Brook's chest had fully closed, the gaping hole Crocus had rewound out of existence, but the story didn't end there. Threads of Imu's destructive power still clung to him like barbed wire, gnawing at his flesh and spirit.
That kind of damage couldn't be erased in one breath.
Still, with the Dark Dark Fruit and the Yomi Fruit working together, all Brook needed was time and a steady supply of power. Little by little, he would grind those remnants down and purge them completely.
"I'm sorry, Crocus," Brook said, staring at the man's newly gray hair. "I'll find a way to give you your life back."
Crocus leaned back with a tired grin, waving it off like Brook had apologized for stepping on his shoe.
"Ha ha, Brother Brook, don't talk like that. This is my duty." His voice was hoarse, but his eyes were clear. "The world needs you. Go, keep walking toward our dream."
Beside him, the poison master Tia immediately injected Crocus with nutritional tonics and restorative mixtures to keep him from collapsing.
Brook didn't linger. The battlefield outside was still a storm, and he could feel how thin his strength had become.
"Take care of yourself. I'm going."
He raised his wrist and opened the space door with the wristband.
He was heading for the main battlefield, where over a million soldiers were still locked in a slaughterhouse war. He would harvest souls, refill his Hell energy, restore his body, and then return to Imu's side as fast as possible.
Going back weak would be suicide.
He didn't even know if that Hell God's strike had truly crippled the immortal Imu. If Imu was still standing, Brook's Five Hell Kings would be in mortal danger.
"Brother Brook will win!" Crocus shouted with the last of his breath, forcing strength into his voice. "The fortune of the Universal Government will rise!"
Brook turned at the gate and met his gaze, firm and steady.
Then he stepped through.
…
The main battlefield between the World Government coalition and the New World pirates was still burning.
Kingdom fleets were already fleeing the New World in waves, while the navy's elite core fought a stubborn retreat under the withdrawal order from coalition headquarters. They cut their way back inch by inch, bleeding for every mile.
And at the coalition command ship, the battle hadn't stopped.
Vice admirals and rear admirals kept arriving as reinforcements, throwing themselves into the meat grinder to cover the staff officers' retreat.
In the middle of it all, Borsalino kept talking, as if this were a business negotiation instead of a war.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru," he said lazily, light glinting around him, "why cling to the World Government's navy?"
He swung his light blade, Ama no Murakumo, and chopped down again. Tsuru blocked, her Armament Haki turning her forearm pitch black.
Borsalino's voice didn't even rise.
"Look, your comrades already started pulling back. Meanwhile, our new navy pays better, gives more leave, and actually treats people like human beings."
His grin widened.
"Most important of all, we don't do the World Government's 996 nonsense. We enforce eight days off every month. Hit your targets, take leave, go on vacation, slack off whenever you feel like it."
A flash of light, another strike.
"If you want more money, you can even volunteer for overtime and get overtime pay. Everyone wins."
Borsalino had already been assigned by Brook to the Universal Government's new navy, promoted into a proper admiral position. For him, it was the ultimate dream.
A uniform, a paycheck, and the legal right to do as little as possible.
Kuzan, Douglas Bullet, Ryougai, and other second generation Hell members with strong military discipline were also being transferred to build the backbone of that new force.
Even the captured Sakazuki was being approached. If the Universal Government could stabilize and rise through this world war, Sakazuki might still be given a path into the new navy.
Tsuru didn't answer a word. She endured the pressure, parried, and searched for a gap to retreat.
Then a harsh laugh cut in from the side.
"Fufufufu… Officer Borsalino, you can't talk stubborn old fossils into switching sides."
Doflamingo, only seventeen, snapped a whip of strings forward with a vicious smile.
"Only when we crush the World Government and the Celestial Dragons will the Universal Government become the new ruler. Then we'll be justice."
"Super Whip!"
He struck at Tsuru from a blind angle.
But the moment his strings touched her, Tsuru's devil fruit power surged. The whip softened instantly, sagging into a harmless cord.
Borsalino tilted his head, almost amused.
"Hey, little Dover, Tsuru's Wash Wash Fruit is basically your String String Fruit's natural enemy."
Doflamingo's face twisted.
"Damn it! Then I'll just pour in more Armament Haki!"
He roared and condensed thinner, sharper strings, making them smaller and more flexible than before, then coated them in dense, black Armament Haki.
