Boom!!!
Brook, wielding the Seven-Star Demon Sword, unleashed a monstrous slash. The blade's energy clashed violently with the armed tail of Quetzalcoatl, the transformed Kukulkan. Lightning split the sky, thunder roared, and the sea itself was torn apart by their strikes.
Within the raging storm, Brook pressed forward without fear. Though the storm was Quetzalcoatl's domain, Kukulkan's injuries—one eye ruined and his body pierced by seastone—had dulled his might.
"Old man! Take a good look at your colleagues!"
Brook's laughter rang across the storm. Behind him, the air warped with eerie green light as feral ghostly figures surged forward: the fallen admirals Coss Davo and Hoss, the admiral candidates Bloody Hand Braver and Youge, CP0 commander Sweiying, and even the Knights of God he had slain. Each appeared twisted and snarling, their spectral blades slashing at the great serpent. Among them also marched the ghostly shades of famous pirates who had perished before—the Overlord Diger, the quasi-overlords Kyons and Saracha—now bound to Brook's service.
"You… beast! You'll die a miserable death!!"
Kukulkan thrashed in fury, battered by the spectral visages of comrades and subordinates. Their once-loyal faces were twisted into demonic sneers, biting into his colossal form.
"Don't worry," Brook sneered, his grin sharp beneath the storm's glow. "You'll be keeping them company soon enough! And when you arrive in hell, you'll find another batch of Celestial Dragon masters waiting!"
As if to mock Kukulkan further, Brook summoned a host of Celestial Dragon phantoms. They wailed with grotesque laughter, trailing Brook like a macabre parade.
"What's wrong with a little complaint," Brook jeered, "as long as you can serve your Celestial Dragon masters even in death?"
The Seven-Star Demon Sword pulsed, its aura growing ever more sinister. It had already feasted on the blood and soul of Sweiying, a commander on par with an admiral. Now, blood mist coiled around the blade in hungry spirals, thirsting for Kukulkan's essence.
Brook surged forward on Hera, the somersault cloud Linlin had reforged with thunderous power. Lightning crackled beneath him as he charged Quetzalcoatl, sword raised, a storm of ghost generals snapping at the serpent's wings and scales.
On the Hell Pirates' air fleet, Hiruba leveled his sniper rifle, sight locked on Kukulkan's immense body. His finger hovered over the trigger—yet hesitation gnawed at him.
Did Brook really need his help? What if interfering ruined the rhythm of this duel? Overlords with awakened Conqueror's Haki often demanded one-on-one fights, bound by their own twisted pride. Hiruba clenched his jaw.
Forget it. This is Brother Brook's moment. A little trash like me shouldn't cheapen it.
Still, his scope never wavered. If Quetzalcoatl tried to flee, Hiruba would fire. No matter what, Kukulkan would not escape alive.
··
Meanwhile, chaos raged below.
The five surviving CP0 agents were surrounded on all sides by the Hell Pirates. Newgate and Charlotte Linlin led the charge, while Tom and Fisher Tiger's fishmen patrolled beneath the waves, cutting off escape routes.
Driven into desperation, the CP0 agents scattered—only to be hounded. The physical monsters Chinjao, Woonan, and Uncle Bull dove into the sea after them, eager for the merit of a kill.
Uncle Bull, a veteran of the Ewald Pirates, pushed himself harder than ever. Though close to Brook and Teach Angel, he refused to beg favors for Devil Fruits. He sought merit earned by his own hand. His eyes burned with greed for the ancient Sabretooth Fruit, reserved for Hell Pirate elites.
Elsewhere, Woonan, the golden great pirate, and Chinjao locked horns. Both coveted the legendary Diamond Fruit, its worth rivaling even mythical Zoan fruits.
"Ahahaha! Back off, Woonan! This one's mine! Don't forget, I wield Conqueror's Haki!"
Chinjao erupted from the waves with a CP0 agent skewered on his cone-shaped head, blood spraying.
"Tch… bastard," Woonan spat, diving back into the depths.
In the sea, the advantage belonged to the fishmen. Tom and Tiger's warriors doubled their strength beneath the waves, grappling CP0 agents and dragging them deeper, cutting off their breath. Tiger wrestled one into the abyss, forcing the spy's lungs to burn with suffocation.
Another was cornered by Uncle Bull and Woonan. Both men struck fiercely, determined to share the kill—and the precious merit.
One by one, CP0's agents fell. Dragged from the sea, choking, broken, or run through. Two who remained on the surface were pinned under the iron will of Newgate and Linlin, then seized alive by Stussy and Ashura.
At last, the sea stilled. CP0's strike team, once proud hunters, were finished—slain, captured, or dragged into slavery.
Those who survived would know no freedom. Crocus would drain their blood into crystal dandelions, Abefor would reap their shadows, and Linlin and Brook would feast on their very souls when their usefulness expired. Until then, they would live pampered yet shackled lives—fed, exercised, even indulged—only to die when called.
High above, Newgate and Linlin's eyes burned as they watched Brook's duel with Kukulkan. They knew this fight was more than personal—it was the keystone battle that could decide the balance of the New World. And when the moment came, they would strike without hesitation.
