"My head hurts so much—why is everyone down?"
"You're asking me? Who do I ask?"
The Haki collision of three peak-tier fighters directly knocked out ninety-nine percent of Marines and pirates on the battlefield. Almost only officer-level Marines still stood—even some weaker Rear Admirals had fallen.
So Marines like Garp and Sengoku—just warrant officers yet still standing—immediately attracted considerable attention.
"Those two Marine brats are still standing?"
"Captain Silas's Haki is truly too strong, and that Wano samurai too."
"What's that bat-winged woman's background?"
Many pirates still didn't know what happened. On the complex battlefield, many could only focus on battles before them. Those with energy to scan elsewhere were at least great pirates with bounties over 100 million Berry.
"Hey, notice those Celestial Dragon fighters all disappeared?"
"Captain Silas also disappeared!"
"Not disappeared—Captain Silas just entered that crack!"
Before the pirates could exchange intelligence, a terrifying rumbling sound erupted.
BOOM!
All of Acropolis Island shook like it had been struck by a giant hammer. The entire island shattered into pieces as surrounding seawater poured in torrentially.
"What happened?"
"Damn, is this island sinking?"
"Idiot, listen to what you're saying!"
How could anyone possibly sink an island with human power in this world? But though Acropolis Island wasn't sunk, it was close enough.
Now fewer than two thousand pirates and Marines still stood on all of Acropolis Island, making the battlefield extraordinarily scattered.
Stop fighting? Impossible! Even if the Marines wanted to stop, the White Wolf Pirates couldn't. Because this was their final chance!
"Charge!"
"Kill these Marines!"
"We're about to win!"
Even if victory seemed uncertain, he had to make his stand. Shimotsuki Ryuma acted first. His body had become increasingly translucent—like a wisp of smoke that could dissipate at any moment. But precisely because he was about to disappear, he had to go all out, turning the tide as much as possible.
By now, the Holy Knights' top-tier fighters had all converged on Silas, including the CP organization's two fighters. The battlefield was left with only the Marines' several Admirals.
"Troublesome." Facing the charging Ryuma, Ortega broke into a cold sweat. Though Imu had given him an opportunity, he couldn't possibly take down Harald in under half a minute—whose strength matched his own. Sure, the Giant King was now covered in blood—but for top-tier fighters like them, these were all superficial wounds!
"Hey, Wano samurai, what exactly happened?" Because of Ryuma's timely support, Harald wasn't immediately swallowed by Imu's magic circle. But this magic circle also restricted his movement, so in subsequent battles, Ortega beat him badly.
After Imu disappeared, this magic circle's effectiveness naturally weakened considerably. He crawled out from the circle with barely any effort. Now Ortega was about to face two top-tier fighters not inferior to him!
"My existence is about to disappear." Ryuma didn't answer Harald's question but directly stated the current situation. "I'll help you defeat this person, but after that, you're on your own."
"Good!" What Ryuma didn't tell Harald, Harald sensed with Observation Haki after escaping the magic circle.
"I see." Harald's eyes flashed with gravity. "No wonder those Celestial Dragons all disappeared."
Silas was this war's instigator. Just eliminating Silas would naturally collapse the alliance he led. But this was a crisis and also an opportunity! Originally the situation had been deteriorating, but Imu's move directly took away half the World Government's top-tier fighters.
Now on the battlefield, only Marine fighters remained. Three Admirals, one Fleet Admiral, one Chief of Staff. Normally, this power could easily flatten any force. But now—
"Flash!" Ryuma's slash was as swift as ever. Originally facing just Harald was already precarious—now simultaneously facing Harald and Ryuma's combined assault, Ortega could barely resist.
"Damned Celestial Dragons!" Now, even as an Admiral, Ortega was cursing internally. Did ganging up on one Silas need so many people? Would one person die?
The current situation was a race—would the Celestial Dragons beat Silas to death first, or would Ryuma and Harald beat him to death first? But Silas was a Zoan fruit user!
Beneath Acropolis Island's crack, explosive collision sounds constantly rang out, never stopping since earlier.
THUD! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
"ROAR!"
A white wolf over twenty meters long, covered in blood, roared with earth-shaking fury. Its body constantly crashed into rocks under external force. Hundreds of meters of rock layers underground were as fragile as tofu before the white wolf's body.
"SCREECH!"
Two equally massive beasts crashed into the white wolf, making the battle hundreds of meters beneath the island like a monster movie. The white wolf was naturally Silas. The beasts ganging up on him were naturally fully beast-form Stephens and liberated Glyndwr.
The griffin and falcon wanted to suppress the white wolf but were bitten by the wolf's jaws, emitting agonized howls. But the white wolf couldn't celebrate long, because following the griffin and falcon, Saint Lucas and Saint Claude's slashes simultaneously fell, leaving two deep, bone-exposing wounds on the white wolf.
"ROAR!"
Even facing four top-tier fighters ganging up, wolf-form Silas only fell into disadvantage—not life-threatening in the short term. But here weren't just the World Government's four top-tier fighters.
"White Wolf Silas." Massive demon wings spread behind her. After removing the cloak, revealing dense golden hair, the girl calmly looked at Silas.
"You are not the first attempting to challenge the world, yet the World Government has stood for eight hundred years for good reason."
The girl extended her hand. A magic book appeared in it, along with a double-barreled shotgun. Seemingly ordinary, but when the shotgun aimed at Silas and fired—
BANG!
