The instant Saint Garling fell, the remaining four Elders felt their nerves tighten.
Too fast.
It had been a blink, the kind of defeat that didn't even leave time for anger to settle. If this new Elder couldn't last until Imu finished killing Brook, then what would happen next?
They would be standing on the edge of the abyss, with no room left to retreat.
"Five Elders, we are coming!"
Two figures rushed in with Moonwalk, cutting through the chaos at full speed. But they didn't head toward the girl who had just been impaled by Shiki's twin blades. They didn't even glance at her.
Instead, they went straight for Saturn, the curly haired Elder, the one being besieged by three Hell Kings.
That single choice made Garling's despair deepen into something hollow. Even now, no one came for her. She was truly finished.
The arrivals were Kong, the Navy Fleet Admiral, and Sagon, a Navy Admiral and Holy Knight. They didn't recognize the new Elder in her transformed state, they only saw Saturn being beaten into the ground by three monsters.
Shiki threw his head back and roared with laughter.
"Jihahaha! The first Hell King to bring down an Elder was me, me, Shiki! I'm the head of the Six Hell Kings!"
The captain of the Hell Pirates' First Division looked like a man who had finally ripped chains off his own throat.
For years, pressure had sat on him like a mountain. Kaido had surpassed him. Newgate's crew had grown terrifying. Linlin and Redfield were both slightly stronger than him in personal strength. Shiki could feel it, and it ate at him.
But now, he had something no one could take away.
He didn't spare a second for the girl's pitiful expression.
Oto and Kogarashi came free with a wet pull, and Shiki swung without hesitation, cutting off Garling's arms as if he were pruning dead branches.
"Sea stone, now," Shiki ordered, a cruel grin tugging at his mouth as he lit a cigar. He inhaled deep, then blew out a neat ring of smoke. "Don't let her die. The Word Spirit Fruit is too valuable to waste."
A Seraphim built for pure physical combat stepped in, snapping seastone chains into place. Cold cuffs locked around Garling's neck and ankles, sealing her strength and forcing her into helpless stillness.
Captured.
Shiki didn't look back again.
He shot toward the larger melee in a blur, because a fight like that was never complete without the Head of the Six Hell Kings.
Nearby, Wang Zhi watched the newcomer Sagon with a strange, crooked smile.
To be honest, when Brook had first assigned him the assassination mission, Wang Zhi had refused. He was a great swordsman, proud and upright. How could he stoop to such a filthy ambush?
But now?
Now it tasted sweet.
So this was how it felt. Once you started, it was hard to stop.
Seeing those towering enemies turned into pitiful girls, unable to move, unable to resist, Wang Zhi's smile twisted further, growing sharper and more unsettling.
"Girl Kong. Girl Sagon. Here I come," Wang Zhi murmured, voice almost pleased. "It'd be perfect if those two bastards Garp and Sengoku showed up too."
He led his Seraphim Team forward, drifting across the battlefield like a pack of patient predators. Step by step, they angled toward the seven man brawl.
In Wang Zhi's eyes, Sagon wasn't even qualified to stand in a war at this level. His team could kill Sagon cleanly, and Wang Zhi didn't think he was inferior to any so called Navy Admiral.
So he decided.
Send this one to hell first.
··
Kong, Sagon, and Shiki crashed into the melee one after another, turning the battlefield into a storm of bodies, blades, and clashing Haki.
Four Hell Kings moved with a single intent, surround Saturn and kill him.
Kong and Sagon had only one option, throw themselves into the grinder and protect their leader with everything they had.
The situation teetered on a knife edge.
Then the sky split with a new disaster.
A massive figure was knocked out of the air and slammed into Mary Geoise, the impact detonating with a violent explosion that sent debris and shockwaves rolling through the Holy Land. Above, another godlike presence unleashed continuous waves of destructive attacks, each one meant to erase its opponent completely.
Mary Geoise began to quake like it was breaking apart.
"Brother Brook!"
Linlin's face tightened with panic when she saw who had been driven into the ground.
It was Brook.
But Linlin didn't even get to move. Saturn's fist caught her in the chaos, blasting her away and forcing her back with sheer impact.
Brook fought to steady himself, forcing his arms up as he endured Imu's terrifying barrage. His eyes were sharp, but there was confusion in them, too.
"Ah, what is this?" Brook snarled, breath ragged. "Is this your ability, or is someone interfering with me?"
Just moments ago, his powers had tangled.
Two Devil Fruit abilities had fired in confusion, clashing inside him instead of flowing cleanly. The result was disastrous, his output weakened, his attack power dropping at the worst possible time.
Imu seized that opening without mercy.
