Carl chuckled noncommittally and said in a half-joking tone,
"If you're thinking about getting revenge, it's not too late now, is it?"
"Hmm?"
Lily raised an eyebrow, casting Carl a surprised glance.
"You're suggesting I make a move against those Celestial Dragons outside?"
Carl spread his hands, speaking with indifference,
"At the very least, you're my woman now. If you've been wronged and want to vent a little, that's only natural. As long as you don't go too overboard, do as you please."
This time, Lily didn't even bother refuting Carl's claim that she was his woman. A half-smile played at the corners of her lips as she said,
"Carl, I wonder, what exactly do you consider 'going overboard'?"
Carl laughed and replied casually,
"Do you really need to ask me that? Didn't you say it yourself earlier? I think that level is just right."
Lily suddenly burst into laughter.
"Carl, you're hoping I'll handle this for you, aren't you? You've been itching to give Mary Geoise a good cleaning for a while now, haven't you?"
Carl smiled faintly,
"It's just that Mary Geoise is feeling a little too crowded these days."
"So, I'd be helping to ease the King's burdens, then."
"And at the same time, blowing off some steam. Why not? Don't you think so, Lady Lily?"
At that, Carl and Lily exchanged a knowing smile. Lily licked her lips and murmured,
"Truth be told, I don't care for slaughter..."
Carl shrugged,
"Who does?"
As he spoke, Carl flipped his wrist, and the Dark Scepter vanished from sight. The black crown atop his head dissolved into a small, dark sigil that merged into the space between his brows.
Seeing this scene, a surge of resentment bubbled up inside Lily once again. She clenched her fists and muttered darkly,
"Carl, shall we head out now?"
"Let's go. It's stifling in here. You've had it rough, Lily, cooped up for eight hundred years."
"Heh..."
...
As Carl and Lily stepped out from the Room of Flowers, they immediately ran into Garling, who had been waiting outside.
The moment Garling spotted Carl, he hurried forward to report the sudden outbreak of natural disasters outside. Carl gave a brief summary of what had transpired inside the Room of Flowers, then casually snapped his fingers. Instantly, the world that had been swallowed by darkness returned to normal.
Akainu and the others quickly received word that the crisis had been resolved. As they hurried toward the Room of Flowers, Carl and his group emerged from that direction as well.
When the two groups met, Akainu and the others immediately sensed a change in Carl's aura. The regal pressure radiating from him—even in its restrained state—made them instinctively feel the urge to kneel and bow in reverence.
They had no idea what Carl had done inside the Room of Flowers, but one thing was clear: he was now several times more powerful than he had been just a few hours ago.
As for Lily, who had once worn a tsundere scowl, she now nestled naturally at Carl's side. In Akainu's eyes—a man as straight-laced as steel—it was a clear sign of submission.
Carl flashed them a smile and asked,"Things got pretty noisy just now. Were there a lot of casualties outside?"
Akainu nodded slowly.
"Several nations have been completely wiped out. In the face of these disasters, they had no means of defending themselves."
Kuma, standing nearby, let out a quiet sigh. Among the new Five Elders, his towering physique was the most imposing, but his heart was the softest. He cared the most about the lives of ordinary people.
Carl glanced at Kuma and suddenly asked,
"The rescue ships have already been dispatched to all regions, right?"
Borsalino replied,
"All available ships were sent out at once, but many places have already sunk to the seafloor. Even if the rescue ships get there, there's little they can do."
Carl gave a slight nod, murmuring thoughtfully,
"For them, this truly was a disaster out of nowhere."
As he spoke, Carl raised his hand, and the Dark Scepter reappeared in his palm.
Akainu and the others stiffened in surprise at the sight. Before they could react, Carl's voice, solemn and godlike, echoed out:
"Dark Sovereignty — Reversal."
Before their eyes, a jet-black pillar of light burst forth from the tip of Carl's scepter, shooting into the sky and forming a swirling vortex of darkness.
From within that vortex, countless pale yellow, cloud-like masses shot outward, vanishing into the distant horizon.
...
Meanwhile, somewhere over an uncharted stretch of sea, several Marine rescue ships drifted across the calm waters. The sailors sighed heavily as they gazed at the empty sea—a place where a nation had once stood, now swallowed forever by the ocean.
The last group of divers emerged from the depths, bringing back only a few stiff, lifeless corpses. Beyond that, they had found nothing.
The Marine captain in charge of the search let out a heavy sigh, ordering his crew to properly stow the recovered bodies on deck. Then he prepared to give the order to return to base.
But just as he was about to issue the command, a rumbling sound echoed from beneath the calm sea.
The captain's face darkened. His instincts screamed that another disaster was coming, and the Marines onboard tensed in alarm.
As the rumble grew louder, a massive shadow rose from beneath the waves, expanding rapidly.
Finally, with several towering waves, a small island burst from the sea, rising into view before their stunned eyes.
The soaked and weary Marines stood frozen in shock. The captain muttered under his breath,
"What in the world is happening here...?"
No sooner had he spoken than more of those pale yellow cloud-like masses came streaking in from afar, pouring into the newly risen island.
A few stray clouds drifted toward the deck, where they hovered over the corpses laid out earlier. As they settled, several Marines instinctively drew their swords and slashed at the strange yellow clouds.
But the clouds simply reformed, as if unbothered, and then merged one by one into the corpses.
A moment later, something horrifying occurred—the corpses, their faces still pale and blue, suddenly sat upright. Even these battle-hardened Marines, veterans of life-and-death struggles, felt their hair stand on end.
The captain's pupils shrank sharply. But being a man who had risen to rank through sheer strength, he quickly realized this eerie event had to be the work of a Devil Fruit user. Someone, perhaps, with powers akin to that former Shichibukai, Gecko Moria, who could make the dead "rise" again.
As he mulled it over, the "corpses" looked around in confusion, their vacant gazes sweeping over the stunned Marines. A heavy, unnatural silence fell over the ship.
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+140 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg