A massive pitch-black arm seized Shanks's ravaged body, and amid the man's ecstatic prayers, crushed the demigod alive.
"Splat!"
Blood burst forth at once, seeping out between the fingers, but before it could even trickle down, the huge black arm absorbed it entirely.
The surface of the arm was pitch black and sticky, covered in strange protrusions: some were skull-like heads, others three-dimensional eyes, still others tongues lined with sharp teeth.
With the appearance of this arm, the sky above the entire island turned utterly dark.
Debauchery, chaos, evil, hatred, distortion, terror... warnings screamed wildly in the depths of every spiritual sense.
The instant that curse-laden arm descended into the real world, a storm of depraved contamination swept outward, and every pirate who laid eyes on it was plunged into despair and madness!
It was none other than the leader of the Rose School of Thought, the Divine Abomination, Suah!
Legend held that He had been conceived by an evil god, born already a twisted existence of a Sequence 1 Angel!
"Impossible!"
Aboard the Black King, Queen Mystic Bernadette pressed a finger to her brow and released a concealed Mystery-Prying Eye.
The invisible eye flew out of the cabin, and the instant it looked directly at the arm, it burst apart, and blood tears streamed from her own eyes as well.
But Bernadette had no time to spare for her injured eyes.
Wearing an uncharacteristic look of unease, as though she had witnessed something utterly horrifying, she cried out, "This isn't a projection. It's His true body!"
This grim news made everyone present feel their hearts sink.
That Sequence 1's true body had actually descended here?
According to prior intelligence, Suah, as the Divine Abomination, was in an extremely unstable state, and had always kept her true body lodged within the Spirit World, only at certain critical moments projecting an image across the Spirit World to exert her influence.
Yet now, for whatever mad reason, Suah had descended directly into reality!
"Everyone, leave at once!"
King of the Five Seas Nast made the call without hesitation.
His voice rang out across the entire island, and his power took effect over the whole island as well, slowing the spread of the curse. "Don't look up, don't fight them, get back to your ships as fast as you can, and get away from here!"
Inside Black Lake Island.
Arm after massive pitch-black arm burrowed out from the sky, each one over ten meters long, saturated with extreme curse and filth.
They writhed downward greedily, seizing the trees of flesh and blood, draining their energy.
At first, these emerging arms looked somewhat withered, as though they had suffered some injury, leaving their spirituality low at a fundamental level.
But as the bizarre growths on the arms' surface hungrily devoured blood rich with spirituality, their condition seemed to recover somewhat, which only made them crave the pirates' bodies all the more.
So the arms began to move, seizing and devouring the fleeing pirates one after another, like a hungry infant continually picking up cookies from a plate and stuffing them into its mouth.
"You all ought to feel honored."
Admiral of Blood stopped fleeing and instead revealed his true form, saying to the other pirate generals pursuing him, "Because you are about to be devoured by His Highness Suah, and become part of His greatness!"
His smile was wild and unrestrained. "Celebrate! Cheer! Do your part in helping the Divine Abomination recover from his wounds!"
It was all a scheme by the Rose School of Thought: to heal Suah's wounds, they had deliberately engineered this catastrophe.
The pirates' souls and flesh were steeped in sin and depravity, and many of the great pirates were Beyonders besides, making their flesh and souls a perfect tonic for the Divine Abomination.
"Forget about him!"
Vice Admiral Dusk, though furious, kept his head and said to the other generals, "Didn't you hear what the King of the Five Seas said? We'd best get out of here fast!"
The other generals, though displeased, had no choice but to agree.
Leaving the wildly laughing Senor behind, they quickly gathered their subordinates and tried to make their way back to their ships.
The docks of Black Lake Island had already descended into chaos, with pirates either crowding at the exits or brawling over ownership of the ships.
The generals, naturally having their own means, quickly led their men clear of the docks and out into the coastal waters.
The dangerous island now lay behind them, the boundless sea stretching out ahead.
Did that mean they were safe now... ?
"Shhk, shhk!"
A terrifying blackness rapidly wove together, spreading down from the sky, thick and viscous, like an overturned bowl, and swiftly enveloped the entire island and the surrounding waters.
One ship that had sailed the farthest struck the black barrier head on, and ship and crew alike were completely devoured.
Seeing this, the pirates who had fled onto the water in their ships felt their hearts turn to ice.
"Boom! Boom!"
A shipload of pirates, unwilling to accept their fate, fired their cannons at the wall, only provoking a fierce response: a tentacle shot out and seized them. The others could only give up, stranded where they were, unable to advance or retreat.
"I haven't been able to sense the Spirit World since just now."
At this, Admiral of Hell delivered another piece of despairing news. "Which means sending a messenger for help, or using Spirit World traversal, none of that will work."
"Splash..."
Vice Admiral Deep Sea's submersible surfaced nearby.
From his grim expression, it wasn't hard to guess that the barrier surely extended beneath the surface of the sea as well, sealing off the entire area.
"Hurry, come over to our side!"
At that moment, everyone on the water had their attention drawn to a massive black warship: it was Agalito the King of Immortality ship, Death Announcer.
The King sat composedly on the deck, his pale face bearing a majesty and radiance never before seen.
"Creak..."
The cannons on his ship fired bolts of ghostly blue flame, blasting into the barrier, and to everyone's astonishment burned open a wide hole, revealing the bright sunlight outside.
"This way, go!"
Agalito shouted, keeping the flames burning steadily to hold the opening wide. "As a monarch of the seas, it's only right that I open a path to survival for you all... hurry, go!"
Many of the pirates were wild with joy.
"Praise the King of Immortality!"
Cheering, they steered their ships toward the opening that represented hope.
But many of the more cautious pirates, generals included, hesitated and did not rush forward at once, and events would soon prove their wisdom.
"Ahahahaha!"
Just as those pirates were about to charge toward freedom, Death Announcer suddenly let out a shrill peal of laughter, and the sailors across the whole ship worked the gun batteries in unison, unleashing a torrent of fire that covered every one of the ships.
The pirates screamed amid the roar of the cannons and sank to the bottom of the sea, ships and all.
The fickle Oathbreaker had betrayed the pirates once again!
The pirates fell into despair.
Behind them were the man-eating giant hands, ahead an impassable wall, and alongside it a sea king ever ready to murder them... could it be that every last soul who had come to the Pirate Conclave was fated to die here, becoming part of some ritual?
Alger did not think so.
He hid in the captain's quarters, seizing his last chance, and bowed his head to pray.