Warcury and Mars moved together, their killing intent interlocking as they rushed Brook like a pair of executioners.
But the moment their pressure closed in, both Elders realized something was horribly wrong.
Brook was still using the Yomi Yomi no Mi.
He was not being suppressed at all.
He did not lose control of his power. He did not falter, not even for a heartbeat.
"Why? Why! Why are you still able to use your ability?!"
Mars roared, disbelief twisting his face. His power was supposed to be absolute at this level, so how could it fail to shut down Brook's so called low level fruit?
Brook's eyes narrowed, ghostfire flickering with contempt.
"Hmph. Train it higher," he said coldly. "How can you ask something that stupid?"
"Netherworld Cage!"
"Dementors!"
Brook raised a hand, and Underworld energy erupted. Countless spirits surged up and locked around Mars, forming a dark green prison. A floating ghost general lunged straight for his head, like a spear of death.
Mars' Haki exploded.
The moment his Conqueror's pressure flared, the soul stealer shattered into nothing, erased before it could bite.
Brook did not look surprised.
He never believed those tricks would finish an Elder.
But if the Elders hesitated, if they failed to cover themselves in Haki at the right moment, they would learn what cruelty really meant.
"How is that possible!" Mars snarled. "No matter how far you develop wood, it's still wood. It'll never match steel! Higher fruits are stronger than lower fruits!"
Brook laughed, the sound light and mocking.
"Yohoho, not necessarily. Wood becomes charcoal, and maybe even diamonds. Sand becomes glass, and even Rupert's Tear. But you still don't understand."
"Hell Curse!"
The battlefield answered him.
Souls rose from the dead like a tide. They streamed toward Brook, sank into his body, and his aura climbed again and again, thickening like a storm that refused to stop.
He reached out, fingers curling.
"Soul Break, Strangle!"
A massive ghost claw formed from Underworld force and slammed toward Mars. At the same time, Warcury charged like a bull, two enormous black fists wrapped in dense red lightning, smashing for Brook's head.
"Boy! Devil Fruits aren't our only strength!" Warcury barked. "Haki is the foundation!"
Brook's soul attacks kept coming, but Warcury pushed through them, forcing Brook to evade again and again.
Brook was not immune to that kind of Conqueror's impact.
He could take it, but he could not ignore it.
And while he dodged, his mind worked.
He was still probing their abilities, searching for a crack.
Do we really have to grind them down until they run out of stamina before we can kill them?
The effects were too strange.
Copying someone else's Devil Fruit, stripping an enemy's ability, ignoring a power entirely.
Not Logia. Not Zoan. Not Paramecia. Not creation.
Something else.
Something closer to a force of will.
One of them kept talking about desire, wishes, dreams.
Was it desire itself?
Seven emotions, six desires? Seven deadly sins?
How could something like that create effects this warped?
When Mars and Warcury realized their suppression could not shut Brook down, they shifted instantly. They abandoned the secondary function of their powers and leaned into the oldest weapon of mankind.
Haki.
Their Devil Fruit abilities prolonged their lives. Limiting enemies was only an added advantage.
But each Elder's three Haki were polished beyond reason.
Brook had already understood that long ago.
That was why he had Shiki and Redfield burn Ethanbaron down with relentless pressure.
Because Brook's real target was never only the man.
It was Ethanbaron's sword.
Right now, on the Pluton battleship, the Seven Star Demon Sword was absorbing the Shodai Kitetsu. Brook could only fight these two Elders with the Yomi Yomi no Mi until that was done.
He needed the Seven Star Demon Sword to step beyond a quasi artifact.
He needed it to become a true divine weapon.
It had already devoured the Third and Second Generation Kitetsu. It had been reforged with a massive amount of Gungnir steel. Now, with the strongest Shodai Kitetsu added to the mix, it was on the verge of evolving into something comparable to Elbaf's spear.
Even if it was not forged entirely of Gungnir like the Spear of Elbaf, the Seven Star Demon Sword had something the spear still lacked.
A sword spirit.
And it had swallowed the ominous consciousness of the three demon blades of the Kitetsu line. That double reinforcement could force it across the threshold.
The Spear of Elbaf was indestructible and sharp, but it had not yet birthed a spirit of its own.
The Shodai Kitetsu was different.
