At this moment, Nereus was like the point where countless streams converged.
The area affected by his ability was no longer limited to where Whitebeard and Kaido were fighting.
The entirety of God Valley—even the surrounding seas—had fallen under the influence of his power.
Marines, pirates, Celestial Dragons, slaves—everyone could see blood flowing out from corpses bearing external wounds, while those still alive were not affected in the slightest.
The blood gathering from across the island concentrated beside Nereus, forming a strange crimson sphere above his right hand.
Blood converging from every direction was absorbed the moment it entered this area, swallowed into the sphere in his palm as though vanishing into thin air, leaving no trace of where it had gone.
That was precisely why Nereus was currently in his awakened state.
For Devil Fruit users, awakening marked a special stage.
Those who successfully awakened their fruits could unleash far greater power. Zoan awakenings granted unparalleled recovery ability; Paramecia fruits could assimilate the surrounding environment.
A Logia awakening could permanently alter the terrain of an entire region.
And those were merely the common patterns—Mythical Zoan awakenings often came with unique and unusual abilities.
Of course, awakening also carried the risk of failure. The Jailer Beasts of Impel Down were a blatant example.
Though they retained tremendous recovery ability and were nearly impossible to kill, they had lost all human reason and become beasts that obeyed only commands.
For someone like Nereus, a successful awakened user, awakening not only strengthened his abilities but greatly expanded their range.
"Marines, pirates... Celestial Dragons... all the same breed."
Although his awakened state amplified his strength enormously, Nereus's Observation Haki had not reached the absurd level of covering an entire island.
Enel could achieve that because of both his natural talent and the enhancement provided by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Still, within close range, Nereus could perceive everything around him clearly.
Though the pirates who came here were not trying to save ordinary people either—their goals were treasure, Shakky, or fame—their arrival had, to some extent, interrupted the Celestial Dragons' massacre game.
Ordinary Celestial Dragons had begun emergency evacuation, while the God's Knights were occupied fighting powerful pirates from every direction, giving many people a greater chance of survival.
But that did not mean everyone could survive.
God Valley was now an isolated island at sea, surrounded entirely by war, with no conventional route to escape.
And while ordinary Celestial Dragons had abandoned their game and started retreating, the members of the God's Knights had not.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A Celestial Dragon from the God's Knights, wearing an oversized round hat, pale cyan hair, and a cloak bearing the character for God, fired a specially made rifle indiscriminately at every target within sight.
"You think you can use this chaos to escape? Islanders, pirates—it doesn't matter. None of you are leaving!"
Men, women, children—whether fleeing or begging, nothing slowed her trigger finger for even a moment.
In a sense, the Celestial Dragons were perhaps the most "equal" people on the seas:
They equally regarded everyone outside their own kind as less than human.
Even those hiding behind cover were no safer—her bullets, reinforced with Haki, pierced straight through obstacles.
Ordinary stone, trees, barricades—none could stop her shots.
But when she tried to fire again, a hand crushed the barrel of her rifle flat.
"When—?!"
What shocked her was not that someone had crushed the gun.
It was that she had not sensed the enemy approaching at all.
Yet members of the God's Knights were very different from ordinary Celestial Dragons.
Those useless nobles only screamed and demanded protection, still trying to threaten others with status even in mortal danger.
The God's Knights, however, possessed genuine combat experience.
Even when they clearly sensed the enemy's strength, they did not collapse into panic.
Seeing him still holding the barrel—even though it had already deformed badly—she pulled the trigger repeatedly.
As the trigger clicked, bullets jammed inside the chamber.
Pressure built rapidly.
Then the rifle exploded in her hands like a grenade.
"The famous vampire... and yet you're saving strangers you don't even know."
"What I do is none of your business."
"Heh, whatever. Those people can't leave this island anyway. But taking your head would still be worthwhile.
Someone like you deserves to become a collectible of the Manmayer family."
Manmayer was one of the Celestial Dragon families.
And once Nereus appeared here, the Manmayer family had naturally shifted its target toward him.
As for why Nereus had intervened—there was no profound reason.
Though he never showed mercy to enemies, if someone happened to be within easy reach of saving, he was not cold enough to ignore it.
The Devil Fruits on the island were indeed what Nereus wanted, but he was not in a hurry.
Those fruits could not run away.
Without knowing what fruit it was, very few people would dare eat one immediately.
As long as the fruit remained on the island—even if it landed in someone else's hands—Nereus was confident he could take it back.
Besides, the God's Knights could hold on for a while longer.
"A collectible? Good timing. You'll make a fine test subject too."
The exploding rifle harmed neither of them.
Both arms that had held the weapon had already regenerated completely.
When immortality came from certain sources, defense itself often became unnecessary.
The Celestial Dragon from the Manmayer family kicked toward Nereus.
Nereus coated his hand in Armament Haki and reached for her head.
Crack...
The difference was obvious.
Her skull shattered instantly in his grip, blood spraying outward, something unidentifiable sticking briefly to his hand.
Meanwhile, her kick failed even to penetrate Nereus's Armament Haki armor.
Losing a head was no serious matter for a member of the God's Knights.
The headless body immediately retreated, while the crushed head began regenerating.
Yet just as the eyes had finished reforming, the Manmayer Celestial Dragon realized—
She had not widened the distance at all.
Nereus still stood directly before her.
And repeated the exact same motion.
"Armament Haki to the head—three seconds to regenerate. Then what happens if Conqueror's Haki is added?"
That was Nereus's thought at this moment.
If one intended to oppose the World Government, conflict with the God's Knights was inevitable sooner or later.
And every official member of the God's Knights had been granted the same immortality possessed by the Five Elders.
So Nereus intended to find out—
How exactly could they be killed for real?