Chapter 571: The War Begins!
The figure floating in the sky was draped in a long black robe, a tall and battered-looking crown sitting on its head.
There was no question. This was the one called Imu — the final opponent Brett had been preparing for all this time.
He'd arrived this quickly. Had he been somewhere nearby from the start?
But more striking than the speed of his arrival was the fact that he had appeared at all — standing openly in front of Brett without the slightest apparent caution. Was this genuine confidence, or had he truly not noticed anything?
Brett didn't know the reason. What he did know was that this was the best possible moment.
The expressions of Pizarro and the others had gone distinctly strange.
On the way from Impel Down to this location, the CP0 agents escorting them had given a brief overview of the World Government's current situation. This mysterious figure in the black robes had to be that legendary monster — the one called Imu, who had supposedly ruled the world for eight hundred years.
Wasn't this Brett's greatest enemy?
Both sides' leading figures had just appeared in the same place at the same time. What was about to happen here?
Pizarro was edging quietly backward.
Brett was an undeniable monster. If this Imu was the man Brett considered his ultimate opponent, then Imu was no simple existence either. The moment these two came into contact, it would be like lightning meeting a powder keg. If an actual battle broke out, there was absolutely no place in it for someone of his caliber.
Better to step well back.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Brett."
Imu descended slowly from the sky and touched down on the ground. His voice carried a note of amusement. "But I came as quickly as I could after hearing the news. I trust I haven't made you wait too long?"
Brett smiled. "You're right on time."
Whether he had come early or late didn't matter. Imu was here. That made the timing exactly right. Whether he had arrived oblivious or fully prepared was irrelevant — what followed was the final war.
"Then, Brett —"
Imu's voice went suddenly flat. "I take it this time you won't be choosing to run in the middle of the fight?"
Brett gave a slow nod. "Of course not. The time for the decisive battle is now. Neither of us will be leaving this battlefield until one of us has beaten the other."
The expressions on Pizarro and the others' faces had become deeply unpleasant.
Of all the rotten luck — they had walked straight into the final battle.
The confidence they had felt stepping out of Impel Down, that sense of being formidable again — Brett had already scoured it away the moment he demonstrated his power. It had dissolved like a sandcastle under the tide. They understood perfectly clearly: if they were caught up in this fight, nothing good was waiting for them on the other side.
These two were supposed to be strong — but this strong?
What were they supposed to do now?
"I thought as much." Imu gave a small nod. "Then I can breathe a little easier on my end as well. An endless war of attrition — it's finally time for it to end."
"Yes." Brett agreed completely. "This long, long night is finally coming to an end."
It had been so very long. The years the World Government had ruled this world.
Now was finally the time to put an end to all of it.
Brûlée's expression had gone slightly strange.
These two were supposed to be mortal enemies. And yet they were chatting like old acquaintances. Shouldn't they have been throwing punches the instant they laid eyes on each other?
She simply could not understand what they were thinking.
Brett of course heard Brûlée's thought, and if he had to answer her, he would probably have said it was something like mutual recognition. Not recognition of Imu's methods or anything he had done — recognition of his strength.
Brett had grown so powerful that in this entire world, not a single person other than Imu could stand on equal footing with him.
It was likely the same from Imu's perspective. Aside from Brett, there was no one left in the world he could speak with any sense of calm.
But that recognition went no further.
"So then — shall we begin, Brett? Here, now?"
Imu was asking for Brett's agreement.
"Sure." Brett nodded. "Come on then."
Every person present held their breath. Neither fighter was releasing a trace of killing intent, and yet the air around them gave the impression of time and space itself coiling tight.
Then both figures vanished in the same instant.
BOOM!!
The collision of two fists through the air — and an explosion that swallowed everything in its radius erupted from the point of impact.
At almost exactly the same moment, somewhere in the deep sea, a pitch-black warship cut silently through the water.
"Imu has appeared!"
Inside the ship's command room, points of light gathered and condensed into a human shape. A voice rang out with unmistakable urgency. "He has engaged Mister Brett in combat!"
"So it's finally started!"
Black Arm Zephyr slammed his fist hard in the command room. "Then get us moving — full speed toward them!"
"Understood!"
The figure of light — the ship-spirit of Pluton — gave a firm nod.
"And send word to everyone!" Dragon, also in the command room, couldn't hold back the intensity in his voice. "Imu has appeared — the battles on every other front begin now!!"
The war's primary theater was the clash between Brett and Imu, but the actual battlefield stretched across the entire world. Every corner of it would be drawn in.
The signal went out through Den Den Mushi waves in an instant, reaching every part of the world simultaneously.
And then, across the seas, countless shadows began rising slowly up through the deep.
"Wh — what is THAT?!"
At a Navy branch still loyal to the government somewhere out on the sea, soldiers on patrol along the shore were watching in absolute terror.
Something massive was surging up through the water.
It was —
"GIANTS!!"
Giants. Fish-Men. Merfolk. Dwarves. Minks. Long-Arm Tribe. Long-Leg Tribe. Snakeneck Tribe. And humans.
The forces that had been dispersed from the New World to destinations across the globe — they had begun to fight.
Inside countless nations, people who had gathered in secret raised their weapons.
"The time has come! Starting from this moment — we change the entire world!!"
"The World Government's end is here!"
Warriors poured from every direction at once, plunging nation after nation across the sea into chaos.
People rallied around them. People followed behind them. People charged ahead of them.
The Revolutionary Army — years and years of careful cultivation, and today was when it bloomed.
The flames of war engulfed the entire world in an instant.
The most unprecedented war in history — it had begun.