More than two hours and forty minutes had passed since the battle for God's Island began. With roughly fifteen minutes left until God Enel's "Prediction," almost everyone still standing had converged at the Upper Ruins in the island's center.
There, Ohm was about to unveil the true centerpiece of his Ordeal of Iron—a "White Bramble Deathmatch," a dome of barbed-wire-like Iron Clouds that would seal the area shut, leave no escape, and force everyone inside to fight to the bitter end.
—He was about to.
But his scheme never came to fruition.
Before Ohm could activate his Ordeal, the Upper Ruins themselves—everything he'd built his trial upon—were suddenly pulverized from below by a violent burst of lightning.
Naturally, everyone on the Island Clouds supporting the ruins lost their footing as those clouds vanished. And worse, holes had already opened in the Island Clouds below as well—so they weren't merely falling. They were being drawn down, swallowed through those openings, plunging even deeper.
What they reached was… the former Golden City, concealed beneath Island Clouds—its existence hidden for four hundred years, undiscovered by anyone.
The capital of Shandora. The homeland of the Shandia.
And the one who had invited them down there was—
"Good grief… what are you intending, 'God'? I was under the impression you told us we were free to do whatever we pleased today."
"Yahahahaha… don't be like that, Ohm. I simply found myself impressed. They've survived longer than I expected… and in admiration of that tenacity, I've decided I'll personally deal with them."
"Huh? You just said 'God'… which means—he's the one?"
"Enel… what are you playing at!?"
Waiting for them in Shandora was the supreme commander of God's forces—God Enel.
And along with him, two others had arrived as well—Robin, who had been searching for this place because she had business here… and the one who had made it here simply because he didn't get lost.
Zoro looked unsettled for an instant at the enemy's commander appearing in such an unexpected way—but he recognized the threat immediately. Wyper, face twisted with fury, glared at his hated enemy with raw venom.
Enel paid those stares no mind and continued smoothly.
"Besides, the time for the 'Prediction' draws near. Over twenty of you are still unharmed… it's certainly worthy of praise. But unfortunately for me, it also won't do."
"? The Prediction… if you would explain?"
"It's nothing. A trifle. Just a harmless little game. It began a bit under three hours ago…"
As Enel explained the rules of his so-called Prediction, Ohm accepted it with a calm, "I see," and then, without hesitation, drew his Cloud Sword.
"Then, by your standards, there are simply too many survivors at present. Ten minutes is plenty. We'll reduce them swiftly—until only 'five' remain. I had intended to contain them with the White Bramble Deathmatch… but it seems there's no need."
"Ah, yes," Enel said, amused. "Everyone here has that look. The look of someone who wants nothing more than to kill their sworn enemy."
Not only Wyper and the other Shandia, but Gan Fall as well—none of them seemed to have the slightest intention of running in the face of Enel.
Most of the pirates were the same. Though there were a few who looked like non-combatants—women who plainly wanted to flee, wanted to be saved.
"Well then… let's proceed to the final movement. The head of the enemy you hate is right here. If you want it, come and take it… with death as your resolve. Those who are prepared to understand what a 'God' truly is—step forward first."
---
Elsewhere, Sue and Lupus were racing and soaring across God's Island.
They'd been running under the assumption the decisive battles might already be underway—so when the Upper Ruins in front of them erupted in a flash and collapsed along with the ground itself, both of them flinched hard.
Along with that collapse, every "voice" that had been there shifted downward all at once.
Sue, who remembered what was supposed to happen next in broad strokes, felt a jolt of disbelief—'Isn't that fast!?'—and pushed herself to hurry.
And then—
"…Hm?"
She'd been so distracted by the ruins falling right in front of her that she noticed too late: two presences were closing in at high speed.
The next instant, they appeared—one directly ahead, one overhead.
"You… shall… not go any farther!"
"Meeeeeeh!! Stop, Blue Sea Dweller!"
"!? What is with these guys—huge!? And… round!"
Her first impression was immediate and overwhelming: big. And round.
Both of them had massive, spherical bodies, with arms and legs so thin and small they looked absurdly mismatched—like someone had stuck them on as an afterthought.
In their eyes, as they confronted Sue and Lupus, she could see a feral glint of battle lust and murder… and something like impatience, too.
