"Those shady bastards really were researching unspeakable things!"
Outside the island, aboard the Revolutionary Army's ship, Dragon's face was grim as he raised his hand.
The poisoned seawater had already begun spreading with the ocean currents, but currently, he had no solution for this poisonous flow.
"Ice Age!"
A lazy, drawn-out voice descended from the sky.
A man in a blue shirt and white suit jumped into the air, extending both hands toward the spreading poisoned seawater below.
Ice spread from his fingertips into the sea. In an instant, frost solidified the spreading poison, dividing the entire sea at the point where Aokiji landed into pure white glaciers and a purple contaminated zone.
"Kuzan... you..."
Dragon's eyes widened, the miniature tornado in his palm dissipating.
"Ara ara, just doing my part." Aokiji exhaled a white mist, looking solemnly toward the poison-shrouded island. "But I can't handle what's on the island either."
"No need for your concern. The ruler of our territory will handle it!" Lightning flashed as Enel descended from the sky, landing with one foot on the ship's bow, retorting arrogantly.
Inside the island, after repeated plowing by reverberating flame light and toxins, the entire Punk Hazard had become a literal no-man's land.
Using Haki to resist the poison's erosion, Sakura stood atop the highest mountain on all of Punk Hazard, overlooking the island that had been teeming with life mere minutes ago.
"Treating the world with such disdain... do you truly deserve to receive the glory of the Creators?"
Sakura sighed softly. Continuously petrifying fragments were shattered by her rising chakra.
The vast Chakra forged by her special constitution in the past now transformed entirely into Wood Release Chakra without reserve. Emerald flames surged, beginning to reverse-assimilate the surrounding toxins.
The girl walked silently upon the earth, leaving behind a trail of footprints from which vegetation constantly grew.
Step by step, she emerged from the dark poison mist. Chakra seeped from her feet into the earth. Plants grew rapidly, then died rapidly.
Through the cycle of vegetation, life and death, iteration after iteration, finally, the first generation of vines capable of resisting the poison gas sprouted, drawing nourishment from the toxic soil, growing against the wind.
Sakura stepped forward, reaching out to gently grasp the life dancing in this hell. Wood Release decomposed it, analyzing its entire structure.
"You worked hard."
Cupping the remaining residue with both hands, Sakura buried it solemnly into the soil.
The next instant, gigantic vines shot toward the sky, spiraling and intertwining as they charged upward. Roots rapidly spread and multiplied, enveloping everything, covering all.
Taking root in the contaminated soil, absorbing the poison gas in the air lethal to all living things, flower buds rapidly sprouted and grew.
The poison gas on the island was swept clean. However, the residual toxins in the soil would poison this place for a long time, turning it barren.
But Sakura had no time to worry about that now. More Chakra was injected into the earth to supply the life energy needed for plant growth.
Countless crimson flowers multiplied and spread wildly, blooming independently in crimson splendor between sea and sky.
Amidst the spreading crimson, the poison-gas death zone of Punk Hazard transformed into a dreamlike sea of flowers… eerie, dangerous, mysterious, exuding deadly allure, yet aloof in the details, pushing people thousands of miles away.
In an instant, the world remade!
"Spider Lilies! They're Spider Lilies! Punk Hazard is covered in Spider Lilies!"
The image of the world transitioning from death to life was deeply engraved in memory, making many Marines unconsciously swallow their saliva.
A title clearly floated into everyone's minds.
Higanbana Sovereign! (T/N: Higanbana means Red Spider Lily.)
Before long, the sea breeze dispersed the thinning poison mist. From the top of Research Facility No. 3, which survived the explosion, a pirate flag was raised.
Sakura leaned wearily against the railing, giving a thumbs-up to the people on the sea.
"Success!!!"
Inside the Leviathan floating in the sky, Kuina and Leviathan wept tears of joy, holding hands, dancing and spinning in the cabin.
On the Revolutionary Army's ship group, many soldiers who witnessed this scene couldn't contain their excitement, nodding repeatedly.
Standing beside Dragon, arms crossed, Enel also curled the corner of his mouth. "Not bad at all, that one!"
However, as the saying goes, human joys and sorrows are not interconnected.
Unlike the Revolutionary Army's simple, jubilant joy, the Marine side's feelings were far more complex.
The Marines were willing to see this death zone of an island recover, but they did not want to see it taken by a pirate as territory.
"You wanted criminals, don't celebrate too soon! We haven't lost yet!"
Bearing the heavy Justice cloak, Garp, surrounded by black and red lightning, walked to the bow of the warship.
Just as the atmosphere was becoming tense again, the Den Den Mushi in Dragon's arms suddenly rang.
Click. The call connected.
"Dragon? The Marines still won't retreat, right? Give them the Den Den Mushi for me!"
Sakura's voice came from the receiver. The leaders present were all skilled in Observation Haki. Naturally, Dragon said nothing more, raising his hand to let the wind carry the Den Den Mushi toward Garp.
"Yo, old man Garp. Five years since we parted at Spider Miles, huh? How've you been?"
The Den Den Mushi imitated Sakura's current weariness perfectly, but the girl's undiminished bold and unrestrained laughter also reached every Marine's ears.
"Brat, in your current state, can you even fight? Just obediently let this old man send you to Impel Down!"
