A terrifying pressure filled the sky.
Stray bolts of Haki-charged lightning gathered like a storm about to crush the world.
Below, Miss Bakkin trembled under the weight of it all. She looked up at the crimson qilin looming overhead—and finally cracked.
"Weevil! Run!"
"Too late," Luoyu said calmly, taking a sip of liquor.
"Qilin."
ROAR!
The thunderclap sounded like a beast's howl.
The blood-red qilin moved first.
The lightning amassed in the heavens crashed down like a waterfall.
BOOM!
Miss Bakkin had just turned to flee—
But everything before her was swallowed by light.
The explosion swept across thousands of meters like a hurricane.
Far away, Momonga and the others finally understood why Smoker had insisted they evacuate so far.
This wasn't a battle.
It was a natural disaster.
The shockwave rolled toward them like a tidal wave.
They couldn't dodge.
They were blown away.
BOOM!
Thunder rolled endlessly.
Dust and debris filled the air.
When they finally crawled from the rubble, what they saw made their blood run cold.
The town square—now a crater.
Scorched earth stretched in every direction.
And in the center, half-buried in dirt, was a broken figure.
Torn clothes.
Blood and ash.
A pitiful, ruined sight.
Was this really the man chosen to be a Warlord?
If they hadn't seen it themselves, they'd never believe it.
Such a terrifying monster—beaten while Luoyu stood still.
"Weevil! My baby! Are you okay?"
Miss Bakkin, a kilometer away, dragged herself from the rubble.
She screamed toward the crater.
"Get up! Show your true strength! That's the only way your father will acknowledge you!"
"M-Mama… don't worry. I… I can still fight. I'll beat him. I'll show Dad how strong I am!"
Weevil crawled from the crater, body charred.
The stitches on his skin sparked with electricity.
Luoyu raised an eyebrow.
So this was the Government's failed experiment.
A reject from the SSG program.
A man-made Seraphim gone wrong.
If he were really Whitebeard's son…
There wouldn't have been a ship full of "sons."
"You didn't disappoint me, Weevil," Miss Bakkin said, eyes gleaming.
"You damn Admiral! I told you—my son is a Warlord candidate!"
"You dare attack a Warlord? That's a violation of the rules!"
"I'll report you to HQ and the Government!"
"That last attack must've been your trump card. Now it's our turn."
"Weevil! Cut off his arm!"
"Okay, Mama!" Weevil sniffled, ignoring his wounds.
But before he could move—
The air began to hum.
Magic circles bloomed beneath Luoyu's feet—brilliant, multicolored, and massive.
The pressure in the air surged again.
Nine layers of magic circles rose like a tower into the sky.
The heavens lit up in a kaleidoscope of color.
Everyone watching swallowed hard.
He still had more?
Miss Bakkin stared at the rainbow sky, frozen.
That last attack had nearly killed Weevil.
And now this?
"A-Admiral Luoyu! Weevil is just a child! He's a Warlord candidate! You can't do this!"
Luoyu felt the magic drain his strength.
He did a quick mental check.
"I know he's a child," he said.
"And I haven't laid a finger on him. Everyone here can vouch for that."
"Besides… I'm new. Don't talk to me about rules. I don't know any."
His voice echoed beneath the crushing weight of the spell.
Far away, Cavendish finally understood why Luoyu kept saying he was "new."
New Admirals don't play by the book.
Looking up at the sky, Cavendish's desire to challenge him vanished.
"Super-Tier Magic: Skyfall."
Luoyu raised his gourd and drank.
The magic burst.
A torrent of power poured from the sky like a broken dam.
At that moment, Miss Bakkin finally understood:
In front of this new Admiral…
"Child," "Warlord," "chosen"—
meant absolutely nothing.
BOOM!
The sky split open.
The impact engulfed everything within a kilometer.
Weevil barely had time to raise his naginata—
Before he was swallowed whole.
Three days later — Calm Belt.
A massive pirate ship surged forward, pulled by Sea Kings.
At the bow, a giant mammoth figurehead loomed.
The pirate flag, limp in the windless air, revealed a terrifying emblem.
Anyone who saw it would freeze in fear.
Because in this sea—
To cross paths with a Yonko's flag—
Was to step into the realm of gods.
And among the Yonko, none were more brutal than the Beasts Pirates.
One wrong move…
And death was guaranteed.