"What tricks are you playing now?!"
Seeing the three Straw Hat Pirates suddenly appear before her, Alicia Mirabelagon's expression instantly darkened.
Because this meant one thing—
All three of her subordinates had already been defeated.
More importantly, Red alone had already pushed her to the brink.
And now, she had to face three more enemies.
At this very moment, even Mirabelagon herself no longer knew… how she was supposed to win this battle.
…
…
"They… they won!"
"Did you see that, Gordon?!"
"Those people are Luffy's companions, right?! They're actually… that strong!!!"
At the same time, inside the shelter beneath the ruins of Elegia Kingdom's castle.
Standing on tiptoe at a stone-brick window, taking in the entire battlefield below, Uta excitedly pressed her hands against the ledge. Her eyes sparkled like stars as she leaned forward, staring outside with all her might.
This was the first time she had truly seen how vast the world was.
And watching this battle before her eyes, Uta made up her mind.
She was going to leave this place—leave the Kingdom of Elegia—
And personally find Shanks, to demand the real reason why he had abandoned her!!!
"..."
"Uta…"
Gordon's voice caught in his throat for a moment. In the end, he didn't know what else he could say and could only let out a soft sigh.
He had always known Uta would never stay in Elegia forever, but the appearance of the Straw Hat Pirates still caught him completely off guard.
After all, who could have imagined that Uta not only had a Yonko as her father, but also a Yonko as her childhood companion?!
It was straight out of a novel—a child of destiny.
…
…
"Requiem of Lost Souls · Shadow Bone · Weapon Breaker!"
"Two-Sword Style · Falling Sakura · Quick Attack!"
"Fish-Man Jujutsu · Water Strike · Rising Sky Punch!!!"
Boom!!!
Three attacks, from three different directions, struck Mirabelagon at the same instant.
Even with her overwhelming strength, the pressure mounted instantly.
But more crucially—
Whoosh!!!
Mirabelagon struck first, launching herself directly at Chopper and the others instead of defending.
Her figure flickered, moving at a speed that surpassed even Chopper's Quick Attack, appearing before him in the blink of an eye.
"Nightflame · Black Fire!"
Whooo—
Pitch-black flames surged along her dark blade, slashing forward in a sudden ambush. They collided head-on with the twin elemental swords in Chopper's hands, instantly shattering them.
Clang!
Two crisp metallic clashes rang out as Chopper was sent flying backward even faster than he had charged in.
Just as he was about to crash into the rock wall behind him, a Hyperspace Hole suddenly opened at his back, swallowing his body whole.
In the next instant, Chopper reappeared on a patch of Grassy Terrain not far from the battlefield.
A steady stream of life energy surged into his body, restoring him completely before he could even process the pain from the collision.
As if already accustomed to this sensation, Chopper swung his arms, condensed two new blades, and charged forward again.
In a flash, another Hyperspace Hole opened before him.
Chopper leapt into it midair.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared on the battlefield—
Directly in front of Mirabelagon, the one who had just sent him flying.
"Ahhh—!!!"
Chopper let out a fierce shout and slashed downward with both blades.
But in the next second, a black blade precisely blocked his strike, releasing a terrifying force that once again sent Chopper flying.
Having completed this exchange, Mirabelagon spun around, clenched one fist, and clashed head-on with Jinbe's water-wreathed punch. Riding the impact, she smoothly evaded the icy bone sword descending from above.
Why was Mirabelagon's movement so fluid and refined?
Because for nearly half an hour now, she had been enduring exactly this kind of high-intensity combat!
If not for the monstrous recovery granted by her awakened Zoan body, she might have already fallen to the trio's combined assault.
No—
Not just three!!!
After blocking Jinbe's Fish-Man Karate once more, Mirabelagon's gaze sharpened as she looked toward the outskirts of the battlefield.
There, hovering in midair, Red, who had been locked in fierce combat with her earlier, now floated calmly, his body radiating strange waves of light as his eyes observed the entire battlefield.
Mirabelagon knew all too well—
Everything had turned out this way because of this man!
His frontal combat strength was already astonishing, but his ability to support and control the battlefield instilled genuine fear even in someone as experienced as the Vice Commander of the God's Knights!!!
Too strong!!!
Under Red's manipulation, three fighters far weaker than her had forced her into a position where she couldn't even fight back.
"No!"
"If this keeps up, something will go terribly wrong!!!"
After observing for a long time and seeing no sign of fatigue from Red and the others, unable to gauge their stamina at all, a flash of insight crossed Mirabelagon's eyes.
Commander Figarland Garling Saint was missing. Her subordinates' fates were unknown.
On this island, she was now the only remaining member of the God's Knights still fighting.
And seeing how confident her enemies were, she knew she could not continue this battle.
"I have to find a way to escape!!!"
For the first time in her life, Mirabelagon—who had sworn to uphold the honor of the Celestial Dragons—felt the urge to flee.
Her jet-black wings beat violently, sending countless black-feather bombs flying outward, forcing Chopper and Brook to halt their advance.
Then, gripping her black blade like a spear, she thrust forward, piercing straight through the water vortex that had formed before her and stabbing toward Jinbe's fist.
Boom!!!
Explosions and clashes roared simultaneously, echoing across the island's skies.
Using the chaos as cover, Mirabelagon landed, snapped her wings apart, and burst into motion, shooting straight up into the sky.
"Huh?!"
Including Red, the four Straw Hats froze for a moment.
Just as they thought Mirabelagon was preparing a diving attack, Red suddenly shouted from the edge of the battlefield:
"Damn it—she's escaping!!!"
