Sky Island.
While Cyrus spoke with Imu, a blinding blue light appeared at the tip of a massive launcher mounted on the enormous artificial structure high above the world.
The glow intensified rapidly.
Once the weapon finished gathering energy, a colossal beam erupted and plunged straight toward Sky Island below.
The brilliant light produced during the charging process was already visible from the floating island.
Even before the weapon fired, those with exceptional strength or powerful Observation Haki had sensed a bone-chilling threat overhead.
Crocodile raised his head, both hands clenched tightly into fists.
Had he not trusted Cyrus, he would have fled already.
He had never faced this weapon directly before and therefore had no true understanding of the pressure it carried.
Now that overwhelming threat hung directly above him, ready to descend at any moment, and the shadow of death seemed to envelop his entire body.
"Cyrus will stop it."
Robin remained completely confident.
She knew him too well to believe otherwise.
Hancock and Baby 5 also stared at the brilliant light appearing in the distant sky.
Nearby, Shakky stood with her arms folded, a cigarette between her lips and confusion in her eyes.
"The World Government did this? Why? Do they really dare go this far?"
Shakky had always been highly sensitive to intelligence.
Since relocating to Amazon Lily, her connection to the Hunter Guild had made gathering information even easier.
She understood just how great a threat Cyrus represented to the World Government.
Until now, both sides had shown a degree of restraint. Shakky had assumed they each possessed something the other feared, preventing either from beginning an all-out war.
Yet the World Government had attacked first.
Were they deliberately starting that war now?
Shakky was not the only one confused.
Rayleigh had also stopped fighting, his expression equally bewildered.
Something about this situation felt deeply wrong.
"Hey, what's that?"
Following Rayleigh's gaze, Ace raised his bruised face and looked into the sky.
He saw something resembling an impossibly bright star.
"A superweapon capable of destroying a nation—or an island of this size—with a single shot."
"Huh?"
Ace stared at him in disbelief.
One attack could destroy an entire country?
"It's too late."
Rayleigh frowned, then spread his Observation Haki across the area.
"He isn't here?"
His eyes snapped open.
…
Elsewhere in the examination grounds, Doflamingo's group had also stopped on their way toward Rayleigh.
Everyone stared upward.
Doflamingo's expression darkened.
"What the hell is that?" Moria's shrill voice trembled slightly.
"Uranus." Doflamingo answered in a low voice.
"An Ancient Weapon." Kuma added simply.
Moria swallowed hard.
He had naturally heard of the Ancient Weapons and the unimaginable destruction they could unleash.
"I can send all of you away."
Kuma removed the gloves covering his hands.
"Send me—wait."
Moria accepted without hesitation, only to stop halfway through his sentence.
His expression turned ugly.
His companions were still scattered across the examination grounds.
If he fled alone, they would almost certainly die.
Moria looked around, then turned and ran.
His reaction made Doflamingo's expression even darker, though he did not move.
"You aren't leaving?"
Kuma looked at him.
"If an attack of that magnitude lands, no one here will survive. My ability can remove you from the island quickly enough to avoid it."
"Heh."
Doflamingo suddenly grinned.
"Don't forget whose territory this is."
His smile widened.
"That man has already blocked an attack from Uranus once."
Doflamingo hated placing his life in someone else's hands.
But he understood that if he abandoned the Hunter Exam now, he might never receive another chance to insert himself into the Guild.
His value would diminish greatly after this.
More importantly, Sky Island currently held a massive portion of the Hunter Guild's people.
He refused to believe Cyrus would allow them all to die.
He would gamble on that.
Doflamingo turned toward Kuma.
"Let's go. We still need to meet our target, and we don't have much time."
He resumed walking.
Kuma studied the sky for a moment, frowning in thought.
"Continue the operation."
After a brief hesitation, he followed Doflamingo.
…
Shiki floated in midair, staring intensely at the disturbance high above.
This was an opportunity.
A calculating light entered his eyes.
With the Float-Float Fruit, he could evade whatever enormous threat was gathering overhead.
But should he use this chance to escape?
"The target is probably Cyrus."
Shiki looked around the circular arena below.
Hunter Guild members were calmly collecting the bodies scattered across the ground.
