From afar, a colossal sphere of stone hung over the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
Lightning split the clouds. Wind and rain raked the sky.
It looked like the end of the world.
Rakuya lifted his hand, eyes cold.
Momousagi stared up at the sphere, color draining from her face.
That world-sized boulder hung at his command, a thousand meters across and still growing, yet it did not drop an inch.
One man held a planet-cracking weight in his palm.
Just how terrifying was his power?
"Rakuya, is this you going all out?" The resolve in Momousagi's heart surged like a stormy sea, yet she could not help asking.
"All out? This is just the appetizer."
A faint smile. Then Rakuya drove his will down.
"Gravity, times one thousand."
His fingertip flicked, as if issuing a quiet order.
The sphere hanging three thousand meters above the Holy Land obeyed.
It fell.
A thousandfold pull accelerated the descent. The stone roared earthward like a meteor torn from the heavens.
Flames sheathed it as it punched through the air.
From below, the scarlet glow traced an unmistakable emblem across the surface, a red cloud burning so bright it looked wet with blood. It mirrored the sigil on Rakuya's cloak.
Across the world, pirates and civilians alike lifted their eyes to transponder-snail broadcasts. Every giant screen locked onto the same apocalyptic sight.
Within the thunderheads, lightning flared, winds howled, and through that storm the blazing red cloud meteor screamed toward the World Government.
A provocation.
A challenge.
A crushing judgment.
On the Sabaody Archipelago, all work stopped. Faces turned east. People stood in place, stunned, watching the sky burn.
Friction painted the falling mass a molten red. Against the black canopy of storm, it was impossible to look away.
"What is that?"
"A meteor. A meteor that big?"
"Is the sky falling?"
"Look at the feed. There are figures up there."
Cameras pushed in. The meteor swelled, closer and closer, until two figures standing in the air above it filled every screen.
Somehow the image stayed razor-sharp even magnified a thousandfold.
Two silhouettes appeared on tens of thousands of displays.
A tall man with wind-tossed hair, a black cloak patterned with crimson clouds snapping around him.
At his side, a lithe woman with long hair, wrapped in the same cloak.
Only their faces remained indistinct, no matter how far the image zoomed.
Even through the glass, the man's cold, indifferent presence pressed against the world.
Lightning hammered the sky around them. They did not flinch.
"Is that still a human being?"
"What kind of monster is that? And the emblem on his cloak matches the mark on the meteor."
"Did he call that thing down?"
"It is a thousand meters across. Who could move it?"
"He stands in lightning as if it were rain. Not a man. A god."
A god?
In the New World, the Whitebeard Pirates, the Roger Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Beasts Pirates fought for their ships as sea tornados rose three hundred meters high and tried to swallow them whole.
At Marineford, even Kong and Garp felt a chill watching the feed. The vice admirals who had seen less of the world could only gape in fear.
Akainu could call down a Meteor Volcano.
Compared to the burning mountain in the sky, Meteor Volcano looked like sparks from a campfire.
"Fle… Fleet Admiral, what is that?" Onigumo swallowed hard.
"How should I know? Damn it, what is happening? Why is a stone that size over the Holy Land, and who could do this?"
"Who has that power? Who dares to challenge the Five Elders to their faces?"
"Where are the Five Elders? They are the strongest shields of the World Government. Will they watch the Holy Land be destroyed and the world thrown into chaos?"
"That power is terrifying. Is a human doing this? Who is he?"
In Mary Geoise itself, the Celestial Dragon families poured into the streets. They craned their necks to see the mountain in the sky, and panic exploded. Some simply lost control and wet themselves.
Slaves, stewards, servants, nobles, all ran in blind terror.
In the most opulent hall, even the Five Elders wore a look they had not shown in centuries.
"Damn it. What is that?"
"It is those two. The instant we sensed them, he shot into the sky and forged that meteor."
"What do we do? Can we stop it?"
"Barely. Unless we die once."
"Die once? If it stops that thing, die ten thousand times. Our bodies do not stay dead."
"Protect the Celestial Dragons. Not one can be lost."
As one, they flashed from the hall, rising over the Holy Land. White hair whipped in the gale. For once, composure cracked.
It was fear. Not of death, but of pain that even an undying body could not forget.
"Now."
Five voices. Five beams of prismatic power roared from five outstretched arms, merging into a pillar that speared up toward the falling star.
High above Mary Geoise, three thousand meters up, Rakuya hovered with hair flying and eyes like ice. Lightning danced behind him. Wind tore at his cloak.
He faced the world and spoke, calm and clear.
"I am Flowing Cloud. Today, I erase the Holy Land."
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