One of the Four Priests—Forest Satori.
Chief Divine Soldier Yama.
For some reason, both of them were scorched. One barreled in with his whole body; the other launched countless Ball Clouds conjured from a Dial.
"Nu…!? A wolf that speaks… and rabbit ears, at that!? How bizarre…"
"Well, I think your body proportions are way more bizarre, personally."
As Lupus tossed that back, he canceled his transformation and returned to human form, dodging in sync with Sue as they slipped past the incoming assaults.
"! He transformed… a Zoan-type. And that woman over there is flying on wings."
"Both are Ability Users… but that changes nothing! Those who defy God will be erased here!"
The two who should have been retired—or unable to participate—had re-entered the battle and cut off Sue and Lupus's path for a reason.
In simple terms: Enel had prodded them into it.
Just moments earlier, Enel had decided that the collapse of the Upper Ruins marked the start of "Survival," and that only those present there would count as participants. Anyone else would be treated as eliminated—either for withdrawing from the front lines or for losing the will to fight.
Given the plan he had in mind, he'd casually chosen to let the others run if they wanted—'Either way, there's nowhere in this country you can escape and live,' as far as he was concerned.
But when people who were supposed to be "eliminated" started moving toward him again… Enel found it crude, and uninteresting. So he dropped a weaker shock onto Satori and Yama, who had been unconscious, and jolted them awake.
Immediately after, Satori sensed—through Mantra—that a large number of presences had gathered where Enel was… and that someone else was closing in as well.
He still didn't understand the full situation. But if he'd been allowed to wake, there was only one thing to do: eliminate enemies.
Part of him wanted to get revenge on the three Blue Sea Dwellers who'd stained his record… but first, he moved to dispose of the nearest opponents. On the way, he linked up with Yama—who had apparently been awakened the same way—and together they arrived here.
"My mood is foul," Satori snapped. "I have no desire to toy with you like my usual Ordeal. I'll eliminate you quickly, and then I'll go to God."
"What a coincidence," Sue said flatly. "We don't have time to waste on you either… Lupus."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Do it."
One command was enough.
The instant the order fell, a violent smile—something that belonged to a carnivore—curved across Lupus's face. His eyes flew open, and the fangs at the corner of his mouth seemed to catch the light with a malicious gleam.
"Inso—"
He probably meant to say, "Insolent brat!"
But he never finished even that single word.
The next instant, Satori's consciousness was simply… gone.
Satori's body was shaped like a perfect "Ball," fitting for the Ordeal he presided over. Now, it was warped so violently it looked like it might burst.
His body was so round it was hard to even tell where anything was—until Lupus's flying kick drove cleanly, precisely, deep into the spot that could only be his solar plexus.
A sphere that didn't seem like it had any room to deform was forced into it anyway—folded, twisted, bent into a crude 'く' shape.
"O… gh…!?"
Even accounting for the way he'd lost his composure, Satori had been hit too fast for Mantra's forewarning to keep up. His awareness had already been harvested.
And then came the follow-up—a barrage too quick to track.
He was kicked like a soccer ball.
He slammed into a tree, rebounded, and Lupus leapt after him—spiking him down like a volleyball strike.
Before he could even gather himself, Lupus caught him by the head and hurled him like a handball, snapping thick branches as he flew.
When he finally stopped against a huge trunk, Lupus was there again—dribbling him into the ground over and over and over and over, like a basketball.
"Ahahahaha! What a lousy bounce… right?!"
Still laughing from the gut, Lupus wrapped both arms around Satori, lifted him high, lunged forward—and slammed him into the earth.
Like a basketball dunk. Or a rugby try.
The impact kicked up a tremor, leaving behind a small crater. Satori crumpled, dented and motionless—like an old, worn-out ball that had finally gone flat.
"N-no way… one of the Four Priests, beaten this easily…!?"
Satori was known for being a clown most days, but Yama knew his strength was real—worthy of the title of Priest. The sight before him wasn't merely one-sided.
It barely qualified as a fight.
But he forced himself to move. Hesitation here would mean death.
He drew his weapon from his cloak—ten Axe Dials bound together—and with quick, acrobatic movement that didn't suit his huge frame at all, he charged Lupus.
"Take this—ten consecutive Axe Slashes!! 'Axe Mountain'!!"
