Jerry glanced toward the Celestial Dragons cowering in the distance, then turned his attention back to Tesoro and the others. "Tesoro, I want you to go rescue every slave being held throughout Mariejois. Let the world see just how filthy this so-called 'holy land' really is."
Tesoro stood frozen for a moment as memories of his own enslavement under the Celestial Dragons flashed before his eyes. The humiliation, the pain, the helplessness—all of it came rushing back with vivid clarity. He clenched his fists tightly and nodded with solemn determination. "Understood!"
Similar painful memories surfaced in Bartholomew Kuma's mind as he raised his massive hand, staring at the distinctive paw pad that had appeared on his palm due to his Devil Fruit abilities. He stepped forward voluntarily. "My friend, if you don't mind, I'd like to help with the liberation efforts as well."
"Huh?!" Dr. Vegapunk blinked in confusion, suddenly feeling like he had become a completely marginalized figure in this world-changing moment.
Kuma scratched his head apologetically. "Doctor, let me get you to safety first."
As he spoke, Kuma raised his palm and gave Vegapunk a gentle but firm slap with his paw pad, causing the brilliant scientist to vanish instantly from the spot. Only his gradually fading scream remained floating in the air.
"Ahhh!!! I still wanted to study that amazing cat..."
Hearing this plaintive cry echoing from nowhere, Kuma paused in retracting his paw and stared at the empty ground before him, then looked at little Bonney with an embarrassed expression.
"I'll leave the rest to you then," Jerry said with a satisfied nod. After sweeping his gaze across Hawkeye and the other observing Warlords, he turned directly toward the area where Pangaea Castle's smoke and dust were beginning to settle.
The partially collapsed Pangaea Castle now revealed an extraordinarily magnificent and cavernous hall within its ruins. Inside the vast chamber, a grand staircase led upward to multiple elevated platforms. Surprisingly, these platforms were cluttered with an extensive collection of various weapons—swords, spears, axes, guns, and countless other armaments from throughout history.
At the very top of the platform structure stood a throne that pointed majestically toward the heavens, with the World Government's distinctive logo clearly engraved on its ornate backrest.
At this moment, a figure wearing a towering crown sat upon that legendary seat of power.
On the ground at the very bottom of the chamber, several elderly men knelt in submissive poses. They were none other than the three surviving Five Elders who had mysteriously vanished moments earlier.
"Is that the legendary 'Empty Throne'?" someone among the distant onlookers shouted in amazement. "But why is there someone sitting on it?!"
Those who understood the significance of the supposedly unoccupied throne began discussing this shocking revelation with heated intensity.
"Jerry the Leviathan, you..." Im began to speak slowly while rising from the throne, as if preparing to deliver some momentous pronouncement.
However, Jerry vanished from his distant position like a ghost materializing, and in the next instant, an overwhelming sense of oppression engulfed the entire space.
Below the throne, the three Five Elders felt an approaching wave of terrifying crisis. Just as they prepared to rise and mount their resistance, Jerry's earth-shaking Conqueror's Haki erupted once again.
At this moment, everyone throughout Mariejois felt the very air crystallize around them. The horrifying aura pressed down upon the holy land ten thousand meters above sea level, causing some Celestial Dragons who weren't even being directly targeted by Jerry—but were already extremely cowardly by nature—to foam at the mouth and lose consciousness entirely.
"Shut up, you monster! I can tell at a glance that you're not even human!" Jerry roared with earth-shaking intensity.
Along with this thunderous declaration, the sound of rushing water suddenly filled everyone's hearing.
Jerry's figure flashed high above Pangaea Castle like an ancient deity descending to earth. Countless bolts of black lightning erupted from his body, tearing apart the entire sky with supernatural force.
Jaw-droppingly massive waves rose rapidly from the ocean ten thousand meters below, gathering and coalescing into a gigantic water dragon that blocked out both sun and sky. The creature merged with the energy and Conqueror's Haki emanating from Jerry's body, seeming to take on genuine life as it soared and writhed behind him, roaring toward the heavens with primordial fury.
"Water God: Dragon Elephant!"
