Chapter 745: That Thing

At the Holy Land Mary Geoise, the highest authority of the World Government, in a massive hall, five old men of varying appearances and builds were present. Among them, the other four were either sitting or standing, but none of them spoke, quietly listening as the old man named Light Talent spoke through a special black-and-white Den Den Mushi, conversing with the Shogun of Wano Country, Tokugawa Kiki.

Light Talent was the only one among the Five Elders who did not wear a suit, instead maintaining the traditional attire of Wano Country. He wore round glasses, his head was bald, and while holding the receiver, he did not put down the long tachi in his hand.

As someone originally from Wano Country, Light Talent was naturally the best person to negotiate with the Shogun of Wano. Upon hearing Tokugawa Kiki's sarcastic words, Light Talent showed no anger at all, only replying, "You must understand that for the World Government, justice in the darkness is everywhere, especially in Wano Country, which is a key monitoring target. If there is any sign of trouble, we can know about it immediately."

"..." Tokugawa Kiki was silent for a moment, saying nothing.

He naturally understood the implication of Light Talent's words. There were CP members planted in Wano Country—Tokugawa Kiki had known this for a long time. However, he could not identify exactly who the CP members lurking in Wano were. This kind of espionage politics implemented by the World Government was both infuriating and truly difficult to guard against.

So after a moment of silence, Tokugawa Kiki could only sigh and say, "You guys are as annoying as ever! Spit it out, what do you want by calling me?"

"Who was the assassin?" Light Talent asked. "Was he only trying to assassinate you? Or was he trying to find something from you?"

Tokugawa Kiki snorted coldly and said, "Aren't you all-knowing? Now you're asking me?"

"In fact, we also wanted to track down the assassin's identity," Light Talent said. "But later we found out that the Yonko's Black Dragon Ian had already fought the assassin first. Our people had no choice but to leave, so we don't know the assassin's identity."

"Hoh hoh!" Tokugawa Kiki chuckled lightly and said, "Then go ask the Yonko Ian. The assassin has already fallen into his hands!"

This time, it was Light Talent's turn to be silent.

Damn it, if we could communicate with Black Dragon Ian, would we bother asking you!?

Ian's rise had shocked not only the world but also the Marines and the World Government. Although after the Battle of New Edd War, they understood that Ian would likely become a Yonko sooner or later, their calculations suggested that Ian was more likely to take over Whitebeard's position, because they believed the gap between Ian and the established Yonko forces was still significant.

But no one expected that Whitebeard did not pass his position to Ian, yet Ian directly killed BIG MOM on Whole Cake Island! Although he struck while BIG MOM was berserk and out of control, being able to kill BIG MOM under those circumstances already spoke volumes. When the news arrived, the entire World Government was caught off guard.

And what troubled the World Government most was that after seizing BIG MOM's territory, Ian only stayed there for a while to consolidate before appearing in Wano Country!

Not only that, but he immediately got involved in this incident upon arrival, causing the World Government great headaches. They were very worried that Ian's appearance would make the whole situation uncontrollable again...

So now, they had to confirm the assassin's identity through questioning Tokugawa Kiki.

If it was a dead soldier from the Kozuki Family, that would be manageable. A mere retainer could not cause much trouble. But if it was someone else, then...

However, Tokugawa Kiki seemed to know what they were thinking. With a hint of mockery in his tone, he said, "The assassin was Queen the Plague of the Beast Pirates! She came looking for 'that' thing!"

Bang! Upon hearing this, one of the Five Elders sitting by the table slammed his hand on it in anger!

Damn it, that Kaido guy has indeed taken an interest in that thing...

The other Five Elders also held their heads in distress, pondering what to do.

Finally, Light Talent calmed down first and asked, "So, did that thing fall into Queen the Plague's hands?"

His tone had turned extremely cold.

"...No," Tokugawa Kiki deliberately paused before speaking slowly, "You know as well as I do how secretly that thing is hidden..."

Hearing this, the Five Elders finally breathed a sigh of relief. But then Light Talent said with some annoyance, "I've told you before, bringing in the Beast Pirates was a terrible move! Even if your strength isn't enough to crush the Kozuki Family, the World Government could have sent the Marines..."

Before he could finish, Tokugawa Kiki interrupted, "I've also said before, I don't trust your World Government! I will never allow the Marines to set foot in my country!"

