High in the sky, a figure hovered motionlessly, eyes closed, as if frozen into a sculpture of light.
Below him stood the towering form of Whitebeard, arms now unconsciously dropped to his sides. His timeworn eyes were locked tightly on Lucian Thorn, his breath nearly held.
He stared with unwavering focus. His Observation Haki had long since been pushed to its peak—yet all he could sense was… nothing.
The breath of life—was gone.
Did he fail…?
The thought had barely surfaced when a wave of inexpressible grief and fury surged within Whitebeard, threatening to shatter his reason—
But in the very next moment—
Mutation erupted.
A sliver of golden light, no larger than a needle's tip, suddenly shimmered from the center of Lucian's brow.
Then the light grew—brighter and brighter!
Holy golden radiance began to bloom from Lucian's body, unfolding in all directions.
Countless golden rays poured out from every pore—not wild or scorching like before, but solemn, divine, and pulsing with unfathomable vitality.
Whitebeard's pupils constricted to pinpoints.
He saw it—Lucian's body, suspended midair, was growing in a way that defied all laws of physics!
From his original 1.8-meter frame, he surged past 2 meters, then 2.5… finally settling at nearly 3 meters tall—an idealized perfection.
No longer a mortal frame.
Every muscle, every curve, overflowed with strength and beauty—unreal in its perfection.
His jet-black short hair, bathed in radiant light, turned inch by inch into shimmering gold, growing wildly until it became a flowing mane of solar flame—billowing behind him, dancing with no wind.
A divine aura—transcendent, overwhelming, untouchable—began to radiate from his form.
"…This…"
Whitebeard's throat bobbed with a dry swallow.
Even he—Edward Newgate, the man who ruled the seas for decades—was left utterly shaken by what he was witnessing.
But the transformation wasn't over.
Woom—!
With a sound like the echo of ancient creation, countless golden light particles materialized around Lucian, spinning at lightning speed, intertwining and coalescing into form.
A set of golden divine armor, dazzling beyond belief, formed around his body.
This wasn't physical—it was forged from pure light and energy, the armor of a god.
And the moment that armor took its final form—
BOOM!
A giant golden sunwheel, over ten meters in diameter, burst open behind Lucian!
Flames surged, light blazed—the spinning solar disc shone so brightly it heated the island, causing even the surrounding sea to boil.
The transformation was complete.
Now hovering in the sky was no longer the human Lucian Thorn.
But a golden-haired, god-armored, sun-bearing divine being—majestic and unparalleled.
"…This…"
Even a titan like Edward Newgate, hailed as the world's strongest man, was left speechless.
He stared upward, mouth agape, breath halted, lost in awe of the divine radiance pouring from the figure above.
Shock.
A soul-shaking, reality-breaking shock unlike anything he'd felt before.
He had expected Lucian to grow stronger—perhaps gain a terrifying new power.
But never—never—had he imagined a living human would truly transform into a god.
The presence Lucian now exuded had transcended the category of "man."
It was a divine essence—overlooking all creation, radiating godhood itself.
"…This… is…"
"…my son?"
And in that moment—
Lucian opened his eyes.
An indescribable wave of divine pressure exploded outward from his being.
This wasn't Conqueror's Haki.
This was the majesty of a god.
Where the pressure passed, space distorted—storms roared.
The entire island trembled, as if it might split apart at any moment.
Even the sea surrounding it surged with towering tsunamis.
Meanwhile...
At the fleet anchored on the island's far coast—the ships of the Moby Dick.
"What's happening?!"
"Is this an earthquake?! The ship's shaking like crazy!"
"Look at the sky! Look up there!"
On the decks, the Whitebeard Pirates preparing for battle were completely thrown into chaos by the sudden upheaval of heaven and earth.
They burst from their cabins and gazed up—
And there, at the highest point of the island, a human-shaped silhouette, cloaked in ten-thousand-fold golden light, hovered silently in the air.
Behind him—the blazing, spinning sunwheel—a sight seared into their souls.
"W-What is that?!"
A young pirate's voice trembled with fear and awe, his face pale.
"Is that an enemy?! Some new Navy weapon?!"
"No… no, it's not…"
Third Division Commander "Diamond" Jozu gripped the railing with his diamond-armored hand just to keep standing.
Eyes wide, he felt the immense, crushing pressure and murmured:
"This… isn't Haki… nor any known Devil Fruit ability…"
"It's… a higher-tier suppression of existence…"
"My body's… shaking, and I can't control it…"
Fifth Division Commander, "Flower Sword" Vista, one of the world's greatest swordsmen, stood with a grave expression.
His twin swords groaned in their scabbards—as if they had met an invincible force of nature.
"A god…"
"Is this… the descent of a god?"
Someone muttered in a daze.
And that one sentence—
sparked a storm.
Across the entire Whitebeard fleet—forty-three allied ships, tens of thousands of hardened pirates—panic and disbelief erupted.
Back in the valley…
Whitebeard looked up at the divine figure above, feeling that overwhelming power pressing down from the heavens.
The shock on his face had vanished.
What remained was awe, pride, and a reckless joy that could flip the world upside down.
Slowly, he grinned.
That trademark crescent mustache rose with the smile.
"Gurararara…"
A low laugh rumbled from deep in his throat.
"GURARARARARARARA!!"
It grew louder, deeper—mixed with flickers of Conqueror's Haki!
"GURARARARARARARARA!!"
"You really are… my son!"
Whitebeard raised Murakumo Giri high, his voice roaring with pride toward the god in the sky:
"With power like this…"
"Sengoku! Garp!"
"World Government!"
"What do you have—
to execute my son with?!"
"Go ahead! Get your necks cleaned and ready!"
"This war you started—its ending is already written!"
His laughter echoed with unmatched dominance and certainty.