In a daze, Roya's vision suddenly shifted.
The world before him was no longer the ocean-covered planet he knew—but a boundless wasteland of desolation and silence.
Startled, Roya quickly realized that what he was seeing now… must be the surface of the moon.
"I remember seeing something about this—
A massive experimental base of an ancient civilization once existed on the moon.
Vegapunk was said to have inherited a portion of its technology, which is why his science is five hundred years ahead of the world."
"Could it be… this Empty Throne is also a relic of that ancient civilization?"
As he pondered this, his gaze swept outward—sure enough, he spotted a long-abandoned moon city.
Perhaps due to the distance, the throne's energy had already reached its limit in boosting Roya's Spiritual Perception.
His awareness could only vaguely make out the layout and structure of the city's various buildings and facilities.
Overall, it resembled something out of the many sci-fi films Roya had seen in his previous life.
This alone implied that this so-called ancient civilization may not have been as hyper-advanced as imagined.
At the very least, all signs pointed to one conclusion:
This civilization had not ushered in a true age of interstellar exploration.
Instead, it seemed they had just barely reached the moon, only to meet an untimely demise.
Aside from this small city hidden on the moon's far side, there was no trace of their existence left in the entire world.
It was as if someone—or something—had erased them entirely, in the blink of an eye.
A chill ran down Roya's spine.
He finally realized what the others who had come here before—those who had once sat on this throne—must have seen.
Most likely, it was glimpses of that ancient civilization being wiped out in an instant by a far more powerful force.
Even Imu, presumably, had witnessed the same.
Yet, what Im chose to do afterward—to establish the World Government, to oppress the world under an iron grip, to plunder resources without restraint through both Navy and pirates alike…
None of that aligned with a plan to resist an incoming threat.
Unless… he truly believed he could strap some junk boosters under Mary Geoise, launch it into space, and run off to restart civilization somewhere else?
Not even The Wandering Earth dared to go that far…
Reaching the moon seemed to be the upper limit of what the throne's energy-enhanced perception could achieve.
With countless questions swirling in his mind, Roya cut off his connection to the throne.
And in that same instant—he sensed Im's rising bloodlust and killing intent.
Instinctively, Roya's evolved Spiritual Perception, born from advanced Observation Haki, expanded to full power.
In a flash, every weapon on the ground—swords, spears, halberds, exotic blades—were swept up into his awareness.
He didn't just sense their size, weight, or balance—the key factors in unlocking their full combat potential.
He now grasped everything—the material composition, their compatibility with different types of Haki, how well they amplified energy like sword aura…
All of it, in exact and detailed data, instantly recorded in Roya's mind.
Each sliver of Spiritual Perception connected to a weapon acted like a fragment of his own consciousness, guiding the weapon into a perfect attack-ready posture.
Hundreds of swords and blades began to hum—primed but not yet unleashed, each one locked firmly onto Imu's position.
Using Observation Haki to simulate Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki, he wrapped every weapon in dual layers of aura, sparking and crackling like stardust—immensely powerful.
From Imu's perspective, it felt as if every opponent he had ever executed beneath this throne had risen again—not just returned, but each one now far stronger than at their peak, and now attacking him all at once!
Every inch of his skin felt like it was being pierced by overwhelming Haki and sword aura—on the verge of shattering.
His mind was a fragile rowboat in a storm, tossed about in a sea of chaos, about to be torn to pieces.
These held-back attacks were exerting more pressure on him—body and soul—than even the hallucinatory trials he had endured when using the throne's energy to scan the world.
Crushed inside and out, Im finally realized:
"My understanding of Roya's strength was utterly… catastrophically wrong."
Even though that understanding had come through the throne itself.
"Could it be… that Roya's level has already surpassed even the Empty Throne?"
The thought made Imu's blood run cold.
No longer daring to harbor even a shred of hostility toward Roya, he tore off his black cloak—revealing his true form—and cried out in panic:
"Don't kill me!
If I die… they will come immediately!"
Roya looked at Im in surprise—and realized he wasn't lying.
Because half of Imu's body—including part of his face—had already been replaced by a metal alloy, glowing with a dark green luminescence.
That eerie green light pulsed in regular, rhythmic intervals—and to someone like Roya, who had consumed a lifetime's worth of science fiction—
He immediately understood:
Imu… was a living beacon.
Most likely, it was exactly as he claimed:
If his life signal ceased, an extraterrestrial fleet would instantly lock on to his last coordinates—
Or worse… teleport straight here.
The current level of civilization on this planet… would be annihilated once again.
His Spiritual Perception quickly confirmed this terrifying realization.
Even more disturbing—this beacon-like transformation in Im had been caused by the Empty Throne itself!
It was his thirst for power that had led Im, upon obtaining the throne, to become yet another corrupted king in its long and tragic legacy.
A man who once swore to slay the dragon, now stood guard at the dragon's gate—
A pawn, tragic and pathetic.
Piecing it all together, Roya couldn't help but shiver.
"If it hadn't been for my Observation Haki already evolving into a mutated form—
And if I didn't have such high mental resistance, with all these unused attribute points in reserve.
I might've fallen into the same abyss of corruption as he did…"
With that thought, Roya immediately abandoned any idea of using the throne to further consume his unallocated attribute points or enhance his Spiritual Perception.
After all—who could say whether that too was just another trap of the throne?
But even as he thought, Roya didn't let his guard down.
He manipulated all the nearby weapons with his perception—raining them down like a storm around Im.
Swords, spears, halberds, strange and exotic blades—interlaced, interlocked, and interwoven to form a cage of steel, sealing Im inside.
"Sit tight.
The moment you make a move, the residual energy stored in these weapons will detonate instantly."
"If you're not afraid to die—then I won't mind going up against your masters myself."
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