At that moment, high above the battlefield, Redfield's body surged with a sinister black mist, curling and twisting like a living curse. It was darker and more oppressive than even the energy of Blackbeard's Yami Yami no Mi. The very air seemed to grow heavier as the thick haze spread out, reeking of blood and ancient malice.
Even the Five Elders froze. Their expressions twisted into something they had forgotten, genuine fear.
They had never sensed an aura like this. Not from Kong. Not from Rocks. Not even at the height of the Valley of the Gods.
As for Lord Imu's presence, they could feel nothing. It was always veiled.
But Redfield? His energy roared like a god unchained. A transformation born of absolute mastery, the final evolution of genius honed to its razor edge.
Even Buggy, watching from afar with his sharp intuition, narrowed his eyes. He could sense it. Redfield was no longer merely emperor-level. He had stepped beyond. A monster whose aura scraped the planetary threshold.
The sudden escalation drove the remaining Four Elders into motion. They ignored their wounds and roared in unison as they unleashed their full strength. Devil Fruit powers, advanced Haki, and the Rokushiki martial arts erupted from their bodies in all directions.
"S Lion!" "S Roger!" "S Rocks!"
"Move! Stop him before it's too late!"
Even their disdain for lesser beings vanished. Warcury, Peter, and Nasjuro, who had been clashing with Shanks, Dragon, and Mihawk, now burned with lightning and flame, as elemental fury exploded from their bodies. Their power spiked violently as they abandoned their duels and cleared the battlefield.
The three Seraphim, previously battling the revolutionaries alongside them, were now freed up and surged toward the sky, toward Redfield.
From another flank, Megallan, his giant hydra form, now fully joined the charge. Sengoku followed, golden light flashing. Blackbeard sneered as he stepped in. Even Momousagi joined the assault with her blade drawn and her eyes sharp.
It was a siege. Seven admiral-level combatants now converged upon Redfield.
Elsewhere, the Blackbeard Pirates found themselves locked down by the Red Hair Pirates, Sunbell, Jinbei, and Tesoro. Chaos reigned below.
No matter how fearsome Redfield had become, not even a monster of his level could withstand this kind of onslaught alone.
Unless he halted the attack, he had been building all this time.
But to stop now would be to waste every drop of energy he had poured into it. A wasted effort that would hand momentum to the World Government.
Around the world, people watching the live broadcast felt their breath catch. They hadn't expected the Five Elders to use themselves as bait, drawing back the Seraphim just to allow this overwhelming ambush. Seven elite warriors, each with power that could shake nations, all closing in on Redfield at once.
And yet, as the black mist churned around him, Redfield only laughed.
The sound was chilling.
Floating above the battlefield like a fallen god, he looked down at the charging enemies and then turned toward Buggy, licking his lips.
"Buggy," he called out with a wicked smile, "I'm not stopping. I want to see it for myself. The true strength of the one who has ruled this world from the shadows for eight centuries."
He tilted his head. "Can you hold them off? Just for a little while?"
Buggy blinked. He hadn't expected this level of resolve. Redfield wasn't just attacking. He was testing fate itself.
But Buggy grinned. Something wild lit up behind his eyes.
"I got it," he said. "You handle your part. Leave the rest to me."
And just like that, two legends prepared to rewrite history.
Buggy took a step forward. In the blink of an eye, he reappeared tens of meters ahead, standing just above Redfield. His eyes locked on the seven Admiral-level combatants surging toward them like a tidal wave.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Without a word, the Empress moved. Gracefully stepping through the air, her every motion elegant and precise, she arrived at Buggy's side in seconds. Calmly, she spoke.
"I will deal with Momousagi. The rest is yours."
"That's more than enough," Buggy said with a smirk.
A wild, fearless grin and soaked in madness flashed across the world. Every screen tuned to the live broadcast showed the same face. For many watching, it was a vision they hadn't seen since the Summit War two years ago. That same aura. That same impossible swagger.
Then, with a sharp snap, Buggy clapped his hands together.
The sound echoed through the Red Line.
"Wooden Golem Armament."
"True Several Thousand Hands."
A blinding blue light burst forth, spreading across the battlefield like a wave. In the space of a breath, it had swallowed everything within thousands of meters.
The Five Elders' expressions contorted in alarm. They had seen this attack before. Buggy used the same technique to annihilate Commander-in-Chief Kong. That attack had been so swift and devastating that even Demas and the others hadn't dared to underestimate it.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The earth groaned. Cracks split across the Red Line like a spider's web. Massive stone plates, each hundreds of meters wide, erupted from the ground as though struck by an ancient god.