The distance was too great. Even with his Aura capable of sensing emotions, Red failed to catch the instant change in Mirabelagon's mindset.
To rise to the position of Vice Commander of the God's Knights, Mirabelagon relied not only on strength, but also on decisive, razor-sharp judgment.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
Four Hyperspace Holes opened beneath Red and the others at the same time.
They fell through, reappearing high in the sky, closing in to surround Mirabelagon.
However…
As if she had anticipated this long ago, Mirabelagon's speed never faltered. She continued ascending, steadily widening the distance between them.
She didn't know how far Red's spatial control could reach.
But she knew one thing—
The sky belonged to birds.
As long as she kept climbing, those pirates would never catch her.
Sure enough.
After less than three minutes of pursuit, Red and the others stopped, abandoning the chase.
"No good. She's too fast."
Inside a psychic barrier, Red hovered with Chopper and the others, staring up at Mirabelagon's retreating figure before slowly shaking his head.
There was no helping it.
Mirabelagon was an admiral-class powerhouse—and a physical monster at that.
At full output, her speed was simply beyond what they could handle.
Without time to activate his divine-beast template, Red couldn't even reliably lock onto her position, let alone trap her with a Hyperspace Hole.
"She… got away…"
Hearing Red's words, Chopper and Brook immediately looked dejected.
They stared at their weapons, once again blaming themselves for their own weakness.
Even with such perfect conditions created by Red, they had still let the enemy escape…
If the other crewmates had been here, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
"Sigh…"
Chopper and Brook exchanged a glance and sighed deeply.
Only Jinbe, who had joined the Straw Hat Pirates not long ago and hadn't experienced many major battles yet, blinked his round eyes in confusion.
What was going on?!
They had just driven off an admiral-level opponent together!
A Marine Admiral was someone comparable to a Yonko…
Not long ago, escaping from such a monster would have felt like divine luck!
So why did Chopper and Brook look like they had lost?!
For a moment, Jinbe—feeling pretty good about himself—suddenly felt strangely out of sync with the Straw Hat Pirates.
So this was it…
The real reason the Straw Hat Pirates had risen from obscurity to become a Yonko crew in just over a year?!
…
…
Meanwhile, elsewhere—in the endless starry void.
At the exact moment Mirabelagon lost her will to fight and chose to flee…
Far out in the cosmos, Figarland Garling Saint, who was also locked in a desperate battle, didn't even have the option to run.
"Damn brat!!! Die already!!!"
"Divine Annihilation!!!"
The once-holy and radiant blade was instantly wrapped in jet-black Armament Haki, slashing forward at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
Boom!!!
A slash that seemed capable of cleaving the world itself tore through the void, racing forward.
A passing meteor was unlucky enough to be caught in its path and was split cleanly in two, its cut surface smooth as it drifted apart.
Facing that attack—
A white giant wielding lightning in one hand and flames in the other hurled the gathered elemental power forward like a spellcaster, shouting a shockingly straightforward move name:
"Gum-Gum… Flame Lightning!!!"
Whoosh—
Fwoom!!!
Under Luffy's powerful throw, the two elemental attacks surged forward, colliding head-on with the violent slash.
Having long mastered Tri Attack, Luffy handled lightning and fire as naturally as breathing—even using them as his primary weapons posed no problem.
Empowered by Nika's power, the lightning and flames now carried apocalyptic force, as if ready to obliterate everything in existence.
Boom!!!
Lightning and fire intertwined as they smashed into the raging slash, instantly generating a terrifying shockwave that swept across the dim starfield, blasting surrounding meteor fragments into dust.
In the next instant, all that turbulence was swallowed by the vast universe, vanishing without a trace—as if it had never existed.
This was the difference between land and space.
On the Blue Planet, battles between fighters of Luffy's caliber could easily shatter terrain or wipe entire islands from existence.
But in the boundless cosmos, no matter how fiercely they fought, it was all no more than a grain of dust.
And this endless battlefield gave Luffy even more room to imagine.
"Damn it! What exactly is this guy's ability?!"
"What are the Five Elders hiding from us?! They must be withholding crucial intelligence!"
Seeing Luffy unleash such massive elemental attacks, Garling Saint's expression grew even darker.
From the start of the battle until now, aside from standard Haki usage, he had seen Luffy employ transformations, telekinesis, object control, bodily restructuring, size alteration, invisibility, clones—
And now, on top of all that, terrifying Logia-like elemental power!
Such absurd, chaotic abilities made Garling Saint feel as if he were fighting someone out of a dream.
How could any normal person possess so many bizarre powers?!
He couldn't make sense of it.
But he had no time to think.
Because at that moment, Luffy casually reached out and grabbed a meteor the size of a small mountain with one hand.
Then he rubbed it between his palms.
In the blink of an eye, a colossal meteor greatsword formed in his grip.
Even though post-Nika Luffy already bore the silhouette of a giant, compared to the sword in his hands, he still seemed small.
"Gum-Gum… Starry Sky Great Whirlwind!!!"
Whooo—!
Luffy's body began spinning violently in midair, the massive sword swinging along with his rotation.
In an instant, an enormous whirlwind formed in the thin vacuum of space, surging straight toward Garling Saint.
"Damn it!!! What are you trying to do?!"
Seeing that Luffy clearly had the power to face him head-on, yet kept using bizarre techniques to stall for time, Garling Saint's fury exploded.
He couldn't understand it.
What was Luffy dragging this out for?
Did he really think reinforcements could appear and change the tide of this battle?!
(End of Chapter)