Chapter 373: Worororororo!
To this day.
Roy already had a clear understanding of almost the vast majority of secrets in this world.
This included the "Room of Flowers" he had once caught a fleeting glimpse of through Doflamingo's memories.
He had already realized at that time that Imu might usually be in a restricted state, making it very difficult to even leave Mary Geoise.
But exclusively within the Room of Flowers, He seemed to still be in a "peak posture"—that is, the King of the World whose "shackles" had not been reinforced by Queen Lily and Rocks.
And now, he could roughly understand it.
Both he and Imu had mastered all methods of utilizing the Source Energy of Lineage Factor. The only difference lay in the amount of Source Energy of Lineage Factor and the collection progress of corresponding "wishes".
Imu, as the shadow of the "Pillar of Creation" and the Abyss of the world, having the wishes provided by the people of the world during ancient times, inevitably contained "everything in the world".
And His only shortcoming currently was that due to the continuous efforts of Queen Lily, Rocks, Joy Boy, and others generation after generation, His Source Energy of Lineage Factor had been restricted, thus becoming insufficient.
But as long as He was in the Room of Flowers, the situation was different.
Because that ancient source of all Source Energy of Lineage Factor in the world, the "Pillar of Creation", was inside the Room of Flowers.
So as long as Imu was in the Room of Flowers, He could maintain the state of a true "God", almost free from restrictions.
Correspondingly, it was the same when in Mary Geoise—although not as good as the Room of Flowers, Mary Geoise was clearly close enough to the Pillar of Creation.
Besides that, the farther away from Mary Geoise, the weaker His power naturally became.
Compared to Imu, Roy was different.
Firstly, in the two aspects of "Source Energy of Lineage Factor" and "wishes", he was inferior to Imu in His peak state.
But at the same time, after absorbing the Source Energy of Lineage Factor of the Treasure Tree Adam and the Sunlight Tree Eve, his current Source Energy of Lineage Factor was completely sufficient for himself—although still not comparable to the Pillar of Creation, at least he wasn't constrained.
And in terms of wishes, the wish authorities contained within the "Seed of the Sky" Adam and the "Seed of the Sea" Eve allowed him to create the sky, the seawater, and related things within a certain range.
This was also the origin of the "Star Garden" and the Twelve Trials within it—its essence was actually a "sky" and "sea" created by Roy himself, plus the "Aster" which was almost comparable to a continent serving as the carrier.
Within that world molded by Roy himself, all the Source Energy of Lineage Factor inside was at Roy's disposal.
So exactly as he said, the Aster was his "Room of Flowers", his divine kingdom.
Moreover, the most crucial difference between the two was—the "Room of Flowers" was fixed there and couldn't move.
While Roy's Aster could go anywhere on the sea.
This was also the reason why Roy's actions recently could be said to be almost unscrupulous—as long as he didn't sail the ship and charge at Mary Geoise, he could go anywhere in the entire sea.
No one could be considered his enemy.
Including the Four Emperor dominating the sea below.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Right now, Kaido was madly opening his mouth, spewing Blast Breath at the Aster above.
But clearly—even the Blast Breath that usually could pierce through a high mountain, when facing the Aster falling from the sky, couldn't even be called an attack.
That giant ship radiating starlight was like the ruthless and unfeeling hand of a God, merely pressing down.
Thus...
"No! The guys from the Government..."
Kaido's beast-like vertical pupils abruptly contracted, and he madly urged the mark on his left arm even more: "You said you were going to go to all-out war with The Zodiac, why now..."
But the mark didn't respond.
Kaido could even feel—the power belonging to this mark inside his body was still continuously fading.
"Roar!"
Thus, he could only open his mouth and let out a furious, low roar.
He had already realized he made a mistake.
In fact, since the Dressrosa incident, Kaido found that everything began to slip out of control.
His most capable three All-Stars all died in that battle.
Caesar, the creator of the "Artificial Devil Fruits" he dreamed of, also died.
His former collaborator "Joker" Doflamingo betrayed him, and similarly died.
