When Elior left, it was around eleven o'clock that night.
Mary Geoise remained in chaos.
Countless buildings lay in ruins, scorched and broken by Elior's overwhelming power. Among the dead were an unknown number of Celestial Dragons. As for the slaves and guards who perished… no one cared enough to count.
Only the statistics would later reveal how many of the self-proclaimed "gods" had fallen that night.
The Gorosei immediately ordered both their subordinates and the Marines stationed at Headquarters to conduct a full search of Mary Geoise.
However, even when legends like Sengoku and the others spread their Observation Haki to its limits, they couldn't sense any powerful presence besides the remaining Celestial Dragons.
If the intruder — or intruders — were still in Mary Geoise, their presence should have been impossible to miss.
But nothing.
No trace. No aura. Nothing but silence and smoke.
It could only mean one thing — the culprit had already vanished.
Three or four hours passed, and the search turned up nothing. Hunting for a single person in the massive holy city was nearly impossible, and to make matters worse, Mary Geoise had no surveillance system outside the World Government complex itself.
This, of course, had helped Elior slip away unnoticed. But now it created a massive problem for the Gorosei.
"Who could it be?"
"Who dares to act with such arrogance?"
Whether it was the Gorosei, the senior Celestial Dragons, Commander-in-Chief Kong, or the top brass of the Marines, they were all deeply unsettled.
Hours had passed — and there were still no answers.
On the other side of the city, Gion quietly continued the search with a calm expression. She knew the truth.
Elior had already left.
And thankfully, without incident.
She could finally breathe again.
Now, more than three hours later, the death toll had been roughly estimated: about 230 Celestial Dragons killed outright, and over a hundred more injured by the explosion's shockwave.
Out of the three thousand Celestial Dragons residing in Mary Geoise, over two hundred were gone.
It was a devastating loss.
News like this could never be hidden. Within days, it would spread across the world — faster and louder than the legend of Fisher Tiger.
Because this time, it wasn't just a rebellion.
It was slaughter.
Fisher Tiger had dared to free slaves — but even he hadn't harmed a single Celestial Dragon. Elior, on the other hand, had massacred them.
Dozens upon dozens of them.
The upper echelon of the Celestial Dragons were furious beyond reason. They wanted to rip the intruder apart, to erase his very existence.
But the cruel irony was that they didn't even know who he was.
Not even his shadow.
Tsuru stood among the commanders, analyzing the scene in her calm, measured tone.
"For someone to cause an explosion on this scale… escaping from Mary Geoise would be simple. It's been hours, and there have been no further incidents. He's likely gone already."
Sengoku nodded grimly beside her.
"Indeed. Whoever caused this destruction isn't just strong — they're confident. Someone like that could leave this place whenever they wanted."
Then Sengoku paused. His expression hardened
."Tsuru… could it be Elior?"
The thought hung heavy in the air.
After all, in this world — who else would dare?
Before this, seven Celestial Dragons had already died by Elior's hand.
In the past, only Xebec had ever killed Celestial Dragons — and even he had only slain three.
Elior had already surpassed that record long ago.
Now, if this night's massacre was his doing, then over two hundred more had fallen because of him.
It was proof that Elior's defiance of the Celestial Dragons' rule had reached an unimaginable level.
The Marines couldn't be sure, but both Sengoku and the Gorosei shared the same suspicion.
And then came the report — quiet, hurried, and terrifying.
An elite Celestial Dragon, pale and trembling, whispered something to the Gorosei that froze them in place.
Shock. Disbelief. Panic.
Without another word, the five old men stormed out of the command post, a group of high-ranking Celestial Dragons rushing behind them.
Something far worse had happened.
When they reached the treasury, they found the guards dead — one of them decapitated, another missing an arm.
The vault itself had been breached.
Inside, engraved on the wall in bold letters, was a mocking message:
"Thanks for the hospitality. I'll visit again sometime. Guess who I am?"
A cruel, taunting tone.
Nusjuro placed his trembling hand on the stone wall, pressing against a hidden mechanism.
The secret door slid open — and the room beyond was empty.
The permanent Log Pose… was gone.
For a moment, every Celestial Dragon present froze in disbelief.
Then came the horror.
"The permanent Log Pose to the God Valley… it's been stolen!"
"What?! That's impossible!"
"Imu-sama will be furious!"
"I can already feel my life slipping away!"
Terror spread like wildfire. Even the proud Gorosei felt their hands grow cold.
They had lost something beyond precious — a secret they were never meant to expose.
The permanent pointer to God Valley — a place erased from history itself — was gone.
And the only sound in that vast, trembling hall was the echo of those mocking words on the wall.