"There's no rush."
Genichi said calmly, "The Nine-Tails still needs time to revive. Don't think you can calm its hatred. To prove this, we'll be striking your so-called holy land—Mary Geoise."
"What?!" Garp's eyes went wide. These lunatics wanted to attack Mary Geoise again?!
"You think I'll just let you do that?!" Garp leapt into the air and threw a punch, his fist wrapped in powerful Haki. But the Nine-Tails in the sky had no real body, and Zero too was like a ghost. His punch went straight through without landing any hit!
"It's not about whether you allow it or not…"
Genichi and the Nine-Tails still stood in place. After Garp passed through, Genichi simply turned around. Even with the mask, his mocking expression could almost be seen.
"It's that we've already done it."
"Well then, though I'd like to say more, looks like your allies are almost here." Genichi stood up from the Nine-Tails' head, watching Garp ready another attack. "Don't think you can control the Nine-Tails' body, not even a piece of it. But… once hatred and pain take over, you may just become the new Nine-Tails."
His figure slowly faded. Garp roared, "Stop! Zero! You still haven't answered me—who are you people?!"
"Keep guessing…"
Genichi chuckled. "We are fear, because we are unseen."
The next instant, the whole world cracked apart. Reality and illusion shattered together, and Garp suddenly woke up, sitting upright in bed and gasping for breath.
"Garp, what happened?!" Sengoku, who had been by his side, rushed to ask as soon as he saw him wake.
Garp was about to answer but froze.
From above—from the skies over Red Port—a massive thunderous boom suddenly rang out!
Boom!
The ground shook. Even beneath the Red Line, they could feel the force from the holy land of Mary Geoise above.
Someone…
Attacked the Holy Land Mary Geoise?!
"The Nine-Tails?!"
Garp and Sengoku almost got the answer at the same time, and both blurted out those three words together. They exchanged looks, and each saw shock in the other's eyes.
"Talk on the way! Stop the Nine-Tails first!"
......
At Mary Geoise, bright stars glittered in the sky, pushing away a bit of the darkness hanging over this shadowed city.
After the normal residents and the Celestial Dragons fell asleep in the Holy Land, a large number of slaves were released from their cages to repair the massive city.
In the area that had been destroyed earlier by the Nine-Tails, many guards and the Celestial Dragons' underlings were cracking their whips, forcing the slaves to rebuild the ruined sections.
That one Tailed Beast Bomb from the Nine-Tails, even from far away, had terrifying power. But even so, in the hands of those sleepless slaves, more than half of the destroyed area had already been rebuilt.
And now, they were still being forced to work under threats from CP agents or guards, with no rest at all…
But in this moment, they were about to stop working as they wished—and it would be forever.
Not far from the rebuilding site, a dark crack suddenly appeared.
Then…
A bright crimson light burst out!
In an instant, an enormous energy formed in the darkness. The next moment, it turned into a raging red beam that roared toward the area. Everything along its path was swept away by the storm of force it unleashed, before slamming into the newly built structures.
Boom!
Although it wasn't as strong as the previous Tailed Beast Bomb the Nine-Tails had fired, this time it was much closer, so the explosion was extremely powerful. In just a moment, countless slave workers and whip-wielding guards were swallowed up.
A huge mushroom cloud rose once again over the Holy Land. The sudden shockwave and deafening blast shook all of Mary Geoise. People could hardly believe it—how long had it been since the Sabaody Archipelago incident? The world's safest place, the Holy Land, was being attacked and destroyed again?!
And right after the first beam, another one shot out of the dark crack. But this time, it wasn't aimed at the ruins—it was heading straight for…
…the deepest part of Mary Geoise, where the Celestial Dragons lived!
Boom!
Another massive explosion and blinding flash tore through the city. The intense heat and force crushed countless buildings. Many Celestial Dragons were burned alive in their sleep. At the same time, soldiers began flooding the Holy Land—CP0 agents and the so-called "God's Warriors," the deepest line of defense.
Inside the dark space of the sub-dimension, Genichi, who had used the Nine-Tails' power to transform into a Tailed Beast form, stopped firing Tailed Beast Bombs. Two shots were likely his limit anyway, and he knew one thing for sure: the entire Mary Geoise was covered in surveillance. His position was already exposed after those two shots. Time to get out.
After all, this was still the World Government's Holy Land, home of the Five Elders—the highest authority. Who knew what kind of powerhouses were here? There could be someone with a space-related Devil Fruit, or other troublesome people.
His goal this time was achieved. Two blasts of Tailed Beast Bombs were enough to reignite the fading news, and also gave Sengoku and Garp something like a prophetic dream. Especially Sengoku—Genichi wanted to show up as a "new figure" so that later he could earn the Marines' positive emotions.
After all, "Zero" was set up as an enemy of the World Government, someone who wanted to destroy order, mainly to harvest negative emotions from the Marines and positive ones from pirates. To keep the balance, there had to be a person who could collect positive emotions from Marines and negative ones from pirates.
By now, Mary Geoise was in complete chaos. More and more people woke up from sleep. The sounds of soldiers' boots and people shouting filled the air as the entire Holy Land went on full lockdown. Nobody could leave.
But that kind of lockdown couldn't stop Genichi, because he was in a space dimension. A physical blockade meant nothing to someone who could move through space.
By the time people checked the cameras and realized that strange energy came from a space rift, Genichi had already left Mary Geoise and was heading toward the New World with Toguro.