And afterwards, Hanafuda, the crucial hub for his weapons cooperation with the World Government, also lost his significance due to the abolition of the Warlord system.
The war he anticipated, the "Great War" that would drag the entire world into it, seemed to have become an forever unreachable dream amidst these successive blows.
And Kaido, was never a patient person.
He could patiently wait in Wano Country for so many years, but couldn't accept waiting for so many more years.
That title of "Four Emperor" that seemingly dominated the sea and terrified the world, to Kaido... was simply extremely boring.
And exactly under those circumstances, the person sent by the World Government approached him.
Kaido roughly heard of the other party's identity—the twin brother of "Red Hair", Shamrock.
He showed Kaido the power he possessed, as well as the World Government's demands.
"We will help you dominate the sea and drag the sea into war—slaughter and blood, everything you desire can be achieved. Even the Celestial Dragons will be dragged into the war."
"That Lord will give you the power to start the war, a sufficient amount of Devil Fruits, and special weapons. And there is only one thing we need you to do... drag The Zodiac into the war and destroy them."
And to Kaido, these demands were clearly not a problem.
The Zodiac was one of the instigators of the Dressrosa incident, and originally one of the indispensable "enemies" in his war.
As for whether it was appropriate for a pirate to cooperate with the World Government, he similarly didn't care—anyway, after the war started, the entire world would just be a part of the war, and there would no longer be a distinction between "pirates" and "Marines".
But now, he realized that mistake.
That was—the power possessed by The Zodiac, actually long before he knew it, had already exceeded his cognition.
That organization was not any "faction" that had ever appeared on this sea, and was completely different from that vanished "Ancient Kingdom".
It was something that could truly threaten "this world" in the truest sense.
"Making me attack Totto Land, was it to anticipate this moment from the very beginning..."
The very fact that the Government made him attack Totto Land was perhaps because they had already guessed the connection between Totto Land and The Zodiac.
From the very beginning, he was not the chess player on this chessboard of war as he thought—even he was merely a chess piece.
"Well done, the trash of the Government!"
But at the same time he realized this, Kaido grinned.
He no longer tried to contact the World Government, nor did he try to mobilize the power within the contract mark.
He merely raised his head high, looking at that giant ship crashing down from above.
Run away?
He couldn't, and he wouldn't.
Whoosh!
Flames surged out from his dragon mouth.
His dragon scales stood on end.
Black-red Haki wreathed his body.
Then, he actually flew up to meet that unimaginably massive ship compared to his body... head-on!
"Worororororo!"
His unique heroic laughter spread across the entire sea.
Alliances are part of war.
Betrayal and utilization are also part of war.
So correspondingly...
Defeat is also part of war.
And Kaido—loved war.
So he wouldn't shy away from his "defeat", and would even meet its arrival head-on without retreating.
He was just somewhat excited, yet also somewhat regretful.
The excitement lay in that, right now, he was already certain.
Although it was not triggered by him, nor started by him.
But while he was still unaware...
"That 'Greatest War' that will drag the entire world into the flames of war, has already begun!"
And this was exactly where his regret lay.
He clearly knew that war had already begun, but he had no chance to participate in it.
"Ultimately, who will win, who will become the new King of this world, and what kind of 'endgame' will the world head towards?"
Roaring loudly like this, the evil dragon's flame-burning body crashed into the bottom of that massive ship hull.
VMMM!
Starlight surged, extinguishing the flames on his body.
"Truly... looking forward to it."
Thus, the evil dragon plummeted into the sea along with the hull of the giant ship, never making a sound again.
And at the same time...
VMMM!
Beneath the hull of the Aster, the pitch-black Abyssal power began to be continuously devoured and assimilated by the starlight on the Aster.
[Devouring Source Energy of Lineage Factor · Abyss]
And seeing the information coming from the Fruit Encyclopedia, the look in Sheep's eyes was somewhat subtle.
