"Ooooo—"
A piercing sound continuously emanated from Imu's mouth, and circles of oddly colored energy ripples swept out like sound waves, even carrying a strange power that caused the surrounding buildings and plants to rapidly wither and turn to dust wherever they passed, as if they had been sucked dry.
Outside Mary Geoise, the expressions of Garp, Akainu, and Sengoku changed simultaneously.
Their gazes involuntarily turned towards the depths of the Holy Land. Even with their current insufficient Observation Haki, they could sense an extremely abrupt aura there, a disquieting presence that felt utterly out of place in this world, completely undisguised.
Sengoku's expression instantly turned extremely grim. At this moment, not only him, but especially the Buddha within his body—the will supposedly residing within the Devil Fruit—began to feel extremely uneasy, causing the Buddha, which originally radiated golden light, to rapidly dim.
Sengoku was the first to sense the abnormality. He was horrified to discover that he could no longer even use the highly destructive impact wave.
"My Devil Fruit ability… is it afraid?!"
Akainu, beside Sengoku, experienced the same. Both of them, having honed their Devil Fruit abilities to the awakened level, felt it.
Their Devil Fruit abilities were being frantically suppressed by the unknown energy deep within the Holy Land at this very moment.
"My Mag-Mag Fruit can't be used either." Akainu's face was grim.
The red glow on his body was gone, and he could no longer summon the terrifying power of magma.
Garp looked at the two beside him in confusion. "Besides Sea Stone and seawater, or top-tier Haki, is there anything else that can render Devil Fruits unusable?"
"And… this shouldn't be Haki either, right?"
After a brief moment of shock, Sengoku was the first to recover. "Since the Gorosei have lost their threat, the immediate priority now is to follow Renji's command and leave the Hily Land. Otherwise, if we stay here, we might only drag Renji down."
As Sengoku's words fell, Akainu nodded. Garp was somewhat helpless but did not stubbornly remain.
Because Garp knew clearly that with Renji's overwhelming combat power, the enemy he was facing was definitely not someone he could currently offer any help against.
No longer trying to be strong, the three quickly departed.
Deep within Mary Geoise.
As the slender dark shadow emitted unknown piercing syllables from its mouth, its body began to twist rapidly. Its blood-colored eyes stared fixedly at the young man before it, as if harboring an ancient grudge, filled with endless hatred and strangeness.
"You!… are not Joy Boy!!!"
It was only then that Renji finally heard the first clear sentence from Imu's mouth.
He then chuckled softly, looking at Imu with what seemed like disappointment on his face.
"I thought you were going to say something important. Is this your dying wish? How boring."
"..."
Boom!!!
Lv. 6 Conqueror's Haki Storage Card, activated.
In an instant, an endless crimson-gold light surged into the sky, and the vast power of Conqueror's Haki even condensed into visible Haki vortexes around them.
The sky within a twenty-thousand-meter radius was completely dyed a rich crimson-gold by this burst of Conqueror's Haki.
The sky trembled, the sea stilled.
On the islands within a twenty-thousand-meter radius, whether ordinary people or powerful Haki users, everyone felt a profound shock from the depths of their souls at this moment.
Within their very beings, a voice seemed to tell them to submit to this aura, to not resist, otherwise, there would be only one outcome.
Garp, Sengoku, and Akainu, who were about to leave Mary Geoise, were also enveloped by this Conqueror's Haki, but Renji did not target them.
The rich crimson-gold light simply fell upon the three, giving them an incredibly reassuring feeling, as if a majestic deity was constantly protecting them, providing a complete sense of security.
"This is… Renji's power?!" Sengoku said incredulously.
Located at the highest point of the Red Line, they could see with a glance that the sea as far as their eyes could reach was dyed by this crimson-gold light.
Such a scene was like the descent of a god, nothing less.
"Hahaha! That Renji kid! He hid it so well." Garp laughed, tears in his eyes.
Akainu said with immense shock, "Killing the Gorosei just now… that wasn't your true strength after all, Renji."
After a final, reluctant glance at the towering crimson-gold pillar of light, Sengoku laughed. "Alright, Renji has his own matters. We should go investigate what exactly happened to Mary Geoise, or rather, Sunlight Tree Eve."
Upon hearing this, concern flickered in Akainu's eyes. "Kizaru!"
Deep within the Holy Land, countless already dilapidated buildings continued to crumble wildly.
Even hard rock could not withstand the power of the crimson-gold Conqueror's Haki, just a touch caused it to explode.
Imu frantically retreated, the distorted dark shadow watching in terror.
Renji's eyes flickered with azure light, his body bathed in crimson-gold, exuding endless Haki. He stepped into the void.
Boom!!!
Terrifying Haki instantly pressed down on Imu, carrying an irresistible force that slammed them deep into the earth.