The Sabaody Archipelago, also known as the Bubble Islands, lay before the Red Line at the midpoint of the Grand Line, the final stop in Paradise, the first half of the route.
The entire archipelago was formed from the roots of the world's largest mangroves, the Yarukiman Mangroves. Their roots secreted a special natural resin that formed bubbles, and under normal circumstances the islands were breathtakingly beautiful beneath their veil of rainbow colors.
But the Sabaody Archipelago in front of Harry and the others held none of that beauty now.
From a distance, both the sea and the sky ahead had been dyed a thick, suffocating red. The entire archipelago looked as though it had been cast beneath a blood-colored filter, hidden inside a deep, eerie crimson mist. Even the bubbles floating through the air had taken on a strange red hue.
Nami clapped a hand over her mouth and stared in horror at the bloated corpses drifting across the sea, as well as the Marines continuously hauling bodies from the water. "What on earth happened here?"
Even Nico Robin, who had seen more than her fair share of horrors and had been hunted by the Marines since childhood, felt deeply unsettled by the scene. "This should be the result of the Marines fighting the undead. The undead have been throwing themselves at Sabaody nonstop, trying to spread the undead scourge farther, but the Marines have been holding them back. Nearly a month of constant fighting turned things into this."
Chopper trembled. "This is awful. Are we really going to that island?"
Zoro stared ahead with a grave look in his eyes. "Hey, Chopper, Luffy's brother is still on that island. We're going with him."
Maybe she sensed how heavy the mood had become, because Nami suddenly smacked Zoro on the head. Ignoring the glare he shot her, she put on an exaggeratedly easygoing tone. "Why are you acting so tense? We've got Harry with us. He can solve anything."
The others looked skeptical.
Even though Usopp had become a Lender and learned some astonishing magic, he had never actually seen Harry fight, so he still had doubts about Harry's strength.
In Usopp's mind, Harry was probably around the level of an ordinary member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, but could he really stand against monsters on the level of the Four Emperors?
The news was always full of reports about the Four Emperors, so Usopp had some understanding of just how terrifying people at that level were.
Those were real monsters, beings who could wipe out an island with a single blow.
So he asked Harry with open concern, "Harry, are you really sure about this? Don't push yourself too hard. We'll stay with you and fight beside you."
The longer Harry spent with the Straw Hats, the more he liked them.
They were a pure-hearted group, purer than most people in the world, and kinder, too.
Harry smiled at them and said, "Relax. As long as I'm here, we can't lose."
Even though the Straw Hat crew was more of an adventuring crew than a band of pirates who burned, looted, and slaughtered, they were still wanted by the Marines, so they had to choose their landing point carefully.
Groves 1 through 29 of Sabaody housed places like the Human Auctioning House and all sorts of shady businesses, essentially lawless zones, so they chose to land at Grove 10.
The moment they stepped ashore, they could feel the difference in the atmosphere.
Even these lawless groves now had scattered Marine soldiers stationed around them, but they were not there to keep order. Instead, they existed side by side with the criminals.
And both sides shared a single goal, kill every undead creature in sight.
They had barely left the harbor when they saw a battle break out ahead.
Several Marines, a mink, and a pink-haired bombshell were surrounding an undead giant.
The undead giant stood a full ten meters tall and possessed tremendous strength, greater than the Sea Kings Harry's group had encountered before.
It kept swinging a battered giant axe caked in flesh and blood, launching one ferocious attack after another at the people in front of it.
The Straw Hats' expressions changed slightly when they sensed the force behind its blows.
No wonder Sabaody had become the center of the world's attention. Even a random undead they ran into here possessed such terrifying strength.
That giant was already no weaker than Sanji.
Its enemies were strong too. The pink-haired woman dodged one of the giant's swings and slammed her fist into its body.
In the next instant, something incredible happened.
The giant visibly shrank by a full meter, and even its rotten appearance seemed to grow much younger.
Harry muttered to himself, "Could this be a Devil Fruit ability? To run into one so casually, and it's tied to time, no less."
Naturally, Luffy had no intention of missing out once he spotted something interesting.
His grin stretched all the way to his gums as he burst into his trademark laugh. "Hey, hey, hey, that looks awesome! Let me join in too! Gum-Gum Bazooka!"
