Inside Capone Bege's living castle, waves of people continued pouring out, flooding the battlefield like a rising tide.
Above them, a golden airship swelled rapidly, soaring toward the heavens.
Thick black smoke billowed skyward, twisting and condensing into enormous storm clouds heavy with lightning.
Within Enel's Raibees and Thunder Drums, a colossal Thunder Prison began to take form, bolts of lightning crackling and splitting the air as it expanded—soon covering the entire Holy Land of Marijoa in a cage of divine fury.
"That bastard's fast!"
Bullet's eyes widened as Souta Kiryuu—transformed into his mighty dragon form—shot off into the distance. He immediately took off after him. "I want to see for myself how strong this so-called King of the World really is!"
Seeing Bullet move, the Red Count and Walde exchanged glances before following close behind.
"Capture the Celestial Dragons!"
"Free the slaves!"
"Tear everything down!"
"Loot! Kill! Burn!"
Like a flood of madness, Souta's pirate crew and the freed convicts stormed through the luxurious avenues of Marijoa, plundering and destroying everything in sight.
At that same moment, Imu, who had been walking leisurely among the Holy Land's gardens, suddenly stopped.
His eyes, each surrounded by a strange ringed iris, gleamed with an icy light.
"So… you dare to invade the Holy Land?"
A voice filled with killing intent echoed through the air, reverberating across Marijoa.
More than two hundred years had passed since the ancient giant automaton broke into the Holy Land…
More than ten years since the Fisher Tiger incident…
And now—again—an enemy had breached the sacred walls.
"The Five Elders are becoming more useless by the day."
"BOOOOOM!"
The entire Holy Land of Marijoa began to shake violently.
Panic erupted as countless Celestial Dragons stumbled out of their palaces, pale-faced and terrified.
"What's happening?!"
"Is it an earthquake?!"
"Guards! What's going on out there?!"
But the moment they saw the swarming pirates and rampaging monsters, their arrogance shattered.
Screaming in terror, they fled back into their mansions, frantically calling the Five Elders and Marine Admirals through their Den Den Mushi.
"Extreme Dragon's Breath!"
In the skies above, Souta Kiryuu, now a massive crimson dragon, unleashed a devastating blast of flame toward the central palace of Marijoa.
At the same time, Hell Path, one of the six Seraphim under his command, activated the Gura Gura no Mi—triggering a massive earthquake that shook the Holy Land to its core.
"Those who do not kneel before the divine… your true fate is already lost. Your name… is written in death."
From within the Palace of the Void Throne, a vast shadow creature rose, unfurling a mouth of endless darkness.
It devoured Souta's blazing Dragon's Breath whole.
Then, a black arrow of shadow, wrapped in an overwhelming Conqueror's Haki, shot forward—ripping through the air as if space itself had been pierced—and struck the dragon's body with terrifying force.
Scales shattered. Blood sprayed through the air.
Even Souta Kiryuu's immense dragon form—renowned for its monstrous defense and raw power—was blasted back thousands of meters, smashing through an entire row of golden palaces.
"So strong…!"
Bullet's eyes gleamed with pure madness, while the Red Count and Walde narrowed theirs grimly.
This World King, Imu, was truly terrifying.
"ROAAAR!"
Souta's body twisted midair, reverting to his half-dragon hybrid form, and charged again.
"All of you—attack together!"
He wiped the blood from his lips, his eyes burning with feral rage.
This single blow had been stronger than anything even Saint Garling or Kaido had ever unleashed.
Even Souta himself had struggled to endure it.
Imu's cold gaze shifted upward toward the thunder cage forming above.
In an instant, his demonic power burst forth, tearing through Enel's Thunder Prison.
Through that same surge, he established a telepathic link with the Five Elders far away in the Calm Belt.
"Useless fools! Souta Kiryuu has already invaded the Holy Land! What are you five doing?!"
His furious voice thundered through their minds, making all five elders tremble in dread.