With a thunderous rustle, enormous green vines, each as thick as a warship's mast, shot up from the cracked earth. They twisted and coiled, intertwining into four towering Wooden Golems, each nearly a hundred meters tall. Their bodies shimmered with elemental life, and a massive wooden dragon coiled between them like a guardian spirit.
Then came the true showstopper.
Boom.
A dozen colossal vines tore free from the earth, spiraling high into the sky. Moments later, a giant Buddha statue made of wood rose above everything, dwarfing the others at over two hundred meters tall. Behind it, a forest of massive hands fanned out like a peacock's tail, each hand radiating an overwhelming presence.
Buggy and the Empress now stood on the brow of the great Wooden Buddha, the center of the five titanic figures. Black and gold Armament Haki shimmered across the surface of the statue, sending prickling waves of pressure into the air. Even just being near it was enough to make one's skin crawl.
Sengoku, Blackbeard, and a nearby Seraphim halted mid-flight, their advance frozen by sheer awe.
Across the battlefield, even the clashing crews paused.
The Red Hair Pirates and the Blackbeard Pirates, just moments away from tearing into one another, stared in wide-eyed disbelief.
Gulp.
More than a few swallowed hard.
"This is insane…"
"What are those things? Those Golems are armed with Haki like monsters!"
"It's horrifying. Are they using Haki like it's free?"
"That's Shanks-level Haki… but why do even those wooden monsters have it?"
"One punch from them would flatten a mountain."
"They're too big and slow. Admiral-level fighters might still have the edge."
"Idiot. Did you even watch the Wano War? Those things regenerate after being destroyed. They're practically immortal!"
"What? No way. That's impossible!"
Gasps and muttering filled the airwaves. Buggy's ability had shocked the world once again.
Then came laughter.
"Zeahahaha!"
Blackbeard stepped forward beside the Five Elders. His dark coat fluttered in the air as he cracked his knuckles, clenching his right fist tightly.
"Let's see if those wooden toys of yours can take a hit from my Tremor-Tremor Fruit!"
Raising his fist, Blackbeard roared.
"Severe Quake!"
He leaped into the sky, his fist crackling with white energy, and brought it crashing down toward Buggy's five divine constructs with a thunderous cry.
Boom!
Click. Click. Click. Click.
In the very next instant, as Blackbeard brought his fist crashing down, the space around the impact point fractured like broken glass, sending jagged ripples racing toward Buggy's five colossal Wooden Golems.
The sky itself trembled, warping under the force of the shockwave.
In a blink, the spatial rift split across the Golems.
Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack.
Dozens of fractures raced across their wooden bodies, threatening to split them apart at any moment.
"Zeahahaha!" Blackbeard roared with glee. "So that's it, Buggy? These are your mighty toys? Not strong enough! Then take another one from me! I'll smash them to pieces!"
He twisted his body, gathering force once more.
"Tremor Tilt!"
Boom!Click. Click. Click. Click.
The Red Line beneath his feet rumbled violently. Fissures opened like spiderwebs, radiating outward in a devastating wave toward Buggy's position. Within seconds, they reached the base of the five towering Golems.
Boom. Boom. Boom!
Massive chunks of stone shattered and flew into the air. Entire slabs, hundreds of meters wide, buckled and lifted from the earth as if wrenched up by the hand of a giant. It looked like the end of the world.
But the Golems stood tall.
Despite the chaos, only their feet had sunk a few meters into the ground. Not a single one had collapsed.
"What?! How is that possible?" Blackbeard's face twisted in disbelief. "They were already cracked. Why didn't they fall?"
"Tsk," Buggy scoffed, shaking his head. "If it were Whitebeard at his peak, maybe he could have cracked one. But you? You haven't even awakened your Devil Fruit. You thought you could destroy all five of my Golems just like that?"
He stepped forward, his tone dripping with disdain.
"Call it ambition. Call it arrogance. Either way, those tiny cracks are meaningless. If I will it, they vanish."
Buzz.
As he spoke, Buggy lifted his foot and gently tapped the head of the colossal Buddha statue, True Several Thousand Hands. A pulse of radiant blue light erupted, spreading across the Golems. In a flash, every single fracture vanished as if they had never existed.
"Damn it!" grunted Saint Marcus, his expression darkening.
Then, above them, a voice sliced through the air.
"Fangs of Dracul: Heaven's Rend."
It was Redfield.
Forgotten in the chaos, the crimson-cloaked legend now hovered in the sky. An ominous energy, darker than pitch, blazed around him. It surged upward, then funneled into the black-and-red sword clutched in his hand.
A suffocating silence spread through the battlefield.