Garp roared into the receiver, waving for all warships to sail toward the glaciers around the island, preparing for landing operations.
"Wrong! It's already over. Did you think I wouldn't have a contingency plan, old man Garp? Look at the sky and sea!"
As the girl's words fell, strands of silver snakes weaved through the thunderclouds in the sky. Rain fell silently. Gales and raging waves instantly filled the space between sea and sky.
Everyone stared dumbfounded at the golden spherical cloud mass growing by absorbing the storm and lightning. A sense of suffocation, as if about to be swallowed by the collapsing sky, lingered in every Marine's heart, unable to dispel.
The byproduct discharged by the Ark Maxim's [Despair] propulsion system… thunderclouds.
Compared to ordinary dark clouds, the Maxim's thunderclouds contained more highly energetic particles and a large amount of frictionally ionized gas. The resulting thunderclouds, in terms of scale, power, and sustainability, far surpassed the bootleg version Sakura handcrafted near Windmill Village. It was a truly super-large-scale weather weapon capable of destroying an island with a single strike.
Simultaneously in the sea, the Fish-Man Pirates led by Fisher Tiger and Ryugu Palace's soldiers surfaced. Each eye gleamed ferociously, biting or holding ship's wheels they had just dismantled.
"Ship's wheels?!"
Only then did Garp realize what the fish-men had done. Before he could warn anyone...
Many out-of-control ships were pushed by the waves, crashing into the glaciers Aokiji created, emitting screeching friction sounds.
"A prior warning… the thing in the sky is much more powerful than the one I released at Enies Lobby. If this New World Marine fleet is annihilated too, the Three Great Powers will become imbalanced!"
Sakura's words made Garp's teeth itch with fury, but he couldn't find any words to refute.
Lies don't harm… the truth is the sharpest blade.
With the large fleet in Paradise already more than half destroyed, and before the Marine Headquarters could recruit new sailors and fill the fleet vacancies, if Garp led the New World fleet to a mutually destructive fight with Sakura, leaving the Marines powerless to suppress the seas...
Then the situation on the sea wouldn't just be an imbalance of power. The Warlords of the Sea would definitely be the first to turn and bite the World Government.
Then, these major pirates already strictly confined in the New World would also invade Paradise from the latter half.
Initiating the Great Pirate Era… an era where major pirates burn, kill, and plunder everywhere across the Four Blues.
"Give up, Vice Admiral Garp. The moment the government released the poison gas, we had already lost." Aokiji climbed onto the warship from the ice edge, letting out a helpless sigh.
"Hmph!"
Garp viciously hung up the receiver, forcefully tossing the Den Den Mushi back, and turned to walk down from the bow.
With their rudders destroyed, these battleships could only turn around using manpower and oars, crestfallenly retreating toward G-5.
Marine rout, Punk Hazard's destruction and rebirth, Sakura's flag raised over the research facility...
News Coos in the sky captured these classic moments with visual Den Den Mushi. The news traveled through psychic waves back to the World Economic News Paper.
When the first rays of morning light fell upon Punk Hazard, while the Revolutionary Army, fish-men, and Sakura's crew were still cleaning up the battlefield, News Coos were already carrying this world-shaking news across the seas.
A clamor instantly filled the whole world.
The New World's three-way stalemate among the three Emperors had persisted for many years. This unchanging sea left many trouble-makers frustrated. They placed high hopes on the several major fleets sailing the seas, speculating who would next ascend to the summit.
'The newly formed Red Hair Pirates look promising!'
'Hachinosu Island is the pirates' paradise. Gotta count on the Ochoku Pirates!'
'The youngsters are too young. The Flying Pirates don't have any fight in them?'
'Wait, what the heck is the Higanbana Pirates?'
Although in the earlier Enies Lobby incident, many acknowledged Sakura and her crew's strength and potential as Emperor candidates.
But that was still just a small pirate crew with a member count of five. Compared to the aforementioned large crews, they simply couldn't be considered a massive force capable of looking down upon the New World.
Yet in just a few days, she led people to seize territory in the Punk Hazard struggle, shattering the World Government and Marines' nibbling at the New World.
Simultaneously, in this battle, she displayed the strength, influence, prestige, connections, wealth, and resources to stand up to the World Government and Marines that ruled the seas.
This made everyone, whether pirates watching the New World situation, ambitious individuals, or common folk… drop their jaws in astonishment.
Amidst the clamorous uproar, participants of the Punk Hazard battle also joined the discussion, adding more fuel to the already boiling public opinion.
Thus, a new title gradually spread across the seas, Higanbana Sovereign, Haruno Sakura!
The commentary article personally written by Morgans in the newspaper was again carried by News Coos and scattered onto the Red Force.
"Captain, come look at the newspaper!"
Grabbing the paper, Lucky Roo excitedly ran to Shanks, spreading it out before him.
"Ah, I see it!" Shanks pursed his lips, looking at the girl's smiling face in the paper. "Higanbana Sovereign... what an awful-sounding title!"
"You're just jealous, aren't you?"
Ben Beckman lit a cigarette, flicking his lighter to extinguish the flame.
"Hmph, she owes me a favor anyway."
Shanks's old face flushed red. He stood up on the table, shouting to the pirates below, "Men! Change course… to Punk Hazard!"