Storm in the Sky
The Heaven's Embrace cut silently through a sky thick with storm clouds. Lightning flickered across the hull's runes, illuminating the dragon-woman figurehead's carved smile in brief, ghostly flashes.
No sails flapped. No engines roared. The ship moved like a shadow over the Grand Line — untouchable, invisible, and faster than any sea king could hope to chase.
Vegito stood at the bow, tail swaying in rhythm with the storm's wind. His eyes locked on the faint glow in the distance — the red-and-gold spires of Mariejois.
The heart of the World Government. The seat of the Empty Throne. And, if the three key fragments were right… the vault holding the schematics to the world-ship.
Planning in the War Room
Inside the Embrace, Robin, Reiju, Bell-mère, and Lilith stood around the holo-table as the merged key projected a ghostly map of Pangaea Castle.
"This," Robin traced a slender finger toward a sealed chamber behind the throne room, "is where the readings converge. The texts call it the Vault of Aegis."
Lilith adjusted her goggles. "Triple-layered security. Sea-stone lattice walls, Den Den Mushi surveillance, and… some kind of electromagnetic barrier that isn't in the Government's public tech registry."
Bell-mère exhaled smoke through her nose. "Translation: it's a trap."
Reiju smirked. "Translation: Lilith gets to have fun."
The Infiltration Teams
Vegito laid it out plainly:
Team One — Robin, Reiju, and Lilith: breach the Vault, extract the schematics.
Team Two — Bell-mère, Nojiko, Mikita, and Carrot: sabotage the Marine garrison and comms arrays.
Vegito — "Cause enough chaos that no one notices the other two teams."
Carrot raised her hand. "Define 'chaos'."
Vegito grinned. "Something between Dragon Ball finale and Enies Lobby on fire."
Approaching the Holy Land
The Embrace descended through the upper cloud layer, its stealth field shimmering. Below, the Red Line rose like a wall to the heavens, its upper terraces lit with golden light.
From this angle, Mariejois looked peaceful — grand marble plazas, towers capped with gilded domes, fountains sparkling under moonlight.
But the closer they came, the more the ugliness showed — the chained slaves moving silently in shadowed courtyards, the gleam of rifles in every watchtower.
Bell-mère's jaw tightened. "I'm gonna enjoy this."
The First Distraction
As the infiltration teams prepared, Vegito walked alone down the Embrace's ramp and into the main plaza like he owned the place.
A Marine officer shouted from a balcony, "Identify yourself—"
Vegito's finger flicked. The balcony's stone supports crumbled, sending the officer and three guards tumbling into a fountain.
Then, before anyone could react, Vegito's voice boomed across the plaza. "HEY, CELESTIAL DRAGONS! I BROUGHT YOU A GIFT!"
Half the guard force turned instantly. The other half reached for weapons. And in the confusion, the infiltration teams slipped away into the shadows.
Inside the Vault Wing
Robin's team moved like ghosts. Lilith hacked Den Den Mushi feeds with a custom pulse jammer, replacing their surveillance with looping footage. Reiju's poison touch disabled patrols before they could speak.
The Vault's outer door loomed ahead — a massive disk of seastone and gold, carved with the World Government's sigil.
Lilith set down her toolkit. "Thirty seconds to crack it… if it doesn't try to kill me first."
Robin's eyes narrowed. "Make it twenty. Vegito's chaos window won't last forever."
Vegito vs. the Plaza
Meanwhile, Vegito was holding a festival of destruction.
He strolled through the central gardens, tossing Celestial Dragons into ornamental ponds, flicking Marine captains into trees, and collapsing towers with casual backhanded blows.
One Dragon tried to shoot him — Vegito caught the bullet in his teeth, chewed, and spat it out, denting a statue behind the man.
"You're… a monster…" the Dragon gasped.
Vegito grinned. "Nah. I'm just the guy who finally decided you're not worth the oxygen you're wasting."
The Vault of Aegis
The inner Vault was a sphere of black steel, suspended in an electromagnetic field. Inside, glowing with faint blue light, floated crystalline plates etched with unknown symbols.
Robin's breath caught. "This isn't just the world-ship… these are pre–Void Century star maps."
Lilith's eyes widened. "Which means… someone back then had interstellar travel tech."
Before they could grab the schematics, the barrier pulsed — and a figure stepped out from the shadows.
Saint Marcus Mars, one of the Five Elders, Warrior God of the Environment. His gaze swept the chamber like a blade.
"You trespass in the heart of the world. You will not leave alive."
Cutting Off the Guard
Back outside, Bell-mère's team had rigged the communications array with enough explosives to light up the Red Line. Mikita twirled her parasol. "Five seconds before this baby sings."
The detonation rolled across Mariejois like thunder, knocking every Den Den Mushi feed offline and plunging the upper city into darkness.
Bell-mère smirked. "Your move, Vegito."
Clash with a God
Vegito sensed Mars' presence even from across the city. He blurred into the Vault just as Mars raised a hand — and the air filled with whirling blades of compressed wind.
The Saiyan deflected them lazily with the back of his hand. "Nice trick. My turn."
The punch didn't just hit Mars — it erased the space in front of Vegito for an instant, scattering the Elder against the far wall.
Reiju grabbed the schematics. Robin secured the star maps. Lilith planted a micro-warp beacon on the Vault floor.
"Time to go!"
The Retreat
The Embrace's recall field activated, pulling the teams back aboard in beams of golden light. Below, the chaos still raged — Marines shouting, Dragons screaming, towers crumbling.
As the ship rose into the storm clouds, Vegito stood at the open ramp, eyes locked on the spires below.
"This was the warm-up," he said quietly. "Next time… we finish it."
[World State Updated]
Objective Complete: World-ship schematics secured; Void Century star maps discovered.
Elder Encounter: Saint Marcus Mars defeated (temporarily).
Implication: The ancient world had spacefaring technology.
Next Arc: Decoding the schematics — and deciding whether to build the world-ship.