The newly arrived New Redfox suddenly heard earth-shattering cheers coming from within the sea fog.
"What's going on?! What's happening over there at Mary Geoise?! Yasopp, I'll carry you up, hurry and use your sniper scope to have a look!"
"Understood!"
Everyone on the ship eagerly looked up from below.
"Hey! Did you see clearly, you two?"
"We saw it, boss! Huh, why is everyone from Endgame celebrating... Uh-oh, it seems, it seems the war is over! The World Government has completely fallen!"
"What??"
"It's over?!"
"How can it be so quick, no!"
An immediate wail rose from below.
Red Hair, who had just finished the last gulp of wine, looked as if struck by lightning, mouth agape.
Then, he sadly and furiously grabbed onto the mast, tears streaming down as he banged his head against it:
"Damn it, damn it ahhh!!!!"
"This time we only wanted to come and help, why! Why did we miss it again!!!!"
...
Human emotions are never mutually understood.
Among the city-wide cheers, the remaining Navy and government personnel fell into despair, each looking ashen.
"Ov...over..."
Steel Bone Kong knelt half-heartedly, gazing blankly at the sky.
The Cloak of Justice draped on him was in tatters; he was also seriously wounded from the fierce battle with Issho, but the physical pain was far inferior to the fierce inner turmoil.
Had that lord... lost? Died?
Eight hundred years of eternal vigilance, which he regarded as truly divine — had Lord Yim's existence been ended today by a young man who had been out to sea for less than two years?
"Heh... hahahah..."
Steel Bone Kong suddenly began to laugh, the sound bitter and hollow.
He slowly shut his eyes, his mind flashing through images of Garp, Zephyr, Aokiji... those figures who were once pillars of the Navy, and then the final moments left to him by Akainu, Ryokugyu and others before their deaths.
As well as Sengoku, the junior he had once personally promoted, whose life or death is still unknown — how would he react if he saw this scene...
Had their Navy really picked the wrong side?
The so-called "justice" they insisted upon, the "order" they maintained... from the onset, was it all founded upon a massive error?
"Huh."
Across from him, Fujitora, equally scarred, sheathed his sword slowly; though he couldn't see, his Observation Haki had already "seen" everything above clearly.
Steel Bone Kong had lost all fighting spirit, akin to walking dead — he no longer paid him any mind.
Instead, he turned and slightly bowed towards Shano's direction.
Years ago, having witnessed too much darkness, he willingly blinded himself, wandering across the Four Seas.
He had once believed it impossible to rally against the decaying order alone, until he encountered that youth at a casino in the New World.
Back then, Shano was only a newcomer stepping into the New World, yet daring to confront the Navy and raise a blade against the Heavenly Celestial Dragons.
But now, the youth had become a king, personally putting an end to the tyranny that had lasted for eight hundred years.
"The new era... is truly arriving, and in such a manner, there is no longer any regret in my life."
Issho lifted his head, gazing at the starlit sky, as if he could see the places he had been over his lifetime, the countless souls he witnessed departing, now finding peace at this moment.
...
Pangu City, between power.
Three of the Five Elders looked through the shattered dome at the figure in the night sky.
No Imu.
Only Shano.
Thud.
Saint V. Nusjuro was the first to collapse to the ground, lifeless eyes repeating the refrain, "Impossible... this is impossible..."
The master is invincible!
Must be invincible!
How could this happen, how could it...
Saint Ju Peter stared blankly at his arm where the contract mark was fading away, eyes filled with extreme fear.
That mark, like burning embers, quickly dimmed and scattered into tiny ashes blowing away.
Meanwhile.
An indescribable weakness and excruciating agony erupted from deep within the soul, sweeping across the body in an instant.
Has it finally arrived?
Unlike Steel Bone Kong and the Divine Knights, theirs was the highest tier Abyssal Sea Contract, granting them undue eternal life.
This extended lifespan was bestowed by Imu, and now with Imu dead, how could they possibly have the right to continue subsisting in this world?
"No, no—ugh!!"
Saint Ju Peter let out an inhuman scream, his once full and sturdy body visibly shriveled, as if the blood and flesh were instantly drained away.
His skin rapidly lost its luster, covered in wrinkles, and took on a lifeless grayish hue.
Only a thin layer of skin remained over the skeleton.
He attempted to lift his hand, but midway it snapped with a crack, falling to the ground in pieces.
The next moment.
Life extinct, leaving only a pile of bones where Saint Peter once sat.
"Peter!"
Saint V. Nusjuro and Mercury Warcury Saint's faces changed, looking terrified at the condition Saint Ju Peter was left in.
Then they looked down at their own disappearing marks, starting to scream in despair.
"This old man doesn't want to die!"
"Damn it, we could have sided with Endgame, used our stance to barter for survival..."
They wished to struggle, to flee, but their bodies uncontrollably underwent the same changes, the lavish attire becoming loose, sinking down.
In mere seconds, they too became skeletons.
The vast chamber of power fell into complete silence.