"This is your answer? More hands? You must be running out of ideas."
The sentence left Buggy's lips with quiet finality. It carried through the air like a challenge, not shouted, but spoken with unnerving clarity. For a moment, some thought they had misheard. It sounded too calm, too defiant, too fearless for the moment. But there was no mistaking it.
Buggy had challenged.
Under the looming shadow of Uranus above and the divine destruction it was capable of, the world stood still. His words should have sounded absurd. In any other voice, they would have been laughed off as suicidal bravado. But coming from him, they landed with weight. From him, it felt like a promise.
Redfield, Shanks, Dragon, and Mihawk watched in silence. They said nothing. Their eyes remained fixed on Buggy's back, as if drawn by gravity. They were waiting, each of them. Waiting to see what would follow.
Far above, Imu stood atop Uranus, framed by the storm-dark sky. Wind twisted around her as if the heavens themselves bent to her presence. Her crimson eyes narrowed, her lips curling into a thin, elegant smile.
"Creatures of the lower world," she said. "Perish in your stubborn resistance."
Buggy did not respond.
Instead, he raised one hand. "Wood Clone."
From the crest of the massive wooden Buddha beneath him, new forms began to rise. At first, they were little more than blank silhouettes, shaped from smooth bark. But they changed quickly, their features sharpening with uncanny precision until ten perfect Buggy replicas stood across the statue's shoulders.
Then, all at once, they clapped their hands together.
The sound echoed across the battlefield, strange, offbeat, almost too casual.
Several warriors on the ground flinched. Some squinted upward in confusion. The gesture looked theatrical, maybe even ridiculous. But the air shifted. There was something in the timing, in the silence that followed.
Then the clones spoke.
"Nuclear Crush Annihilation."
They said it again. Then again. Ten voices, one command.
A pulse of power radiated outward as white-gold spheres began to form in each clone's hands. Black-gold flames wrapped around them. Violet lightning arced and danced, coiling through the air like living serpents.
Each orb swelled rapidly to nearly three meters across.
Without hesitation, the clones stepped forward and launched the orbs into the sky.
Ten luminous suns surged upward, streaking toward the descending divine palm above.
Gasps broke across the battlefield.
"Is he serious? He launched ten of them?"
"No one can do that. Not even him."
Redfield's jaw tightened. Shanks inhaled through his teeth. Dragon's gaze narrowed. Mihawk did not speak, but the silence behind his eyes deepened.
Even Hancock, standing far from the impact zone, turned to watch.
But it was the Buggy Pirates who reacted first.
Sunbell swore softly and grinned.
Shanks turned toward him. "You knew this was coming?"
Sunbell didn't answer immediately. He nodded at the sky, calm as stone. "Cover your ears."
Jinbei had already moved. His palms pressed over his ears with practiced ease. "Everyone. It's the time now. Now or never!"
His voice left no room for questions.
The others exchanged uneasy glances. They hesitated. Then one by one, they followed.
Far above, Imu's smile faded.
She could feel it. The power inside each orb was not chaotic or wild. It was dense. This should not have existed in a lower world.
She clenched her hands but made no move. She wanted to see it play out. Let him reveal his tricks. Let him show his final hand.
Even if he blocked the attack, it meant nothing. Uransu remained untouched. The true power of the weapon had not yet been drawn.
When the time came, she would end him. Her gaze bore down on Buggy. Her expression was cold, not cruel. She did not hate him or fear him.
He was not a rival. But an anomaly.
And anomalies could be erased.
A deep, rising hum filled the sky. Ten platinum spheres, each wrapped in black-gold flame and laced with flickering strands of purple lightning, surged upward with terrifying speed.
Each orb radiated concentrated power, and each was nearly a hundred meters across. They raced toward the falling divine palms above, their heat warping the air as they closed the distance.
Crackling energy burst across the sky.
Zzzzzzt.
Chiii—chiii—chiii.
The moment the orbs came within range, the space between them twisted with unstable energy. Thunder boomed without warning. Lightning burst outward in violent spirals. Even before contact, the two attacks began to react violently, as if the sky itself rejected the idea of their collision.
Below, spectators could barely stand under the pressure.
Those watching the battle from the shattered islands and war-torn ships looked up with drenched brows, their bodies locked in place by the sheer magnitude of the clash about to occur. For many, their knees gave out.
"Oi oi oi… you're telling me this is before they even hit?"
"No joke. That's Buggy's ultimate move, 'Nuclear Crush Annihilation'. And he's using ten of them at once."
"It's insane. He's actually going toe-to-toe with that monster of a woman… What did they say? She's lived for over eight hundred years?"
"Yeah. But don't let her age fool you. That thing up there… You can't even call her human."
"So what? Let the gods tremble. Pirate King Buggy kills gods for breakfast. He is destined to overturn the world. He will fulfill his father's dream."
"That's right! The name 'Godslayer' wasn't given. It was earned! Smash her, Buggy-sama! Don't leave even a speck behind!"
All across the world, voices trembled with hope, fear, and awe. The battle had turned into something else. It was no longer just an uprising. It had become a final gamble for the world itself.
