This was what it meant for top tier monsters of the sea to clash.
When they went all out, wiping out a small island nearly ten kilometers across was easy. The aftershocks alone almost swallowed ships sitting tens of kilometers away in towering waves.
"I… I am starting to regret this."
"White King Magnus's money really is not easy to earn."
"Let us hurry up and get out of here."
". . ."
The reporters all wore long faces. As one of the Four Seas, the weather in the South Blue was far more stable than in either half of the Grand Line.
They had never seen waves tens of meters tall before.
If they had been any closer.
They would already be bloated corpses in some sea king's belly.
"Shut up."
The editor in chief snapped at them.
"We took his money. If we run now, you think White King Magnus will just let us go?"
"That man is the most vicious pirate in the world."
Silence fell over the deck.
They were still far from Osgu Island. At this distance, as long as they watched themselves, the shockwaves of the battle might never reach them.
But if they turned tail now.
If they offended Magnus.
They were doomed for sure.
Of course, that was just what they imagined. Magnus had never been so cruel as to demand they risk their lives to record every last second.
Because Magnus knew very well.
"It is over."
The moment Newgate linked up with Rocks, Magnus knew the operation had succeeded. Rocks plus Newgate might not be able to defeat all the government's forces on Osgu.
But getting out alive would not be a problem.
Let alone the fact that the scientists were already gathered and being carried off by Rocks.
"Click. That is insane."
Gloriosa sat to the side, eating seeds.
Even through a den-den image feed, even with the camera sitting far from the true battlefield, the scale of the destruction was impossible to miss. She finally understood how terrifyingly strong the officers under Magnus really were.
"Get ready to pull out."
"You are leaving already?"
"Our objective for this operation is achieved. If we keep hanging around here and that old woman up on Mary Geoise finally loses her mind, what then?"
Magnus himself had not expected that his gambit would end with Rocks destroying Heaven King's energy source. If the weapon's power could no longer be restored, then Imu had just lost one more trump card.
If Imu did not have more hidden pieces, then she was unlikely to tolerate Magnus breathing much longer.
Even if the price to remove him was steep.
An immortal freak who could not die, who had gathered a large cluster of top fighters and found a way to let them skirt death as well.
That was, in essence, a second Imu.
After this battle, Imu would finally understand that the power around Magnus was not limited to "old era" monsters like Harald and Rona.
There were also "new era" monsters like Rocks and Newgate.
But by this point, even if Imu did decide to start the war.
Magnus was not afraid anymore.
Rocks and Newgate already possessed the combat strength of future Four Emperors. Linlin as she was now was in no way inferior to her senile future self, and she would only grow in the next few years.
Shiki was on the verge of stepping into full Admiral class.
With a crew made up entirely of "admirals and emperors," how were they supposed to lose?
As Magnus had told Imu not long ago, her era was over.
Osgu Island.
Once the battle ended, only ruin remained.
The original coastline had been completely erased. Seawater poured in from all sides, eating away at cracked rock. The roar of collapsing strata rang out again and again.
Many Marines who had been swept into the sea with the collapsing island dragged themselves back aboard warships. Even thousands of meters away, they could feel the decks trembling under their feet.
Roger had still slipped away.
Newgate's all out strike had shattered the foundations of the island, splitting it in half and letting massive torrents of seawater crash in.
Seizing that opening, Roger dove into the sea and vanished.
What a joke.
He might not think himself weaker than Garp anymore, but with everyone else gone, once those world government monsters returned empty handed and in a bad mood…
He, Gol D. Roger, would just be their punching bag.
He was not that stupid.
Up on the battered island, the sight made Garp's blood boil. But Newgate's blow had swept up countless ordinary Marines as collateral. Many Devil Fruit users had tumbled into the sea. If he did not move, they would die for sure.
No matter how much he wanted to capture Roger, Garp could not just watch his comrades drown.
"Damn you, Roger. Next time, I am definitely catching you."
He dove into the water again and again, hauling soldier after soldier back onto the ships. Then, staring at the direction Roger had fled, he roared.
"Idiot Garp, catch me if you can."
Roger popped his head out of the water some distance away, refusing to be outdone.
He had barely gotten the words out.
When a gigantic spider lunged at him like a hunting predator.
"Garp, you set me up."
Roger blanched.
The one attacking him was none other than Saturn, Jaygarcia Saturn Saint.
He and Stephens had protected Lucas Saint from Newgate's strike, but all three of them had been smashed deep into the island.
When Newgate went all out, his attack power reached the very top of this world. Not even Magnus would dare to claim that in a straightforward clash, in his normal state, he could suppress the current Newgate completely.
Magnus was not the kind of man to stack all his points into offense.
His forte was not pure attack.
It was his monstrous regeneration, his inhuman physical might, and the fact that there simply was no weak spot to be found.
Newgate, on the other hand, had done exactly what he needed to. He had used his strength to strike at Saturn and the others' weakness.
Jaygarcia Saturn's face was as dark as the depths of the sea.
He knew the mission had failed.
It had taken less than thirty seconds for them to claw their way out from deep underground, but by then the floating island carrying the scientists was already far away.
They still had three top tiers trading blows around the slab with Rocks and Newgate.
But the original six versus one had become a three versus three.
At first, Saturn had not taken Shiki seriously at all. Yet the man who could not defeat a veteran top tier one on one, who had not even grasped Conqueror's infusion, was completely capable of tying down someone like Grindwin.
Now Rocks faced Claude Saint.
Newgate clashed with Kong.
In those one on one duels, they no longer had the power to force anything.
As for teleporting to Claude's side.
"Do not even think about it."
