"The Four Emperors' Blackbeard... died just like that?"
Across every corner of the world, people watching the live broadcast stared in disbelief. The image on their screens didn't feel real. A Yonko, one of the most powerful pirates alive, had just fallen not in secret or offscreen, but right before their eyes. No one had expected Blackbeard to be defeated so swiftly, so cleanly, and with such finality.
"Captain!!!"
Shiryu of the Rain, engaged in a deadly clash with Beckman, froze mid-swing. His eyes locked onto the massive vines coiling around Blackbeard's limp body, and his voice cracked with horror.
"Hey! Teach! Stop playing around! You told us you would dominate the world! Are you seriously collapsing here, just like that?!"
Beckman's response was cold and cutting.
"World domination? Stop kidding yourself. The world isn't that easy to control. You couldn't even see your own fate coming."
"Damn it all..."
At that moment, the morale of the Blackbeard Pirates crumbled. Panic spread through their ranks as the Red Hair Pirates surged forward, capitalizing on the sudden shift in momentum. Blades fell. Haki clashed. The battlefield tilted in an instant.
"Teach was actually killed!"
Even the Red Hair Pirates were stunned. Many of them had always considered Blackbeard to be Shanks's equal, especially after their past confrontation. Though young at the time, Blackbeard had left a lasting impression. And after acquiring two of the most dangerous Devil Fruits in existence, he became something close to unstoppable.
The Yami Yami no Mi allowed him to devour and cancel other Devil Fruit powers. The Gura Gura no Mi, once wielded by Whitebeard himself, could shatter the seas. Together, these powers had made Blackbeard a living catastrophe. His Conqueror's Haki only added to the threat.
But none of that had saved him.
Buggy had destroyed him in an instant.
Even Shanks was momentarily frozen. He watched from a distance, expression unreadable, sword trembling faintly in his hand. Whatever he had expected from this battle, it was not this.
Above them, a golden dragon glided through the sky. From within its majestic form, Sabo stared at the battlefield with deep concern. He had never faced Blackbeard personally, but he understood the level of threat that man posed. Everything about Blackbeard, his rise, his ruthlessness, and his dual fruits screamed of an Emperor-level force.
Now, that force was gone.
"Is this your true strength?"
Dracule Mihawk spoke quietly, his eyes narrowing as he sheathed his blade after dispatching the Zoan-enhanced Nashi Shouransheng. His gaze shifted to Buggy, who stood calmly among the chaos.
"Blackbeard is dead?"
In the distant sky, Redfield turned from his battle with the cloned specters of Roger and Golden Lion. His sharp eyes caught sight of Blackbeard's broken body, and a cold chill ran down his spine. He had expected Buggy to win, but not like this. Not with such effortless dominance.
He had once considered Blackbeard the closest thing to a rival in this new age. With twin fruits and a terrifying will, Blackbeard had been poised to become the strongest. That belief was now shattered.
Even Imu, far above the battlefield in the shadows of the Empty Throne, reacted. For a fleeting moment, something shifted in her chest. A tremor she had not felt in centuries. The sight of Buggy stirred an instinctive unease deep within her. A threat. A disturbance in the natural order.
The sensation was gone in a blink.
Had it been real?
She narrowed her eyes and continued to observe.
From the battlefield below, Redfield's voice rose again.
"Buggy! What the hell are you? What kind of strength have you reached?"
His voice was not angry. It was shaken, uncertain. It demanded an answer from the only man still standing tall.
Buggy looked up. A faint smile tugged at his lips. His voice was calm, almost casual.
"If you ask me, according to what Imu would probably classify it as... I guess I'm at planetary level now."
Silence fell across the battlefield.
Even Imu turned sharply, her crimson gaze fixed solely on Buggy. The tension in her jaw betrayed the storm behind her expression.
"Planetary level?" she murmured.
The words echoed in her mind.
"Impossible."
After hearing Buggy's words, Redfield fell silent. But far above the clouds, in the distant sky, Imu finally spoke.
"How could a mere creature from the lower dimensional plane even comprehend the concept of planetary-level combat power? Are you trying to bait information out of me?"
Buggy lifted his hands with a casual shrug and a sly grin.
"Oh? I didn't think you'd catch on so quickly."
He looked upward without fear, his voice smooth.
"I'm just curious. What exactly did you encounter over nine hundred years ago that made you turn your back on the world that raised you?"
Imu's voice was colder than ice. "You and the rest of the lower plane are not qualified to understand. Your minds are far too limited."
Buggy chuckled, as if her contempt amused him more than it offended.
"If you won't answer, that's fine. I'll just start with your subordinates. One by one, I'll wipe them out. Sooner or later, you'll tell me."
The smile on Buggy's face made Sengoku, standing behind, instinctively stiffen. A chill ran down his spine.
This was not an opponent. Not in any sense of the word.
