Under the overwhelming power of his spiritual perception, time itself seemed to halt in Roya's awareness.
Each fleeting moment stretched into an eternity, allowing him to dissect every spiritual body on the plaza with meticulous precision.
For such a massive outbreak of chaos to erupt so suddenly—Roya refused to believe it could happen without a hidden hand fanning the flames from behind.
And in truth, he had been waiting precisely for this moment.
The enemy had hidden far too well; only in a clash of this scale might they leave behind a trace.
"Law's spiritual fluctuations… they far exceed the norm. And buried within them… a craving for battle? No—this is no mere aggression. This is bloodlust! He yearns to see his own Defense Force and the civilians slaughter each other? It doesn't matter who bleeds—so long as blood is shed, so long as lives are lost, he feels satisfaction?"
The wrongness Roya had sensed in Law before now lay exposed, clearer than ever.
As Governor of Pirate Star, Law's duty was to protect civilians. To hunger for their meaningless slaughter—what kind of governor was that?
Then, like lightning, realization struck Roya.
"The problem lies in Law's abnormal awakening! What appears to be power is in truth corruption—corruption that directly invades the spirit, twisting one's very nature without their knowledge!"
Among the Defense Force, especially within Law's First Regiment, the number of awakened was unusually high. Which meant—they too were already corrupted. They had betrayed, utterly, all that they once swore to guard.
A cold certainty filled Roya's heart: the chaos spreading through Pangeae City was nothing more than a carefully prepared greeting—an extravagant welcome gift from the enemy still lurking in the shadows.
This foe clearly had the power to corrupt the entire city, perhaps the entire Pirate Star, without Roya ever noticing. To turn the world into a blood-soaked tomb.
But instead… they had chosen to reveal it before his very eyes.
The fleeting distress signal the Hades had intercepted—it hadn't been a true plea for help at all. It was Law, under the unseen enemy's control, sending him an invitation to witness the spectacle.
"Since you've gone to such lengths to stage this welcome ceremony… if I don't give you the fight you crave, wouldn't that make me ungrateful?"
Roya's heart turned to ice. He was ready to strike—ready to seize Law and every corrupted soldier under him, isolate them, and trace the source of the rot.
But then—
A series of sharp sonic booms tore across the sky above the plaza.
Surrounded by twelve cloned researchers, Vegapunk finally arrived at the scene.
"Enough! All of you—stop this instant!"
His true body of bio-metal and the twelve clones shouted in unison, their words infused with immense spiritual power that pierced directly into the souls of all present.
Both the nearly-maddened civilians and the wavering Defense Force staggered as dizziness and weakness overcame them, unable to continue fighting.
Law roared in anger—but, strangely, did not press his soldiers to resume the assault.
Yet Roya's perception, spanning the entire city, made it clear: the First Regiment had already handed its blockade duties to the Second and Third. They were regrouping at the outskirts of the plaza.
Ten minutes at most, and Law's most loyal, most corrupted warriors would unleash a merciless assault on the square.
Vegapunk cast a glance at Law, hovering nearby, then—through his clones—declared aloud:
"The human experiments you have suffered… I, too, must bear responsibility!"
"Because those enhancement drugs were stolen from my laboratory!"
An uproar exploded across the plaza.
But this time, the civilians' emotions were far more controlled. Vegapunk's willingness to shoulder blame seemed to win their sympathy, even leniency.
He continued:
"Yes, I developed the enhancement drugs at Commander Law's request. But they were far from ready for clinical use."
"Yet without my knowledge, certain people stole them and unleashed them in the Lower City!"
"Stay calm! I will get to the bottom of this, and I will give you all an answer!"
From among the plague-stricken victims, voices rose in desperate appeal:
"Vegapunk-sama! Can you cure us first? Living like this—it's worse than death!"
Vegapunk called back, loud and firm:
"Of course I can cure you! Please dress yourselves and report to my laboratory—I will make proper arrangements and detoxify you as quickly as possible!"
"But let me warn everyone: according to my research, this infection is highly contagious! For your own safety, remain at home in the coming days. Do not wander about. I will accelerate production of antidotes and distribute them, to prevent unwitting spread!"
His grandstanding—his carefully staged display—only deepened Roya's suspicions.
With Vegapunk's technological prowess, could he really have created an "enhancement drug" that was nothing more than poison, a catalyst for rotting corruption? Impossible. Even the thought was absurd.
Far more likely… Law himself had been outmaneuvered.
Perhaps Law had genuinely asked Vegapunk to craft a drug that would stir aggression among Lower City civilians, feeding his bloodlust.
But Vegapunk, pursuing his own designs, had twisted the formula into a nightmare toxin—one that rotted flesh and spirit alike.
In the experiment that used the poor of the Lower City as test subjects and sacrifices—neither Law nor Vegapunk were innocent. Both had blood on their hands.
The only difference was that Vegapunk had stolen Law's plan and made it his own.
Which explained why Law had used the White Bone Altar incident as his excuse to launch a military operation against the Lower City.
On one hand, the stage had to be set for Roya's return.
On the other, Law needed to seize Vegapunk's test subjects for himself, to compete with him—and to cooperate, as rivals entwined.
The game was proving ever more complex. The enemy was not singular. And their alliance was far from seamless.
Seeing this, Roya only grew less inclined to make his move.