[BANG!]
Edward Newgate slammed into the ground.
The earth within a radius of more than 10 m split instantly into a web of cracks.
For before his eyes, a shadowy mass flickered with countless points of violet light.
When he focused, he saw them clearly—knights in heavy armor astride armored warhorses.
Yet their glowing purple eyes and the black mist seeping off their bodies made it obvious: these were no ordinary humans.
The problem was their numbers.
A single glance was enough for Newgate to know—close to ten thousand!
But his gaze finally settled on the towering figure standing at the very front of the host.
Though shorter than himself, it still stood at nearly 5 m tall.
Its eyes too burned with that eerie violet glow.
Encased in thick, heavy armor, it clutched in both hands a massive black battle-axe—almost as large as its own body.
From his body radiated a murderous intent and battle spirit so overwhelming that one didn't even need Observation Haki to sense it.
"So this is Emroy?"
Newgate frowned in doubt. "Wasn't Emroy supposed to be this world's strongest god?"
The black-armored figure before him felt no more imposing than his second division commander.
Meanwhile—
Above the clouds, high in the sky, Emroy herself hovered.
Clad in a dark violet gown, the goddess of war and madness watched from the shadows, her young subordinate—the demigod Rory Mecury—at her side.
"So that's the 'former God of War and Frenzy'? He looks terrifying…"
The girl gasped, covering her mouth, eyes wide with shock.
"Yes," Emroy answered softly with a faint, confident smile. "Back then, after I slew Mars, I forged his soul into a Death Knight."
"Though his strength diminished somewhat, he still counts among the mightiest beneath the main gods. To test our opponent's methods, he'll serve perfectly."
Even as her words faded, the figure of Mars below let out a sky-shaking roar.
In the next instant—
With that bellow, the countless Death Knights behind him spurred their undead warhorses forward, surging as a vast tide of darkness toward Edward Newgate.
"Gurararara~~~"
"Weak as they may be, I'll grant—this is a spectacular sight. Very well then—this old man will raise some hell today!"
Slamming Murakumogiri down into the earth, he spread his massive, empty hands wide.
[WMMM————]
At once, with a slight curl of his fingers, a bright white radiance bloomed across his palms.
[CRACK!]
The next moment, he swung both arms down with full force.
The very air before his fingers cracked apart like shattering glass, as though he were clawing violently at the void itself.
...
"What is he doing?!"
Emroy's heart tightened as she fixed her gaze on Newgate's every move.
Especially those two orbs of white light forming in his hands—they stirred an unsettling feeling within her.
Whether it was Emroy hovering in the air, Rory Mercury, or the Death Knights below, all of them felt the world itself undergoing violent upheaval.
First the earth began to quake, then even the air itself seemed to churn.
It left everyone dizzy, their vision spinning.
The Death Knights who had just begun to run were like stalks of wheat cut down in harvest, collapsing to the ground in great swathes.
"What's happening?!"
Rory Mercury paled in shock, but before she could even finish speaking—
A deafening detonation, beyond words, struck her ears with such force that the pain was unbearable.
"AAAAAAH!"
Only Emroy, the main goddess herself, managed to maintain a semblance of composure.
And so she witnessed with her own eyes the most awe-inspiring scene in thousands of years.
The vast expanse of land below, which had begun with tremors, had now reached the point of collapse and rupture.
The once-flat plain—
Now split apart by bottomless chasms, tearing it into jagged fragments.
Countless Death Knights fell into those abysses like insects, vanishing without a trace.
The void beneath, and even the sky where she hovered, were being torn apart by rifts glowing with soft white light. These cracks split the heavens and earth into countless blocks, large and small.
This… this was true Heaven and Earth collapsing. Emroy murmured to herself.
The strongest man of the Starfish World—Edward Newgate?
Of course, in the memories of those Starfish dwellers she had seen before, there was no way the name "Whitebeard" had been absent.
So Emroy had no trouble recognizing him.
...
[BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!]
On the ruined earth below—
Mars, the former God of War, had charged alone across the shattered ravines, rushing straight at Newgate. In his hands, the massive black axe erupted with brilliant violet light.
Driven by madness, he had fallen into unrelenting frenzy—bereft of reason, fearless of death.
A true Berserker!
"Gurararara~! Good, you've come!"
Seeing this, Newgate was not alarmed but delighted. He seized the massive Murakumogiri before him in a single hand.
