Bai Tza had not completely forgotten her magic.
She still remembered a fraction of it, and this was it. By anchoring herself to the magic circle she had conjured, she tapped into the primal essence of this world's waters to nourish herself. At the same time, she cast off all restraint, thoroughly taking control of the ocean.
However, relying solely on the strength she possessed right after her escape from the Netherworld was clearly not enough.
She called out into the distance, "Brother Tso Lan, I require your assistance."
"Speak, and it shall be granted," Zoran replied to her, his voice calm and unhurried.
"I intend to establish my new kingdom in this world. I need you to grant me a portion of your Demon Chi," Bai Tza explained.
The insignificant mortals squabbling before her eyes were hardly worth asking her brother for help. What she truly aimed to achieve was to broadcast her sovereign will across the entirety of this world.
Zoran smiled faintly. "Very well."
Bai Tza knew he would not refuse, for this world was fundamentally a gift that Zoran had presented to her. Moreover, to the Moon Demon at his zenith, and indeed, far stronger than his original peak, this request posed no trouble at all.
Having given his word, Zoran reached across the vast distance and pointed a single finger toward Marineford as it sank into the ocean depths.
A torrential surge of deep, near-black violet Moon Demon Chi rushed violently into the magic circle, enveloping and saturating the array like a divine baptism.
He extended one of his extra arms, pressing downward.
Marineford shuddered violently, completely submerging beneath the waves.
Across this battlefield teeming with the world's absolute strongest, not a single soul could muster the strength to resist this power at this moment. They plunged one after another into the ocean depths, leaving behind nothing but a few meager, foaming bubbles on the surface.
The Moon Demon Chi fused seamlessly with Bai Tza's own Water Demon Chi, filling the magic circle to its absolute brim. Immediately following the natural ocean currents, it began to rapidly disperse in all directions.
Flowing water can serve as a carrier for information. Now, a starkly unique, unprecedented piece of information was being transmitted through the tides.
Zoran cast a discerning glance over the magic circle Bai Tza had inscribed.
Unlike the common arrays used simply to summon torrents, the incantation vibrating within this particular circle was remarkably intriguing. With Zoran's deep insight, he naturally perceived the true purpose of this spell at a single glance.
It was laced with Bai Tza's Water Demon Chi, blending into the sea and dispersing across the global ocean via the currents.
This was a transformative transmutation spell.
It possessed the power to passively alter any human, or any other sentient race that came into contact with the seawater, mutating them into ocean-adapted citizens of Atlantis. Naturally, this transformation was entirely non-negotiable.
As for the Devil Fruit users, once they touched the seawater tainted by this demonic incantation, their supernatural abilities would be rendered utterly useless within the depths, just as before, but with no hope of reprieve.
Bai Tza's ambition and methods were staggering.
From the very outset, she had integrated her essence with the world's waters while simultaneously releasing this transmutation spell. It appeared she truly intended to govern this world as her personal domain.
Now, backed by the immense power of the Moon Demon Chi, the spell was rapidly expanding into the boundless oceans.
Down in the Calm Belt, a deep, oppressive aura washed over the Sea Kings swimming through the dark trenches. These gargantuan leviathans abruptly froze in unison, their massive bodies beginning to twist and mutate uncontrollably.
Their originally hideous, disjointed features suddenly became sleeker and more uniform. Furthermore, the native Sea Kings of this world, who possessed colossal size but lacked true mystical power, felt their presence grow increasingly heavy and deep as they absorbed the Water Demon Chi.
One by one, even the colossal, ancient-class Sea Kings turned around in perfect unison, hurtling at breakneck speeds toward Marineford.
Meanwhile, at a much farther point in this world, an underwater paradise known as Fish-Man Island.
A beautiful mermaid had just concluded a divination, an expression of shock washing over her face.
Madam Shyarly was a fortune-teller whose predictions were famously known to possess a one-hundred-percent accuracy rate. For reasons she couldn't explain, a deep sense of unease had plagued her recently, prompting her to peer into the future of the Fish-Man race.
The vision had just materialized in her mind, but the result made her entire body tremble in utter disbelief.
Scrambling to her feet, she rushed frantically toward the Ryugu Palace. She had an incredibly critical matter to report to King Neptune in person.
This matter concerned the destiny of the entire Fish-Man race. Or rather, the future had already begun to unfold.
"Before her, the world held no true sovereign of the deep. After her, the god of the sea has taken her throne, and the Brave New World of the ocean races is about to unveil its curtains!"
Inside the Ryugu Palace, King Neptune stood completely dazed, repeating the prophecy Madam Shyarly had delivered moments ago, syllable by syllable. He looked utterly lost, convinced that he must be trapped in a dream.
Or, more likely, Shyarly's divination had finally failed. Absolutely, one hundred percent!
The Fish-Men were pariahs; that was a fact known to the whole world. The racial discrimination against them had never ceased for a single day. To not be ground entirely into the dust was already a mercy to thank the heavens for.
"Impossible... Impossible! Impossible!" he protested three times in rapid succession.
The greatest source of Neptune's skepticism lay in the fact that the Fish-Men simply did not command that sort of power, the power to instantly leap into becoming the masters of a glorious new world.
Unless the "ocean races" mentioned in the prophecy did not exclusively refer to the Fish-Men, but rather signified something else entirely.
Very quickly, many citizens across Fish-Man Island noticed a strange phenomenon.
Upon coming into contact with the ocean water, a subtle yet unmistakable mutation began to take root within their bodies. Various fierce and disparate Fish-Man lineages began to alter the moment they touched the sea. Their physical forms were evolving toward a completely new, unified species, sharing identical physical traits.
It was as though an ancient entity had burned her own image into the very molecular structure of the ocean, forcing every marine race to passively mirror her likeness as they evolved.
The news instantly threw Fish-Man Island into an uproar. Before long, an even more earth-shattering revelation spread across the entire island like wildfire.
The ocean itself was bearing a prophecy.
A new god, one who had never existed before but had now descended, was unifying the entire world. A new world was being forged, a magnificent era known as New Atlantis.
And its heart, its capital...
Every lingering trace of magical intent pointed directly toward a single coordinate.
The Sea Kings seemed to have gone mad, rushing toward Marineford in endless, terrifying pods. Massive, dark shadows blanketed the ocean floor.
A fanatic frenzy seemed to grip Fish-Man Island as well. The Fish-Men who had already been touched by the transformed seawater hoisted their sails, steering their vessels with trembling hands toward the coordinate indicated by the tides.
Just like the Sea Kings.
They were moving out to grant an audience to their God!
In an instant, the world appeared to have plunged into absolute chaos, yet it operated with flawless, chilling order, adhering strictly to a singular command.
Marineford had been entirely swallowed by the ocean torrents summoned by Bai Tza. Supported by the Moon Demon, no one possessed the strength to withstand the absolute power of the transmutation spell.
Even humans were not exempt.
Marines, pirates, and every single human submerged by the ocean slowly recovered from the initial panic of sinking into the deep. The sea had not drowned them. Instead, everyone discovered to their absolute amazement that they could breathe and swim through the water with effortless grace.
Kizaru stared in utter disbelief at his own body, watching a brand-new set of aquatic traits rapidly manifesting on his skin. For the first time, a look of genuine terror crept onto his face.
"Oh dear... This time, things really are getting a bit frightening."
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