After years in Ethanbaron's hands, its energy and demonic intent had been nurtured to the edge of transformation. The sword spirit had already been born.
It was the perfect sacrifice.
As the Seven Star Demon Sword devoured the Shodai Kitetsu's demonic energy, ghost energy, and sword spirit, the supreme blade went dull. Its luster faded. The Seven Star Demon Sword's cursed aura thickened, becoming heavier, sharper, more alive.
During Brook's confrontation, it had been devouring in silence.
Now, after being pressed by two Elders for so long, it finally finished swallowing the Shodai Kitetsu completely.
The Seven Star Demon Sword transformed into Quetzalcoatl and roared at the sky.
It did not fly to Brook immediately.
Instead it dove into the battlefield like a predator, devouring wronged souls and fresh blood with reckless hunger, stabilizing itself in the chaos.
Only after its state settled did it turn back into a blade again and shoot toward Brook's position like a meteor.
A combined blow from Warcury and Mars slammed into Brook, sending him skidding backward through the air. Even the ghostfire in his eyes shook, wavering violently.
"Yohoho," Brook chuckled, voice strained but steady. "Facing two of you with only the Yomi Yomi no Mi is still a little rough."
A deep fist mark caved his chest, but Underworld energy poured over it, sealing and mending it in moments.
Brook wiped the frost from his lips and looked up, grin sharpening.
"As expected, you old lovers have been together for countless years. That teamwork is disgusting."
His eyes slid to the streak of black cutting across the battlefield.
"But this is my home turf."
Eight years ago, Imu never showed.
If Imu still did not show today, then one of them would have to go to hell alongside that bald bastard.
Brook lifted his right hand.
The Seven Star Demon Sword screamed toward him, and he caught it cleanly, fingers crushing around the hilt.
His Conqueror's Haki surged.
Red lightning crawled across the blade, wrapping it in a savage storm. A thick, blood soaked aura spiraled outward, and the howls of the dead rose around it like a chorus.
--------------
Warcury and Mars stared at the blade in Brook's hand.
Even for monsters who had ruled from the shadows for centuries, the Seven Star Demon Sword was an ugly kind of terrifying.
A divine weapon.
A living curse.
And it was smiling at them through Brook's grip.
"That sword…" Mars' voice turned hoarse, envy bleeding through his control. "Forged with Gungnir steel. A sword spirit. And it even absorbed the power of the Quetzalcoatl Fruit… a divine artifact."
Every word tasted bitter.
Gungnir. A spirit. The method that let objects eat Devil Fruits.
Three things the World Government had chased like mad dogs for generations.
Warcury's gaze did not waver. "Stay sharp. Brook can't beat us if we move together."
His tone was calm, but his stance shifted half a step, aligning with Mars without even needing a signal. Their coordination was not practice.
It was habit.
Countless years of it.
Brook laughed, a cold, crisp sound that cut through the war screams outside.
"Yohoho. You really think you're stronger than Uranus? Then let me split you two up. Real men fight one on one."
Underworld energy began to gather again.
New souls crawled across the battlefield like fog turning into hands. The sight alone brought back an old fear, the same fear they had felt when Brook once forced the Uranus into chains.
Mars narrowed his eyes. "There aren't that many souls this time. We'll break his chains together."
Back to back, they steadied their breathing, their Haki tightening like armor. They waited for the moment Brook activated his confinement.
Brook's grin widened.
"Sorry. This one's new. Yohoho."
"Haunted by a Dark Spirit!"
"Desperate Reincarnation, Realm of the Dead!!"
The ghosts surged.
They lunged, they wrapped, they clawed, they dragged, trying to bind the two Elders with sheer numbers. Mars and Warcury tore through them without slowing, Haki splitting spirits apart like paper.
For an instant, it looked like Brook had wasted his move.
Then Mars felt it.
The space behind him went empty.
No breath. No presence.
He turned sharply, and the world answered with silence.
Mars was gone.
Warcury's eyes widened as the battlefield vanished around him. A dark void swallowed his senses. The sound of cannons, screams, and lightning all cut off, like someone snapped the world's neck.
He moved.
A thousand meters in a blink.
Then another thousand.
Nothing changed.
The darkness remained, endless and sealed.
His expression finally cracked.
This space covers thousands of meters?
A laugh echoed, rich and cruel.
"Yohoho. Welcome to the world of the dead."
