In the Noble District of Mary Geoise, countless aristocrats from around the world were screaming and fleeing while towering flames raged behind them. Explosions thundered through the streets one after another, as if hell itself had opened and was devouring the sins of the world.
At the entrance of the street, Fisher Tiger stood atop a fuel barrel, his massive silhouette illuminated by fire. Torch in hand, he let out a wild, manic laugh.
"Ahahahahaha! Die! All of you die! Today is the day you filthy scum face judgment! Feel the hellfire of damnation, you bastards!!!" Tiger roared as he ignited the barrel beneath his feet, then sent it flying with a powerful kick toward a noble's residence across the street.
With a deafening boom, the barrel exploded, engulfing the luxurious mansion in flames. The nobles inside shrieked in terror.
At that moment, Tiger felt the fury that had been suppressed for years finally erupt—released in full. His hatred and resentment toward humanity surged, twisting his thoughts as the blaze pushed him toward madness.
Just then, he suddenly spotted someone—in a corner of the courtyard already being overtaken by flames, a slave chained by heavy iron shackles. Terror filled the boy's eyes as he desperately tried to escape the fire, but the chains held him in place, leaving no room to flee.
It was a human slave, a boy of maybe fourteen or fifteen. And in that unintentional moment, Tiger's gaze met the boy's desperate, despair-filled eyes.
"Human…" A flash of hatred passed through Tiger's eyes. The flames of hatred were already clouding his mind, yet that look of absolute despair pulled him sharply back—to the days when he had been imprisoned here, treated worse than an animal.
In that instant, even though Tiger still harbored deep hatred toward humans, his body moved on its own. He smashed through the courtyard wall with a single charge, rushing straight into the blaze. In a heartbeat he reached the boy, grabbed the iron chain, and with a fierce wrench, snapped the thick chain apart. Without a word, he hoisted the human he despised onto his back and sprinted back out of the fire.
The slave boy finally regained his senses. As Tiger set him down on the street, he looked up, eyes filled with fear but also gratitude. Swallowing nervously, he mustered up the courage to say, "Th-thank you..."
Tiger waved him off. "Run down this street toward the port. There'll be people waiting to get you all out…"
With those words, Tiger no longer looked back at the inferno burning across Mary Geoise. He released his Observation Haki, sweeping through the flames, searching for every slave who still had a chance to be saved.
Tonight's flames were not only burning away the darkness and corruption of Mary Geoise—they were forging a brilliant, towering will within Tiger himself.
The Revolutionary Army wasn't idle either. Their members had already scattered throughout the chaos of the Holy Land, setting controlled fires while freeing enslaved prisoners and directing them toward the port to escape.
Rayleigh, meanwhile, was acting alone. Using the distraction, he slipped into the God's Abode. He carried detailed internal blueprints, and since the structure hadn't changed much over the years, his infiltration went smoothly.
Inside the God's Abode, every Celestial Dragon family had already abandoned their residences, gathering inside the fortress of the God's Knights for protection.
Of course, they wouldn't bring their slaves along. What—have the exalted God's Knights guard slaves?
Was that reasonable? Absolutely not.
Thus, the slaves remained locked inside the Celestial Dragons' estates.
This worked perfectly for Rayleigh. He wasn't here to massacre the Celestial Dragons, so he had no intention of going to the Knights' fortress. With the nobles and guards evacuated, he was free to act without restraint.
Each time he passed a Celestial Dragon residence, he broke in to free a group of slaves. He handed the keys he found to the freed captives, encouraging them to spread out and free as many others as they could. Only together would they have a real chance to fight their way out.
...
Meanwhile, in the luxurious underground prison beneath the Figarland family estate, the three Boa sisters were huddled together, trembling. The explosions and roars from outside made them shrink into themselves, unsure of what to do.
They had no idea what was happening above. But the overwhelming chaos felt dangerously close—close enough to claim their lives—which filled them with fear.
