Smack!
Sakazuki's large, black-gloved hand directly caught the flying head by its red hair and casually tossed it aside.
Whoosh!
Carlo suddenly appeared and caught it, then hung Shanks' head onto the iron hook at his waist right beside Knox's head. Next to them were two more empty hooks...
Sakazuki ripped Gryphon from the headless corpse's tightly clenched hand and kicked the body straight into the sea below.
The expressions of the others did not change. Only Sengoku frowned slightly, but he still said nothing...
Sakazuki had never been the type to sympathize with enemies or show respect to the dead. The fact that he did not reduce the corpse to ashes already counted as merciful...
He tossed Gryphon to Carlo as well before speaking calmly. "Let's go to Whole Cake Island. We're holding the pre-war meeting there. We'll deal with those two tomorrow."
The Four Emperors and the pirates were never Sakazuki's true goal.
Their destruction had been this easy from the very beginning. He had never placed them in his eyes. With Carlo's Warp-Warp Fruit ability, forget the Four Emperors… even if Roger and Rocks came back to life, they would still die as miserably as Shanks.
As for Kaido, the so-called strongest creature alive, tomorrow he would have to think carefully about whether he could withstand the beating waiting for him.
Sakazuki, Bullet, Garp, and Sengoku.
Four against one...
The reason he postponed dealing with the remaining two until tomorrow was because the Revolutionary Army would arrive at the Red Line's port the day after tomorrow to attack Mariejois.
That was also Sakazuki's true objective.
He had planned for decades, all for the sake of waiting for that day...
The day he could wipe out every force in this world in one sweep...
Carlo looked exhausted as he took a deep breath and answered, "Yes."
Sengoku, Bullet, and Enel also flew over. The group gathered together and placed their hands on Carlo.
Whoosh!
In an instant, they disappeared without a trace.
* * *
New World, Egghead Island.
Inside the secret laboratory hidden above the clouds, Luffy's limbs were spread wide and shackled onto a Seastone frame. His eyes and mouth were covered, leaving him unable to see or make a sound.
Countless data cables were plugged into his body, while the giant screens on the nearby machines displayed every condition of his body in real time.
Cart after cart of nutrient fluid was pushed into the room. Mechanical arms picked them up one by one and injected them into Luffy's body.
The Seraphim Jinbe, who possessed the Ripe-Ripe Fruit ability, pressed his hand against Luffy and activated his power. Combined with the massive energy contained within the nutrient fluids, it allowed the energy to perfectly merge into Luffy's body.
But very quickly, the expressions of Vegapunk's satellites became somewhat serious.
Something was wrong.
The nutrient fluids should not have been consumed this quickly.
Although these nutrient fluids could not awaken abilities outside of Zoan types, for Paramecia users, just a few injections were enough to push their abilities to the limit. But this guy had already been injected with an entire cart's worth.
No wonder Sakazuki had specifically ordered them to prepare extra in advance. This was way too outrageous...
At that moment, Luffy's struggles became increasingly violent.
Due to the effects of the nutrient fluids and the accelerated maturation from the Ripe-Ripe Fruit, the massive amount of energy inside the fluids perfectly fused into every cell of his body.
The strength of a Devil Fruit was closely connected to the user's own stamina and energy…
Under this kind of overwhelming energy infusion, Zoan users would directly break past their limits and be forcibly pushed into awakening.
As time slowly passed, another entire cart of nutrient fluid was completely consumed.
Shaka looked at Luffy, whose aura now felt as deep and terrifying as an abyss. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead as he immediately pressed the stop button.
"We can't continue anymore."
Lilith crossed her arms in dissatisfaction. "What are you doing? It was just starting to get interesting."
Shaka shook his head, lingering fear still visible on his face. "Interesting? Look at the data up there."
He pointed toward the giant screen displaying all of Luffy's current physical statistics before continuing, "If this continues, even if he fails to awaken, he absolutely won't be able to hold on. He'll break free sooner or later. We have to stop."
Seastone was not absolute.
Once someone reached a certain level, even if they could not completely break free, they could still move around normally.
Just like putting Seastone cuffs on Sakazuki. It would stop him from using his abilities and weaken his stamina, but with only Shigan alone, he could still kill countless people...
Looking at the data on the screen, Lilith's brows tightly furrowed. "Then what do we do?"
Shaka entered a series of commands into the control panel. "For now, clear this place out. We'll report it first, then decide what to do afterward."
* * *
Grand Line, both sides of the Calm Belt.
The Revolutionary Army fleets departing from the East Blue and South Blue had now fully sailed out of the Calm Belt and were converging toward the central region.
Dragon stood atop the ship, staring at the distant horizon as if he could already see the raging flames burning there...
Caw! Caw! Caw!
A flock of crows scattered and gathered around him.
They formed into a man wearing a black feathered coat. His mouth was covered by a metallic amplifier that hid his appearance.
It was Karasu, Commander of the North Army of the Revolutionary Army.
"What? So little confidence?"
Dragon remained silent for a moment before speaking in a low voice. "Yeah. The more I learn about this world, the more I realize how ridiculous I truly am…
"'Liberating the world'..."
At this time, those words sounded like a joke.
The wheel moving forward could no longer be stopped. Even if he gave everything he had, he could not change its direction anymore.
All he could do now was struggle one last time.
Karasu shook his head and spoke deeply. "Don't deny yourself like this. Don't deny everything we've done. At the very least, you've already saved many people and many countries, haven't you? Everything we've done has meaning.
"Besides... I don't believe you don't have a final trump card."
After hearing Karasu's words, Dragon let out a soft laugh and his expression relaxed slightly.
"I do have one. It's just a shame that I won't live to see that day…
"If we die in Mariejois next, the Revolutionary Army across the Four Blues will immediately disband and establish independent kingdoms and duchies instead.
"After that, whether the world falls into the hands of the Marines or returns to the World Government will depend on fate."
But regardless of who won, neither side would be able to move against those newly established nations.
Because doing so would practically mean becoming enemies of the entire world.
They had legitimate reasons to attack the Revolutionary Army. But once the Revolutionary Army dissolved and those kingdoms were formed, it would mean they had completely severed ties with the past.
No matter which side achieved victory, if they did not want the entire world as their enemy, they would have no choice but to swallow their anger and accept the outcome...
The Revolutionary Army might perish, but its will and ideals would spread throughout the world, waiting for another opportunity...
In a way, that could also be called a victory.
Right…?
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