They belonged to the challengers he had defeated.
The instant those people approached him, Shiki had smelled the unmistakable stench of pirates.
He immediately understood why Cyrus had stationed them here.
So he had attacked.
"These people…"
Shiki's eyes flickered before he slowly descended again.
Cyrus genuinely frightened him now.
As long as Shiki avoided fighting to the death, the Float-Float Fruit normally made it nearly impossible for anyone to stop him from escaping.
Cyrus was the exception.
He possessed attacks capable of covering vast areas, multiple absurd Devil Fruit powers, and the ability to fly.
How was Shiki supposed to fight someone like that?
Besides, the Guild members below did not appear worried.
Did they already know something?
Shiki was beginning to understand.
Whitebeard and Linlin had reached the same conclusion.
Both had fought Cyrus personally and understood the extent of his strength.
They had also guessed that the weapon above was Uranus.
By now, they had already concluded that the strike on Dressrosa had come from the same Ancient Weapon.
"Did that bastard allow this on purpose?"
Whitebeard murmured.
Whether they understood what was happening or not, no one could stop Uranus from completing its charge.
Then the colossal beam descended like divine punishment.
It moved with terrifying speed.
The brilliant point in the heavens flashed, and almost instantly, the beam reached Sky Island.
The pillar of light drew every eye toward it.
Those who stared felt sharp pain stab through their vision.
Boom!
Just before the beam struck the island, flames suddenly erupted.
An immeasurable sea of fire appeared from nowhere and spread across the entire sky above Sky Island.
The temperature climbed rapidly.
The descending beam collided with the flames but failed to pierce them.
Instead, its energy fed the inferno, making it burn even more fiercely.
"As expected. The chairman intervened."
Crocodile's clenched fists finally relaxed.
The relief in his voice was obvious.
"Pass the order. The examination will continue as normal. As long as the chairman is here, nothing can interfere with it."
"Vice-Chairman, the creature the chairman told us to watch…"
The employee beside him spoke cautiously.
"It disappeared, didn't it?"
"Yes."
"Don't worry about it. Continue your assigned work."
Crocodile waved him away, though surprise stirred inside him.
'Just as expected. Someone removed it without making a sound.'
He was not truly shocked.
He already knew World Government spies had infiltrated the Guild's inner ranks.
Had Cyrus not stopped him, Crocodile would already have begun purging the traitors.
Even so, that creature was clearly important to Cyrus.
Crocodile did not believe he would abandon it lightly.
Why had Cyrus allowed them to take it?
Crocodile could not understand.
But Cyrus had given the order, so he would follow it.
The Hunter Exam resumed after Crocodile's instructions spread.
Still, nearly everyone—including the Guild members responsible for maintaining order and collecting the fallen—remained visibly stunned.
For the first time, the phrase sea of fire became something tangible in their minds.
The inferno and the beam remained locked above Sky Island.
Through Morgans's broadcast Den Den Mushi, the sight spread across the world.
"Keep it going! Keep filming, you bastards!"
Morgans screamed in near hysteria.
"Activate every Den Den Mushi we have! Even if the operators die, this must be broadcast everywhere! And send more cameras to Sky Island immediately!"
The Hunter Exam had already attracted unprecedented attention.
But this spectacle surpassed everything before it.
What news could possibly draw more eyes than this?
…
In the New World, an enormous Marine fleet watched the same scene.
"If Cyrus really isn't there, then you've caused one hell of a disaster." Garp spoke through a crooked mouth as he looked toward the grim-faced Sengoku.
Sengoku now understood the full situation.
He had never imagined that even Kong could be used as bait.
Yet judging from the broadcast, Cyrus apparently had not fallen for the trap.
But that made no sense.
The World Government had used this weapon before, and Cyrus had stopped it.
If he had never left Sky Island, surely they would not be foolish enough to fire again.
This attack appeared completely pointless.
What were they trying to accomplish?
At least if Cyrus had been lured away, destroying Sky Island would have severely weakened both the Hunter Guild and a significant portion of the sea's strongest fighters.
But now?
"I wonder who was so nervous that he crushed his cup into powder."
