From within a swirling sandstorm, a broad-shouldered man with slicked-back hair and a cigar clenched between his teeth slowly emerged.
"Could this really be the Pluton blueprints?"
Crocodile's right hand gripped the yellowed parchment tightly, while his left—his golden hook—trembled as he steadied it.
The ancient script inscribed across the page was something he had seen once before through Nico Robin.
"Tch… if only I had brought that woman along!"
Crocodile cursed under his breath. Had Robin been here, she could have immediately confirmed whether the parchment was genuine. For now, all he could do was seize as many of these fragments as possible.
···
Meanwhile, in the northern sector of the Sorbet Kingdom, a CP0 squad captain stood frozen in disbelief. Somehow, his agents had collected more than a dozen parchments, each marked with what looked like ancient schematics for Pluton.
"Impossible… could the Pluton blueprints truly be hidden in Sorbet?!"
The captain's eyes widened, his voice trembling. Quickly, he ordered his men to gather every scrap of parchment. Clutching the stack himself, he rushed toward the Knights of God to deliver them.
Elsewhere, other CP0 agents stumbled upon similar finds. Each gathered their own handful of old documents, some of which were indeed authentic replicas of the Pluton schematics. Their excited shouts echoed as they proclaimed their discoveries, convincing even themselves that they held the legendary weapon's design in their hands. Reports began to flood toward the Celestial Dragons in a frenzy.
···
In another corner of the island, a CP8 operative screamed as a giant white-feathered bird swooped down, seizing him in its talons. Under the bird's eerie, hypnotic gaze, the agent clutched a parchment tightly and muttered, "Pluton… Pluton…" over and over before stumbling back toward his comrades in a trance.
"Heh heh… how amusing."
The bird dissolved into the form of a tall, gaunt man with pale skin and mocking eyes—Lafitte.
"At last, the news of the Pluton blueprints spreads. Now… let them tear each other apart."
Flapping his wings, Lafitte soared away, heading to rejoin Kuma and the others. His hypnosis reached even further: gangs of Sorbet's street thugs now rushed toward the frozen battlefield, each clutching their own yellowed scraps and screaming that they had found the Pluton designs.
They didn't last long. Powerful pirates cut them down where they stood, seizing the parchments for themselves. The battlefield outside the island erupted in chaos, blood and greed feeding into a frenzy.
Even Dorag was drawn in. While clashing with Admiral Aokiji, he snatched one of the parchments mid-fight. The inscriptions were ancient—unmistakably similar to the Poneglyph texts his revolutionaries had studied.
"Could this truly be Souta Kiryuu's scheme? Or did he really unearth the Pluton blueprints?"
The designs etched into the page unsettled him, their complexity far beyond anything he had imagined. Dorag could not tell if they were authentic.
Aokiji's frown deepened. He remembered well the CP9 operatives who had investigated the blueprints in Water 7, only to be ambushed by Souta Kiryuu. Could Souta really have secured fragments of the design there? The possibility gnawed at him. Wordlessly, Aokiji gathered several parchments himself.
···
On Sorbet Island itself—
"Ma ma ma ma! This one looks real!"
Big Mom's enormous hand crushed a CP agent in her grip as she snatched the parchment from him. A booming laugh of delight burst from her throat.
"Big Mom! You dare steal from the World Government?! Totto Land will suffer the full wrath of their punishment!"
The CP agent's bones cracked audibly under her grasp, his voice shaking with terror.
"Hmph! An insect dares threaten me?!"
With a cold snort, Big Mom ripped the man's soul from his body, tossing it aside like garbage. Then she barreled onward, targeting the CP0 agents and even the Knights of God who carried more parchments.
Shiki the Golden Lion, too, had seized several sheets. With Dr. Indigo's crude analysis, he confirmed they bore the markings of ancient schematics. Excitement burning in his eyes, Shiki descended upon the island, tearing through CP agents in search of more.
Within moments, the CP operatives were being slaughtered. Even CP0's elite agents found themselves outmatched. In the end, most of the parchments fell into the hands of CP0 and the Knights of God, though both Big Mom and Shiki managed to secure several. Crocodile, lurking in the shadows, quietly pocketed four or five himself.
Amid this chaos, Kuma led his rescue squad to evacuate civilians from the southern districts of Sorbet. Without hesitation, he used his Paw-Paw powers to send strangers from the north flying across the sea to safety on distant islands.
···
On the frontlines, the war reached a terrifying crescendo.
Saint Galin and Akainu together pressed Kaido of the Beasts, forcing even King to rush in for aid. The sheer devastation of their clash kept the other Knights at bay.
Souta Kiryuu struck suddenly, targeting Saint Ghoste—the goat-faced demon among the Knights—locked in combat with Karasu. Souta's eyes gleamed; a Mythical Zoan user was far too valuable to let live.
Elsewhere, Saints Faust and Coniff turned their sights upon Issho, seeking to slay him and claim the Gravity Fruit for themselves.
The battlefield spread in every direction. Morley of the West Army, Enel, and Gecko Moria each faced their own Knight. Other Knights moved to seize the blueprints, joined by CP0 agents and reinforced by Marine elites like Gion "Momousagi" and Tokikake "Chaton," battling ferociously against Big Mom and Shiki.
···
On another front, the ninth Knight had been locked in combat with King. But when King withdrew to aid Kaido, Galin ordered him to turn instead upon Souta Kiryuu. Suddenly, Souta and Karasu found themselves facing two Knights at once.
"Karasu! That one's yours! The goat-demon is mine!"
Souta's grin was feral. "Better to cut off one finger than wound ten—today I'll slaughter this so-called Mythical Zoan."
"Understood."
Karasu nodded without hesitation, veering toward the other Knight while Souta advanced.
Half-transformed into his draconic form, Souta roared and charged, his Lunarian flames blazing, purple lightning crackling across his arms. Crimson scales gleamed like metal over his claws. His Conqueror's Haki surged wildly, meeting the Knight's devastating scythe strike head-on.
"Die, wretched experiment!" Saint Ghoste bellowed, swinging his black death-scythe in a downward arc. The crescent slash tore the earth apart, leaving a bottomless gash across the battlefield.
Souta laughed manically. "Ekehahaha! Ready to trade your life for mine?!"
Flames and blood surged as his claws met the strike, his body wreathed in both lightning and fire. The impact ripped his flesh, flames spurting like blood, crawling across his face—only to be reabsorbed into his body, leaving him even more monstrous than before.
For the first time, fear flickered in the green fire burning within Ghoste's hollow skull. The Knight of God gazed upon Souta Kiryuu—and realized he was staring into the eyes of a demon greater than himself.