A technique that combined the crushing impact of Yama's massive charge with the storm of slashes unleashed by ten Axe Dials at once.
Lupus took it head-on, bracing with both hands.
Yama grinned, as if to say, Fool.
His frame was absurdly heavy, and his power was enough to kick back speeding iron balls. For most opponents, the collision alone would be fatal—though against this maid's physical capabilities, stopping his charge wasn't unthinkable.
But no one could simply endure a blizzard of slashes from ten Axe Dials.
Yama was certain this was victory—if not the finish, then the decisive blow that would lead to it—
—Don.
"Nuguooh?!"
At the moment the attacks should have landed, his entire body was blown backward as if he'd been repelled.
Not only had his charge been stopped dead; he was the one who took the damage, flung back by his own momentum. Lupus hadn't moved a single step.
And worse—there was no damage at all from the activated Axe Dials. Not a scratch. Not even a fray in his clothing.
Armament Haki—defensive, and yet capable of turning into offense. One of its advanced techniques: Repelling Armament Haki.
Yama had never even heard of such a thing. To him, it could only look like something incomprehensible.
But he wasn't given time to sort it out.
"That's a lukewarm slash," Lupus said, voice dropping into something sharper. "Slashing… tearing… this is how you do it…!!"
As he spoke, Lupus's body changed again—fur spreading, covering him.
A humanoid wolf.
And just like before, those rabbit ears grew from his head—an eerie, uncanny Hybrid Form.
He still carried a feminine, supple silhouette, but the shape beneath it was unmistakable: a carnivore's tightened, powerful muscle. Lupus bared his fangs, his eyes glittering.
The wildness in those eyes—pure, predatory—sent a chill through Yama's spine. For a fraction of a second, he saw it: himself being ripped apart by those fangs and claws.
…and half a second later, it became reality.
Before he could react—before he could even understand what was happening—a storm of claw strikes tore into his massive body.
The ferocity was beyond anything ten—no, even twenty Axe Dials could ever match. Yama watched, horrified, as blood erupted across his entire frame. The pain came a heartbeat later, and with it the certainty of defeat.
The last thing he saw before the dark took him was the beast-woman—claws dripping, laughing as she looked down at him.
It was a sight he likely wouldn't be able to forget for the rest of his life.
"Well, that's disappointing," Lupus said, cackling. "With a body that round, I thought if I smashed you hard enough—or tore you up enough—you'd pop! A—HAHAHAHAHAHA…! Ah—Miss, I'm done."
"Good work, Lupus. All right. Let's go."
---
In Shandora—where the battlefield had shifted from the Upper Ruins—
What unfolded there was brutal.
First, the giant serpent, the so-called Master of the Sky, slithered around in confusion—crying, for some reason—until Enel, irritated, struck it down in a single massive lightning blast.
That was the opening shot.
As if it were a signal, fighting erupted all across Shandora. Shandia and Divine Soldiers clashed, intermingled, and fell.
Leona's help throughout the island-wide conflict meant more Shandia had survived than in the original story. But consumed by hatred for Enel, they challenged him again and again—and were swatted aside without even getting close. One by one, they went down.
Wyper and Gan Fall charged him as well.
They were handled just as easily.
Zoro, struggling against Ohm's tricky style with the Iron Cloud sword, finally defeated him with a full-powered flying slash—108 Pound Phoenix.
And among those remaining, while Robin guarded Nami and Aisa—both lacking real combat ability—
"Don't come over here, you dog!"
"WAAAN!?"
Holy, the giant dog, lunged for them—only to swing a fist in a way no dog should be able to. Leona kicked him back and forced him to retreat.
She wasn't in her normal girl's form anymore, nor the gigantic lion from earlier.
She stood between them—her Hybrid Form.
"So she's a lion Zoan-type," Robin murmured. "The color's a bit strange, though. Maybe not a normal lion."
"…Aisa," Nami asked, eyes fixed on Leona. "That's your big sister, right? Do you know anything about her ability?"
"Huh!? Uh… no, not really. Because… stuff happened, and Leona didn't want to use it in public—or maybe she couldn't. Even if she did, I don't think I'd have understood much."
She lowered her voice, then suddenly seemed to notice something.