Tsuru smiled.
Garp glanced at the white residue still coating his left palm and looked away awkwardly.
Both his son and grandson were on Sky Island.
If the attack had truly landed, the Garp family line might have ended there.
"Cyrus probably did leave," Tsuru said after teasing him. "What we're seeing may be a special use of his ability."
She considered the situation before continuing.
"This attack provides no benefit to the World Government, yet they still launched it. Unless Cyrus somehow gained control of Uranus, or the weapon itself betrayed them—which is extremely unlikely—then the World Government must believe he is absent."
"We already know this attack cannot kill Cyrus. Sky Island was always its true target. His sudden intervention is the unexpected part."
Tsuru looked toward Sengoku.
"And I believe Cyrus has already accomplished what he intended."
Accomplished what?
Everyone listening nearby looked puzzled.
Did she simply mean that he had blocked the attack?
"He accomplished it?"
Sengoku's body stiffened.
Then he fell silent, staring fixedly at the projected image.
…
Sky Island.
After controlling the flames and stopping the beam, Cyrus's figure appeared within the inferno.
He nodded slightly.
The weapon was somewhat stronger than during the previous attack, probably because its energy source had been replaced.
Still, it was nowhere near enough.
More importantly, none of the beam's energy had vanished.
The flames had absorbed all of it.
Because that power was not inherently fire, Cyrus could not directly control it or convert it into part of his regular strength.
But this was already sufficient.
After several minutes of sustained bombardment, the inferno had evolved into a true ocean of flame.
Nothing remained above Sky Island that should have been capable of sustaining combustion, yet the fire never weakened.
By the time Uranus finally exhausted its energy, the flames had grown several times stronger.
And Cyrus was not finished.
He floated higher as the sea of fire filling the sky began to contract.
Like countless rivers pouring into one ocean, every flame rushed toward a single point and compressed rapidly.
When the fire finally disappeared, a white sphere of light slowly rotated between Cyrus's hands at waist level.
Its gentle movement concealed terrifying power.
Even so, Cyrus could handle it.
"It would be rude not to return the favour."
His Observation Haki locked firmly onto the structure high above.
"Trying to run now? Isn't it a little late?"
Cyrus thrust both hands toward the sky.
Another beam erupted.
This one was countless times narrower than the weapon's original attack.
A white-hot ray tore through the heavens and vanished into the distant sky.
No one below knew what happened beyond the atmosphere.
Someone did.
The person controlling Uranus.
…
Cyrus and Imu stood facing each other within the sealed space.
His earlier words had already shaken her.
Then Uranus's attack had been stopped.
Even that might have been acceptable.
But now the weapon itself had been pierced and sliced apart by the beam fired from below.
There was no one left capable of repairing it.
Even Imu could not restore it.
The Ancient Weapon had been constructed from exceptional materials, but its technology belonged to an age far beyond anything the current world could reproduce.
One of her greatest remaining weapons was gone.
"You planned this?"
Imu stared intensely at Cyrus.
She was convinced that destroying Uranus had been his objective all along.
"That enormous thing was hanging in the sky. Only a blind man wouldn't notice it."
Cyrus spread his hands.
"But you're giving me too much credit. I only realized your plan and decided to use it against you."
He smiled.
"So, Lord Imu, what will you do now?"
"This body isn't a clone?"
Realization entered Imu's eyes as she studied his expression.
Ever since their conversation began, something about Cyrus had felt wrong.
At times, his words carried clear emotion. At others, he spoke with an eerie coldness or perfect calm.
"It is a clone, and it isn't."
Cyrus smiled faintly.
"You hide yourself remarkably well. Meeting you in person isn't easy."
"So that creature was bait too?"
Imu stared at him.
"Yes. I left it for you deliberately."
Cyrus's smile became insufferably pleased.
"So, Lord Imu, are you planning to use it to escape? I can even give you a head start if you want."
"Escape?"
Imu's voice hardened.
"Even if I leave, I will first unleash a war that destroys this world. When it ends, all you will possess is a broken ruin!"
Cyrus nodded eagerly, his face full of agreement.
"Right, right. You already said that."
He waved a hand.
"Now tell me something new."
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator