Tens of thousands of people were packed into the Holy Church Nation's capital, and there was no way to tell left from right.
If they didn't disperse, Vane wouldn't do anything to them anyway. From the very beginning, Vane had only planned to keep these clergy under control.
"Demons! The demons really have come."
"T-This… the gods are fake—how could demons be real?"
Whether gods existed or not, these clergy knew best. It was all fabricated by them in the first place—myths and fables were things they wrote to deceive people.
Gods don't exist, so demons shouldn't exist either.
"Surprised? Didn't expect it, did you."
"Tant, get those women out. Throw a few of the clergy who look unpleasant into it."
Tant turned into a strong lion and easily smashed the prison cart. The other Rocket Team grunts immediately rushed up and rescued the people.
"You idiots, get over here!"
Tant grabbed a few trembling clergy and tossed them into the pile of firewood.
Vane casually picked up a bottle filled with holy water and said slowly,
"Don't be afraid. Feeling dizzy is normal."
"You're dying to fight demons, so your souls will go to the divine realm. Only the flesh will disappear; the soul will gain eternity."
As he spoke, he poured the holy water in his hand over a few of their heads.
"Light it."
When the flames were about to reach them, those clergy immediately started screaming.
"Fake! It's all fake!"
"Death is death—we don't even know if there's a divine realm!"
"Don't burn me! I'm afraid to die!"
Panic after panic, ugliness on full display. Seeing those lofty clergy reduced to this, everyone had to admit it felt pretty satisfying.
"Damn it! These people have already been bewitched by demons!"
"Knights! Seize these embodiments of demons!"
The king ordered the knights to capture Vane's group to carry out proper punishment.
"May the Sacred Tree bless us! We will forget our pain!"
"The Sacred Tree will grant us strength!"
The knights were the most deeply brainwashed group. They firmly believed in the power of the gods and the Sacred Tree.
"Several hundred people—handling this is a bit troublesome."
Knights were professionally trained; their physical qualities far surpassed those of ordinary people.
Don't underestimate ordinary people's strength. At the Summit War, those Marines massively drained Whitebeard's health bar.
Of course, these knights might not be on the level of the Summit Marines, but Vane and the others weren't Whitebeard either. Getting tied down would indeed be troublesome.
"Moria, there's no need to hold back. Use your power to show these knights what a spokesperson of demons looks like."
Devil Fruit users—aren't they just spokespeople of demons?
"Kishishishi~"
"Shadow Bat!"
Moria controlled a huge swarm of bats and set them upon the knights. Ordinary people would have panicked and tried to swat them away after getting hurt like this; even Marines would be thrown into disorder.
"Something's off! These knights aren't right."
The bat swarm charged several times, yet the knights' formation remained solid. Even when wounded, they kept advancing.
The bats converged into a gigantic horn spear and swept across. An entire squad of knights was sent flying.
Thud! Thump~
As long as the knights who were sent flying weren't knocked out on the spot and were still conscious, even with broken legs they would crawl up like mad and launch another attack.
"Their eyes are like beasts—there's none of the fear a person should have."
Facing several hundred people like this, even Moria was starting to struggle.
"Electivire, Charizard!"
Meowth released the Pokémon to help Moria. The other Rocket Team grunts also took up their new weapons to meet the frenzied Church Knights head-on.
"Ei-lu!"
Electivire pulled out two rocket launchers. With its mouth wide open, it swallowed them, and its hands quickly turned into the shapes of gun ports.
This was one of the abilities of the Munch-Munch Fruit: turning what it eats into part of its body's functions, and it can even swallow people to fuse with them.
Electivire then swallowed a large number of fist-sized iron shells.
No gunpowder needed—Electivire is covered in electricity; it's a "railgun" itself!
Bang! Bang!
Using only one-tenth of the energy it would normally spend on electric moves to propel the shells, the effect was close to the power of those electric moves.
After eating the Munch-Munch Fruit, Electivire's strength became quite formidable.
...
Those crazy knights were left to Moria and the others. Vane's gaze shifted to the king and queen. After a few seconds of silence, he drew his Cursed Sword.
"Whirlwind Cutting Fist !"
Clang—buzz!
A flurry of sword slashes flew out, but the target wasn't the king and queen—it was that very tall, very beautiful golden Sacred Tree.
"Stop!"
The queen sprang to her feet, the earlier composure gone from her eyes.
Unfortunately, even if Vane himself wanted to stop now, those slashes had no life and wouldn't listen.
With a crack, the Sacred Tree was cut in half at the waist. The so-called Sacred Tree was only a bit prettier than ordinary trees, and in terms of hardness it was even inferior to ironwood.
"The Sacred Tree has fallen!"
"How could the Sacred Tree fall like this?"
The Holy Church Nation was, after all, a nation founded on religion. Even if the religion was unpopular now, many people still revered the gods in their hearts!
As the faith of the entire Holy Church Nation and the gods' spokesperson, no one had ever imagined it would be cut down.
Boom!
The towering Sacred Tree crashed to the ground with a tremendous roar.
At the moment it fell, Vane caught a glimpse of another color.
Without any hesitation, he used Soru to dash into the massive crown of the Sacred Tree. A black-and-gold apple-like fruit was hanging there.
A Devil Fruit!
So the Holy Church Nation's Devil Fruit was on this Sacred Tree. On this Sacred Tree that no one dared to climb or profane, this fruit had been hanging there for who knew how long.
Black and gold… it was that Devil Fruit.
An ice crystal fragment appeared in Vane's hand, proving it was a Paramecia-type.
"The Sacred Tree has fallen, the Sacred Tree has fallen!"
"It hurts! The blessing of the gods is gone!"
The Church Knights who had looked fearless, ready to fight to the death, collapsed rapidly after the Sacred Tree was cut down.
They began to feel fear. Those who were injured fell to the ground clutching their wounds, unable to move.
"What's wrong with them? How did they become like this?"
"Is losing faith really that terrifying?"
The Rocket Team thought it was strange, but that didn't stop them from quickly securing victory. They rapidly suppressed and dispersed the Church Knights.