An endless killing combo followed, strike after strike, leaving Brook no space to counter, no room to breathe.
Imu didn't answer. He didn't need to.
He simply kept attacking, pushing for the execution, because the pawn he had cultivated had finally become useful.
In a clash between monsters, even a hairline mistake could decide life and death.
After Brook entered the Hell God form, Jin, the curse placed on him by the Curse Fruit user known as the Flower Goddess had mostly become ineffective. But some ordinary curses still managed to bite.
The white haired, fanged Jin form began to fade.
In its place, a different god emerged, black haired, with completely black eyes that looked like bottomless pits.
Brook shifted into the slightly weaker form of the Dark God, Ers.
Even as he endured and devoured Imu's destructive assaults, Brook forced dark power through his body, mixing it with the suffocating aura that restrained Devil Fruit abilities. He pushed it outward again and again, trying to purge the strange effects clinging to him.
Far away, inside the Flower Room of Pangu City, an old man with white hair and deep wrinkles suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Then he died on the spot.
He had cursed an enemy vastly stronger than himself, and he had paid with his life to buy Imu a chance to win.
"Ah, what a pity," an old man shaped like a scarecrow muttered as he stared at the corpse of the guardian knight, Shin. Regret was the only thing in his voice. "I didn't get Brook's blood, so my ability couldn't curse him. Still, I'll give everything for Master Imu."
"Then curse Stussy," a middle aged man covered in mysterious tattoos said in a dull, lifeless tone. "CP has her blood sample."
"Humph." The scarecrow old man snorted. "Why would I throw my life away for a small fry like that? If I'm sacrificing myself, it should be for someone worthy. At least someone at the level of Hell Kings."
His eyes narrowed, still waiting.
If someone brought back Brook's blood, or the blood of the Six Hell Kings, then he would gladly trade his life for Imu's victory in a one for one exchange.
"Then it's my turn," another old man declared.
He wore a gray robe and held a glowing golden scale. His left eye was dead and useless, but his right eye burned with fanatic devotion.
"For Master Imu. For the World Government."
These mysterious people, shadows that had existed for the Sun God Nika, had never imagined they would be offering their faith to a god ahead of time.
"Aaah!"
"The Secret of the Balance, Absolute Fairness!"
The old man dug out his own right eye.
Then he severed his left arm.
He placed both onto the golden scale.
And the scale did not tip.
It did not fall to either side, as if something unseen, something of equal value, had already been placed against his sacrifice.
------------
Brook suddenly fell into a disadvantage, and Linlin's face went white.
She seized the instant Saturn's attack forced her back, then broke away from the battlefield and charged straight toward the sky, throwing herself into Imu's killing zone to disrupt the pressure on Brook.
Redfield reacted just as fast. His body turned into lightning as he shot over to strike Imu head on, and in doing so, he dragged Peter, the blond Elder, into the chaos as well. In a heartbeat, another violent melee ignited in the air.
Brook hadn't even had time to savor the victory of capturing the newly promoted Elder, Saint Garling, before he was smashed into the ground and pummeled by Imu.
Stussy and Shakky shouted at the same time, their voices cutting through the battlefield. They immediately called World, Chinjao, and the Seven Impermanences back, ordering them to deal with Kong and Sagon together.
"Shiki, go help Linlin too," Shakky barked, taking command like the big sister she was. "Leave this to us."
Wang Zhi and the Seraphim team moved with her orders, stepping in directly to block Admiral Sagon and claim him as their opponent.
Meanwhile, Kaido and Oden stayed locked on Saturn. They had to bring the old man down, fast. Under the siege, Saturn's stamina was bleeding away at a visible pace.
Shakky and Stussy led the interception against Kong, and the Navy Fleet Admiral was instantly buried under a storm of attackers, World, Chinjao, Mihawk, Hiruba, Jennifer, Doji, and more.
Even if Kong was stronger than any one of them, he couldn't fight that many bare handed without being pushed back. Still, his top tier Armament Haki was terrifying. Even while being hammered from every angle, he held his ground like an iron fortress.
As the Hell Kings erupted one after another, Roger made a decision.
He pulled a pure gold ring from his finger and activated the secret technique of the D clan, forcing himself into his strongest state.
Even if it devoured the last scraps of his life force, he would help the Universal Government win this war.
He had already stolen a few extra years from fate. He had seen his son, Ace, born. He had watched the boy learn to walk, learn to speak. That was enough to make him grateful.
So he absolutely could not allow the Universal Government to be crushed by Imu, leaving his wife and child without the stable life they had finally gained.
"Roger!"
