Diarmuid had always felt that while the Gorosei stood on the opposite side of his convictions, effectively making them enemies, as the public face of the World Government's highest authority, they usually carried themselves with a certain degree of dignity, temperament, and broad-mindedness.
There were aspects of them that were, arguably, worth commending.
He never expected that the Bald King (the Gorosei member) would be so petty!
The old man's sudden revelation before death seemed like an attempt to get back at Imu, but Diarmuid was now certain of the truth: the old man knew he wouldn't finish his sentence, so he deliberately brought up a topic Diarmuid was dying to know more about, only to kick the bucket halfway through.
Retaliation!
This was absolute retaliation!
What a small-minded fellow. Was it really necessary? Just because... well, just because... cough cough. Actually, looking back, the retaliation was somewhat justified. After all, Diarmuid had provoked him so badly he spat blood and lost consciousness, leading to him tanking a direct hit from the so-called "Mini-Pluton," leaving him mortally wounded.
"Hey!? You really dead?" Diarmuid shook the Bald King's arm again, asking with lingering frustration.
He was indeed dead. There wasn't a pulse of life left; his aura had completely dissipated.
It was the look of a man who died with regrets—his eyes remained wide open, and there was even a faint, eerie smirk playing on the corners of his mouth.
"Unbelievable. He really lived up to the phrase 'repaying with death'—by making his death a final act of revenge," Diarmuid grumbled as he reached out to close the old man's eyelids.
"Repaying with death? You mean the 'repay' as in 'vengeance'?" Stussy asked, finding the situation somewhat amusing.
"You think he'd be 'repaying' a favor? This old guy was too petty; his streak of spite is a mile wide..." Diarmuid rolled his eyes and complained.
Ignoring Diarmuid's minor tantrum, Stussy fell silent for a moment before asking, "So, what do we do now?"
"Let's regroup with the Fleet Admiral first..." Diarmuid pondered for a second.
He wondered how the royalty of the affiliated nations were doing. He hoped they hadn't all been wiped out by that single blast.
Acting on his thought, Diarmuid carefully extended his Observation Haki. Guided by the precision of his gravity-manipulation abilities, he scanned through the ruins and eventually picked up several faint signatures.
They were very faint indeed. Had it not been for the empowerment his fruit granted his Observation Haki, he might not have found them at all.
He could vaguely sense Fleet Admiral Sengoku and the others.
However, rather than worrying, this weakness made Diarmuid breathe a sigh of relief. This specific "faintness" meant someone was using Observation Haki to actively interfere with and mislead external probes.
It was a common high-level application of Haki.
Most top-tier experts knew how to mask their presence this way. After all, at the level Diarmuid and his peers operated, their Observation Haki was powerful enough to scan an entire island at will.
If one wanted to infiltrate an island for an assassination or set an ambush, being lit up by a Haki scan would mean instant exposure. Over centuries of combat evolution, the applications of Observation Haki had become incredibly sophisticated.
There were generally two ways to deal with this.
The first was to suppress one's aura entirely. Previously, when both Diarmuid and Dragon were lurking in the Empty Throne room, they had remained invisible and masked their presence to the absolute limit. Under normal circumstances, no one would have sensed them.
Had Dragon's aura not wavered from the shock of seeing the "Gorosei Kowtowing," Imu would never have noticed anything was wrong. And she certainly wouldn't have performed a second, more thorough search of the Empty Throne room after Dragon fled, which led to her discovering Diarmuid...
Of course, Diarmuid wasn't entirely sure if she had truly discovered him or not.
Regardless, aura suppression usually only worked for the individual. You couldn't exactly suppress someone else's aura along with your own; that was impossible.
Thus, when dealing with "baggage", like the current situation with the kings, the second method was used: using Observation Haki to "blur" the surroundings. It was a subtle clash of Haki that was difficult to detect.
Clearly, Sengoku and the others were currently using this power to jam the probes from the Domain of the Gods, inadvertently looping Diarmuid into the confusion as well.
Having pinpointed the location, Diarmuid didn't just burst through. Instead, he released a dense surge of dark energy from his hands.
It was as if a black hole had opened in his palm, rapidly devouring the debris and boulders around him. He acted like a human excavator, clearing a path forward while Stussy followed cautiously behind.
As for the Bald King, Diarmuid left his body to rest in peace. He wasn't about to carry a corpse around.
…
On the other side, Sakazuki was constantly reinforcing his magma barrier.
The ruins of the Grand Conference Hall were currently being held up by Doflamingo's String-String Fruit abilities. Under his power, the ruins looked like a "Silk Spider Cave," filled with white webs that anchored the collapsing stones together, making the space surprisingly secure.
However, Doflamingo's strings were ultimately just "strings"; they couldn't provide a true defense against the kind of bombardment they had just faced.
Therefore, about three to five meters outside the webbed perimeter, the entire ruin was encased in a layer of magma.