Marcus's face drained of color.
"Stop him! Now!"
But the moment they had hesitated, it was already too late.
Redfield let out a wild cry, pointing his sword at the sky. "Let me see the strength of the so-called king of the world!"
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Hundreds of slashes, each one wreathed in monstrous Conqueror's Haki, tore through the sky. They streaked across the heavens in an arc of deadly precision, all converging on a single point, Imu.
For the first time, Imu's serene expression faltered. With a single, graceful motion, she raised her hand.
The moment her palm moved, Redfield's slashes shattered midair, reduced to motes of flickering dust.
Then her voice echoed across the sky, cold and absolute.
"Pitiful. You still fail to grasp the vast chasm that lies between yourselves and a god."
A deep roar followed. Not from her but from something else.
Gasps broke out across the battlefield.
Beneath Imu's feet, the empty void began to ripple outward, trembling like water disturbed by something vast below. A phantom presence surged up from beneath her, taking shape with terrifying speed. Before the eyes of the world, it became real.
Not a dragon. Not exactly. Its form was serpentine, enormous, and black. A creature beyond understanding, like something that should never exist in the four seas and grandline.
A salamander-like dragon of island scale, too massive to fully comprehend.
Only half of its body emerged from the void. The rest remained hidden, lost in whatever place it had come from. Two immense red eyes with loops, glowing with a fiery orange light. They shimmered like living flame, crackling without sound.
And standing perfectly still at the center of those blazing horns was Imu.
The creature beneath her was a golden-red dragon newt. Its skin glowed like molten metal, radiant and menacing. Its gaze curled around the invisible air, as if it were gripping the very fabric of the world. It loomed in absolute stillness, as if balanced on the edge of something not meant to be seen. Its eyes stared down with silent, merciless judgment.
"Void Swallow."
Imu gave no time for reaction. She simply raised a hand and pointed toward the hundreds of slashes still hurtling through the air, each one brimming with black and red Haki, infused with emperor-level destruction.
Beneath her, the monstrous golden-red dragon opened its mouth.
Shhhhhhh...
In a single breath, every slash Redfield had unleashed was drawn inward. What should have torn through continents flowed into the creature's maw like water down a drain, vanishing into darkness without a trace.
"What...?!" Redfield froze, his breath catching in his throat. "No. No, that's impossible. What... the hell just happened?"
His composure cracked.
He had poured everything into that attack. Built it up with precision, channeled every ounce of his might. And yet it was swallowed like nothing more than a ripple on the sea.
It wasn't just Redfield. Across the battlefield, shock rippled through every soul present.
"What kind of monster is that thing?"
"Unbelievable. It absorbed Redfield's full-force slashes... just like that?"
"Look closely! Its body is partially fused with the void. Its claws grip the sky like it's a wall. What kind of Devil Fruit can even do that?"
"Hey, Shanks! You've seen the Celestial Dragons' Devil Fruit archives, haven't you? Ever seen something like this?"
Shanks stared blankly, beads of sweat trickling down his brow.
"I... No. Never. That thing... I don't know what it is."
The tension in his voice betrayed him.
He knew just how powerful Redfield's slash had been. If that had struck him head-on, he might not have survived. The destructive force was enough to maim or kill an Admiral, without question.
But Imu had stopped it without lifting a finger. Or rather, the beast beneath her had devoured it.
Not blocked. Not countered.
Devoured.
And that was more terrifying than anything else.
It went beyond mere Devil Fruit ability. What stood before them felt less like a summoned creature and more like a divine entity.
First, time itself had stopped.
Now, they faced a beast that could consume destruction.
One after another, the World Government's hidden weapons had been unveiled, and each one was more overwhelming than the last.
Their forces were exhausted. Their energy is spent.
If even Redfield couldn't touch Imu, could anyone?
Could even Buggy...?
In the air, Redfield exhaled slowly, brushing cold sweat from his forehead. He cast a glance toward Buggy, his lips twitching into a wry smile.
"Buggy... I can't handle those two," he admitted. "My stamina's drained. I can't keep the vampire state active much longer. At best, I might be able to hold off three Admiral-level fighters."
His voice lowered with regret.
"But that woman... that thing? I can't even begin to understand what we're dealing with. I don't know what it is. I just know we're badly outmatched."
Buggy didn't flinch. He looked ahead calmly, then gave a small laugh. Shaking his head, he replied:
"Don't worry." His voice was clear. "You've heard the name before. I'm sure of it."
He turned his eyes toward the beast in the sky.
"If I'm not mistaken… that monster's name is Umibōzu. Just another mythical zoan, only this one lives up to the legend."
---
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