The sky remained heavy and oppressive, blanketed by thick rolling clouds that churned without end while intermittent flashes of lightning cut through the darkness. Beneath that storm-laden sky, multiple apex battles unfolded simultaneously, painting the battlefield with clashing radiance: dazzling purple light, deep abyssal shadows, golden lightning, and pale, almost transparent bursts of force.
The sounds of slaughter never ceased, forming a continuous wave of destruction that stretched across the battlefield. Few truly understood that this war had already reached its climax, entering its final and most dangerous stage.
Four full days of continuous warfare had passed. Even for top-tier fighters, such prolonged conflict pushed body and mind to their limits. While brief intervals of rest had occurred here and there, figures like Redyat and Arest had remained engaged without pause throughout the entire duration.
Redyat, despite possessing the physique of a Mythical Zoan Dragon, was under immense pressure. His endurance and strength remained monstrous, yet in this kind of sustained, high-intensity confrontation, even he was gradually being pushed into a disadvantageous position. For individuals of their level, growth and exhaustion often coexisted, with every exchange testing both physical limits and mental resolve.
Arest was no different. His confrontation with Redyat had not yielded a decisive advantage either. The night battlefield favored Redyat, amplifying his shadow-based abilities and narrowing the gap between them. Neither side could claim overwhelming dominance, resulting in a brutal equilibrium maintained through sheer force.
However, Arest had not acted hastily. He was waiting, calculating, anticipating the actions of other members of the World Government.
At the same time, the World Government's financial reserves had been pushed to their absolute limit. Even after cutting expenditures wherever possible, wealth continued to flow out at an unsustainable rate. Internal unrest grew steadily worse, and resistance movements began to emerge across multiple regions.
Many of these factions were connected, directly or indirectly, with officials within the World Government itself. Faced with this escalating instability, the World Government had no choice but to halt further expansion of its expenditures, recognizing that it had already reached its operational ceiling.
Their attention shifted to the commoners of the Red Line.
In truth, the population of the Red Line was built upon generations of oppression. Most were descendants of former slaves, people whose identities had changed on paper but not in reality. Even as "citizens," their existence was still fundamentally tied to servitude under the Celestial Dragons.
The Red Line functioned as a massive controlled domain of the World Government. Resources were scarce in such an environment, forcing the importation of goods from across the world. The World Government monopolized these supply chains, extracting immense wealth in the process.
However, with the Golden Sea War draining resources, taxation on the Red Line was drastically increased. At the same time, covert manipulation caused prices of basic necessities to skyrocket, further tightening control over the population and extracting the last remnants of their wealth.
This pressure, combined with subtle instigation from the Revolutionary Army, ignited widespread unrest. Initial protests were small and quickly suppressed by Marine forces stationed on the Red Line, but the situation rapidly escalated.
The demands of the people were ignored entirely. Instead, their resistance was met with contempt and fury from the ruling class. To the Celestial Dragons, these individuals were nothing more than property that had become unmanageable.
When the riots intensified, the Celestial Dragons themselves were alarmed, which only deepened their anger. The World Government, already strained by the ongoing war, now faced internal collapse within its own territory.
A brutal suppression campaign followed. At the same time, the World Government justified mass confiscation of wealth under the argument that the population had no legitimate ownership rights, further stripping the already impoverished residents.
The situation on the Red Line deteriorated rapidly. Once-prosperous regions surrounding the Holy Land began to show clear signs of decline. Many nobles and affiliated elites either fled or were purged in the chaos, leaving behind a hollowed and unstable society.
What followed was a full-scale eruption.
Unlike earlier small-scale incidents quietly supported by the Revolutionary Army, this uprising was spontaneous. It was the culmination of eight hundred years of suppressed resentment finally breaking free.
For centuries, survival had meant submission. People had grown accustomed to living under fear, tolerating occasional kidnappings or enslavement as unavoidable fate. But now, the oppression had reached a level where even survival was no longer guaranteed.
With wealth being forcibly stripped away and lives treated as expendable, there was nothing left to lose.
The widespread circulation of Visual Den Den Mushi played a critical role in accelerating the uprising. Although expensive at higher tiers, lower-grade devices had become increasingly accessible, allowing ordinary citizens to access information from across the seas.
News of the World Government's crisis spread quickly. People realized that Marine forces were stretched thin and weakening. The imbalance was obvious: over a billion inhabitants on the Red Line were being guarded by only around five hundred thousand Marines.
The disparity alone made resistance feel possible.
Although many individuals previously aligned themselves with the World Government for survival or profit, panic now spread among them. Some secretly encouraged the unrest, unwilling to risk their lives by reporting it.
As chaos expanded, the World Government suffered immediate and severe economic losses. Many attempted to flee the Red Line entirely, aiming for the seas despite their dangers. Compared to the collapsing order of the Red Line, even pirate-infested waters seemed like a better alternative.
The World Government responded with immediate force, deploying elite units. However, the sheer scale of the uprising made containment nearly impossible. Resistance was widespread, and even those not actively participating often sheltered rebels.
The Marines, numbering only five hundred thousand on the Red Line, were overwhelmed. Losses mounted rapidly.
On a remote island within the Golden Sea region, Monkey D. Dragon observed the situation with a calm but regretful expression. Beside him stood a tall man holding a Bible, both receiving intelligence updates from the Red Line.
Dragon sighed, noting that if the uprising had been properly organized, its impact could have been far more devastating to the World Government. The potential power was enormous, but its lack of coordination limited its effectiveness.
The man beside him responded calmly, noting that their current strength was insufficient to unify such a massive movement. Even so, they agreed that discreet support and extraction of defectors could strengthen their own forces.
Dragon laughed quietly at the irony of the World Government's predicament. The Golden Sea War had pushed it into a financial abyss, and now internal collapse was accelerating its downfall.
He noted that nearly ten trillion Berries had already been consumed by the war effort, an unimaginable sum that drained the World Government's accumulated reserves.
The Marines, deprived of funding, were now struggling to maintain basic operations. Warships lacked repair budgets, soldiers were unpaid, and even food supplies had become inconsistent.
Sakazuki and Sengoku faced overwhelming pressure at Marine Headquarters. Morale within the Marines deteriorated rapidly as soldiers left to support their families. Some branches survived only through local donations or kingdom support.
Despite everything, the Marines remained essential to maintaining order, even as their strength declined. Meanwhile, the World Government itself showed little concern, focusing instead on maintaining its own stability.
Within this instability, new powers began to emerge. In the West Blue, discussions between kingdoms and organizations such as the Dark Council led to the formation of a unified alliance.
At a roundtable meeting in the Victoria Kingdom, representatives from twenty-one kingdoms gathered alongside Ulysses of the Dark Council. Through Den Den Mushi projection, they formally established the West Blue Alliance.
After extensive discussion, Alpha Island was selected as the headquarters location. Though some hesitated, consensus was eventually reached, and the foundation of the alliance was officially set.
When the topic shifted to enforcement and cooperation, internal disagreements arose. However, Mainz of the Tirisfal Kingdom proposed a decisive solution.
Rather than relying solely on independent forces, he suggested forming a West Blue naval force. Using existing Marine infrastructure temporarily, combined with infiltration and gradual restructuring, they could establish their own unified military presence.
Ulysses supported the idea, noting that the Dark Council could assist with infiltration operations. The concept quickly gained traction.
Though the method was ruthless in implication, it was effective. By gradually absorbing Marine branches and repurposing them, the West Blue Alliance could establish control without immediate large-scale conflict.
As discussions concluded, the foundation of a new order in the West Blue quietly took shape, while across the world, the final stage of war continued to unfold under a collapsing sky.