Chapter 409: News! Unprecedented Breaking News!

[Rocks Pirates' Defeat]

[Major Event! The Vanished God Valley]

[Hell Lies Empty—Demons Walk Among Us!]

[The Truth of the God Valley Incident: A Massacre Held Every Three Years!]

[The Source of Global Chaos: The Born‑Evil Celestial Dragons!]

[A Rundown of Every Nation and Island Wiped Out in the World Government's Killing Contests Over the Years]

[John, Silver Axe, and Wang Zhi—Three Shichibukai Stripped of Their Titles]

[Monsters of the Kukulkan Family—"Thunder God" Thor and "Phoenix Girl" Sid]

[Ten Billion Berries? An Unprecedented, Astronomical Bounty]

…

The next day.

Despite the World Government's every effort to quash the news—even ordering the World Economy News Paper not to report anything regarding the "Incident" at God Valley—the Totto Land Daily instead published a massive exposé, boldly revealing its grim truths.

They even directly listed, in detail, the intel gathered by their own agents: a record of those nations chosen by the World Government over centuries to host murder contests. The revelations' aim was squarely at the World Government—or more specifically, at the Celestial Dragons—delivering a fatal blow that tore away their mask of hypocrisy, splattered in blood.

It shook land and sea, and the entire world was set abuzz.

"Hss—"

"My God, could this be true?"

"Celestial Dragons…born evil?"

"Just look at them! They're too reckless!"

"So, once every three years, the World Government selects some island or nation and organizes a large-scale murder contest, wiping out its native inhabitants along with criminals and 'problem slaves' shipped in, calling it a 'study tour'?

"Hey, are you serious? Every three years they destroy a country—just for the fun of killing?"

"What's going on? Isn't the Navy supposed to be justice?"

"West Blue's God Valley (Year 1484), the first half of the Grand Line's Baris Island (1481), the North Blue's Cales Island (1478), the South Blue's Onia Island (1475)…"

"Baris Island—I recall them saying an uprising took place there!"

"And Cales Island in the North Blue—wasn't it said that pirates took over, so the Navy went to suppress it…?"

"Dammit, did the World Government and the Navy lie to the whole world?"

"Some 'justice' that is—are they really just Government lapdogs?"

"Those blasted Celestial Dragons—what do they take human life for?"

"So-called 'World Nobles'…just devils in human skin!"

All across East, West, South, and North Blue—

from the first half of the Grand Line clear into the New World—turmoil erupted.

Countless people reading this latest Totto Land Daily were shocked by its huge, bold headlines. The content, along with gruesome photos, left them speechless, shaken, and afraid. Most simply couldn't believe their own eyes.

Crowds gathered in every street and alley, gossiping, restless, cursing nonstop. The photos within Totto Land Daily included evidence of the God Valley massacre, along with images stealthily taken over the years at the Celestial Dragons' "hunting grounds." One picture after another showed Celestial Dragons brutally slaughtering local residents, slaves, and criminals. Some images even depicted extravagantly dressed Celestial Dragons impaling a bloody infant corpse on a knight's lance and sporting bloodthirsty, maniacal grins, proudly showing off.

It chilled onlookers to the core. Fear spread, anxiety soared. With such inhumane massacres, people wondered if their own nations might someday share that fate.

Unaware marines everywhere stared in stunned disbelief, feeling their faith crumble. They crowded in front of public squares, demanding explanations from commanding officers.

"Bang!!!"

On the summit of the Red Line, in the "Room of Authority" within the Holy Land of Mariejois, the desk before the Five Elders was smashed to pieces. Countless scraps of newspaper—bearing the Totto Land Daily emblem—were strewn about conspicuously.

"Damned scum—"

"They've gone too far!!"

"They're taking open aim at the World Government?"

"Celestial Dragons 'born evil'? How dare a bunch of rotting pirates presume to judge our Government!"

"That bastard Fallen Angel El…just because he destroyed Uranus, he thinks the Government can't retaliate?"

Faces dark with rage, the Five Elders seethed…

They had never imagined Eir would be this brazen—not just exposing the truth about God Valley, but also every prior occasion over the years in which the Celestial Dragons staged these murder tournaments, armed with meticulously gathered evidence. Clearly, with that "national treasure" in ruins, the monster was now unrestrained, ready to lead a full-scale force up to Mariejois at any time.

"We can't stall any longer…"

"Mobilize every mouthpiece the World Government controls—suppress public opinion at once! We must not let them succeed in their ploy!"

"Otherwise, if the tide of public sentiment sides with the Fallen Angel Pirates…given how battered we are now, it'd be disastrous!"

They'd already decreed no mention of God Valley's secrets. Government‑run media quickly pinned the island's destruction on the Rocks Pirates and the Fallen Angel Pirates, proclaiming the Rocks Pirates had been wiped out by the Navy, further slandering the Fallen Angels as having allied with Rocks only to stab them in the back. They stooped to every lie imaginable, hurling all the blame onto the Fallen Angel Pirates. But the Fallen Angels had prepared well and refused to be scapegoats, exposing God Valley's truth for all to see. They even published photographs from the genocide scene plus documented evidence of multiple Celestial Dragon hunts across centuries, revealing them all.

"You—come here!"

Saint Mars beckoned a servant forward.

His face expressionless, his voice icy:

"Immediately arrange a press conference, broadcast it publicly to the entire world!"

"I myself will attend and clarify these so‑called 'rumors,' exposing the Fallen Angel Pirates' conspiracy. We cannot let the ignorant masses be misled!"

"Yes—!"