"Whip Overlord!"
His voice cracked with fury.
Brook had drilled it into his head. Against ability users, there was no such thing as absolute restraint if your Armament Haki was strong enough.
Borsalino, meanwhile, sounded almost cheerful.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru, why not surrender?" he called out. "You'll live, and I'll get a bigger bonus if I bring you in alive. Worst case, you join the new navy, and I'll split the reward with you."
Then he vanished into light.
In the next heartbeat, a bare foot appeared out of nowhere and smashed into Tsuru's side, kicking her hard into the deck. The wood exploded, leaving a crater.
Borsalino was about to follow up.
And then everyone felt it.
A void gate opened in the air.
The battlefield froze for a fraction of a second as the air twisted, and a familiar figure stepped out.
The instant Brook appeared, ghosts from across the battlefield, souls of the freshly fallen, surged toward him like a starving tide.
Navy admirals stared in disbelief.
"That's… Brook!"
"How can he be here?"
"Did the Elders and the Fleet Admiral fail?"
Panic rippled through them. They remembered the rumors the News Coo had been spreading. Was it true after all?
On the pirate side, Shakky, Stussy, and the second generation of Hell looked at Brook like a sunrise. They had already destroyed Uranus. If Brook had also forced Imu back, then this war might truly be tilting into history.
Brook inhaled, and a massive number of souls poured into him. His Hell energy surged, his body steadied, and power returned to his limbs in waves.
Then he threw his voice across the sea like a cannon blast.
"Yohoho! The World Government has already lost!"
His words struck harder than any sword.
"From this moment on, it's the era of the Universal Government. Even if you surrender and join us, you'll still be the navy!"
As Brook declared it, his eyes remained sharp, calculating.
He wasn't here to celebrate.
He was here to crush morale, refill his strength, and return to Imu's battlefield immediately.
Because if Imu was still alive, even one delay could cost the Five Hell Kings everything.
-------------
Brook's sudden appearance did not make these elite navy forces surrender on the spot.
But it did crush the last sliver of their nerve.
The World Government coalition finally broke, ships turning in panic as the entire formation collapsed into a chaotic rout. Meanwhile, the Hell Pirates and the Government surged forward with soaring morale, riding the wave and pressing the chase.
Four hundred to five hundred thousand pirates, running down eight hundred to nine hundred thousand coalition troops.
The sight alone was absurd enough to be carved into history.
Brook wanted to join the hunt, to cut down these naval admirals while the tide was turning, but his mind stayed on one thing.
Imu.
After absorbing a quick surge of souls to stabilize himself, Brook activated the Door Door wristband and opened a void gate on the spot, vanishing from the battlefield.
Elsewhere, Linlin was already racing toward the main battlefield atop Zeus. She knew Brook had been injured, and she also knew what that meant.
He would need souls, a lot of them.
Kaido followed close behind, a colossal blue dragon carrying Kozuki Oden, with Redfield's lightning streaking after them like a spear of wrath. Even Shiki's flying world was moving, ferrying Newgate, Roger, and Rayleigh away from the ruined waters where Nansha Island used to be.
When Brook returned to the Nansha Island battlefield through the Door Door Fruit, the emptiness made his heart tighten.
It was too quiet.
Too deserted.
There was no reason a battlefield like this should fall silent so fast.
Did Imu really butcher Redfield, Newgate, and the others that quickly?
"No… calm down."
Brook forced his breathing steady and pulled out Linlin's and Redfield's vivre cards. The needles didn't point toward this dead sea.
They pointed back to the main battlefield.
"They all went there…?"
Relief hit him so hard his knees almost softened. The vivre cards were intact. Everyone was still alive.
Brook didn't waste another second. He opened another void gate and returned to the main battlefield immediately.
…
By the time Linlin arrived, the coalition had already shattered.
Most warships had fled, pulling back toward the Grand Line, while the New World pirates and the second generation of Hell were still tangled with the naval admirals and reinforcements that had rushed in to rescue the staff command.
Kanna, still in her giant frost dragon form, darted forward as soon as she saw Linlin.
"Mom, you're here too!" Kanna asked urgently. "Father just left again. Did Imu and the Five Elders get killed?"
Kanna had watched Brook rush off a second time. She was sharp enough to know that meant something was still wrong.
