As the battle between Nusjuro and Teresa erupted with a deafening roar, the other four members of the Gorosei stopped holding anything back. Almost at the exact same moment, they unleashed their terrifying true forms!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Four completely different auras, like four erupting volcanoes, swept across the Royal palace plaza in an instant! The air turned viscous, the ground wailed under the pressure, and even the sky seemed to twist and dim beneath that interwoven, dreadful presence!
Saturn-sei's body swelled and warped—his lower half transformed into a monstrously huge black spider! Eight segmented legs, wreathed in black-purple miasma, stabbed into the ground and propped up an upper body that still retained a partial humanoid shape.
Marcus's back split open as a pair of pitch-black wings burst forth! His arms morphed into talons, and he rose into the air.
Peter-sei became a gigantic sandworm! A circular maw packed with ringed fangs reeked of nauseating, earthy stench! Wherever it passed, even rock was crushed to powder!
Topman's frame ballooned violently, fully turning into a massive wart hog! Two enormous, curved tusks gleamed with icy light, and scalding white vapor blasted from his nostrils!
Four of the highest powers in the world revealed non-human, demonic forms at the same time!
"What a horrifying look," everyone present—except Ronan—was stunned by what they were seeing. Especially Beth and Alicia. For a split second, those shapes on the Gorosei seemed to overlap with the shadows of Abyssal Ones from their original world.
And in the very same instant the Gorosei transformed, Beth and the others moved too!
No hesitation—like they'd assigned targets in advance—they lunged at their respective opponents.
"Denka! That big spider is Pitou's!!"
Neferpitou let out an excited, piercing shriek. Her small figure shot forward at a speed the naked eye couldn't possibly track, rushing straight at Saturn-sei—whose lower body had become the giant spider.
Her "Toy Repairer" was already active. Invisible Nen threads, sharp as blades, swept in with her ghostlike movements, slicing at Saturn-sei's massive spider body from impossible angles! The eight long legs supporting his bulk were her main targets.
"SKREE—!!!"
Saturn-sei hissed, fury flashing across his face. Then the spider abdomen suddenly fired a blast of thick, white webbing that spread like a net toward Neferpitou! Not only was it absurdly tough, it also carried a powerful paralytic toxin!
Neferpitou's eyes grew even wilder as she faced the attack.
"Your opponent… is me."
On the other side, Beth's gaze locked onto Marcus, who hovered midair in his avian form.
There was no explosive flare of pressure—Beth simply took one step forward. Yet with that single step, her presence became heavy in an instant, like an immovable hill. Then she leveled the tip of her greatsword at Marcus.
Marcus answered with a shrill screech and a violent beat of his enormous black wings. A storm of feathers poured down toward Beth—every single one packed with a potent shockwave.
Beth's expression didn't change. Her greatsword moved, and in the next moment, three airtight curtains of steel formed in front of her like layered shields.
Clinkclinkclink—!!
The dark feathers struck the sword curtains with crisp, ringing impacts. Every shockwave collapsed the moment it met the blade coated in Haki.
Beth stood exactly where she was, not taking even one step back. With her sword, she built an invisible barrier.
She was waiting.
Waiting for the moment her opponent revealed a flaw—because that instant would be the instant Beth delivered a lethal blow.
As for Alicia, she didn't say a word.
Her reply was the sudden eruption of killing intent from her entire body—and the greatsword in her hands.
Her target was the gigantic sandworm, Peter-sei, coiled across nearly half the plaza and radiating terrifying pressure.
Unlike Beth's steadiness, Alicia's style was pure offense—always offense. Her speed was pushed to the limit as she circled the sandworm's enormous body at high velocity, greatsword carving out slash after slash, hacking down in a frenzy!
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss—!
Every strike tried to break through the sandworm's thick defenses. The sandworm responded with a thunderous roar, its massive body thrashing violently as it tried to crush the irritating "bug." At the same time, it gaped its maw and spewed a breath corrosive enough to melt steel.
Alicia dodged on the edge of the possible, her eyes devoid of emotion—only absolute calm and a killer's focus. Every swing pursued maximum efficiency, like a machine built for nothing but slaughter.
Farther away, Enel casually dug in his ear while looking at Topman's wart-hog form—like a small mountain in front of him. Disgust flickered across his face, but deeper in his eyes burned a restless eagerness to fight.
"Two hundred million volts—Thunder God!"
Enel didn't bother probing. He went straight into his strongest Thunder God form!
