Chapter 500: Yamata God Orochimaru Takes Action, Stay Still Here
Rumble!
On Mythical Beast Island, the flame-colored mushroom cloud slowly faded.
Yet, the air still trembled.
Looking up from Mythical Beast Island, only endless gray clouds blanketed the sky.
The sunlight above could no longer pierce the thick mushroom cloud to reach the island.
On the distant floating Sky Island, Orochimaru gazed at the scene through a building with a smile on his face.
Sōsuke Aizen seemed to be another remarkable figure!
Following his thoughts, in a building at the heart of Mythical Beast Island, another Orochimaru emerged from a research room.
This was a clone of Orochimaru's true form.
As a fervent scientist, to boost research and work efficiency, he had created eight clones, each inheriting a portion of his abilities.
Naturally, the key was that they all possessed independent thinking.
Orochimaru himself could multitask mentally, so this was a simple feat.
Each of the eight clones focused on a different field, greatly enhancing efficiency.
This particular Orochimaru, who inherited the power of wind, had the word "Wind" on the back of his white research coat.
"Hehehe! It looks truly spectacular!" he said.
"But this affects the island's weather too much."
Wind Orochimaru observed the mushroom cloud obscuring the sky of Mythical Beast Island.
Its lingering presence ruined the scenery.
Whoosh!
At that moment, an immense airflow surged.
A massive vortex appeared in the sky, swallowing, spinning, and compressing the enormous mushroom cloud.
It transformed into a towering tornado stretching skyward and downward, enveloping the Thousand-Year Forest Ridge of Mythical Beast Island.
Water vapor, smoke, and debris mixed, saturating the land.
This turned much of the area into a swamp-like terrain.
Whoosh!
As the process finished, the world cleared, as if the earlier events were a mirage.
Only the swampy ground of the Thousand-Year Forest Ridge betrayed what had occurred.
"Kuwahahaha… What's this? This is the work of Yamata God Orochimaru," someone exclaimed.
"It's like a miraculous scene. This is Yamata God Orochimaru at work."
"I never expected this explosion would prompt Yamata God Orochimaru to act. Seeing this, I could die without regrets!"
Morgans, watching the mushroom cloud torn apart and turned into a quagmire, spoke through a Den Den Mushi on a news bird flying overhead, capturing the great serpent in the central building of Mythical Beast Island.
The news birds and Den Den Mushi on Mythical Beast Island were not ordinary ones from the outside world.
They were a subspecies of Mythical beasts, imbued with their power.
Otherwise, the explosion's blinding light at such close range would have overwhelmed these small creatures.
How could they continue filming Orochimaru?
Now, the Den Den Mushi had captured Orochimaru's presence.
The crowd, initially stunned by Bullet's devastating power, shifted their focus to Orochimaru.
Yamata God Orochimaru!
The man now revered as a god had acted, naturally drawing far more attention than Bullet.
When Wind Orochimaru noticed the Den Den Mushi flashing in the distance, he waved lightly.
Many watching the live broadcast worldwide screamed, like fans seeing their idol.
In Area 13 of the Sabaody Archipelago, at Shakky Rip-Off Bar, the legendary pirate Dark King Rayleigh watched the live feed on the tavern's screen.
He downed his glass of wine and sighed.
"That man is still so approachable, it's almost frightening! He already holds such a status," Rayleigh said.
Shakky, across from him, rolled her eyes and said, "How can a truly strong person be bound by status? They do whatever they want."
"Would you do whatever you want?" Rayleigh repeated, his face growing serious.
"That's why those god-like figures are dangerous!"
"It'd be easier if they were more detached."
"Emotional gods are perilous. This world can't handle their whims!"
Whoosh!
A puff of smoke hit Rayleigh's face.
It made him choke and cough.
"There's no point telling me. Let that little red-haired kid deal with such baseless worries!"
"You stop stirring trouble."
Shakky tossed her finished cigarette butt, lit a new one, and continued, "Is this why you won't let me go to the Mythical Beast Conference?"
Boom!
Rayleigh skillfully opened a new wine bottle on the table, took a sip, and showed an envious expression.
"That place looks amazing now. Probably the most interesting place I've encountered in my life," he said.
"The magical beasts—Lucky Cat, Treasure Water Crocodile, even the Thousand-Year Dragon King—none of the others are much different! And those treasures…"
"I really regret it! That kid Shanks got a Mythical beast there and won't have to worry about food."
Seeing Rayleigh's envy, Shakky was speechless and said, "Still interesting? Didn't you see how many strong people there are? Didn't you see how powerful those Mythical beasts are? Don't go—I wouldn't even be able to collect your corpse."
"I've gotten a bit stronger too!" Rayleigh retorted, his face red.
Men can't admit defeat.
"Come on! The relics of this era should stay home and enjoy retirement!" Shakky said.
"Uh…"
On Mythical Beast Island, in the Thousand-Year Forest Ridge, a shattered mountain glowed green, behind which the Thousand-Year Dragon King and a group of Thousand-Year Dragons hid.
It gazed at the desolate, swamp-like ground with tears in its eyes.
In the massive explosion earlier, it had used its power to fortify the mountain, protecting the group behind it.
Otherwise, the entire mountain would have been blasted skyward.
That human was an utterly reckless bastard!
Wasn't he afraid of blowing it up?!
And it's home!
Gone! All gone!
At that moment, the Thousand-Year Dragon King's opinion of Bullet, who caused the explosion, hit rock bottom.
It had felt guilty about hiding treasure, but now, not at all.
It just wanted these humans gone quickly.
"Stay still here. I'll go check and return soon," the Thousand-Year Dragon King declared to its tribe, as if promising to buy oranges, then left the mountain.
Many humans were on the island now.
Its tribe was unique.
Rumors claimed their bones could be ground into powder for immortality, making it unsafe to roam freely.
Unlike the lazy turtles at Crescent Lake's edge, no one would care if they were left to the outside world!
On the other side, things weren't going well for Bullet.
His ultimate bomb turned nearly all "large bullet" forms into explosives and detonated them.
Detonating billions of tons of stone men armed with Haki—its power was unimaginable.
At the explosion's core, Bullet survived by relying on a layer of endothelium within the "large bullet" form.
He used it to counter the continuous explosive force, avoiding the core shockwave's damage.
Even so, with his Armament Haki's strength, it was still formidable.
Beyond the shockwave, the explosion's core temperature exceeded 100,000 degrees.
Facing such heat and relentless strain, he was nearly spent.
He took a heavy hit, his Haki was at its lowest.
But he doesn't care about that now.
Instead, he stared at the man nearby, Sōsuke Aizen, with disbelief.
The man was still unscathed.
He even exuded an intensely oppressive aura.
This feeling—his fear? The earth itself?
( End of this chapter)