Light Talent sighed and said, "Your Excellency the Shogun, you must understand that because I am also from Wano Country, the communication channel between Wano and the World Government has always been maintained, and the door for dialogue has always been open to Wano. As long as you hand over that thing, the World Government can accept Wano as a member state at any time and give Wano the best treatment. Why are you so stubborn?"

"Enough, Light Talent! Since you are also from Wano Country, you should understand what a promise means to a samurai!" Tokugawa Kiki said. "My Tokugawa family has served as the Shogun of Wano for generations, and that thing has been passed down from one generation of Shogun to the next. I cannot hand it over in my time! I will keep the original agreement, maintaining Wano's closed-country policy and guarding the secret. But likewise, you'd better keep your agreement!"

Light Talent looked up and exchanged glances with the other four Five Elders. Seeing them nod, he finally said, "Alright, we understand. As long as that thing does not leak out, we will keep the agreement and not interfere with Wano... As for Kaido..."

"That's my business," Tokugawa Kiki said. "Since I used Kaido to deal with the Kozuki Family, I will also find a way to deal with Kaido!"

"Alright, let's hope so," Light Talent said, then hung up the receiver.

Watching the Den Den Mushi fall asleep, one of the Five Elders suddenly said slowly, "It seems we need to make another preparation..."

"Agreed!"

..................

On the other side, Tokugawa Kiki also hung up the receiver and muttered to himself with a cold smile, "Light Talent, your stance has completely changed too. Have you fully aligned with the other Five Elders? ...Where is your samurai pride?"

Tokugawa Kiki stood up, opened the closet door beside him, cleared the decorations inside, and gently pushed against the wall inside.

A dark hole appeared. Tokugawa Kiki walked in, through this secret passage, all the way down to the basement of the Tenshukaku.

This was a very secret underground chamber, silent with no other sounds. Only the successive Shoguns could enter here; it was the most confidential place of the Tokugawa family.

And in the hall of this underground chamber, there were three massive stone tablets!

Square in shape, made of indestructible material, with twisted ancient characters on them—these were actually three Poneglyphs!

Tokugawa Kiki walked over slowly with his hands behind his back, stopping in front of one of the Poneglyphs to examine the inscription. When he saw the ink marks on the inscription that had not yet dried, having been rubbed off, a smile appeared on his face!

And such ink marks, still wet, were present on all three Poneglyphs!

"Information on the Ancient Weapon Uranus..." Tokugawa Kiki reached out and wiped away a bit of ink from the inscription, thoughtfully saying, "Now this rubbing of Uranus should have been taken out by Queen the Plague, right? I wonder if it will end up in Kaido's hands or Black Dragon Ian's? Hmm... With that woman's scheming, it will probably fall into Black Dragon Ian's hands first. Ha, this is going to be interesting!"

Yes, these three Poneglyphs were "that" thing Tokugawa Kiki had discussed with the Five Elders! No one had expected this...

As stone tablets recording the truth of the Void Century, the World Government had always tried to make them disappear. But they could not destroy the Poneglyphs, so they declared all research on ancient characters and Poneglyphs a crime! Under their leadership, with the Marines as enforcers, the Buster Call was born as a horrific punitive measure!

Ohara was destroyed this way, the entire island reduced to ash by Marine cannon fire...

And the Kozuki Family, as the stonemason clan back then, not only carved the Poneglyphs but also passed down the method of reading ancient characters within the family. How could the World Government not know about this and not guard against it?

Similarly, as the Shogun of Wano Country, how could the Tokugawa family be unaware of what the Kozuki Family under their rule had done?

In modern terms, how could they not have a clue!?

Even so, the Kozuki Family had been passed down through generations over these hundreds of years. Naturally, this involved protection from the Tokugawa family.

The reason for this was that the first head of the Kozuki Family, after carving the Poneglyphs, entrusted three of them to the Tokugawa family for safekeeping, while the rest were spread out through various means.

Perhaps out of a sense of mission, the Tokugawa family accepted these three Poneglyphs recording the Ancient Weapon Uranus, and as the Shogun of Wano, led the entire country in maneuvering against the World Government.

Due to Wano's strong national power and its location deep in the New World, the World Government and Marines found it difficult to exert force there. So, although they knew Wano was preserving three important Poneglyphs, after weighing the options, the World Government backed down.

The price was that Wano had to maintain its closed-country policy, avoid too much contact with the outside world, and prevent the contents of these three Poneglyphs from leaking out!