Seeing Roger's skin turn red as steam rolled off his body, Rayleigh also forced everything out. Power exploded from him, and his entire frame was wrapped in red lightning as his Haki surged to an extreme.
They had one path.
Kill the enemy quickly.
Only then could Roger preserve what little time he had left, and use the pure gold ring to prolong his life again.
Under their outburst, Mars was beaten back immediately. The long haired Elder's upper suit was already ripped to shreds, and Roger's supreme blade, Ace, had even cut his beard in half.
"Ahahaha!" Roger laughed, wild and exhilarated, like a man who had finally remembered what it meant to live. "That feels incredible! Rayleigh, my survival depends on you!"
Roger hadn't had a real fight in years. Now he vented every ounce of violence in his bones without restraint. His stamina was no worse than Newgate's, and his Conqueror's pressure was even heavier.
Newgate needed the Tremor Tremor Fruit to compete with Roger.
Roger and Rayleigh, old partners who knew each other down to breathing rhythm, unleashed everything. Roger fought for his life, and Rayleigh fought to end this quickly, because saving Roger meant killing Mars.
"Divine Departure!"
Roger roared as he swung. The force was so monstrous that even the supreme blade Ace bent slightly under the speed and weight of his strike.
Rayleigh raised his Haki higher and higher until even his beloved golden glasses shattered. A crack ran along his sword, but he didn't hesitate.
"One Sword Style, Heaven Slaying God!"
He swung with absolute extremity.
That slash carried everything, friendship, loyalty, and the kind of love only brothers in arms could hold.
"I will never let Roger die!"
Their killing intent condensed into a crushing field, so heavy it even suppressed Mars's three types of Haki. He couldn't dodge at all. He could only grit his teeth and take it head on.
Clang. Clang.
Roger's blade struck from one side, Rayleigh's from the other, both chopping into Mars's pitch black arms. For a few seconds, the hardened Armament held.
Then the red lightning broke through.
Steel bit bone.
Conqueror's pressure raged outward, red arcs splashing through the air, their hair pressed flat to their scalps by the savage wind. Ripples spread in rings from the collision point, and the violent vibration carved cracks through the space around them.
"Wugh!"
Under the endless pressure, Mars finally spat blood, along with pieces of his insides. The next instant, he was blasted down into Mary Geoise on the Red Line, his life and death uncertain.
Roger's face went pale at once. White streaks spread through his black hair, but his eyes remained fanatical.
"Bastard," Rayleigh snarled, "are you dead?"
He moved fast.
Rayleigh pulled out his own pure gold ring and forced it onto Roger's hand, then found another ring on Roger and slid it onto his other hand.
"Leave the rest to me," Rayleigh said, voice rough. "Go back to the ship and rest. Rouge and Ace are still waiting for you."
Roger's arms still trembled. His hair had turned even paler. Looking at him like this, Rayleigh's nose suddenly burned, as if something inside him was about to break.
The captain who once stood invincible over the seas had finally bowed to sickness and time.
"Haa… haa…" Roger exhaled, then laughed softly, almost satisfied. "That felt so good. I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going back to take care of my son."
The fanatic blaze in his eyes faded, replaced by something calmer. A little regret, but more acceptance.
He might no longer be able to throw himself into battles like this.
But he could raise Ace in peace.
With another Elder knocked down, Kaido was completely ignited. He entered a desperate state, forcing Oden to draw out his own potential and fight like a man staking everything.
They had attacked again and again, yet still hadn't captured a single Elder. It was almost embarrassing to admit.
On another front, Warcury and Newgate were still locked in hand to hand combat, like two armored tanks smashing into each other. Newgate's Tremor Tremor power did nothing against Warcury, leaving him only his three types of Haki to clash with the bald Elder.
In that one on one duel, neither man had overwhelming strength. They could only grind time away, blow for blow.
Above it all, it remained a life and death duel between Brook and Imu, now with Shiki's interference, and Linlin and Redfield forcing openings wherever they could.
Brook finally broke free from Imu's continuous barrage. He shed the Dark God Ers form and surged back into his strongest state, the Hell God Jin.
But the moment he did, he lost control of his right eye and left arm again, and Imu blasted him back once more.
If the three Hell Kings hadn't endured Peter's fierce attacks while desperately interrupting Imu's killing moves, Brook might have been ambushed again and again until Imu succeeded.
Thankfully, Brook had invaded Mary Geoise with a huge advantage. He could split himself into two or three Hell Kings to support the battlefield.
If the forces had been evenly matched, he would have been wiped out already.
As expected, an immortal who had lived for thousands of years could never be underestimated.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 10–50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Soul Land, NBA, and more — all in one place.]