Luffy meant well by helping, but the people already fighting the undead showed him no gratitude at all. Instead, they looked at him warily, and the pink-haired woman snapped, "Damn you, Straw Hat! You want a piece of this too? Even if you help, don't think you're getting a share of the energy stone!"
"Energy stone?" Harry caught the term immediately, and his eyes narrowed in thought.
A moment later, with Luffy joining the fight, the undead giant was quickly brought down.
But just as it fell and began rapidly regenerating, the others all moved at once, shattered its skull, and found a fist-sized crystal inside.
Then, to Luffy's confusion, they immediately started fighting over it. In the end, the pink-haired woman seized the energy stone and crushed it in her hand.
Black energy instantly wrapped around her body.
What surprised Harry was that after absorbing that baleful power, the woman's physical strength and soul both became slightly stronger.
But there was a price.
At some point, strands of black energy had wormed their way deep into her soul and wrapped themselves around it completely.
Harry's eyes sharpened.
That was a mark similar to the kind left by the Dimensional Demon Gods.
Now he understood what had happened.
After killing undead in this world, people found energy crystals inside their skulls.
Once they discovered that crushing those crystals could strengthen their bodies, they naturally began slaughtering undead with everything they had.
But more fighting meant more people became infected, which created more undead, and the cycle repeated endlessly.
And even if someone survived their battles with the undead, constantly crushing energy stones to strengthen themselves was no blessing either.
As their bodies were strengthened, their souls were gradually polluted. All the evil god had to do was wait until the moment of its descent, activate the corruption already planted inside those souls, and harvest them like livestock.
The demon god invading the pirate world was a crafty thing, every bit as cunning as Mephisto.
After asking around, the Straw Hats quickly learned what the energy stones did.
Even though Nami knew that energy stones dug out of undead skulls were incredibly suspicious, the moment she heard that a good-quality one could be exchanged for several million Beli, gold practically flashed in her eyes. She immediately shoved the danger to the back of her mind and said excitedly, "Hahaha! One energy stone is worth several million Beli? Then this undead-infested sea is basically a treasure vault made just for me!
Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, let's go hunt undead too. One-fifth of what we get can go to you guys to strengthen yourselves, and the rest comes to me so I can exchange it for Beli as crew funds. Great, it's settled!"
Seeing that even Nami had started thinking about hunting energy stones, Harry sighed and explained his suspicions to the Straw Hats.
Nico Robin frowned, worry plain on her face. "But if almost all the strong people in the world have already used energy stones to enhance themselves, then they've all been tainted by the demon god's power. Can this world still be saved?"
Harry comforted her. "Don't worry. As long as the demon god hasn't fully descended yet, your world is still safe. Let's head farther into Sabaody and gather enough information. Once I find the source of the invasion, I can end this whole disaster for good."
Compared to the beach on the outer edge, the interior of the Sabaody Archipelago still maintained a certain amount of order. Aside from the thick smell of blood hanging in the air, things looked much the same as usual.
The moment Luffy and the others spotted Sabaody's local goods in the roadside shops, they wanted to start buying things. Those bubble bikes completely stole their attention.
But obviously Nami had no intention of spending money, so in the end Harry used Transfiguration to permanently turn some objects into gold, which finally satisfied everyone.
Riding their bubble bikes, the group headed for the market district. Nico Robin had spent years moving through the darker side of the world, so she knew exactly where the fastest and best information could be found.
Without question, the best place was a black-market information broker.
After reaching the market, they split into two groups. Luffy, Chopper, and the others who liked excitement went off to wander around, while the calmer group, Nami, Harry, and the rest, went to find a black-market broker and gather intelligence.
By the time they left, Harry had a full picture of what was happening in the pirate world.
The New World had already become a realm of the undead. Aside from Whitebeard, the other three Emperors of the Sea had all fled through Fish-Man Island into Paradise.
In order to avoid clashing directly with the Marines, they were currently anchored at several islands not far from Sabaody, where they too were wiping out undead that had escaped the New World.
They had no desire to see the whole world become a paradise for the undead either. They still had to live in it.
And since killing undead and collecting energy stones could push even their peak strength a little farther, why wouldn't they do it?
