The audience watching the live broadcast, as well as Red-Haired Shanks standing atop the giant red dragon, were utterly stunned.
"That black-haired, heavy-set bastard who stole Whitebeard's Gura Gura no Mi… he actually stole the Five Elder's Mythical Zoan ability too!"
"What kind of monster is he?! How can his body contain so many Devil Fruit abilities at the same time?!"
"It's terrifying! Souta Kiryuu is a monster! And his subordinates are monsters too!"
…
"Damn you, Teach!!"
Shanks clenched his fist, rage burning behind his eyes. He had always known the man who gave him those three scars was not ordinary.
"Saturn!!"
Peter Saint, still in his colossal Death Sandworm form, stared in disbelief as the comrade he had worked beside for hundreds of years fell before his eyes.
Saint Saturn's presence had vanished entirely. The enormous, tattered ox-demon body faded away.
His human form lay upon the ice, the corpse covered in massive, hideous wounds.
"That demon is finally dead!!"
Bartholomew Kuma had only just finished dragging the gravely wounded Akainu back to the battleship in the sky. Upon returning to the battlefield, he saw the one he hated most finally collapse at the hands of the Kiryuu Pirates. A sharp pulse of vengeance rippled through his heart.
Tears welled in his fierce eyes.
He remembered God Valley, thirty-six years ago. That was the first time he saw Saint Saturn.
The cold eyes, the lofty disdain, and the merciless decree to wipe out the Buccaneer race had terrified him to the point of sobbing as a nine-year-old child.
If not for the sudden attack of the Rocks Pirates, along with Big Mom Charlotte Linlin rampaging for the Azure Dragon Fruit, Kuma would have died there under Saturn's hand.
And ten years ago, it was that same Saturn who transformed Ginny's body, killing her… and leaving Bonney with a terminal illness.
For decades, that undying venomous monster had never changed.
And now, finally, he was dead.
…
"Unforgivable."
A cold, wrath-filled voice rolled from the sky. Imu's anger surged like an endless tide of shadow, swallowing the world into absolute darkness.
Most of the live broadcast screens went black. The Transponder Snails could no longer show any view of the glacial battlefield.
Only one small split screen remained, still showing the chaotic naval and pirate fleet battle out on the sea.
Under the rage of the World King, the darkness engulfed the entire ice field.
Even Kaido and Bullet's battlefield fell under the range of the assault.
Even the Red-Haired Pirates, who were merely observing, were swallowed in the shadow.
"Lord Imu is furious!"
Volcholi Saint, in his massive Boar-Beast Zoan form, trembled as cold sweat ran down his forehead—part fear, part ecstatic fervor.
He had served Imu for countless years. He knew better than anyone how terrifying Imu truly was.
"Didn't Rocks and Roger always claim that Haki is the mightiest power?!
Then why is Imu's Devil Fruit ability so overwhelmingly strong?!"
Kaido's kanabo, wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, shattered arrow after arrow of shadow spears, but disbelief distorted his expression.
Imu's attacks could pierce and disperse even his Conqueror's coating—something that had never happened before.
His Armament and Conqueror's Haki were being devoured at an alarming rate as he was forced to defend with everything he had.
"You dare compare yourself to Lord Imu, you escaped wretch of the lower realm!"
Volcholi Saint sneered. Once Imu burned through Kaido's stamina and Haki, he wouldn't even need to act himself—he could finish Kaido personally.
These lowly beings had killed Saturn Saint. Today, a Yonko must be buried with him.
Elsewhere, the Red Count found himself forced into constant evasions by the endless shadow arrows while dueling Saint Nasujuro.
"That power wrapped around their attacks… that's the mysterious force Souta Kiryuu stole from Isaac? It's even stronger than Conqueror's Coating!"
The Red Count could feel his Haki draining at a terrifying rate.
He immediately broke away and flew toward Souta Kiryuu's position, hoping to coordinate defenses to reduce their losses.
If Imu drained them first, they would simply become targets for the Five Elders to slaughter.
On another part of the battlefield, Bundy Waldo had just reached Bullet's location and was about to join forces to kill Kuzan.
But Imu expanded the assault to the entire ice field.
"For the love of—enough already! If this keeps up, I'm leaving!"
"If I have to, I'll go fight that lunatic Garp instead!"
Shadow arrows rained down like a storm. Even Waldo felt terror.
He was genuinely worried Imu alone could annihilate Souta Kiryuu, Kaido, and the Red Count.
…
Mars Saint, Peter Saint, and Nasujuro Saint retreated, leaving the battlefield to Imu.
The Kiryuu Six Paths were also driven back. Shura Path, even with Green Blood enhancements, had been critically injured.
The Deva and Hell Paths roared with fury, unleashing all their powers to retrieve the wounded Seraphim and pull them back toward Souta Kiryuu.
"As expected of the World King. When he's furious… he's truly terrifying."
Even Souta Kiryuu's expression grew grim. His fists hammered upward, firing blast after blast of Thunder-Flame Dragon Fist strikes into the sky, colliding with storms of shadow spears.
'Shock Break!!'
'Dark Water!!'
Blackbeard Teach stood not far to his flank—right fist releasing shockwaves, left hand generating a vast vortex of darkness to consume the shadow arrows.
But Imu's shadow attacks carried some form of primordial power—far more refined and oppressive than ordinary Devil Fruit abilities.
Even the Darkness-Darkness Fruit, famed for overpowering all others, faltered.
Teach's expression twisted as pain struck him from within.
Imu's assault had forced Blackbeard to suffer internal damage.
"Souta Kiryuu!"
Boa Hancock stood behind him, her brow tense with worry.
She, Teach, the Red Count, and the Kiryuu Six Paths all joined formation behind Souta Kiryuu, forming layered defensive lines, resisting the shadow storm together.
Petrifying arrows, shockwaves, dark vortices, Conqueror-infused slashes…
Falling meteors, gravity pulses, seismic bursts, Homie ice constructs, frozen lion beasts, amplified ice masses, electromagnetic cannons, airborne slashes—
Endless ability barrages clashed with the endless dark spears and arrows streaking from the heavens.
The pitch-black sky erupted with explosions like a festival of fireworks.
Even the viewers watching through the remaining broadcast could see the brilliant collisions in the darkness.
The intense clashes of Conqueror's Haki sent the news-broadcast Transponder Snails collapsing—some fainted with rolled-back eyes, others foamed at the mouth, others fled in blind panic.