical Beast was thoroughly infuriated.
That day, all of Mary Geoise witnessed a scene of terror never before seen since the city’s founding eight hundred years ago.
A colossal serpent, its body blotting out the sky, reared its head above the Red Line.
Its massive form could coil around the entire Holy Land, its shadow engulfing more than half of Mary Geoise.
Countless slaves fled in terrified screams, while World Nobles cowered in the corners of their palaces.
The “descendants of gods,” so arrogant in their daily lives, were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter in the face of a true natural disaster.
By the time the Five Elders had joined forces to suppress the berserk Mythical Beast, the consequences were already appalling.
Three World Nobles died on the spot, and over a dozen others were injured to varying degrees.
As for the slaves and servants caught in the crossfire, the casualties were simply too numerous to count—a figure that has never been publicly disclosed to this day.
The fallout from that riot was catastrophic.
The deaths of three World Nobles, over a dozen injured, and countless slave casualties—such a tragedy was unprecedented in Mary Geoise’s eight-hundred-year history.
To quell the public fury and pacify the people, the God’s Knights intervened and held a public trial for Saint Dio.
On the day of the trial, nearly all the World Nobles gathered at the tribunal.
They sat or stood, their gazes filled with anger, fear, hatred…
a complex web of emotions that converged into an invisible pressure, weighing down on the six-year-old white-haired child.
Many were desperate to see him sentenced to death immediately, to use his blood to appease their fallen kin and his death to quell the storm.
However, the final verdict left everyone stunned.
Acquitted.
Rumor had it that Lord Imu had personally issued the order.
Even the Five Elders, though bewildered beyond measure, could only bow their heads in obedience.
The moment the Commander of the God’s Knights publicly announced Saint Dio’s innocence, the entire tribunal fell into a deathly silence.
The World Nobles, who had been seething with resentment, saw the fury on their faces freeze in an instant, only to be replaced by a deeper, bone-chilling terror.
They finally understood who stood behind this six-year-old, white-haired boy.
He had killed three World Nobles, yet he was able to walk out of the tribunal completely unscathed.
What did this mean?
No one dared to let their thoughts wander any further.
From that day forward, no World Noble ever dared to provoke Saint Dio.
Whenever they encountered him on the street, they would keep their distance, treating him like a plague god.
Saint Dio himself had been surprised at the time, but upon reflection, the reason seemed clear.
He was the sole remaining descendant of the Priapus Family.
If he were truly executed, the family’s bloodline would be completely extinguished.
After the trial, the God’s Knights extended an invitation to Saint Dio to join their ranks.
For an ordinary World Noble, joining the God’s Knights was the highest honor.
But Saint Dio knew the truth: the God’s Knights were under the absolute dominion of Imu’s power.
To join meant surrendering his will.
How could he ever willingly don such shackles?
Coincidentally, the catalyst for the entire incident had been a newly inducted member of the God’s Knights who attempted to seize Jormungandr.
Saint Dio used this as an excuse to decline their invitation—politely, yet firmly.
His reasoning held water: after all, given that the God’s Knights harbored such a disgrace, it was only natural for the victim to refuse to join their ranks.
Besides, he was only six years old at the time, and the God’s Knights did not press the matter too hard.
Over the next few years, they brought up the invitation a few more times, but Saint Dio declined each time with a different excuse.
Eventually, everyone grew used to it.
Imu never mentioned it, the Five Elders never mentioned it, and the God’s Knights never mentioned it again.
It was as if the matter had never occurred.
As long as Saint Dio himself never brought it up, the issue would likely just fade into obscurity.
And this, precisely, granted him precious time to grow and space to develop freely.
As for Stussy, she was someone Saint Dio had personally requested from the Five Elders.
At that time, he had just revealed his astonishingly monstrous abilities, but he lacked the professional staff to manage his affairs.
Meanwhile, the Five Elders happened to need someone who could monitor Saint Dio’s every move at close range.
Both sides had their own agendas, yet their interests aligned perfectly.
Thus, Stussy was assigned to Saint Dio’s side under the guise of a “CP0 agent.” The Five Elders, however, probably never expected that the pawn they had so carefully placed would, after years of Saint Dio’s “firm guidance” with a meat rod, have already quietly and completely defected to his side.