Ichiro stared at the shattered stones scattered across the battlefield, his eyes blazing with fury.
In Mary Geoise, people were shaped into cold, obedient machines. Emotion was carved out of them as ruthlessly as weakness.
To cultivate guards for the World Nobles, Mary Geoise selected exceptionally gifted children from slaves and from across the pirate world, raising them in brutal training camps from a young age. Each camp housed three hundred children. In the end, only three survived the trials and stood at the summit.
He and Okae Nichikawa Taro had come from the same camp.
They had endured nearly the same number of lashes, the same beatings, the same nights of silent suffering. Step by step, they eliminated every rival until they were chosen as members of the God's Knights.
A rare bond had formed between them in that hell.
Now, seeing Okae Nichikawa Taro reduced to shattered remains, Ichiro found it difficult to accept.
"Okae Nichikawa Taro…"
"Yehahaha. When facing this God, you still have the mind to worry about someone else?"
At that moment, Enel's voice rang out from above.
Enelturned his head lazily, golden eyes gleaming with mockery. Before Ichiro could react, a bolt of lightning as thick as an arm descended.
"Two Hundred Million Volts, Discharge."
Boom.
The lightning struck directly at the top of Ichiro's head. Violent current surged through his body, illuminating his skeleton beneath his skin for a split second. The blinding flash swallowed the battlefield, forcing both Marines and pirates to shut their eyes.
The crackling sound continued for several seconds, followed by the faint smell of burnt flesh.
When the light faded and the lightning dissipated, only a charred corpse remained, thin wisps of smoke rising into the air.
"Yehahaha. So this is a Special Agent of the World Government? A noble from Mary Geoise?"
With his Observation Haki, Enel could sense no life force left within Ichiro. The man was dead.
He floated higher into the sky, arms spread wide, his arrogance on full display.
"A slight move from this God is already the limit of your level."
"Meichuan Neiku Ichiro!"
The remaining four Special Agents froze in shock.
They had come from Mary Geoise to reinforce the Marines with absolute confidence, as though taking a casual stroll through a battlefield. Instead, after encountering the Ion Tempest, their leader, Fei Jialande Jialin, had been sent flying by Rolan's sword, and now two of their comrades had fallen.
They had crawled out from mountains of corpses. Each of them had taken no fewer than a thousand lives. Blood and death no longer frightened them. Even the deaths of their companions did not inspire fear, only rage.
In their eyes, pirates were nothing but insects.
For insects to challenge gods was blasphemy.
At once, powerful auras erupted from the four remaining agents as they charged toward Rolan and his crew.
Among them, the only woman, Minako, transformed.
Her body expanded into a massive white butterfly. On her wings were two enormous black concentric circles, ominous and hypnotic.
She was a Zoan user, the Butterfly Butterfly Fruit, Ame Ame Butterfly Form.
"Illusion, Ame Ame Butterfly."
As her voice echoed, invisible waves radiated from the concentric circles on her wings.
Pirates and Marines who had just regained their senses from the battle's aftermath suddenly began behaving strangely.
"Ah, Juliet, you finally agreed to accept me." A pirate hugged a boulder tightly, kissing it with tears in his eyes.
"No, don't kill me. Your wife and I are innocent. She seduced me first." A man in green backed away frantically, waving his arms.
"My child, the war is over. Papa is back." A Marine sobbed with a blissful smile.
"Mama, I can finally see you again." Another knelt before a stone wall, bowing repeatedly.
A Marine near Sakazuki placed his hands on his hips and burst into laughter. "I have finally become Fleet Admiral. Sakazuki, go clean the toilets. That is for always making things difficult for us."
Akainu's face darkened as the man pointed straight at him.
The battlefield descended into complete chaos.
Every affected individual shared the same vacant eyes and delirious expression.
Momonga and Doberman regained clarity almost at the same time.
They abruptly pushed each other away.
Moments earlier, they had been locked in an embrace, their uniforms in disarray.
They exchanged a glance, both faces turning red, then quickly looked away and shook their heads as if trying to fling the memory from their minds.
In Momonga's illusion, he had returned home and rushed into the arms of the wife he had missed for years.
In Doberman's illusion, after years of relentless pursuit, Juliet had finally agreed to him and consented to spend an intimate evening playing cards.
Momonga hastily buttoned his coat. Had he not regained control in time, he did not want to imagine the humiliation that might have followed.
Doberman glanced at Momonga's back, and for a fleeting second, it overlapped with Juliet's figure in his mind. A strange heat crept up his neck.
He clenched his teeth.
"Damn it."
Forcibly suppressing the thought, he turned his attention to the massive white butterfly, lingering fear tightening his chest.
…
"How scary. Is it an illusion? That is quite rare, so scary."
Lina observed the battlefield calmly.
She had already identified the source of the disturbance. The invisible waves emitted by the butterfly's wings were triggering mass hallucinations.
Her body burst into flames, and in the next instant she appeared before Minako.
She pressed her index finger lightly against her cheek, dimples forming as she smiled sweetly.
"I wonder if roasted butterfly tastes good. I have never cooked one before."
Lina was still Lina. No matter the situation, her thoughts always circled back to food.
Minako's antennae trembled.
"Fire Fist Lina."
As one of the more cautious members of the God's Knights, she had investigated every member of the Ion Tempest before coming to Marineford.
The girl before her possessed a childlike face, an innocent doll like expression, and an absurdly deceptive sweetness. She often muttered that things were scary, yet she showed no mercy when she attacked.
"Miss Butterfly, you actually know me?" Lina tilted her head, looking harmless.
"Why not become a roasted butterfly instead?"
She swung her slender arm through the air. Instantly, a ring of roaring flames encircled the enormous butterfly.
The temperature climbed rapidly.
Minako folded her wings tightly around herself, cocooning her body within layers of white.
"How scary. Trying to protect yourself with your wings?" Lina's smile remained gentle as the fire intensified. "It will not help."