At this point, the commander-in-chief of the three armies was dead. One of the Five Elders had been vaporized. The others were on the brink of death. Sengoku, the former Fleet Admiral, had fallen. Blackbeard, one of the Four Emperors, had died in battle.
This was their last chance.
If they failed now, the chains of the World Government would be reforged for another thousand years.
Since Buggy had delivered his "I have a dream" speech, the spark had caught in the hearts of the people. That flame, born from rage and sorrow, had ignited into something much more.
If faith had power in this world, then it was surging now. The prayers and hopes of billions across the seas gathered like invisible winds, all converging on Mariejois, the holy capital perched atop the Red Line.
At the center of it all stood one man.
The clown-king who had turned the world upside down. The one now locked in battle against the so-called god who had enslaved them.
Far above, near the upper reaches of the Red Line's burning sky, a massive black pterosaur soared at impossible speed, wings slicing through the dense clouds of smoke and ash.
Strapped to its back were several figures, battered, determined, and unmistakable.
Had Buggy looked up, he would have recognized them instantly.
The Straw Hat Pirates had returned.
Word of the war had reached them like thunder rolling across the ocean. They had learned that Buggy had started the final battle. Robin, Ace, and Sabo were already on the front lines. That the world itself was on the verge of collapsing.
There was no more room for celebration. No time for drifting.
Their vacation had ended the moment they heard the name "Mariejois."
It was Nami, reluctant but resolute, who had taken the form she least wanted to use. Her Zoan transformation had turned her into a Pteranodon, awkward, monstrous, but powerful. And now, her wings carried her crew through the smoke-filled skies at breakneck speed.
She could feel her muscles burning.
If not for the strength granted by her awakened Ancient Zoan, she would have collapsed under the weight of carrying them all.
"Nami, faster!" Luffy shouted, voice raw with urgency.
"Stop rushing already."
Nami let out a tired sigh, wings flapping hard against the wind.
"We're almost there. Can't you hear it? The sound of battle coming from the Red Line."
"Huh?" Luffy tilted his head. "Didn't hear anything."
"Of course you didn't," Nami muttered, exasperated. She looked ahead, eyes narrowing at the blood-red ridge rising through the clouds.
"Anyway, look. There it is. The Red Line is right in front of us."
Her voice dropped into a firmer tone.
"Luffy, listen. The battlefield is chaotic. If you're going to charge in, you need to reveal who you are. No fooling around. Got it? Otherwise, someone's going to mistake you for the enemy and attack you on sight."
Luffy nodded seriously. "Got it."
"Don't worry, Nami-san. I'll stay by his side." Sanji spoke up with uncharacteristic calm.
Zoro's eye gleamed as he scanned the distant storm ahead.
"So this is the greatest war in the world?" He smirked. "I can already smell the blood."
"Ahhh! I've come down with something!" Usopp cried, gripping his chest in mock panic. "It's... It's terminal battlefield-itis! Chopper, quick, save me! I'm gonna die!"
Chopper flailed in Franky's grip, eyes wide.
"Usopp! Wh-what?! Are you okay?! What do I do?!"
"Yohohohoho!" Brook's laugh rang out as he adjusted the strap on his violin case.
"A world-shaking battle like this? What a thrill! I'm positively rattling!"
"Heh, now this is SUPER!" Franky grinned widely, adjusting his goggles.
With a rush of wind, the massive black Pteranodon tore through the upper clouds. Nami's wings pushed hard through the mist as they broke free of the overcast sky.
Then they saw it. The battlefield.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Before them, the world was chaos layered upon chaos. Thunderstorms roared across the upper sky, where violet lightning crackled through a dome of black clouds that stretched for miles. Colliding with that dome was a blinding field of golden light that stained the clouds themselves. The sky glowed as though the sun had cracked open above the war.
Down below, the earth was no less cataclysmic. A massive basin had turned to liquid flame. Lava boiled across a battlefield several kilometers wide. Floating above it, a giant bird made of blue-golden fire circled through the air, hurling waves of searing azure flames down onto the scorched land.
Nearby, an entirely different battlefield unfolded.
A man hovered midair, suspended between twin forces. On one side, rivers of sand surged up and swirled like oceans. On the other hand, glaciers cracked and stretched forward in jagged spires. Wherever they touched, they consumed each other, sand turning ice into dust, and ice freezing entire dunes into stone.
And then came the sound.
Boom.
Luffy's eyes widened. Overhead, meteorites streaked through the atmosphere, each one wrapped in orange-red fire. Dozens of them fell in sequence, crashing toward the battlefield with terrifying speed.
But just as they neared the earth, wind erupted from the valley floor.
The meteorites halted in place, suspended a thousand meters above ground.
They didn't fall. They hovered.
Hundreds of them now floated like burning stars, caught in invisible hands.
The sight left the Straw Hat crew speechless.
Luffy leaned forward slightly, mouth hanging open.
"What... is this?" None of them answered.
Because even for pirates who had survived Enies Lobby, Marineford, Wano, and the New World, the scale of this battle surpassed anything they had ever seen.
This wasn't just a war.
It was the end of an era and the birth of something entirely new.
---
Enjoyed the chapter?
You can read 40k words ahead and gain exclusive access to even more content over at P*treon.c*m/Marioni!