"Wait… hasn't her shape changed since the last time I saw her?"
"Shape?"
"…Come to think of it," Robin said, gaze sharpening, "for a Hybrid Form, her transformation is… unusual."
Aisa's quiet observation had been right.
One of the transformation states of a Zoan-type Devil Fruit—the Hybrid Form—is meant to be a blend of human and beast. In most cases, the face becomes a "middle ground" as well.
For example: Chaka, whom Robin had encountered in Alabasta—back when she was still Miss All Sunday.
His Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Jackal transformation turned the upper half of his face distinctly jackal-like, his nose extending forward into a canine muzzle. His overall appearance became clearly beastly.
The same was true of other Zoan-types—Miss Merry Christmas's Mole-Mole Fruit, or Pell's Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Falcon. In Hybrid Form, the face changes along with the body.
But Leona, as she stood now…
Put bluntly, she looked like a girl wearing a cat costume.
Her face was completely human. Cat ears perched on her head, a tail sprouted near her waist, and her hands and feet had become furry, paw-padded limbs. Her hair also looked fuller—perhaps like a lion's mane.
…And that was it.
The fur and texture were real enough, but plenty of people might look at this and assume it was fashion—not a Zoan ability at all.
"I know this is a terrible moment," Nami said, half in disbelief, "but… what kind of transformation is that? And also—your big sister is kind of cute."
"No, I mean…" Aisa frowned, confused. "Back then her transformation wasn't like that. It was more like… a proper 'human-lion' kind of transformation. Why is it like this now?"
"…It's a rare case," Robin said quietly. "Maybe something happened during the years she was away from Shandia."
"But can a Devil Fruit even do that?" Aisa pressed. "Can your transformation… change?"
"Apparently it's not impossible, depending on mastery," Robin said. "Even so… the direction she took is rather unique."
'I can hear you perfectly fine, you know…!'
Fighting Holy, Leona let out a silent sigh as her adoptive sisters' conversation carried clearly over the battlefield.
Aisa was right. Back when Leona lived in Shandia—and even shortly after, when Sue had first picked her up—her transformation had been a fairly standard beast-human hybrid.
Like taking a human and a lion, averaging them, and keeping a human-based bipedal skeleton.
The reason it had ended up like this now came down to one thing: a shift in Leona's own perception—her mental image of herself.
Zoan-type Powers have a particular trait: depending on the Ability User's awareness and imagination, they can alter their form and "how they are" to a surprising extent.
Even things that should be absurd—'That animal doesn't have that ability!'—can still happen. There are plenty of cases like that.
Those cases are especially common among a certain pirate crew in the New World, but that isn't the point right now.
So what was the decisive cause—what had pushed Leona's once "normal" transformation into this shape?
The answer was her sister. Her stepsister.
But not the Aisa she was watching now.
A different stepsister—the one who had come to exist only after falling into the Blue Sea, losing her memories, and being taken in by Sue…
"Look, Leona! This form is how girls can combine their beast power and girl power to unleash their full potential! Cat ears! Cat tail! Paw pads!"
"Seriously? I've never heard of anything like that."
"It's true! And look—this book was written by Mom herself! It says it right here. There's no way it's wrong! Mom loves this form too!"
"Huh!? R-really? Well, if that's the case… all right. I'll try my best!"
"Yeah, go for it, Leona! —You're so easy. '
That was the other stepsister—desire itself given a voice.
'Looking back, I really got talked into it… but hey, Mama actually called me "cute," so I don't regret it at all. Still. It's kind of amazing what you can do if you actually try. Are Devil Fruit powers more… vague than I thought? Or is it because I'm a Mythical Zoan type? …Eh, whatever.'
Even as those thoughts drifted through her, Leona parried Holy's barrage—punches no dog should be throwing—with her own fists.
Then—
"Leona, behind you! Watch out!"
Aisa's panicked voice rang out, and at the same time, a Divine Soldier burst from behind a building, palm extended, charging straight at her.
It came from a blind spot even Robin hadn't noticed, and it was faster than she could react to defend Leona with her powers.
But the Axe Dial strike that should have ripped into Leona's unguarded back—
Zubaan!
—failed to leave so much as a scratch.
Not even a red mark.
"…Huh? That just…?"