Brook appeared, stepping out of the dark like it was his own hallway. He did not waste time with speeches.
The Seven Star Demon Sword rose.
Red lightning crawled over the blade.
A divine curse swung down.
Warcury's pupils tightened. "Is this hell…?"
His Devil Fruit power erupted violently, trying to weaken Brook, trying to strip the ability away, trying to force the soul energy into silence.
Nothing happened.
Not even a tremor.
Warcury gritted his teeth and chose the only answer left.
"Secret Technique, Dominant Body!"
His body turned pitch black, Armament coating everything. Then, ignoring the consumption, he layered Conqueror's aura over it as well, forcing his entire body into a humanoid weapon.
He believed this realm had a limit.
Even Brook could not maintain a space this massive forever.
Brook's blade flashed.
The divine weapon, wrapped in Conqueror's lightning, carved across Warcury's arm. Sparks exploded. A pale, terrifying cut line appeared, clean enough to make the air freeze.
Warcury's face tightened.
His Haki reserves were draining fast.
Too fast.
That sword was sharp enough to eat Haki itself, and its ghost demonic intent was like a mouth chewing through defenses.
Brook clicked his tongue, amused.
"Full body coating, you really are rich."
Warcury's jealousy burned hotter.
Why does this pirate get to hold that kind of weapon?
Why does he get to come back after eight years on the moon?
Why does he get to climb so high in only ten or twenty years?
Those thoughts twisted inside him like knives.
And Brook felt something shift.
His own power, for the first time, grew slightly awkward.
A thin irritation crawled up his spine, the ugly thought forming before he could fully cut it off.
Why can those useless Celestial Dragons stand above everyone?
Warcury's eyes lit up.
He laughed, sudden and sharp, like he had finally found blood.
"Haha! So even a pirate overlord can be jealous." He stared at Brook with feverish certainty. "I can sense it. Your jealousy."
Brook's brow furrowed.
"So it really is jealousy…? Desire?" He tightened his grip. "You can block Devil Fruit powers by triggering jealousy?"
Warcury's smile widened. "As long as jealousy exists in you, I can trigger my power! Your ability is too strong. I won't allow you to use it!"
The Realm of the Dead shook.
The dark space trembled, as if it might collapse at any moment.
Brook stared for half a breath.
Then he threw his head back and laughed.
"Yohohoho!! So that's how it works."
His body changed.
His aura dropped into a terrifying stillness, like a corpse that had forgotten it ever lived. The noisy heat of emotion vanished, smothered by death itself.
Brook's eyes turned cold, empty, and absolute.
Warcury's smile froze.
He could not feel it.
He could not sense any jealousy at all.
Brook leaned forward slightly, voice soft, almost polite.
"Can you still feel it now?"
Warcury's lips trembled.
Brook's grin returned, and it was vicious.
"Ant. Single dog."
The taunt landed like a slap, but the real strike was what came with it.
Brook's presence stayed dead silent.
No jealousy. No desire. No heat to latch onto.
Warcury's ability had nothing to grab.
Brook's eyes narrowed as understanding clicked into place.
"So your powers are sins," he murmured, almost to himself. "Original sins of desire."
Immortality, too.
No wonder they could survive for centuries.
He watched Warcury struggle, then asked lightly, like he was discussing the weather.
"These Devil Fruit abilities make you immortal, don't they?"
His gaze sharpened, the question cutting deeper than the blade.
If the Elders were desire and its sins, then what was Imu?
Fear? Life? Destruction? The moon?
Brook's thoughts raced, and the world suddenly made a cruel kind of sense.
Devil Fruits were wishes, desires, ambitions.
Even fears.
Humanity stealing the power of the world itself.
A violation of nature's law.
No wonder the ocean, Mother Nature, cursed them all. No one who carried that stolen power could touch the sea.
And no wonder the World Government erased history, erased gods, erased the truth, and cut the seas apart.
If people stopped believing in gods, stopped imagining them, stopped fearing them, the world's power would shrink back down to something controllable.
Brook's eyes flicked, cold and thoughtful.
Then why did the World Government still rely on Vegapunk? Why keep pushing technology forward?
Was the great pirate era something even Imu could not fully crush?
Or was Mother Nature, the will of the world itself, tightening the rules around Imu?
Or had some rule changed, forcing even Imu to move with the tide?
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