-----------
As the Hell Pirates grew stronger, Brook's power and authority rose to match. He no longer needed his crew to swarm an enemy—he had become a true overlord of the New World.
Unless the situation turned dire, even monsters like Newgate and Charlotte Linlin dared not interfere in his duels. This was a clash of kings, a battle of general against general. For Brook, it was more than victory—it was proof that he could stand at the very top.
After all, his record still fell short of Rocks'. To cement his name, Brook needed the head of Navy Fleet Admiral Kukulkan.
"It's useless, Kukulkan!" Brook's voice cut through the storm. "Stay here and accompany your Celestial Dragon masters! Gabriel will fall to me as well!"
He had already sensed CP0's annihilation. The outcome was decided—no matter how many losses Rocks suffered, the Hell Pirates would remain strong enough to defy the World Government and thrive in the New World.
Kukulkan shed his massive Quetzalcoatl form, shrinking into a half-beast state. Wide, blood-soaked wings beat furiously, giving him speed even as his strength waned. Yet his face—skin scraped away, bone exposed—remained a ghastly ruin.
Even mythical beasts could not heal scars suffered in their human state. Just as Kaido bore the cross-shaped scar across his dragon belly, and Lucci's leopard form carried the cannon scar on his back, Kukulkan's mutilated visage lingered.
The butchery was Gabriel's doing. In his haste to dig out seastone bullets, he had gouged Kukulkan's eyes, peeled the flesh from his face, and stabbed his waist and back. Now, even in half-beast form, Kukulkan was grotesque and bleeding.
His body was failing, but his spirit endured. To keep fighting under such torment spoke volumes of his iron will.
"Brook!" Kukulkan roared, storms crackling around him. "Even if we die here, justice will prevail! The Navy is the fortress of the world, the shield of its people!"
With bone exposed beneath his face, lightning flashing across his ruined features, Kukulkan looked less a admiral than a demon.
Brook only laughed. "Justice? Only the victors are just! Kings in victory, bandits in defeat! Strength alone defines justice! That's why I agree with you—'justice will prevail'—because it belongs to the strongest!"
"Then die with me!" Kukulkan's wings spread wide, his body glowing with deadly energy. "Quetzalcoatl—Doomsday Storm!!"
Burning away his own life, Kukulkan unleashed his final attack. Devil Fruit power erupted, drowning the sea and sky.
The world darkened. Hurricanes howled, lightning split the heavens, and waves rose like mountains. Darkness swallowed the horizon—this was no mere storm. This was an apocalypse.
Brook's grin faltered for the first time. This… this could destroy everything.
"Retreat!" he barked, panic flashing in his eyes. If Kukulkan died, the Hell Pirates could not afford to be dragged down as scapegoats.
Yet instead of fleeing, Brook shot forward. Only by killing Kukulkan could the storm be stopped.
Hiruba fired desperately from the fleet, but the storm warped his bullets aside. Vegapunk's PX-Weather Ships strained against the maelstrom, while Charlotte Linlin dove into the thunderclouds, pouring soul power into Zeus. Still, Kukulkan's death storm raged beyond control.
"It's useless!" Kukulkan's voice thundered across the sky. "Go to hell with me! For justice, for vengeance!"
The old navy even smiled. To him, dragging the Hell Pirates down with him was a worthy death, repayment for the fallen admirals and comrades.
"Old man! Stop right there!!"
Brook gathered every ghost he commanded, fusing them into himself. His aura flared to its peak, blue fire spilling from his eyes. In a blink, he was before Kukulkan, Seven-Star Demon Sword poised.
"This storm won't stop even if I die!" Kukulkan howled.
Their clash was titanic. Kukulkan's body, already ravaged, could not withstand Brook's relentless assault. The Demon Sword pierced his abdomen, drinking deep of his blood.
"I… can't stop…?" Brook's cold eyes burned with fury.
"Bah! Die with me!!!" Kukulkan coughed blood, hurling it at Brook—only for it to freeze into scarlet ice before reaching him, shattered by underworld chill.
"Snort!" Brook snarled. He ripped his sword free, halting its hunger before it drained Kukulkan dry. Killing him outright would waste the prize he coveted most.
With a crushing blow from the hilt, Brook knocked the marshal unconscious. "You think I'd let you die so easily? Your Quetzalcoatl fruit is mine, old man!"
But even unconscious, Kukulkan's storm raged on.
Brook only sneered. "Yohoho! Did you think I'd come unprepared? I've built plans for every disaster. At most, I'll lose a few ships."
Already, Vegapunk's PX-Weather Ships strained to carve out a safe zone. The Kirin Lion braced against the winds. Tianmulan stored golden ships into scrolls, scrambling to preserve what she could.
At last, the Hell Pirates plunged beneath the sea, sheltered by Uju's castle and the fishmen's transparent shields.
Above, the storm raged with cataclysmic fury, shredding the fleets left behind into drifting wreckage. But below, the Hell Pirates endured, waiting out the fury.
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