A colossal thunder-energy body rose from the ground, not yielding in size to Topman's warthog shape in the slightest. Enel swung a gigantic fist made of lightning and slammed it down at Topman!
"ROOOAAAR—!!!"
Topman roared back, fearless. He lowered his head and met Enel's Thunder God punch head-on with those two huge, curved tusks!
RUMBLE—!!!
Lightning and raw physical power collided with a catastrophic boom, like a meteor impact! The shockwave spread outward in a ring, ripping up and pulverizing what remained of the surrounding ground.
Enel's electricity raged, trying to paralyze Topman's body, while Topman's near-indestructible defense repeatedly forced the Thunder God's attacks to stop dead.
Their battle was nothing but the most primitive violence.
For a time, the entire floating island was nothing but nonstop fighting!
Ronan didn't stand around watching. He immediately ordered Gasparde and Kuro to lead the clone soldiers on the island and jump down from the air.
This height was nothing to the clone soldiers. They landed steadily on the ground below.
The guards on the ground saw enemies dropping from the sky and didn't hesitate. They raised weapons and rushed straight at Gasparde's group.
This time, Ronan's goal was simple: give the World Government no time to react—hit them with a timing gap.
As long as Teresa's side could finish the Gorosei before the Marines arrived, Ronan's plan would be more than halfway to success.
Ronan knew the Gorosei's strength well. Compared to an Admiral, they were still a bit short. Their only real advantage was that terrifying regeneration.
And Teresa's side's use of Conqueror's Haki happened to counter the Gorosei perfectly.
So long as the Gorosei could be forced to completely lose the ability to fight before the Marines arrived… then afterward, they could focus entirely on facing the Marines.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
What had been a relatively calm afternoon was shattered by a shrieking alarm!
Countless Marines poured out of barracks and training grounds, faces filled with confusion and tension, while the officers rushed toward the building that housed the Fleet Admiral—expressions grim.
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, the atmosphere was even heavier.
Sengoku had just set down an emergency Den Den Mushi call from the Holy Land, Mary Geoise. Even through the Den Den Mushi's distorted mimicry, he could feel the panic surging from the other end.
Lulusia Kingdom attacked Mary Geoise?
The news detonated in Sengoku's mind like a thunderbolt, leaving him dazed for several long seconds.
He even wondered if he'd misheard—or if Mary Geoise was making some kind of sick joke.
Lulusia?
The Marines were in the middle of gathering forces, preparing to launch a second assault on them.
And now they were the ones taking the initiative?
And their target was the World Government's power center—Mary Geoise?!
It was absurd. A fantasy.
"…Has it been confirmed?" Sengoku's voice carried a bitter edge as he looked at Vice Admiral Tsuru, who was equally stunned.
Tsuru nodded and held up a more detailed intelligence brief that had just come in from the CP Agency.
"Confirmed. Ten minutes ago, they brought a floating island over Mary Geoise. To prevent greater damage to Mary Geoise, the Gorosei have already moved first and engaged."
"A floating island…?" Sengoku's pupils constricted. He instantly understood—this was the power Golden Lion once wielded.
"So they have a Float-Float Fruit user." He ground the words out. "Is it Teresa? Beth? Or someone else?"
"Madmen. Ronan, that brat, is a complete madman!" Sengoku snapped, anger and disbelief mixing together. "Does he even understand what it means to attack Mary Geoise?!"
"Even if he doesn't attack," Tsuru said coldly, "do you think Lulusia Kingdom won't be attacked?"
Sengoku froze, then let out a strained, humorless laugh.
She was right.
If the Marines and the World Government could strike Lulusia Kingdom, then Lulusia Kingdom could strike the World Government too.
Suddenly, a thought surfaced in Sengoku's mind.
"Borsalino lost contact at the Sabaody Archipelago… and now Lulusia attacks Mary Geoise." His voice turned low, his face darkening by the second. "This isn't a coincidence. It's a carefully designed trap."
Tsuru's eyes widened as realization hit. She drew a sharp breath.
"They deliberately kidnapped Celestial Dragons at Sabaody to lure an Admiral away… and then used the Float-Float Fruit's mobility to appear above Mary Geoise without warning. They timed our response from Marineford."
"But to keep Borsalino from sending even a single message…" Tsuru's voice grew heavier. "What kind of force is Lulusia hiding? We've kept the New World's big players under surveillance. None of them could have slipped into the first half of the Grand Line without us knowing."
(End of Chapter)
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