After witnessing the earlier battle, Sengoku understood it clearly. Even if the legendary Wood Golem were deployed, it would not be enough. Not against someone like this.
Buggy had planned it from the beginning.
He lured the enemy in while negating their future sight to cloak himself from Blackbeard's Observation Haki, then finished it with a single crush.
One fatal blow.
And even now, Sengoku still could not comprehend how Buggy pierced Blackbeard's chest so cleanly, despite the gravity of the Dark-Dark Fruit pulling all into its grasp.
But he understood one thing for certain.
The gap in strength was overwhelming.
Like the ancient titans, Rocks, Roger, Whitebeard, and Golden Lion at their peaks, facing an Admiral one-on-one. Only now, the equation was reversed. Buggy was the one at the summit. And everyone else? They were standing far below, unable to reach him.
This wasn't a battle anymore. It was a massacre.
The kind of fight where no strategy, no alliance, no countermeasure could alter the outcome.
And yet, the situation could no longer be reversed.
The war was in motion. The end had begun.
Cold sweat dripped from Sengoku's temple. This battle would not stop halfway. One side would be wiped from existence before the sun set on today.
Across the Grand Line, the world shouted in disbelief.
On Sabaody Archipelago, atop one of the tall mangrove trunks, Rayleigh sat with Shakky, both watching the unfolding broadcast in silence. The square below them was alive with noise, but the tension in their hearts was louder.
Shakky exhaled sharply.
"Rayleigh… isn't Buggy way too strong? I swear, he's gone beyond even Rocks. I can feel it."
"Far beyond," Rayleigh replied, his voice heavy.
He had not touched his drink in a while. His eyes remained fixed on the screen, unblinking.
"It's not even close anymore. In physical prowess, in Haki, in Devil Fruit mastery, he's surpassed every benchmark. Even Redfield, who somehow maintained his peak all this time, doesn't stand a chance."
He paused, the weight of his next words thick in the air.
"It's unimaginable. How did Buggy reach this level? What kind of training? What kind of force could've shaped him into this?"
Then he went quiet for a long moment, his eyes narrowing as something seemed to stir in the back of his memory.
"…perhaps…"
Before Rayleigh could even finish his sentence, Shakky cut in with a faint smirk.
"You thinking of heading to the Holy Land?"
Rayleigh let out a deep breath, eyes watching the sky above the mangroves.
"Yeah… I want to see it with my own eyes."
Shakky took one last drag of her cigarette, exhaled a slow smoke ring, then stood up and extended a hand toward him.
"Then let's go together."
Rayleigh smiled, gripping her hand firmly. "Gladly."
"Blackbeard is dead! The Four Emperors' Blackbeard is actually dead!"
"No way! One of the emperors fell this fast?!"
"That's the same Blackbeard who had two Devil Fruits like Buggy… and Buggy just annihilated him?!"
"This is insane! Is this the power of the new Pirate King?!"
"The Celestial Dragons must be shaking in their gilded palaces!" someone shouted.
"Haha! I want to head to Mary Geoise right now! Slaughter a few Celestial Dragons for fun!"
"Count me in! I've waited my whole life for this moment!"
"Let's go together! For Master Buggy!"
"To the Holy Land! To Mary Geoise!"
The entire Sabaody Archipelago erupted into chaos and excitement. The once-restless crowd surged toward the ports, people hollering, laughing, pushing. Pirates, mercenaries, and common folk alike stormed toward ships with the wild gleam of rebellion in their eyes.
And it wasn't just Sabaody.
Far away in the New World, on an island belonging to the Supernova Alliance, a heated argument broke out.
"Kidd! Are you insane?!"
"You really plan on sailing straight to Mary Geoise?!"
"Of course I do. I want to witness the fall of the Celestial Dragons myself," Kidd replied, his voice sharp with conviction. "If even Blackbeard fell to Buggy, then the World Government doesn't stand a chance."
"You're nuts! The World Government still has that ancient monster who's been alive for over 800 years!"
"Exactly! If someone like that targets Buggy, he might not even make it out alive!"
Kidd, already standing at the edge of his ship's deck, turned slowly. A wicked grin spread across his face as he faced his crew.
"If I die fighting a man like that… then my life, the life of Eustass Kid, won't have been a waste!"
He raised his arm high, pointing to the sea.
"Raise the sails, boys! Set course for Mary Geoise!"
The crew erupted.
"AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!"
Cheers rang out as the Kidd Pirates surged into action. Sails unfurled, ropes tightened, and the ship lunged forward, chasing destiny on the waves.
From this moment on, across every ocean, the tides began to shift.
From the Grand Line to the New World, from the shadows of the underworld to the hearts of common men, a single word echoed louder than any drumbeat.
Ragnarok.
And everyone wanted to witness its arrival with their own eyes.
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