He of course knew where this portion of Source Energy of Lineage Factor he obtained came from—it was the Source Energy of Lineage Factor within the "Abyssal Sea Contract" on Kaido's body.
Just like swallowing the Source Energy of Lineage Factor in Saturn's body before.
The Aster also possessed the power of the "Drums of Liberation", plus sufficient Source Energy of Lineage Factor, and the "wishes" provided to the Aster by the world recently, it naturally could intercept Kaido's "Abyssal Sea Contract".
But the problem also lay exactly here...
"Imu... isn't this just giving it away for free?"
He found it somewhat incomprehensible.
Clearly having the precedent of Saturn, Imu must have already known he could kill the holders of the Abyssal Sea Contract.
But even under such circumstances, this King of the World seemingly still didn't make any "preparations", and just let Kaido attack Totto Land.
"Does He not know the relationship between Totto Land and The Zodiac? Or was attacking Totto Land purely Kaido's own idea?"
Sheep couldn't be certain of this, but he always felt it was weird.
After all, as far as he knew, for Imu, the Source Energy of Lineage Factor of an "Abyssal Sea Contract" was not a chess piece that could be casually discarded.
Furthermore...
"The crucial problem isn't just Kaido..."
He muttered to himself, while looking far into the distance.
That was the direction of Wano Country, Onigashima.
"The situation there, is also quite 'surprising'."
Onigashima.
The sound of swords clashing could be heard, and the flames of war had already spread to every corner of the island.
The "Unextinguishable Fire" ignited by the anger of being oppressed for decades burned fiercely on every Wano Country warrior, allowing them to still roar and swing their swords even after the battle had lasted for so long.
"Tobi Roppo 'Black Maria' has already been defeated by O-Murasaki and Lord Kappa Kawamatsu!"
"Tobi Roppo 'Who's-Who' has also been slain by Lord Shutenmaru!"
Such good news came continuously.
At least on the conventional battlefield, the scales of victory had clearly tilted.
But those with true foresight understood—the facts were not so.
For example, Shimotsuki Yasuie.
As the former Daimyo of Hakumai, he knew for sure.
On this sea, the fighting spirit of ordinary people and warriors is of course important—when everyone unites, they can of course ignite a spark sufficient to burn everything to ashes.
But the so-called victory that can truly completely decide the situation on the battlefield often only comes from certain "individuals".
Heroes, powerhouses—call them whatever you want.
For example, Shimotsuki Ryuma in the past, with just one person and one sword, could protect the entire Wano Country from the malice on the sea.
For example, Kozuki Oden back then, as long as he hadn't died, neither Kaido nor Kurozumi Orochi dared to rest completely easy.
And now, the situation of the war was the same.
His gaze, as well as the gazes of many warriors around him, were currently directed towards the center of Onigashima—the edge of that massive, bottomless rift that bisected the entire island.
They all knew that place... was the stage that would ultimately decide the direction of this war!
And at this time...
Rumble!
Amidst the massive booming sounds, the rocks on the edge of the rift continuously tumbled down the cliff.
And on the edge of the cliff.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
Ace knelt on one knee, panting heavily.
The blood spurting from the corner of his mouth was evaporated by the flames on his body before it even dripped, and right now a ferocious wound on his body was rapidly healing.
At the same time, Yamato stood not far beside him.
Her white hair in her Okuchi no Makami form was stained with dust, the kanabo "Takeru" planted on the ground, similarly panting heavily.
"What a... troublesome guy."
The Unextinguishable Fire burning on both of them remained vigorous, repairing their torn flesh and broken bones.
But even so, their expressions didn't relax in the slightest.
Their gazes merely looked forward.
Ahead—that massive figure stood towering like a mountain on the opposite cliff.
That golden armor resembling dragon and snake scales gleamed under the moonlight. His massive body exuded a suffocating sense of oppression. The giant sword in his hand pointed diagonally towards the ground, with black-red lightning lingering on the blade.
"I've seen giants before, but a guy strong to this extent... is simply unheard of."
Ace gritted his teeth: "The gap—is too big."
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