The debris of the small moon rained down from the sky, bombarding the city of Mariejois one after another.
The Holy Land is under attack!
When the roar echoed, everyone realized the gravity of the situation.
In the city, the Celestial Dragons questioned in panic:
"What the hell is happening?"
"It's a falling star! No… it's an attack!"
"Who would dare to—" He didn't even have the chance to finish his sentence.
A massive stone crashed onto the head of that Celestial Dragon, crushing him instantly.
The shockwave swept through the area. Countless homes were destroyed. Cries and wails filled the air as flames climbed into the sky.
The remaining Elders turned livid.
"Damn it, who did this!?"
"The last time Mariejois was attacked was 200 years ago!"
"This is unforgivable! The aggressor must be killed!!"
One after another, the furious Elders stormed out of the chamber.
---
Meanwhile, in the depths of the city, three members of the God's Knights also reacted.
They split up, scattering throughout the city.
It didn't matter who the enemy was right now—the priority was rescuing the Celestial Dragons.
Each one came from a different family, so naturally, when it came to saving someone, they would prioritize their own kin first.
Atop a bell tower, Ethanbaron's face was grim.
"Even if I cut them into smaller pieces, those things still fall with pinpoint accuracy onto the city!"
Whoever was attacking had succeeded.
Two hundred years of peace had made the defenses of the Holy Land negligent.
Especially now, when so many members of the Godly Knights had been sent abroad.
"Who the hell is it!?"
Gritting his teeth, he spread his Observation Haki across the entire Holy Land, but found nothing.
Confusion.
Chaos was everywhere.
No way to discover who the attacker was.
High above the Holy Land, nearly 2,000 meters up, Luffy went undetected by any Observation Haki.
He silently observed Mariejois consumed by destruction.
"Doesn't look like many Celestial Dragons died… only thirty, maybe forty? Their response was too fast."
Only the first strike had managed to kill a handful of Celestial Dragons.
Once the Holy Land reacted, they were quickly shielded.
At that moment, he sensed many powerful auras spread across the land below.
"I didn't sense him…"
Luffy thought with some regret.
Compressing a dozen of Golden Lion's islands into a small moon and then smashing it down hadn't worked as well as he'd hoped.
The compressed moon was as hard as steel, but in the end, that didn't matter.
The pure kinetic impact, aside from leveling Mariejois, had limited lethality.
"I should've given it the power of the Quake-Quake Fruit back then. Maybe it could've destroyed this city. Forget it—I'll just do it next time."
Casting one last glance at Mariejois, Luffy thought:
With this experience, I'll do even better next time, more prepared. Wasn't one little moon enough? Then how about ten? If ten isn't enough, what about twenty?
There were countless islands in this world, and even more uninhabited ones. His ammunition was limitless, but the number of Celestial Dragons was not.
Even without islands, he could always use the Red Line itself as a weapon.
Just as he turned to leave, Luffy's eyes froze.
From the darkness, tentacles shot out at him.
In an instant, he shifted into his Nika form.
His body tilted at an angle, the tentacles nearly grazing his chest.
And they had been aimed precisely at his heart.
"You dodged?"
From the shadows, a voice echoed.
Luffy focused, and soon spotted the figure.
The man wore a crown of thorns, a long cloak, and his blood-red eyes glowed in the dark, eerily similar to Mihawk's.
Imu!
Though it was their first meeting, Luffy instantly knew who it was.
The King of the Celestial Dragons, ruler of the world for 800 years.
From his back, a pitch-black tentacle retracted.
"Observation assassination…?"
Luffy quickly realized he couldn't see the future here.
And neither could his opponent.
If Imu had that ability, Luffy wouldn't have been able to dodge the ambush.
Imu said nothing, simply stared at Luffy with mocking red eyes.
In the darkness, Luffy couldn't see his face clearly. He only knew the man was floating in the sky, just like him.
What abilities does this guy have?
With a sudden impulse, Luffy threw a punch.
Boom!
The atmosphere cracked, the force of vibrations surging straight at Imu.
But Imu didn't dodge. Behind him, ten jet-black tentacles stretched out.
They absorbed the shockwaves and then lashed out toward Luffy.
"Hm?"
A flicker of doubt crossed Luffy's face. His body glowed, dodging the tentacles in a blur before closing in on Imu.
His fist tore through Imu's body.
It was like plunging into spilled ink that scattered into black smoke, dissipating instantly.
A ghost?
As he thought this, Luffy suddenly looked down.
"…I've been discovered."
He sensed a powerful group rushing toward his location.
"Shishishi… looks like now isn't the right time to fight you."
Grinning, Luffy looked at Imu, who had reformed, then vanished into the sky in a flash of white light.
A mocking voice echoed through the night:
"I just came to say hi—and to leave you a little moon as a gift. If you liked it, I'll bring a few more next time. Bye."
In an instant, the white light faded.
Imu's blood-red eyes lingered on the spot where Luffy disappeared.
Only when he was completely gone did Imu mutter softly to himself:
"Joy Boy…"
His figure dispersed like a ghost.
---
(End of Chapter)