Within Pangaea Castle, under the horrified gazes of those below, a colossal dragon elephant much larger than the entire castle structure—wrapped in unparalleled Conqueror's Haki lightning and devastating power—streaked through the sky like a falling star and descended with unstoppable momentum.
Everything happened in the span of a single heartbeat. In this fleeting moment, not to mention the crushing influence of Jerry's overwhelming Conqueror's Haki, even without that supernatural pressure, Im and the three Five Elders realized they could not possibly avoid this wide-coverage attack in such a brief timeframe.
Although they desperately attempted to launch their most powerful counterattacks in a futile effort to resist, their struggles proved meaningless in the end.
Under the merciless crushing force of the giant water dragon, the entire area of Mariejois shook continuously with seismic violence, and everything that stood in the attack's path was reduced to microscopic dust.
When the devastation finally settled, observers could see that Pangaea Castle and the surrounding vast area had been transformed into a bottomless crater, which was rapidly filling with enormous quantities of seawater carried by Jerry's water dragon technique.
Jerry slowly lowered his hand and stared at the massive saltwater lake he had created, murmuring in a low, contemplative voice:
"I don't want to waste my time talking with you ancient monsters who've lived for hundreds of years! I don't know what happened to that guy named Joy Boy 800 years ago, but I have no intention of following his path!"
"Besides, didn't you want to use ancient weapons to start a global war and raise sea levels worldwide? For that purpose, you ordered people to build those massive bridges 700 years ago regardless of the cost. I'm guessing you have many other flood-prevention measures prepared as well, right?"
"In that case, I'll grant your wish and raise the seawater to a height of more than ten thousand meters. How's that for ironic justice?"
His words drifted away with the wind, but were broadcast live to every corner of the world by Kotatsu, who sat steadily on his shoulder throughout the entire devastating assault.
What Jerry didn't realize was that from the moment he had climbed onto Mariejois and infiltrated the execution site alone, he had already caused a global sensation that transcended anything the world had previously witnessed.
And when he launched his systematic attacks—eliminating Celestial Dragons, Five Elders, and the Knights of God—not only did people in distant parts of the world stop everything to watch, but even the brutal war taking place ten thousand meters below them came to an involuntary pause.
Even though nearly everyone on that battlefield was injured at this point, with Admiral Akainu paying the price for his reckless taunting of Whitebeard by receiving another devastating beating from Ace, who had fought beyond his limits—they all understood that everything had fundamentally changed.
As expected, during Jerry's subsequent series of devastating offensive actions, if he hadn't known that countless slaves still needed rescue and intentionally restrained the range of his attacks, the holy land of Mariejois would have been reduced to a barren wasteland long ago.
"Roger... perhaps we were all wrong," Whitebeard murmured to himself as he stared at the massive projection screen that had originally been used to broadcast executions at the Marine Branch headquarters. "Liberation fighters aren't the only path to freedom."
"However, your decision to trigger the Great Pirate Era ultimately proved beneficial, even though it also brought considerable suffering to the world..."
On the frozen battlefield, witnessing Pangaea Castle transform into a historical lake, countless pirates, Revolutionary Army members, and even NEO Marines stood in shocked amazement before erupting into thunderous cheers.
"The World Government has fallen!" someone shouted with wild joy.
"Even though we didn't defeat them ourselves, this is incredible!"
This sudden dramatic change left virtually all Marines in a state of complete confusion. Even though they belonged to a different organizational branch from the World Government, it was still their superior department and ultimate authority.
At the end of the day, the Marines were simply a military organization dedicated to maintaining law, order, and peace.
"When did Jerry become so incredibly powerful?" Ace asked as he raised his hand to wipe blood from the corner of his mouth. His body was covered in bruises as he returned to the Moby Dick, looking up at the close-up image of Jerry's figure in the projection. He sighed with a mixture of awe and concern.
Then his eyes widened as he focused intently on the projection, using his enhanced vision to examine a particular figure that had appeared in the massive display. "Luffy?! No... wait!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Why are his hair and entire body white? What's happening to him?"