PIRATES: I WORK IN NAVY FROM NINE TO FIVE

The Supreme Palace had fallen into a strange, suffocating silence.

Everyone stared blankly at the words projected midair by the Den Den Mushi.

The Gorosei… got struck?

Not even someone like Doflamingo could believe it.

Let alone figures like Ys and the others—they had never imagined such a thing was possible.

After all, the Gorosei were the shadow rulers behind the World Government.Enies Lobby, Impel Down, Marineford, even the Celestial Dragons and the World Government itself—these were mere pawns under their control.

Just a single command from them could shake the entire sea.

Yet now, someone was telling them that the almighty Gorosei, who had left the Supreme Palace for once, had actually been slashed?

Was this some kind of twisted joke?

No—what kind of joke would even dare go this far?

In the face of this shocking intel, only one possibility crossed their minds.

There was only one person who would dare defy all reason and strike the Gorosei.

And Doflamingo's face, instead of fear, was now filled with barely contained joy.

All the humiliation he had endured recently... finally had a target for release.

"This is madness—someone so arrogant, even daring to raise his sword against the Gorosei and cut down Yamamoto!"

He laughed coldly, then glanced sideways at Ys.

"But Ys, perhaps this is good news. Yamamoto's strength is far beyond that brat's. That kid attacking him just gave Yamamoto the perfect excuse to eliminate him."

"I'm sure we'll soon hear that the Fourth Admiral has been crushed under the Gorosei's might."

"CP0, I'm not wrong, am I?"

CP0, who had been standing silently, suddenly froze.

Holding a freshly received intel report in his hand, his mouth opened—then closed—unable to form words.

Doflamingo's expression darkened. Alarmed, he rushed forward and snatched the intel from CP0's hands.

When he saw the contents of the transmission clearly, his mind went completely blank.

"The Gorosei... were driven off with a single slash?!"

"Impossible!"

"There's no way the Gorosei are that weak!"

After witnessing Kaido's crushing defeat firsthand, Doflamingo had come to understand just how terrifying Luo Yu's power truly was.

And in this vast sea, those who could take him down were now extremely few.

The Gorosei were his greatest hope for revenge.

That was the only reason he had risked everything to come all the way to Mary Geoise.

But the result he now held in his hands was simply unacceptable.

"You bastard, Doffy—who the hell are you calling weak?!"

With a furious roar, the wine glass in Anthony's hand shattered into fragments.

The fact that one of the Gorosei had been publicly cut down was already humiliating enough. Now Doflamingo had dared to call them "garbage" in front of everyone?

Anthony was seething.

Doflamingo's expression shifted. Realizing his slip of the tongue, he quickly tried to recover.

"No—Anthony, that's not what I meant! I'm just saying… regardless of the outcome, the brat attacking a Gorosei is treason."

"We can use that as justification—label him a traitor! Let the Navy Headquarters take him down for us. Then, we'll have him served up on a silver platter!"

"We should act quickly. If we delay, they might find a way to counter it."

Ys and Anthony exchanged a look, both their expressions dark.

The plan wasn't without merit.

But before they could respond, an aged voice suddenly echoed from outside the hall.

"Clown. Shut your damn crow mouth."

Yamamoto stepped into the hall, face livid, holding a cracked piece of jade in his hand.

Doflamingo froze. A sinking feeling welled up inside him.

Ys, standing on the high platform, turned to the still-stiff CP0 and snapped.

"Why are you still standing there like an idiot?! Speak! If you keep dragging your feet like this, don't be surprised if your head rolls next!"

"P-please don't be angry, Lord Ys! I just received this intel too. I thought Lord Yamamoto would report it himself, so I… delayed."

CP0 bowed and stammered.

"The latest intel from our spies in Marineford confirms it: Kaido was defeated, Whitebeard has fallen—the Navy claimed victory in both first and second battlefronts."

"Afterward, a figure resembling a Gorosei appeared at Marineford, but was immediately overwhelmed by the new admiral and fled without a trace."

"The Fourth Admiral, Luo Yu, then claimed that the so-called 'Gorosei' was nothing but a weak fake."

"This has already spread across the Grand Line via Morgans' news network. Everyone now thinks Lord Yamamoto was just a fraud—and a pathetic one at that."

"If we try to retaliate now, it'll only confirm to the world that the Gorosei are indeed the 'jokes' Admiral Luo Yu claimed they were."

Doflamingo's jaw dropped.

Only now did he understand why Yamamoto had returned with murder in his eyes.

He wasn't just publicly defeated—he'd been mocked, branded a fake and a weakling, and broadcast across the entire sea.

Now, even trying to take revenge would only make him look more ridiculous.

"This is the kind of pain that makes you want to scream but have no voice to let it out."

Crack!

Ys slammed his cane into the floor, shattering the stone beneath his feet.

His expression dark as ink, he stared at the broken jade in Yamamoto's hand.

"Yamamoto… was that brat really that strong?"

"Even the spatial jade I gave you was triggered?"

Everyone in the hall—Anthony, the other Gorosei, and Doflamingo alike—turned to Yamamoto, waiting for an answer.

"Hmph! Ys, this is your fault!"

"If you hadn't embedded your hypersensitive spatial ability into that jade, set to automatically activate in danger, I wouldn't have been yanked back to Mary Geoise like some coward."

"I've been made a laughingstock!"

Yamamoto's voice trembled with rage.

"I'm going to kill that brat right now! I'll show him the Gorosei are the true rulers of this sea!"

But before he could storm out, Ys stamped his cane again, releasing a wave of invisible spatial energy that blanketed the hall.

In the next moment, Yamamoto—who had been at the exit—was abruptly standing directly in front of him.

Doflamingo's face stiffened.

He had always suspected the Gorosei possessed terrifying Devil Fruit powers.

But he hadn't expected Ys to control space itself.

That kind of ability meant he too was now standing within someone else's grasp.

"Yamamoto, calm down. You heard it yourself—he was prepared. He turned the tables on you and called you a fraud."

"If you go charging at him now, you'll only look even more like a fool."

"But that doesn't mean… we can't kill him."

"Let others do it for us."