Facing the incoming axe blade that split the air, he swung his naginata head-on to meet it.
In an instant, Murakumogiri's edge turned pitch black, flickering with streaks of black-and-red lightning.
[CLANG!!!]
The black blade and the violet axe clashed in midair.
Blinding light and crackling lightning erupted, while a violent shockwave blasted outward in all directions.
Yet Mars couldn't even last a single second.
In the blink of an eye, the overwhelming force knocked the giant axe from his hands, hurling his entire body into the air, flinging him backward like a fired cannonball.
His thick, dark arms—along with the heavy armor upon them—exploded into a cloud of black mist.
"Gurararara~! You're far more fragile than Jozu ever was!"
Edward Newgate let out a hearty laugh, his voice filled with pride for his sons, even as his hands never once slowed their assault.
[WHOOOM——]
Brilliant white light once again flared across Murakumogiri.
When he slashed toward Mars, who was still flying through the air—
The tidal force of vibrations surged forth within that radiant glow.
[CRACK!]
The air in front of Newgate suddenly ruptured, forming jagged white fissures that spread rapidly outward.
The next moment—accompanied by a thunderous boom that shook the heavens—
The very air transformed into a raging shockwave, annihilating everything in its path.
Mars's massive body, more than 5 m tall, was blown apart by the vibrational force within that shockwave.
"This lackey isn't fit to be my opponent. Get out here, Emroy!"
Swept up in fervor, Newgate didn't care whether his words could even be understood.
He bellowed his proudest roar toward the shattered clouds above.
For just a moment, an extraordinary aura had leaked out from there—
One far stronger than Mars's had been.
Newgate instantly knew.
That was the god he sought: the mightiest deity, bearer of five divine offices—Emroy!
Goddess of Darkness, Death, Judgment, Frenzy, and War!
"You are far too arrogant, mortal!"
The next instant, a proud yet melodious woman's voice rang out across the heavens.
Clearly, Emroy could no longer hold herself back.
At once, the long gown on her body transformed into a form-fitting battle armor that displayed her graceful figure.
It shimmered with a violet-black radiance—
Then, with a blaze of light, a black scythe appeared in her hand, etched with intricate violet patterns.
"Hm?"
Below, Newgate was briefly taken aback.
Not at the breathtaking sight of the valiant goddess appearing above the clouds—
But because he realized he could understand her words.
Weren't they supposed to be unable to comprehend the language of this world?
…Well, forget it. He could ask after the fight!
Emroy cried out in fury: "Perish, mortal!"
Newgate roared back: "I am Whitebeard!"
Violet-black lightning flashed and writhed through the night sky, seething with murderous will.
Blinding white light infused with the power of vibrations erupted from the shattered earth, shaking the heavens themselves.
To the west of Alnus Hill—
There flew what looked like an F-15 fighter jet.
But this colossal thing stretched nearly 40 meters in length, with a wingspan of close to 30 meters.
It cut through the skies at Mach 2, soaring more than 10 kilometers above the ground.
The rumble it produced as it passed overhead was indistinguishable from thunder.
Suddenly, radiant golden beams shot from the eastern sky, abruptly lighting up the southern lands.
Then, just as suddenly, they vanished, plunging the earth back into darkness.
"Looks like 'Whitebeard' and 'Golden Lion' have already started fighting."
So thought Bullet, transformed into a gigantic F-15 fighter jet.
"Looks like I'm almost there."
Traveling beneath the stars and moon, Bullet crossed who knows how many mountains and rivers.
At last, a shimmering expanse of sea came into view, glittering faintly under the night sky.
He had reached the border between the peninsula where the Palapon Temple stood and the mainland.
Bullet's spirit stirred.
"Hm?"
The next instant—
The massive F-15 suddenly performed a barrel roll in the star-filled night sky, swerving evasively in a spiral at the very last moment, dodging a black shadow that streaked past like lightning.
The attacker was fast, yes—but Bullet's sharp eyes still caught a fleeting blur in the split second they brushed past each other.
It was a figure clad in silver armor, wearing a hawk-shaped helmet, with a pair of silver-feathered wings gleaming on its back.
That last strike—Bullet had only avoided it by relying on his ability to "foresee the future."
Watching the figure vanish from sight once again, Bullet thought: It's not just speed… this guy can go invisible too.
He was beginning to understand the enemy's "vengeance" style.
Assassination!
With that thought, the gigantic F-15 abruptly stopped mid-flight, suspending itself unnaturally among the clouds.