This made everyone trapped beneath the rubble feel a sweltering heat.
The magma belonged to Sakazuki. He was using his ability to construct a protective shell, hoping to prevent another sudden hit from an attack like the last one. Even if the magma didn't look like it could fully stop such a force, it was better than nothing.
Currently, in these ruins, Sakazuki's ability was the most suited for this task. Had Kuzan been here, his ice might have been even more effective.
Sengoku, Tsuru, and Garp were acting as temporary medics, stabilizing the severely injured royals. Even if they couldn't provide a full cure, they could at least keep them from bleeding out. As veterans who had clawed their way through countless life-and-death battlefields, they were well-versed in field first aid.
The atmosphere inside the "Silk Spider Cave" was oppressive.
Some royals were sobbing, clearly, they had never seen such horror. However, they had likely been reprimanded by Sengoku and the others; even while crying, they didn't dare make a sound, huddled in corners looking utterly pathetic.
But this was the "International Stage" after all. Not many were truly broken by fear. Most were forcing themselves to remain calm; even though their eyes were filled with terror, they didn't behave too disgracefully.
It must be said that while these hundred kings from around the world might have various flaws or even be terrible people, the fact that they could become kings and have the confidence to attend the Reverie meant they possessed some modicum of merit.
As for the final group of royals, they were the true "hard cases." They were huddled together, aggressively denouncing Mariejois in fierce tones. It was clear that while they were in a tight spot, there was no fear in their eyes, only rage. Moreover, these individuals clearly possessed some level of personal strength, which was why they didn't feel the need to cower.
Suddenly, Sakazuki, who had been closing his eyes to focus on the magma, knit his brows and opened his eyes. "Someone is touching my magma..."
"Who is it!?" Sengoku stopped what he was doing and turned around.
"This feeling... it's like a devouring force. If I'm not mistaken, it should be Diarmuid," Sakazuki said hesitantly.
As soon as he spoke, a section of the magma barrier was "absorbed" from the outside, vanishing with a soft splat. Then, a thick dark energy billowed from the newly formed opening.
Under the watchful gaze of the crowd, the darkness dissipated, and Diarmuid and Stussy emerged from the tunnel, looking slightly awkward under the collective stare.
"Cough, cough... sorry I'm late. My bad. I'll toast three drinks to apologize later..." Diarmuid offered a bit of self-deprecating humor, feeling the weight of the stares.
Though it was mostly nonsense, the effect was immediate. Most of the kings from the affiliated nations felt a wave of relief wash over them at the sight of the man known as the "Strongest Marine Admiral in History." The fear in their eyes lessened, and the tense atmosphere began to thaw.
Doflamingo quickly used his ability to pull back some of the silk threads, creating a gap for Diarmuid to enter. Diarmuid and Stussy slipped through.
"What's the situation?" Diarmuid asked as soon as he stepped in.
"Not great, but manageable. Seven kings were lost, and we have over twenty wounded..." Sengoku handed his task over to Tsuru, wiped the blood from his hands onto his uniform, and walked over to Diarmuid.
It was indeed "manageable", at least they hadn't been wiped out. Diarmuid didn't dwell on it and asked, "Have you contacted the outside?"
"Yes. Gion and Kuzan are already organizing forces to push toward us. The defense force on Mariejois was stronger than expected; street fighting has broken out. Even the Revolutionary Army has joined the fray. That brat Dragon really seized the opportunity... However, we should have victory in the urban combat within an hour at the latest and push the front line to our position. Once that happens, we can stop holding back." Sengoku gave a brief rundown of the current situation.
Diarmuid nodded, then added hesitantly, "It's strange, isn't it?"
"Very strange," Sengoku agreed, his expression turning solemn.
It had been nearly half an hour since that initial attack. Yet, the Domain of the Gods had made no further moves against them. If Diarmuid were the one attacking, he wouldn't care if he could sense life in the ruins or not, he would have fired at least two more rounds just to be sure!
But there was nothing. No movement at all. That was beyond weird.
Despite the oddity, Diarmuid and Sengoku knew they couldn't afford to move recklessly. Since the enemy wasn't acting, they would play the waiting game.
"And your side? How did it go?" Sengoku asked curiously.
"Four of them... well, I don't know if they're alive or dead, but I haven't seen them again. The bald elder, however, is dead. I watched him die with my own eyes. It was gruesome. According to the intel he gave me in a final moment of 'conscience,' the weapon that hit us is apparently called the 'Mini-Pluton.' And there seems to be a mysterious power within the Domain of the Gods that we still don't know about... just thinking about it is a headache," Diarmuid said, smacking his lips.
"They have ruled the world for nearly eight hundred years. Nothing they have hidden up their sleeves would surprise me at this point... 'Mini-Pluton,' interesting," Sengoku mused, stroking his braided beard with a look of contemplation.
Indeed, for a class that had ruled the world for over eight centuries, discovering they had unexpected trump cards wasn't just possible, it was expected.