"Your father left again?" Linlin's voice dropped, then her shoulders loosened when she looked Kanna over. "Good. You're safe."
Only then did Linlin fully breathe. She had believed Brook wouldn't fall, but belief and confirmation were two different things.
And she had heard Imu scream.
If Imu hadn't died, he had to be badly wounded. That should buy everyone time.
Just as Linlin turned to head back toward the Nansha battlefield, lightning tore across the sky, followed by the shadow of a massive green dragon.
So even that fight had paused.
The moment the vice admirals and rear admirals saw Linlin and the other Hell Kings arriving one after another, they didn't hesitate. They dragged the rescued staff officers and retreated immediately.
The remaining staff officers, including Tsuru and several lieutenant trapped inside the encirclement, were abandoned without a second thought.
If they didn't run now, they wouldn't escape at all.
Linlin, now certain Brook was alive, became greedy. She began to seize soul power across the battlefield, especially from the terrified, defeated coalition troops.
A collapsing army was the easiest harvest.
Her soul chant echoed again, spreading fresh panic through the navy ranks.
"Worororo!" Kaido's thunderous roar shook the sea. "The old thief of the World Government has run! Surrender and you'll be spared!"
A dragon breath blasted toward several warships trying to flee at full speed, wiping them out in a single breath.
Seeing the devils of Hell arriving one after another, Borsalino's lazy posture finally tightened.
He couldn't keep coasting.
He needed results.
"Vice Admiral Tsuru… I'm sorry," he said quietly.
Then he raised both hands together and aimed.
"Yasakani Laser Cannon."
A beam of light over a meter wide detonated forward, swallowing Tsuru before she could move. The deck beneath her erupted, smoke and splinters bursting into the air.
Doflamingo stared, eyes sharp and hungry.
"Fufufufu… what a monster," he muttered. "So that's admiral level…"
One day, he would stand there too.
Kaido. Oden. Borsalino. Kuzan. Ben Beckman. Abel. Moria. Ashura Doji. Bullet.
All of them were people Brook favored.
And Brook's princes and princesses were monsters in their own right, each one a mountain Doflamingo wanted to climb over.
Even with Conqueror's Haki, Doflamingo felt pressure, because among those monsters were Conqueror's Haki monsters.
Seeing Tsuru finally unable to fight back, Doflamingo sprinted toward the other naval vice admirals. He needed merit. He needed a name. He needed enough power to carve his own path again.
Torrepol and Diamante were already gone, having thrown away the so called king they'd followed for less than a year and joined Brook's forces instead.
So if Doflamingo wanted a Donquixote Family, he would have to rebuild it from the ground up.
Borsalino descended, looking at Tsuru sprawled on the deck, smoke drifting from her mouth. She wasn't dead, but her combat power was gone.
Even so, he couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Tough as ever… Tsuru."
Her Armament Haki really was terrifying. No wonder she'd stood beside Garp and Sengoku for decades.
He lifted her and flashed back toward the air fleet, ordering his men to clamp seastone cuffs onto Tsuru at once.
The Wash Wash Fruit didn't have much threat against him, but against everyone else, it was a nightmare.
Even in the future war at Marineford, an elderly Tsuru could cleanse elite pirates until their fighting spirit collapsed, leaving them soft as rags.
Even someone like Doflamingo feared her.
First, the Wash Wash Fruit could suppress his String String Fruit. Second, it could wash the evil out of a pirate's heart.
Doflamingo was Heavenly Yaksha because he embraced that wickedness.
If Tsuru washed it away, what would he even be?
The coalition warships fleeing in all directions soon ran into the retreat force led by the navy's fleet admirals. As reports poured in that coalition headquarters had been surrounded by the Hell Pirates, panic erupted among the navy's top brass.
Garp and Sengoku both snapped, instantly shouting that they were going back to rescue Tsuru.
Kong shut them down with one roar.
If they split forces now, the Five Hell Kings would pick them apart one by one. Without the Elders, there was no one left who could truly stop the Hell Pirates.
"Our mission is to organize the retreat and preserve the World Government's elite," Kong bellowed, eyes hard as steel. "Do not scatter!"
Then he shot a sharp look at Sengoku, the one person he trusted to stay rational.
"Don't act like that fool Garp."
.....
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