The fuselage began to shimmer with flowing violet light, and at a speed visible to the naked eye, it shifted back into Bullet's human form.
[BOOM!]
The next second, he stomped down hard, releasing a deafening burst of compressed air.
Using "Moonwalk" to steady himself, Bullet swept his malicious, mocking gaze across the darkness around him.
"My mood is foul right now, because what I've run into is just a rat hiding in the shadows. Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. You've ruined my fun!"
He knew the opponent might not understand a word he said.
Still, he spoke aloud, almost as if talking to himself.
Because Bullet didn't care whether the enemy understood or not.
"Mortal, you already bear the hatred of this world—and of us gods as well. Your time has come!"
Voices rang out from every direction at once.
Bullet noticed that each time one spoke, a blurred afterimage streaked by at high speed. His eyes immediately filled with disdain.
"Heheheh… clones, huh~"
Invisibility, clones—these were nothing but circus tricks to him.
Only the speed the enemy displayed was decent.
That alone left him even more disappointed.
"Still, the fact you can speak our language—did you study it beforehand? Clever move. Might just win you a sliver of survival," Bullet mocked.
"Hmph! Language? All it takes is pulling the memories from your souls. Nothing easier!"
The voice came again, echoing from every side.
Dozens of figures were racing around Bullet, moving so fast that their motion alone stirred a storm.
"So that's it—you've ripped the souls out of our people of Starfish."
At that, Bullet's mouth split into a wide grin, rows of gleaming white teeth flashing. The smile on his face was nothing short of feral.
"Then it's your turn. Go die with all that hatred bottled inside you, lowly mortal!"
The roar burst from countless throats in unison.
At the same time, a chorus of whistling slashes filled the night.
Shapes the naked eye could not catch hurtled toward Bullet with lightning speed.
[THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!]
One after another, hawk-headed humanoid figures with silver wings streamed past like sharp, heavy bolts of a ballista, slamming again and again into Bullet's body.
And yet—he simply stood there, letting the Palapon clones strike him as they pleased, without budging an inch.
Instead, it was the clones of Palapon that shattered on impact with Bullet's body.
Unable to withstand the recoil—
One after another, they burst into clusters of dark red light, seething with hatred.
Not one of them could pierce through Bullet's Armament Haki.
Suddenly, a scarlet gleam flashed in Bullet's eyes.
The corners of his mouth lifted into a chilling, monstrous grin.
Without even looking back, he swung his right fist behind him.
In an instant, crackling black-and-red lightning burst forth, while a layer of flowing crimson light spread across his darkened knuckles.
[BOOM!!]
The air where his fist struck detonated instantly.
That overwhelming force tore into a figure that had appeared out of nowhere.
"AAARGHHH!"
A shrill, agonized scream split the night sky.
[WHOOSH!]
The next second, Bullet vanished—faster than the eye could follow.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared behind the flung-back Palapon, seizing its waist in his iron grip.
The so-called "God of Vengeance and Hatred" was barely 2 meters tall.
In the hand of the 5-meter giant Bullet, he looked no more than an oversized toy model.
"Impossible! How could you possibly have found me?!"
Bloodied at the mouth, face twisted in pain, Palapon thrashed desperately, ignoring his shattered breastplate and broken helmet, roaring hoarsely in disbelief at the monstrous figure before him.
"Ordinary Observation Haki couldn't track you… too bad for you~"
Bullet lifted Palapon up to his face, his eyes brimming with disappointment and disdain.
"At most, you've got the strength of a General—and you dare call yourself a god?"
"When I get back, I'm raising hell with Headquarters for this!"
"Cough… cough… General Bullet, the so-called 'God of the Underworld' in this world truly did have strength on par with a General."
"But let's set that aside for now. Might this old one be permitted to take away this 'God of Vengeance'?"
Douglas Bullet froze.
He hadn't realized at all that someone else was nearby.
Even now, he couldn't sense the figure's presence.
"You… you're the Sage of Six Paths from the shinobi world?"
Bullet's eyes narrowed warily as he stared at Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, descending slowly through the air.
They had been told before departing—
That after defeating this world's main god, a Sage of Six Paths would come to collect its soul.
"Yes. It is our first meeting. I am but a god under Lord Imu—the Sage of Six Paths of the shinobi world. It is an honor to make your acquaintance, General Douglas Bullet of the Army Headquarters."
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