Even Saint Marcus Maas, flying high above the sea, nearly plummeted into the ocean in shock.
None of them had expected that the Pirate Empress would truly defy the world government—allowing Souta Kiryuu to strike at the Holy Land itself.
This was far beyond anything they'd imagined.
"Forgive us, Lord Imu!" the Five Elders cried in unison. "Allow us to teleport back immediately and atone for our failure!"
They didn't care about Amazon Lily anymore.
If Imu and the Celestial Dragons were destroyed, they were finished too.
The Five Elders prepared to activate their teleportation arrays.
But Saint Saturn, ever calculating, hesitated.
He reasoned that since Souta had rescued people from the Sorbet Kingdom, he might be doing the same now—attacking Marijoa only to use the Celestial Dragons as bargaining chips to protect Amazon Lily.
So, Saturn decided to leave Akainu and Kizaru behind to keep control over the island.
The others would return to defend Imu.
As the sigils beneath their feet glowed, the Five Elders vanished—
and reappeared in the teleportation halls of Marijoa.
But the moment the light flared, the Six Seraphim of the Kiryuu Six Paths launched their assault.
They obliterated the teleportation circles before the Five Elders could fully materialize—leaving their bodies flickering halfway between worlds.
Sea Prism Stone cannonballs, shockwaves from the Gura Gura no Mi, meteors summoned by the Gravity Fruit, ruins hurled through the air by the Float-Float Fruit, giant high-speed bullets, and even Homies made of fire and poison all rained down at once.
The sheer chaos shattered the arrays, making the teleportation unstable.
The Five Elders were forced back—the brief flicker of their silhouettes disappearing into the void once more.
"Seraphim? Vegapunk's technology?!"
Imu's eyes flashed with fury as he watched his teleportation interrupted.
Instantly, he unleashed a barrage of shadow arrows, each one imbued with murderous intent, aiming to annihilate the artificial soldiers.
"Imu!!"
Souta roared, refusing to let him act freely.
Without a hint of fear, he charged straight into Imu's line of fire—meeting the monstrous dark dragon head-on.
Bullet activated his Fusion-Fusion Fruit, absorbing every material around him, fusing steel, stone, and magma into a titanic colossal giant.
With an ear-splitting roar, he swung his fist toward Imu.
"Momo—Hundredfold Cannon!"
Bundy Walde bellowed, firing two enhanced rounds.
Each bullet expanded a hundredfold in size and speed, breaking the sound barrier as they blasted toward the shadow monster.
"What terrifying Zoan power…" someone gasped.
"Red Flash—Edge!"
The Red Count, Redfield, drew his slender rapier, wrapping it in both Armament and Conqueror's Haki before unleashing a piercing crimson sword beam that shot through the air like lightning.
Normally, he despised ganging up on a single opponent—but this was different.
Even weakened, he could see clearly: Imu was monstrously powerful.
A siege was justified.
"Let this so-called World King taste what it's like to be the one hunted."
Souta, Bullet, Walde, and Redfield rushed together, forcing Imu to stop his assault on the Seraphim.
"Those who can't wield Conqueror's Infusion aren't even worthy of being my enemies!"
Imu's voice thundered.
"Conqueror's Roar!"
The shadow monster's vast jaws opened—and an earth-shattering roar erupted.
He had fused Conqueror's Haki into his voice itself—something even Kaido and Souta Kiryuu had never achieved.
Kaido and Souta could channel it through weapons or fists—but to merge it into sound required absolute mastery.
That was the level of this ancient monster—the true ruler behind the World Government.
The Conqueror's Roar tore across Marijoa like a storm of destruction.
Every structure in its path crumbled into dust.
Bullet's titanic form, even covered in layers of Armament Haki, disintegrated under the shockwave.
Walde was blasted thousands of meters away, blood streaming from his nose and eyes, his signature W-shaped mustache vaporized as he crashed into the ruins.
Even the ground trembled under the sheer magnitude of power.
The battle for the world's throne had only just begun.