It turned out that, even during broad daylight, with the skills of Rob Lucci and the others, abducting people in the Celestial Dragons' residential zone was an effortless task. It didn't even draw anyone's attention.
They returned once again to the underground catacombs, placing Blaze into a stone coffin as per Imu's instructions, then began draining blood into it.
The blood, naturally, came from the Celestial Dragons.
Looking at this once high-and-mighty group—now reduced to livestock awaiting slaughter—even someone as emotionless as Rob Lucci couldn't help but feel a sense of this world's grotesque distortion.
Using the blood of living people to offer sacrifice—or perhaps revive—those ancient beings whose existence had long since faded into myth… it was chilling just thinking about it.
The crimson liquid flowed into the coffin, tracing strange carvings as it gradually formed a massive circular symbol at the bottom.
Once the blood had filled the grooves completely, four sharp black spikes slowly emerged from the sides of the coffin, piercing the corpse within.
A strange, bubbling sound followed—as if boiling water—and the Celestial Dragons' blood began to vanish.
Inside the coffin, the withered corpse began to plump up. The dry, shriveled skin regained fullness, and lifeless strands of hair regained their luster.
"Ugh…"
A groan escaped the lips of the man within as he slowly sat up.
His emerald eyes appeared dazed for a moment—then suddenly sharpened with a piercing focus, as if he had recalled something critical.
He turned to the figure cloaked in a grey robe—Imu—and uttered, in a voice like rusted iron scraping across glass, chilling to the bone:
"Has that one awakened?"
"Emperor Tade (OC)," Imu said with a slight bow to the blue-haired man, "Yes—'Ghidorah' broke free not long ago. The world is on the verge of chaos."
"Before this world collapses entirely, we must stop his ambitions…"
"His ambitions?" Gracie Tade (OC) sneered as he glanced at Imu, "Imu, back then, didn't we already conclude who the real threat was? After all, you were the only one who gained 'eternal life' from that incident, weren't you?"
As he slowly stepped out of the coffin, he cast another sidelong glance at Imu and added:
"Fine. I'll help this time. After all, I've yet to taste the pleasures of 'immortality' myself."
Imu's concealed expression flickered subtly at the word immortality—a word he least wanted to hear from any of these old relics.
This world, in his mind, only needed one immortal ruler.
But now wasn't the time to debate this.
He lowered his head, letting his entire face disappear into shadow beneath the hood.
"Immortality… everyone may yet have the chance to obtain it. That will depend on the choices each of you kings makes."
"Until he awakens… everything else is meaningless."
Imu's calm voice echoed throughout the underground chamber, and the word immortality left Rob Lucci and the others visibly shaken.
But as members of CP0, they understood: now that they knew this much, only two outcomes awaited them.
One was being silenced by these terrifying figures.
The other—clinging to life, continuing to serve the World Government, only to eventually die on some distant battlefield.
Either way, it was death. The only question was when.
"Lucci, notify Fleet Admiral Kizaru. Have him send ten warships to rendezvous near this area."
Imu's voice echoed again through the quiet tomb.
Once Lucci and the others had left, Imu turned toward the blue-haired man.
"Since Emperor Tade has awakened, is it time to fulfill your promise—and lead me to retrieve that item?"
"You're going to use it?"
Gracie Tade was visibly startled, then warned:
"That thing was forged by that clan long ago. You'd best be certain."
"There's no choice. A traitor has emerged among the Twenty Kings. Trying to unite all forces again is no longer realistic," Imu said calmly.
"The Nefertari clan, is it?" Gracie Tade muttered. "They've always been a troublesome family. No matter. My only pursuit is immortality."
"When do we depart?"
"Once the navy warships arrive." Imu turned again and added, "I hope you'll enjoy the world… eight hundred years later."
---
Bang!
"Fleet Admiral! Bad news! Just now, the Drum Kingdom was attacked by the Revolutionary Army—"
"The Revolutionary Army?"
"Kuwainé~!"
Now somewhat accustomed to his role as Fleet Admiral, Kizaru still kept his trademark catchphrases.
Lounging back in his chair with both legs up on the desk, he tilted his head at the frantic messenger with a puzzled look.
"I thought the Drum Kingdom was one of our allied nations?"
"Why would the Revolutionary Army target them?"
"And why didn't we hear a peep beforehand?"
He couldn't help but wonder if he'd truly been abandoned by the organization.
After a long pause, he finally asked:
"Who's leading the attack?"
"According to reliable intel, it's the Revolutionary Army's Chief of Staff, Sabo. And… it seems he's now in possession of the Dark-Dark Fruit."
"The Dark-Dark Fruit? My my… what exactly are these youngsters planning?"
Kizaru muttered to himself, then told the messenger:
"With the mass draft coming up, the Navy isn't in a position to act. Just archive the report for now."
The messenger didn't seem surprised—after all, for the past month, everything had been sealed and archived.
As Fleet Admiral Kizaru had put it, "The Navy's vitality is at an all-time low. No point stirring up more trouble—we'd best lie low for a while."
"Fleet Admiral, another report—from Sabaody Archipelago. Yesterday, a giant creature was seen flying across the sky. They believe it might be… that thing."
"Ghidorah?"
In today's world, any enormous flying creature instantly brought to mind only one name:
The three-headed dragon that destroyed Marineford, drove the Celestial Dragons out of Mary Geoise, and came to be feared as the Three-Headed Terror—Ghidorah.
"Have we tracked its movements?" Kizaru asked after a moment.
"Its purpose is unclear, but the flight path suggests it's headed toward an island in the first half of the Grand Line."
"What a bunch of troublesome characters…"
"Forget it. Just keep an eye on it. No point in unnecessary sacrifices."
As he spoke, Kizaru lowered his legs from the desk and stood up.
As if to himself, he murmured:
"Today should be the day the top recruits from the Four Seas arrive, right? Might as well go have a look…"
---
Drum Island – Grand Line, First Half
In the massive royal palace atop the snowy peaks—
"AAAAHHHH!!"
"What the hell is all this?!"
Refusing to attend the celebratory banquet thrown by the citizens for their liberation, Sabo now sat in the vast royal treasury, staring at the bizarre objects around him, utterly overwhelmed.
Inside, he felt completely duped.
The entire place felt more like a junkyard than a treasure vault.
But now that he wielded two Devil Fruits, the Munch-Munch Fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit, he didn't even need to use his mouth anymore—the devouring ability was now fused with the darkness itself.
Put simply, he'd become an eternal black hole—incapable of being filled.
Anything the Dark-Dark Fruit absorbed could instantly be reconstituted by the Munch-Munch Fruit into something new.
If he willed it, he could even make it part of his own body.
He wasn't sure if he'd really grown stronger, but one thing was clear—
From now on, he'd probably be living surrounded by trash.
Feeling betrayed and disheartened, Sabo clutched a freshly synthesized piece of steel in his hand and, without thinking, unleashed his Dragon Claw Fist, now imbued with Haki—
CLANG!!
PS: Access the complete chapters/series at