Rocks and Newgate unleashed their Conqueror's Haki at the same time. Either one alone might not have been able to completely disrupt Saturn and Stephens's teleportation.
But together, they could.
As the battle dragged on, Claude Saint grew more and more fearful. He had no chance against Rocks alone.
Rocks's Conqueror's Haki wrapped around him like a blunt knife cutting meat. It would not kill him at once, but if he kept fighting to the bitter end, he was the one who would die.
So once he saw how bad the situation really was, he did not hesitate to flee.
Things had gone this far wrong, and none of it was on him.
Who could have predicted that the Rocks Pirates would appear from inside the island?
If they had not slipped onto Osgu through the underbelly and evacuated the scientists, if they had launched a frontal assault instead, then even with Newgate added in they would not have taken a single person alive.
With Claude gone, even if Kong felt bitter, he had no choice but to pull back as well.
He could fight Newgate to a standstill for a while, but if they dragged things out, he would lose. Of the three officers Magnus had sent, the only one Kong could beat with certainty was Shiki.
And that was for now.
Give it another year or two, and Shiki might stand beside Rocks and Newgate.
Once, Magnus had been the only "captain" there.
Now Rocks and Newgate had joined him. In the past, this world might not have seen even a single such monster in a generation.
Above top tier pirates like that, there was only the word "legend."
Kong could only be grateful that while Magnus had terrifying officers, the Marines also had two shining new stars rising in their ranks.
In this war, Garp and Sengoku had not yet joined the top tier brawl, but they had drawn close.
Garp had fought Roger.
Sengoku had fought off two more Rocks officers.
John and Wang Zhi.
They were not as strong as the first mate Baloric, but they were in no way inferior to the likes of Rayleigh.
Beyond the peak battlefield.
The Rocks Pirates and Rayleigh fought a running battle against the endless stream of Marines coming from all directions.
Ordinary Marines could not fly.
But any man who had made it to officer rank had mastered the Six Powers.
Moonwalk was basic.
After this one battle, everyone was exhausted.
"Huh? Where is Roger?"
Only now did Rayleigh suddenly realize that he had not heard Roger's voice in quite some time.
Down beneath the floating slab.
After finally shaking off Jaygarcia Saturn by diving deeper than he could chase, Roger peeped his head out of the water and stared at the island hanging high above.
You guys could at least wait for me.
The slab had already risen to over a thousand meters. No matter how he shouted, no sound could carry that far.
Rocks and Newgate had noticed him.
Newgate: "Rocks, that one down there one of yours?"
Rocks: "No idea. Probably some Marine with a lot of grit."
Rocks pretended not to know him at all.
By the time Roger clawed his way back onto the floating island, a full day had passed.
Mary Geoise.
Pangaea Castle.
The latest failure had driven the mood in the grand council hall down to freezing.
Everyone understood.
The scientists of Mechanism Island had determined Heaven King's charging schedule.
So long as the weapon's power supply was restored.
They would have a killing blow ready the next time they faced the White Wolf Pirates.
Now, the plan had failed again.
"We cannot keep stalling."
The long haired elder spoke calmly.
"The power in White Wolf Magnus's hands is close to slipping beyond our control."
His words drew heavy silence.
They were all very aware that Magnus's power was growing by the day, but until now, none of them had suggested full war.
Because at Acropolis Harbor, Magnus had proven he could kill those with undying bodies. If they started a true war, all five of them would have to fight.
Otherwise, the government had no chance.
Yes, even counting Imu's projection, the World Government might lose.
Who would have believed that when this all began.
But that was the truth.
The Five Elders did not want to declare war for one very simple reason. They were terrified of being the sacrificial one. Years of life as rulers had preserved their strength, but stripped them of the courage to gamble their lives.
If their undying bodies were still flawless, they would have happily started the war and crushed Magnus.
But Magnus had the power to destroy their immortality.
Glenreed Saint's death had proven that even top tiers could fall in a true war.
Under those conditions, how could they possibly want to fight?
Even Imu did not.
It was not just the attendant at Imu's side. Even the Five Elders themselves had noticed the shift in Imu's aura, the tremor of fear.
They were afraid.
So was Imu.
But fear solved nothing, because Magnus's blade was already pressed against their throats.
For a moment, a thought had flashed through the elders' minds.
They could simply divide the world with Magnus.
The world was huge. Even handing half of it to Magnus would leave enough for them to live very comfortably.
But that idea vanished as quickly as it had come.
They might be cowards, but they were not fools.
In their eyes, Magnus was a beast that could never be fed enough. Right now his territory was limited, and his high end combatants were still just a dozen or so.
Give him half the world.
And that would be like putting the noose around their own necks.
Trust that Magnus would keep a promise.
So, they only had one choice left, and they had to make it.
"Lord Imu, please give the order."
The Five Elders entered the vast throne hall together, passing beneath the countless blades and swords and raising their eyes to the throne that sat above all.
They addressed the figure cloaked in white who sat there, hidden beneath a hood.
"Lord Imu, it is time for the world to know of our existence."
They had wiped history clean before, erasing a hundred years into a blank.
They could do it again.
"I understand."
They abandoned wishful thinking, abandoned delay. If even a rabbit would bite when cornered, how could a colossus that had stood atop the world for eight hundred years do any less.
Imu raised her head, revealing a face of breathtaking beauty.
In the depths of her eyes, a new and terrifying authority shone.
"I now give this order."
Her voice echoed through the hall, through all of Pangaea Castle.
Across all of Mary Geoise.
"From this moment on…"
The five most powerful men in the world bowed their heads, listening to the one seated upon the throne.
"Wage a crusade against White Wolf Magnus."
(End of Chapter)
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