While the Divine Soldier, who'd expected blood to erupt from Leona's small body, froze in confusion, Leona turned. With a pawed hand, she grabbed his face—
"That tickles!"
"Gobeaah?!"
—and slammed him into the cobblestones, knocking him out in a single blow.
At the same time, Holy pounced again. This time he bared his fangs and bit down—but his teeth still couldn't pierce Leona's arm as she blocked.
He couldn't even break through the surface of her skin. Leona watched, perfectly calm.
"My fangs… can't penetrate!? And that cutting Dial earlier…?"
"Even for a Zoan-type," Robin said under her breath, "that durability is exceptional…"
Holy had no time to recover from that shock.
Still clamped onto Leona, he couldn't break free as she seized his upper and lower jaws and began prying them open by force.
No matter how he thrashed, he couldn't shake her grip.
He hammered her with punches from his front paws again and again—yet it did nothing.
Keeping her hold on his face, Leona lifted Holy's massive body and began spinning him in a wide circle.
Faster. Faster.
Centrifugal force pinned Holy helpless as he was swung around—and when the rotation peaked—
"UOOOORRRYAAAAAA!!"
With a roar far too ferocious to be coming from a girl, Leona wrenched the horizontal spin into a vertical slam and drove Holy into the cobblestones.
The impact was so violent Holy couldn't even scream—he only writhed, soundless.
Even then, driven by the urge to eliminate his master's enemy, Holy tried to bare his fangs again through the agony—
—and Leona leapt.
Moonwalk carried her higher and higher until she reached the Island Cloud above. She landed on it facing upward for an instant, then kicked off with explosive force and dove.
She turned her body into a bullet.
A meteor.
Her impact struck Holy dead-on, and he went limp without even managing a final howl.
He was likely only unconscious—but the giant dog didn't twitch.
Leona hopped down from his motionless body and brushed the dust from her clothes.
When she turned, she found Aisa and Nami staring at her, completely stunned.
Robin stood beside them—calmer than the other two, eyes steady, as if she alone had fully processed what she'd just witnessed.
Leona gave them a quick thumbs-up—safe, victorious—then forced herself to remember what mattered.
There was still an enemy she couldn't afford to underestimate.
All Divine Soldiers were down. Priest Ohm was down. Holy was down.
God's forces had only one left.
The time of the Prediction was nearly upon them—less than five minutes remained.
And yet Enel's ease never cracked.
It was simply the result of overwhelming power.
"Yahahahaha… how pitiful. I told you, didn't I? You creatures who never leave the realm of humans… defeating a God like me was never possible in the first place."
With only one enemy remaining, Wyper and the Shandia warriors, Sky Knight Gan Fall, and Zoro all challenged Enel—only to be struck down again and again by his lightning.
Leona had noticed Enel glancing away several times during the fight, but even those moments could not become openings for a man whose body was lightning itself.
Their attacks didn't work. Enel could freely transform into lightning, and instead of harming him, they only ended up electrocuting themselves.
Gan Fall, hardened by countless battles, flew into a fury when he heard of Enel's goal—"Divine Return"—and that he had executed the captured God's Guard, the very "God's Guard" who had once been Gan Fall's subordinates.
He was crushed in return, sent down hard.
Only once did Wyper commit to a desperate, all-or-nothing charge.
Using Sea Stone hidden inside his Shooter, he sealed Enel's power and landed a direct hit with a Reject Dial.
Even that wasn't enough.
Enel revived himself by massaging his own heart with electricity.
Before long, the ones barely still standing were Zoro, Nami, Wyper, Robin, Aisa, and Leona—six in total. With Enel himself, that made seven.
Everyone on their side was battered to the brink. Enel, by contrast, remained utterly composed.
Of those still able to move, only Robin and Leona looked like they could fight at all—but Leona, who knew what Haki was, understood exactly why it didn't matter.
They couldn't land a decisive blow on Enel themselves.
In other words… on this battlefield, defeating the Logia-type Enel was impossible.
"Well, it's nearly been three hours," Enel mused. "Still too many of you left… now, who should I cut down next? And… I also need to dispose of those who withdrew from the game, only to brazenly seek to return… hmm?"
Defeating him… was supposed to be impossible.
"What the hell are you doing… to my friends?"
To be continued...