Chapter 226: Sengoku's All-In Gamble
"Vermin. Insects."
The Soul Reaper gripped his Death Scythe tightly, harvesting the lives of players one after another.
But despite his fearsome, monstrous appearance, a trace of panic flickered across his face.
Even if these players had some formation to help them resurrect after death, didn't they feel pain?
Didn't they resent whoever was forcing them to fight like this, again and again, only to die?
Who in their right mind would willingly throw their life away over and over for someone else?
These people… were lunatics.
"The Revolutionary Family… truly something to look forward to."
Dragon blood boiled inside him as black scales grew from his skin.
The leader of the Revolutionary Army entered Dragonman form,
his powerful body tearing at the Soul Reaper's dark shield with a pair of dragon claws.
Moments later,
Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks also charged into the Soul Reaper's palace.
A crimson aura spread through the grand hall.
The Whitebeard Pirates' crew might not have been the strongest,
but under the buff of the Crimson Legion, they could greatly enhance Whitebeard's power.
Now back in peak condition and bolstered by his crew, Whitebeard's stats had skyrocketed.
While not quite the strongest in the world, he had clearly stepped into the realm of top-tier combatants.
"Gentlemen, would you mind doing me a favor?"
Shanks gave his classic honest smile,
but in this kind of chaotic battlefield, who was going to back down just because he asked?
Sure enough,
every player surrounding the Corrupted Lord turned to look at him… as if he were an idiot.
"Shameful, Shanks!"
Buggy, twin pistols in hand and nostrils flaring, glared at his old crewmate for saying something so dumb.
Boom boom boom!
A barrage of explosive rounds blasted toward the Corrupted Lord, detonating violently and conveniently eliminating a few melee players nearby.
Amid the chaos,
Buggy tossed a blinking red C4 explosive into the fray—just waiting for the Soul Reaper's HP to hit zero so he could detonate it and steal the final kill.
He smirked. These idiots were wasting their strength,
none of them were as cunning as the great Captain Buggy.
His gaze shifted slightly—
he spotted the Straw Hat crew entering the hall. Memories of his previous beatdown resurfaced, and his blood boiled.
One of his explosive rounds flew straight at them.
Purgatory Gravestone!
Zoro didn't hesitate—his blade slashed down, summoning a rain of purple spirit-infused gravestones that crushed the incoming shot and landed in Buggy's direction.
Boom.
Luffy's straw hat stuck in the floorboards, he grinned brightly when he saw a familiar face.
"It's you, Red Nose!"
"Stop calling me that! I'm the great Lord Buggy!"
The scene grew even more chaotic.
More and more players arrived.
The Corrupted Lord was being forced back,
and even the grand Soul Reaper Hall was being torn apart.
As the Lord's HP neared zero,
every player's eyes locked onto the boss, hungry for the final hit.
"Dad! Don't you dare steal the final blow!"
The Revolutionary leader, still in Dragonman form, looked up—
just in time to see Garp soaring overhead, cloaked in violent winds.
With a beat of his wings, the Dragonman intercepted him midair.
Flame Javelin!
Smoker roared as his poison-infused general formed a massive, fiery spear and hurled it toward the Soul Reaper.
"Heh heh heh… Forgetting someone, Smoker?"
A dark figure blocked his path.
Doflamingo stood perched like a flamingo atop threads made from his String-String Fruit, fingers twitching.
The shadow revealed its true form—
a black, long-haired simian puppet clad in armor-like fur and reinforced with steel, giving it a mechanical appearance.
In its chest was a deep-purple magic core.
"Just you?"
Smoker sneered, swinging the toxic spear down on the puppet.
"You're far too arrogant. Good—I like that."
Doflamingo burst into laughter.
The attack, which should have melted the puppet instantly, stuck mid-strike.
The puppet began to absorb the toxins instead.
Realizing something was off, Smoker severed the connection.
"A puppet that can absorb poison…?"
"I spent 50,000 reward points to buy the corpse of a Tier-3 [Toxic Devouring Nether Monkey] from the Douqi Continent,
then burned thousands more crafting this poison-immune puppet. Not bad, right?"
Doflamingo patted the puppet's head with a twisted grin.
"Don't underestimate a puppeteer. With the right elemental counter, I can beat any opponent. You toxic types can't beat me."
He had sold off Dressrosa—his entire empire—in order to build puppets capable of countering every major faction.
Besides the poison-immune monkey,
he had also made a fire-based puppet to counter the Revolutionary leader.
"How thorough. But too bad…"
Smoker suddenly smirked, eyes fixed on Doflamingo.
"Don't play dumb. The Navy's sold off all its bases. What else could you possibly have?"
Doflamingo's instincts flared. He studied Smoker carefully—
the man didn't look like he was bluffing.
Even with the Revolutionary leader, Whitebeard, Shanks, Mihawk, and himself present,
did the Navy still have some hidden card to play?
Surely not…
Smoker answered coldly,
"That's right. If you could sell off Dressrosa, why wouldn't Marine HQ go even further?"
"That old bastard Sengoku… He actually sold Marine Headquarters?!"
Doflamingo couldn't believe it. The Navy's sacred stronghold—gone? All just to kill the Corrupted Lord?
Then he sneered.
"So what? Even if he did, what could he afford? At best, a top-tier player. You really think that guarantees the last hit?"
Smoker remained silent.
A second later—
Every player in the Soul Reaper Hall suddenly felt a chill in their soul.
Even the Revolutionary leader, who had nearly reached Tier-2, felt the hairs on his neck stand up.
Thump-thump.
It sounded like a heartbeat.
The entire island trembled.
A palm-sized golden apple appeared in the sky, radiating waves of scorching energy like a second sun.
"Forged in a technological world,
the [Apollo Bomb] was designed to destroy planets.
Just one is enough to split the Grand Line in half—maybe the entire Pirate World too."
Inside the Game Shop,
Fang Yi sensed the activation of the Apollo Bomb and couldn't help but admire Sengoku's ruthlessness.
He had sold Marine Headquarters—
not to create a Tier-1 peak player,
but to gamble everything on a tech-world item. After spending nearly 100,000 reward points, he pulled a [Tech-Class: Apollo Bomb].
No more scrambling for the kill.
Pirates? Revolutionaries? Yonko?
Drop the world-ending bomb—
deal enough overflow damage that no one else could claim credit.
A perfect equalizer.
BOOOOM.
A golden blaze engulfed Death Island.
The Soul Reaper's hall, the island—everything was erased. Not even ash remained.
Fortunately, the Reincarnation Game's rules protected the outer edge—
or the entire East Blue might have turned into a crater,
or the Pirate World might have lost a continent.
Even so,
lifeforms all the way in the New World felt the planet shudder.
Death Island, though obliterated, instantly regenerated.
All players killed by the Apollo Bomb respawned in beams of white light.
Most of them didn't even understand what had happened—one second they saw the light, the next they were dead.
Then a voice rang in everyone's ears.
[Congratulations, player "Marine Venom Dragon," for landing the final blow on the Corrupted Lord. You've earned one draw from the Ultimate Reward Pool!]
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Franklin1