The news of the second, successful mass-liberation hit the World Government not as a shock, but as a devastating, final humiliation. The initial chaos of Fisher Tiger's raid could be blamed on a "mole ring" and "chemical agents." The second event, however, defied all narratives.
When the Marine patrol finally broke into the high-security cells of Mariejoa, they found the prisons completely empty. There was no sign of explosive breach, no blood, and no structural damage. Every single cell door, including those with custom-built locking mechanisms, was unlatched.
The guards were found slumped over their desks, not dead, but suffering from acute, inexplicable disorientation—their minds subtly scrambled by Benjamin's Psionic Influence. The only evidence of the extraction was the absence of life and the two clear, smooth cut lines left on the ventilation shaft wall, now perfectly resealed, indicating the impossible entry and exit points.
The Gorosei's reaction was a fusion of political rage and existential dread.
"It is not an army," one elder whispered, reviewing the CP0 report. "It is a virus of reality. It adapts, and it steals the very foundation of our authority without breaking a single stone that matters. We cannot fight this with cannons."
The lie of the "mole ring" was instantly discarded. The nature of the second attack was too clean, too precise, and too fundamentally impossible. The threat was now correctly identified as a single, devastating individual.
The World Government issued a new, terrifying narrative to the global populace:
The Monster of Chaos: The two raids were publicly attributed to a single, immensely powerful Devil Fruit user known only by the codename "Chronos," described as a being of "unstable matter and temporal manipulation." The government needed to frame the enemy as a natural phenomenon that could eventually be defeated, not a ghost or a concept.
The Fisher Tiger Link: The media amplified the fact that the two raids were linked, painting the liberation as the genesis of a new, major power—the Chronos Pirates—who were fundamentally aligned with Fisher Tiger's Sun Pirates. This allowed the government to direct Marine resources toward a visible, tangible target (Tiger) while secretly hunting the invisible one (Benjamin).
The World Government elevated the search for the anomaly to Code Omega—a designation reserved only for threats capable of fundamentally destabilizing the political order (a level above the pursuit of a Yonko).
The core objectives of Code Omega:
CP0 Deployment: Cipher Pol 0 was granted unlimited resources and jurisdiction to hunt the anomaly. Their mission was not to capture, but to vaporize the Chronos-Child at all costs, under the belief that only an absolute molecular erasure could end the threat.
Seastone Barrier Project: All high level scientific divisions, including Vegapunk's researchers, were put on an emergency footing to devise a new form of Seastone barrier capable of neutralizing atomic manipulation and temporal displacement.
Admiral Reserve: The Admirals and Fleet Admiral were placed on high alert, forbidden from engaging in any secondary conflicts, their sole mandate being to engage the Chronos-Child should he appear near a major government stronghold.
The issuance of a bounty against an unknown entity was unprecedented, yet necessary. The bounty must reflect the threat level, the chaos caused, and the number of political secrets now compromised. It was designed to shock the world and leverage the greed of every pirate and bounty hunter in existence.
The World Government combined the threat of:
Direct affront to the Gorosei and the Celestial Dragons.
Systemic sabotage of the global government's infrastructure.
Mass slave liberation (the highest political crime).
The initial poster issued did not bear Benjamin's face, but a digitally rendered silhouette of a child with glowing blue eyes, captioned with his ominous title.
Bounty Target: BENJAMIN DUMARS MARTINEZ
Alias: The Chronos-Child
Threat Assessment: Existential/Illogical Threat to Global Stability
Bounty:$2,500,000,000 Berries
This staggering initial bounty—surpassing all active Yonko subordinates and placing him in the elite, world-ending category—was a desperate plea for help. It was the World Government publicly admitting that they were utterly, completely terrified of a child they could not even see. The hunt for the Chronos-Child had now become the single most valuable enterprise in the world.