From Mary Joa's perspective, the figure appearing in the sky as if teleporting, bathed in white flames, merged with the sun.
What followed was...
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!!!!!
A rhythmic heartbeat echoed like drumbeats.
The Drums of Liberation resounded through heaven and earth!
Below, the revolutionary army soldiers and Mary Joa's defenders, entangled in chaos, found their minds emptied, inexplicably wanting to lay down their weapons and celebrate.
The sound of weapons being dropped incessantly rang out...
This scene made the Five Elders' eyes split with rage. They stared fixedly at the figure in the sky. No mistake! No mistake! It was him!
The burning white flames, the soul-stirring drumbeats, were the enemy of 'God,' the warrior of liberation, Nika!!!!!
The aura emanating from the swordsman Elder was violent, as was the burly Elder beside him.
"Kill him, ahhhhhhh!!!!"
A surging torrent of air swept out. With knees slightly bent, they surged into the sky, cloaked in boundless killing intent, their speed slightly faster than the Divine Knights already charging upwards.
The sudden outburst from the Five Elders momentarily stunned Kong and Garp.
But Garp didn't hesitate. He took a step forward and roared:
"Sengoku!!!"
Boom!
The ground nearly a hundred meters beneath him cracked like a spiderweb. He instantly appeared in the sky, Sengoku following closely behind, while Dragon transformed into a gust of wind and charged towards Luffy.
As one of the world's peak martial arts experts, Garp, despite being a step behind, was the first to reach below Luffy.
Facing the dazzling blade light slicing down, his body covered in Armament Haki, he charged headfirst, directly colliding with the full-power, enraged strike. Blood spurted from his chest. He swung his right arm, his expression ferocious, and smashed towards the swordsman Elder:
"Ryuu, Gekitsui—!!!"
*Crack!*
The swordsman Elder's demonic blade plunged into Garp's chest. Garp's iron fist shattered the swordsman Elder's chest bones. Entangled, they crashed towards the Red Line Continent.
Boom!!!!!
Sengoku in the air clearly had no time to spare. He instantly transformed into a hundred-meter-tall Great Buddha golden body, his face expressionless, his gaze majestic. He raised a giant palm, targeting the Divine Knights and the burly Elder:
"Buddha's Shockwave!"
A semi-transparent shockwave pierced the sky, engulfing everyone. However, it only managed to delay them for a moment; after all, their combat power wasn't overwhelmingly superior, and the opponents were numerous.
But it was enough.
A fierce wind swept past Sengoku, charging towards Luffy...
----
Though it seemed like a long time, only a few seconds had passed.
The music of the Drums of Liberation had just spread across the heavens and earth, and the battle below had only just erupted.
High in the sky.
Luffy stared blankly at his hands, disbelieving:
"Why..."
"Why..."
"Even though my comrades have died..."
"I've become happy..."
"Ha..."
"Haha..."
"Hahahahahaha!!!!!"
Luffy, burning with white flames, floated in the air surrounded by steam ribbons. Despite the circumstances that should have brought great sorrow, he couldn't help but laugh.
His body trembled continuously. He laughed, holding his abdomen, covering his eyes with his hands as if trying to suppress tears of sadness...
After tumbling in the air from laughter, he suddenly felt the fierce wind rushing from below.
Luffy, in his Nika form, leaped and stood in mid-air. Though smiling, his eyes were unsettling, like an evil child's. He looked up at the sky above, saying:
"Heeheeheeheeheehee!!"
He reached out to the side.
The clouds in the sky abruptly changed form and nature. The white clouds became a giant rubber net, which Nika Luffy threw into the sky. He grabbed something and pulled!
He himself grew enormous as he pulled back the cloud net and charged towards it.
The cloaked, invisible warship uncontrollably revealed its form, its entire body transforming into rubber.
The modified Mihawk on the warship frowned deeply. His data-driven brain had crashed, unable to analyze what was happening or what to do next...
The warship, caught in the giant net, plunged downwards rapidly.
Sakazuki, who had appeared from nowhere, stepped out of the cabin, with Carol following behind. The rapidly descending warship did not affect their stable posture.
He stomped on the warship's deck, feeling the softness of its rubber transformation.
Sakazuki looked up at the figure descending diagonally below. The giant head with its evil grin stared intently at the warship, opening a maw that seemed capable of swallowing it whole:
"What a reckless ability..."
Boom!
Red Conqueror's Haki swept through heaven and earth, silencing everything.
Sakazuki looked at the grinning white giant head and said:
"This is the end."
He let out a light chuckle and turned to Carol:
"The final moment has arrived. Remember to act the part."
Carol pulled down the brim of his hat, gritting his teeth tightly, desperately suppressing a tremble in his voice:
"Yes..."
Sakazuki patted Carol's shoulder and walked towards the front of the deck, waving his hand without looking back.
As the Nika's maw grew closer, Sakazuki suddenly spoke, his voice reaching Carol's mind:
"What is your name."
Carol abruptly looked up.
He looked at the figure with the Justice cloak fluttering in front of him.
Everything before his eyes seemed to revert to a small town years ago.
Amidst a sky of flames, trapped beneath a collapsed house and about to lose consciousness, the young boy's body suddenly felt lighter. He heard the questioning voice:
"What is your name."
The boy, on the verge of losing consciousness, though somewhat confused, managed to reply with difficulty:
"Car... Carol..."
That was the first meeting between the boy named Carol and the man named Sakazuki...
The illusion shattered abruptly.
Carol snapped back to reality, took a deep breath, and looked at the retreating figure, shouting:
"Carol!!!"
Just like when they first met...
With one last glance at Sakazuki's figure, he activated his ability...
*Swish!*
The rubber warship and the Seraphim on board vanished without a trace.
A slight curve formed on Sakazuki's lips, and he smiled...
He looked at the approaching, grinning Nika head.
One who has never seen light will not fear darkness. But after seeing the light, to walk alone in endless darkness, that maddening loneliness makes one want to destroy everything...
His plan, decades in the making, the moment to destroy this endless darkness had finally arrived.
His Observation Haki swept across the world, and the final sources of this chaotic world were all gathered here.
He sensed the powerful presences: the Five Elders, Kong, Sengoku, Garp, Dragon, and the mysterious being in the Pangea Castle who seemed to be looking at him across space...
A hint of uncontrollable madness flickered in Sakazuki's eyes:
"Trash..."
"Should be burned!!!!"
He reached his right hand towards the Justice cloak on his back, flicked his wrist, and pulled out the pale head of a red-haired man.
Sakazuki's lips curved slightly as he looked at the astonished Nika Luffy.
His right arm instantly transformed into intense magma. He balled his fist and aimed it at the Nika's open maw, whispering with a hint of playfulness and malice:
"Meigo!!!"
A magma dog head, clutching the red-haired head, extended infinitely from Sakazuki's arm, piercing directly into Nika's belly.
The immense impact struck his belly. Nika Luffy, like a baseball, was launched towards the ruins of Mary Joa...
Boom!!!!!