According to the black-market broker, the Whitebeard Pirates were also advancing toward Paradise.
The Ryugu Kingdom had already completely abandoned Fish-Man Island, and in roughly a few days the Whitebeard Pirates would arrive at Sabaody in full. At that point, the decisive battle that would determine the fate of the world would begin.
Hearing that the pirate world might have only seven days left, everyone except Harry fell into a much darker mood.
They immediately decided to head back and find Luffy, then see whether they could temporarily join the Marines and do their part in the coming war.
After all, Luffy's grandfather was Garp. In a crisis that threatened the survival of the whole world, the line between pirate and Marine had blurred to nearly nothing. Garp would definitely have a way to bring them into the Marines so they could learn more.
Riding their bubble bikes, they quickly found Luffy and the others on a nearby street.
But their current situation looked bad.
They seemed to have come into conflict with a group of people wearing transparent bubble helmets.
Because Nami lived in this world, Harry had paid a fair amount of attention to it before arriving, so he naturally knew who those people were.
Celestial Dragons, descendants of the twenty kings who had founded the World Government eight hundred years ago, nobles who considered themselves above all others.
They lived lives of shameless luxury, abused their power freely, and committed all kinds of cruel, tyrannical acts in places like Sabaody, abducting women they fancied, murdering civilians on a whim, and worse.
For that reason, they were also one of the targets Harry intended to erase before he left.
Maybe before reforming the wizarding world, he could use the pirate world as a testing ground, a place to carry out a reform without worrying about the aftermath.
A few minutes earlier, Luffy and the others had been strolling through the area when the family of Saint Rosward suddenly stopped beside them.
Saint Shalria's eyes landed on Chopper, and they immediately lit up.
"Hahaha! What kind of strange new pet is this? It looks so weird, and it can even talk! Daddy, I want to buy it and make it my new toy!"
She giggled, her eyes full of contempt and arrogance, and reached out for Chopper's ear, her face eager with anticipation.
As a Celestial Dragon, she was used to getting whatever she wanted. There was no way these people would dare refuse to sell her that little hat-wearing creature.
Saint Rosward nodded with a smile. "Don't worry, my dear daughter. It's just a reindeer. A few tens of thousands of Beli will settle it."
Too lazy to count out the money properly, Saint Rosward pulled out several hundred thousand Beli and threw it straight into Luffy's face, then ordered one of his slaves, "Idiot! Why haven't you put a slave collar on that reindeer and handed it over to my precious daughter yet?"
The slave, a man over eight feet tall, immediately stepped forward to seize Chopper.
At first Luffy was just confused after getting smacked in the face with money, but now it finally clicked.
These people were the bad guys, and they wanted to lay hands on his crewmate.
There was no way he would allow that.
He instantly punched the slave, who was nearly three feet taller than he was, and sent him flying. Then he roared at Saint Rosward, "You bastard! What do you think you're doing to Chopper? Chopper's not for sale!"
With Luffy backing him up, Chopper immediately found his courage too. He shouted at Saint Rosward, "You jerk! I'm one of the Straw Hat Pirates! I'm not a pet!"
Saint Rosward had never imagined that a few insignificant pirates would dare resist him. He flew into a rage. "You filthy, insolent commoners! How dare you defy a Celestial Dragon's command!
Do you have any idea what you're doing? The Marines will tear you to pieces and hang your heads up for everyone to see!
If you know what's good for you, then hand over that monster at once, kneel, and beg my forgiveness. If I'm in a good mood, I might even spare your miserable lives!"
Luffy's face twisted in anger the moment he heard that.
"You stinking old man! Don't talk about Chopper like that! He's our friend, not some monster, and definitely not your toy! I don't care who you are. If you mess with my friends, I'll send you flying!"
With that, Luffy dropped into a fighting stance, ready to attack Saint Rosward at any moment.
But just before he could move, a blinding flash exploded across the scene and sent him flying.
Streaks of light shot in from the distance and gathered near the Celestial Dragons, slowly taking the shape of a person.
A man over six and a half feet tall, dressed in a fitted yellow suit, a man in his fifties, emerged from the light and lazily looked in the direction Luffy had been blasted away.
"Well now, this is troublesome. Laying a hand on a Celestial Dragon is a crime among crimes, you know."
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