Silas's body, pinned down by four opponents, immediately ruptured. Even in his most durable form, his arm was still blown off by one blast. As a result, the white wolf, held down by the griffin and falcon, had its arm fall limp and useless.
"Reason?" But even with his arm blown off, the white wolf still laughed arrogantly as if hearing something funny.
"This world has never had eternal dynasties—ordinary nations fall, and your World Government is no different! Haha! This won't be enough to kill me!"
Silas's form changed again, from white wolf back to human form, thus escaping Stephens and Glyndwr's entanglement. But only temporarily. In under one second, the similarly transformed Stephens and Glyndwr charged at Silas again. Joining the assault were Saint Lucas and Saint Claude—this father-son pair.
"Continue attacking!" Saint Lucas's voice rang out with undisguised hatred. "He doesn't have immortality—his injuries will only keep worsening!"
Saint Granreid's death was a stain on the entire Figarland family, especially under Imu's observation. If the Holy Knights could smoothly eliminate the White Wolf Pirates, Imu naturally wouldn't need to risk exposure by acting. Unfortunately, the Holy Knights couldn't. The moment Saint Granreid died, Imu knew she must use the final contingency. Fortunately, it wasn't too late.
One arm blown off, chest and back carved with deep, bone-exposing wounds—organs visible trembling inside. Even the most top-tier physical fighter would have their combat power affected by such injuries. Even possessing the Life Return secret technique, in such an intense battle, it was impossible to have time to use it. They wouldn't give Silas any chance to recover.
However—
"Bunch of idiots—you think I injected that medicine for nothing?" Silas's eyes held no fear. Before battle started, he'd already imagined the worst scenario. So Silas had Stussy prepare medicine.
One healing hormone shot, one emotion hormone shot. The former maximally activated Silas's recovery ability; the latter made him excited, making his body forget fatigue. Combined with Silas's own recovery ability, Imu suddenly saw Silas's chest and back sword wounds recovering at almost visible speed, his broken arm likewise.
This speed almost matched the immortality she granted the Holy Knights!
Seeing this, Imu immediately used Haki bombardment. "Full power!"
"Haha, useless—my recovery ability isn't entirely from fruit ability." How much recovery could Zoan fruits provide? His White Wolf Fruit wasn't the Phoenix Fruit. His current state was completely different from immortality affected by Conqueror's Haki.
"Come, I'm right here!" Blood-covered Silas's form collided again. The massive white wolf crashed viciously into Stephens and Glyndwr, charging toward Imu. "Come kill me!"
BOOM!
Silas's thought of attacking Imu naturally couldn't succeed. Four top-tier fighters with built-in immortality—this combat power completely exceeded Silas's current bearable limits. Even trading injury for injury, with immortality, the four weren't afraid of trading with Silas at all!
Using Conqueror's to break immortality was even more absurd. With Imu here, once Silas's Conqueror's Haki erupted, she'd forcibly cancel it.
"Good!" Imu gripped her trident. "I'll satisfy you!"
Imu didn't directly attack earlier because before transferring, Ryuma's attack somewhat affected her movement. But originally stronger than Ryuma, even his full-power strike only restricted Imu for a few minutes. And now, the wound position's Conqueror's Haki belonging to Ryuma was dispelled. Wounds recovered.
Imu launched her attack on Silas without hesitation. The slender trident fell with visible black-red lightning. A size difference of dozens of times—facing Imu possessing a slender girl, Silas had no resistance capability at all. His form crashed down with a boom.
But after landing one hit, Imu's eyes held no joy. Instead she frowned, because facing her strike, Silas had no real resistance. Imu naturally didn't think Silas gave up, but she didn't care!
Silas now completely abandoned defense, using pure flesh to block their attacks. Imu realized what Silas wanted to do. Even in this desperate situation, Silas still hadn't thought of passive defense—he wanted to counterattack!
RUMBLE!
Beneath the massive rift, as if a sun was ignited. Constantly rising, constantly ascending! Black-red lightning detonated the entire rift. Terrifying Conqueror's Haki affected reality like it was shattering the entire island.
Stephens, Glyndwr, Saint Lucas, and Saint Claude's minds went blank. This instant their thinking seemed frozen. Even Imu, before this continuously rising Conqueror's Haki, was affected momentarily—she lost the future's trace.
BOOM!
A white meteor streaked like light at a speed no one could react to, crashing viciously into Imu. Silas's palm, like steel clamps, gripped Imu's neck, dragging her toward the rift side's rock wall.
RUMBLE!
All of Acropolis Island was already riddled with holes. Once this battle ended, even if Silas occupied this island, it probably couldn't house people anymore. And now, Silas's action completely collapsed the entire island.
First time in her life being treated thus, Imu looked at Silas, furiously angry. Extremely powerful Conqueror's Haki directly bombarded Silas. "Let go!!!"
"Haha, but that's impossible!" Silas was also ruthless. Since it was a gang-up anyway, let the others attack Imu together—he didn't care!
THUD!!!
Just as Imu raised her hand, attacking Silas, her trident-holding hand was pressed down by Silas. Silas had figured it out—even possessing a girl, Imu's displayed strength didn't lose to his. But since it was possession, there were weaknesses!
Possession's biggest weakness was that the possessed target's body wasn't strong enough. So however strong Imu's Conqueror's Haki, however strange her abilities, her possessed target was just a young girl.
Then tank it! See who could drag whom to death!