With a clang, the heavy iron door at the end of the dungeon swung open. A figure rushed in from outside. Rayleigh swept his gaze across the rows of cells, then silently began unlocking them one after another, freeing the slaves inside.
By the sixth cell, he immediately recognized the huddled Hancock sisters. Seeing them, he let out a breath of relief.
"Hancock?"
"M-Mr. Rayleigh?" Hancock stared at the man opening her cage, stunned and unsure. Her heart trembled.
She had never met Rayleigh in person, but as the former right hand of the Pirate King, how could she not know who he was?
More importantly, as the Crown Princess of Amazon Lily, Gorlossa had once explained the kingdom's connections to her. Because of that, Hancock knew Rayleigh's ties to Amazon Lily ran deep.
"Yes, it's me, no mistake. You three have suffered long enough. But don't worry—today, you're getting out of this damned place..." Rayleigh stepped forward, unlocked the Seastone shackles from Hancock and her sisters, and smiled.
"What exactly is—"
But Rayleigh waved her off. "Everything can wait until we're safe. This isn't the time. Come on—we still need to rescue as many poor souls like you as we can. Move!"
...
While Rayleigh freed Hancock and the others, elsewhere in the administrative district of the Holy Land, Dragon was leading the Revolutionary Army's elite in a fierce assault on the CP Headquarters.
Since he was already here, Dragon had no intention of limiting himself to freeing slaves. That task could be handled by regular members of the Revolutionary Army. Their elite forces were here for something far more difficult: to take down the CP Headquarters, seize as much intelligence on the organization as possible, and ideally secure something like a list of infiltrators.
Dragon trusted every comrade in the Revolutionary Army, but as a leader, he also understood all too well that the World Government definitely had agents hidden within their ranks. It was simply unavoidable.
Ivankov snapped the neck of a CP operative, glanced at the members already fleeing ahead, and shouted,
"Dragon, they're running!"
"Let them go! Our priority is gathering intel!" Dragon answered without hesitation.
At that moment, a large number of CP members had gathered on the basement level of the headquarters. The CP Chief grabbed Spandine by the shoulder.
"Spandine, you are my most trusted subordinate. Your loyalty has been proven over and over. Our top priority now is reaching the Commander-in-Chief and protecting him. After that, we'll escape through the secret passage. But someone must stay behind to hold off the Revolutionary Army. That responsibility falls to you!"
Spandine was nearly in tears. He bitterly regretted ever coming to the Holy Land today to deliver a gift to the Chief. If he hadn't come, even if this place blew sky-high, it wouldn't involve him at all.
And now the Chief had personally assigned him such a dangerous task—one he couldn't refuse. He knew perfectly well that if he dared to decline, the Chief would snap his neck on the spot, make an example out of him, and send the next unlucky fool to stay behind.
With no other choice, Spandine forced himself to reply,
"Yes, Chief. I understand!"
The Chief patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction.
"That's why you're the one I value most. Don't worry—you'll be credited for this. Once everything's over, I'll transfer you to CP-0 as Operations Division Commander."
With that, the Chief waved his hand and disappeared into the secret passage with a squad of elite CP agents, leaving Spandine with nothing but a batch of brainwashed cannon fodder.
Less than five minutes later, the basement's iron door was blasted open. A striking woman walked down the stairs, a repeating machine gun dangling from her hand.
"Good evening, little rat!" Ginny greeted Spandine and the others with a bright smile.
The brainwashed CP agents felt no fear. As soon as they saw an enemy, they charged straight at her.
Spandine didn't hesitate for a second. He turned and bolted, hiding behind a metal safe.
A burst of rapid gunfire rang out. After several seconds, Ginny called out casually,
"Hey, you hiding back there—you look like a commander. Come out and surrender. Depending on how much intel you give us, we'll treat you well. At the very least, we won't kill you."
Hearing that, Spandine immediately threw up his hands.
"Wait! Wait! Don't kill me! I'm CP-9 Commander Spandine!"
...
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