Moria had completely lost his mind.
Cackling wildly, he manipulated an army of undead Celestial Dragons, sending them staggering toward several CP0 agents in a grotesque formation.
The CP0 agents didn't dare destroy the bodies of the Celestial Dragons — not even their corpses. Terrified of the consequences, they could only retreat in panic, trying to protect the few Celestial Dragons who hadn't been kidnapped yet.
"Hahaha! I got the body of a Knight of God! I can trade it for my heart!"
"I caught a Celestial Dragon too — give me back my heart!"
"I've got one as well! I'm officially joining the Kiryuu Pirates!"
The escaped prisoners from Impel Down had gone completely insane. Many of the greedier pirates were covered in jewels, gold, and silks — treasures stolen directly from the Celestial Dragons' palaces.
These were the finest treasures in the world — priceless gems of the highest craftsmanship. Souta Kiryuu had promised them that whatever they stole would be theirs to keep.
As the convicts returned one by one, Bege's fortress-body was soon packed with nearly a hundred captured Celestial Dragons.
Of course, not all survived. Nearly a third of the great pirates died at the hands of CP agents and Celestial Dragon guards, their heartless corpses left to rot upon the sacred soil of Mariejois.
"Hell Blade Style — Blood Rain!"
Shiryu of the Rain's cursed blade Raindrop blazed with crimson light. His body flickered and vanished, becoming a phantom as he slashed toward Saint Pains.
A spray of blood followed. Screaming in fury, Saint Pains staggered back, grievously wounded, and ordered two CP agents to hold Shiryu off.
In the next instant, both agents were cut down. Shiryu scowled at the retreating Saint, then shifted his gaze toward another of the new Knights of God being besieged by several pirates.
Without hesitation, he charged.
"Ahhhh!"
A single scream — and the Knight of God fell, his chest impaled, blood greedily absorbed by Raindrop's cursed edge.
Unlike Catarina Devon, Shiryu didn't bother taking the head as proof. He simply turned, eyes blazing with bloodlust, and rushed toward his next target.
The surrounding pirates tore the corpse apart, taking trophies to trade back for their hearts.
They all knew — after killing Celestial Dragons or Knights of God, or even capturing one — they could never go back. They were now enemies of the entire world. Only the Kiryuu Pirates could protect them.
Anyone foolish enough to leave the crew would be hunted down by the World Government — marked for death.
Their fates were tied to Souta Kiryuu now, bound together by blood and sin.
And even joining the Kiryuu Pirates wasn't that simple. Each new recruit faced a memory test — a trial that determined their loyalty.
When Lafitte's retreat horn echoed through the battlefield, Souta Kiryuu's side only grew fiercer.
Crocodile joined Enel and Douglas Bullet in attacking Steelbone Kong, the Commander-in-Chief of the entire military.
Bullet was badly beaten, his body torn and bloodied, but under Imu's crushing presence — the pure, suffocating weight of death itself — he finally grasped it. The faint shimmer of Conqueror's Haki infusion.
Then came the Pirate Empress herself, Boa Hancock, striding onto the battlefield with fury burning in her eyes. Souta had ordered her to help against Kong, but she ignored it — her rage was directed elsewhere.
The Celestial Dragons had once enslaved her. The Five Elders had recently threatened her homeland. Her anger had reached its breaking point.
Like Bullet, Hancock too began to awaken — brushing against the threshold of Conqueror's Haki coating.
"You want to destroy my homeland? Then I'll destroy your Holy Land!"
"Orochi God Kick!"
Hancock sprinted forward, speed exploding. Her leg gleamed black-red with Haki and lightning as she leapt high, bringing down a devastating kick toward Imu's head.
"Another insect who's learned that power," Imu murmured coldly, raising one hand to block her strike.
"What… impossible!" Hancock's pupils shrank. She had poured all her rage and power into that attack, far beyond her normal limits — and yet, Imu had stopped it with a single hand.
Was the gap between them truly so vast?
"You call us insects? Then try blocking this!"
Souta Kiryuu appeared beside Hancock in a flash, wielding his ancient Starnuclear Carver blade — its edge wrapped in both Armament and Conqueror's Haki. With a roar, he slashed down at Imu.
Just as before, Imu raised one hand to block.
Sching!
Blood spattered. Imu's multi-pupiled eyes widened as his arm was severed clean off. For the first time, the so-called god staggered back — dozens of meters.
"What… is that weapon?" Imu's arm began to reform like black liquid. His expression shifted from rage to fascination as he stared at Souta's blade.
That sword was far stronger than any Supreme Grade Blade — it had sliced through his Haki defense like paper.
"It's called the Baba Blade!" Souta grinned, his eyes burning. "Looks like you're not invincible after all. With the right weapon and enough will… even a god can bleed."
"Bastard… you dare!"
"Heavenly King — Sixteen Spears of Divine Judgment!"
Imu's voice thundered. Sixteen massive black lances formed above, wreathed in dark lightning. They crashed down from the heavens with apocalyptic force, aimed straight at Souta Kiryuu.
"Move!"
Souta's instincts screamed. He grabbed Hancock and leapt aside just as the divine spears struck, blasting colossal craters into the ground.
But the nightmare wasn't over — the shadowy lances writhed like living tails, burrowing through the earth and lunging after them.
Even Redfield — the Red Count himself — was stunned, quickly retreating to avoid the storm of divine weapons.
This was destruction beyond anything he'd seen, far more terrifying than taking a direct hit from Whitebeard's quake fruit.
He couldn't imagine anyone surviving that strike — not him, not Roger… perhaps only Rocks D. Xebec himself could have stood toe-to-toe with Imu.
At least two or three peak-level monsters would be needed to defeat the ruler of the world.
Maybe, just maybe, if he regained his full strength and fought alongside Souta Kiryuu, they could stand a chance.
But with the Five Elders and the World Government's other powers still untouched, Redfield wasn't sure how Kiryuu's crew could ever hope to win.
Only now did he truly understand the sheer horror of the World Government's might.
"We can't hold any longer — retreat!"
With the divine lances chasing them, Souta Kiryuu clutched Hancock and shot into the sky, wings of energy tearing the air apart.
His Six Paths forms followed close behind, each one soaring upward, ignoring the glowing cube-shaped teleport arrays reactivating below.
Bundy Walder took one look and bolted, vanishing in a blur a hundred times faster than sound. Enel and Crocodile dissolved into lightning and sand, retreating from the battlefield.
The Seraphim Path conjured anti-gravity fields for Bullet and Redfield, even dragging down a barrage of meteors aimed at Imu.
The Human Path lifted massive chunks of debris to block pursuit.
The Hell Path unleashed earthquakes, shaking the Holy Land to its foundations.
The Asura and Hungry Ghost Paths fired waves of supercharged cannonfire, while the Beast Path turned poisonous gas into sentient homies that self-destructed, covering all of Pangaea Castle in a toxic cloud.
The Holy Land trembled.
The sky bled.
And in that storm of divine wrath and mortal defiance —
the Kiryuu Pirates made their escape.