At this moment, Rocks, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Charlotte Linlin had successfully retreated to the main battleship's deck.
The retreat Space Gate that Raiver had previously opened instantly closed and disappeared after Charlotte Linlin stepped through.
On the main ship, the four looked back just in time to see the soaring dark red Haki torrent.
"That monster has gone berserk!" Golden Lion wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, still shaken.
"We can't let it affect the fleet!" Rocks' eyes sharpened as he shouted.
Almost simultaneously, the four once again unleashed their strongest Conqueror's Haki!
Four streams of Conqueror's Haki converged, forming a solid Haki barrier that enveloped the rear of the fleet, firmly blocking the sweeping dark red Haki aftermath!
Zzzzz——!!!
The two Haki forces collided, rubbed against each other, and annihilated in mid-air, bursting with countless black-red electric arcs.
Seizing the opportunity, Raiver pressed his hands downward.
Directional Void Stream - Full Fleet Propulsion!
The airflow was directionally guided, and all giant battleships shot forward!
Boom—
In an instant, powerful airflow erupted simultaneously from the sterns of thirty giant battleships, propelling the massive hulls to burst away into the distance.
"Ah—!!!!!!!!"
Imu gazed at the already distant Rocks Pirates fleet and let out a roar of frustration.
...
Above the New World.
The massive fleet of the Rocks Pirates was returning to Hachinosu Island.
On the main ship's deck, the atmosphere was somewhat heavy and strange.
The fatigue from battle hadn't completely faded, and the relief of surviving was mixed with wariness toward their opponents.
Silver Axe leaned against the ship's railing, his face showing confusion and lingering fear:
"Hey, what kind of monsters were those guys we fought against?
My axe clearly landed solid hits, the wounds were deep enough, but in the blink of an eye they were fine like nothing happened!
Are they fucking unkillable?"
He was referring to the God's Knights.
His words resonated, with many Officers nodding in agreement and murmuring in low voices.
Golden Lion Shiki, unusually not laughing heartily, instead smoked a cigar. Through the swirling smoke, his eyes were deep as he slowly spoke:
"Hmph, the God's Knights? Those guys were troublesome, but at least we could injure them.
The truly absurd monster..."
He paused, seemingly recalling the world-destroying combined attack and the terrifying scene of instant recovery, his tone clearly carrying lingering fear:
"...was that thing we fought that crawled out like a maggot from the abyss.
I saw it with my own eyes - our five strongest attacks combined, beating her until not even ashes remained!
And then what? In the blink of an eye, black smoke emerged, and she stood up completely unharmed!"
He took a hard drag on his cigar and exhaled thick smoke: "This kind of unkillable, unbreakable monster with recovery power far more exaggerated than any Mythical Zoan...
Is that something we can deal with now? If we hadn't run fast this time..."
He didn't finish, but everyone understood the unspoken words.
Many cast their gazes toward the ship's cabin, where Rocks was resting inside.
Nearly everyone harbored a thought in their hearts—one that made them uneasy, even angry, yet they tacitly refrained from voicing it aloud:
The assault on Mary Geoise, planned and commanded by Rocks, had nearly plunged the entire Rocks Pirates into an irrecoverable abyss.
They had underestimated the deepest reserves of the World Government and, even more gravely, underestimated that ultimate entity known as "Imu."
If not for Raiver…
At the onset of the battle, it was Raiver who utilized his miraculous Space Gate ability.
He allowed everyone to bypass multiple layers of defense, dropping directly into the heart of Mary Geoise, catching the World Government off guard and achieving that initial sweeping victory.
When the battle reached a stalemate and the enemy's immortality was discovered, it was Raiver who first calmly analyzed the situation, proposed the possibility of Conqueror's Haki as a countermeasure, and organized that earth-shattering combined assault.
When the final battle collapsed and the entire crew faced annihilation, it was Raiver who shuttled alone across the battlefield.
He rescued stunned comrades, helped Officers escape, and blocked the pursuit of Saint Garling, leader of the God's Knights.
Finally, with clever strategy, he facilitated the retreat of Rocks and the other top combatants, using his ability to push the entire fleet to its limits in their escape.
It could be said that without Raiver, they would never have been able to withdraw from Mary Geoise unscathed; in all likelihood, they would have been completely annihilated there, becoming yet another sacrifice for the World Government to flaunt its military might.
Had Captain Rocks… been too reckless? Had his ambition to dominate the world clouded his judgment?
Was this operation truly for the benefit of the pirate crew, or was it to validate some personal idea or ambition of his?
These doubts, like poisonous weeds, quietly took root in the hearts of many Officers.
Everyone had their own ambitions.
The Rocks Pirates were, after all, composed of a group of unruly and formidable pirates.
What held them together was more Rocks' overwhelming personal strength, shared goals of plunder, and the seductive yet perilous slogan of "overturning the world"—
Not genuine loyalty or unity.
The upper echelons of the crew were already severely divided, with factions faintly emerging.
A silent sense of alienation and scrutiny quietly spread among the Officers, and between the Officers and the Captain.
This quietly planted the most crucial seed for the betrayal and schism that would soon occur at God Valley.
Inside the ship's cabin.
Rocks sat alone in the shadows, polishing the black blade that had accompanied him through years of conquest.
Frustration, resentment, and a trace of… defeated anger.
He admitted that he had been drawn to the unparalleled strategic mobility and supportive capabilities of Raiver's Space Fruit.
It had made him believe that a surprise assault on Mary Geoise, striking at the very heart, was possible.
He had thought their preparations were thorough enough—gathering all the pirate crew's peak combatants, studying Mary Geoise's defenses, even considering the potential strength of the Five Elders.
But he had still severely underestimated Imu.
Imu's power was so immense that he alone could forcibly reverse the entire tide of battle, overwhelming the four of them, the peak combatants.
If not for Raiver in the end, they might not have been able to retreat unscathed.
In summary:
Imu, single-handedly, had nearly wiped out the entire Rocks Pirates.
And Raiver, single-handedly, had saved the entire Rocks Pirates.
…
At this moment, Rocks was feeling somewhat down.
That sense of powerlessness, as if facing an abyss, and the humiliation of having his plans thwarted, forced into a disgraceful retreat.
Even Rocks, who had always sailed smoothly and crushed everything with sheer power, felt a hint of frustration.
"Imu... master of the 'Void Throne'..."
Rocks murmured the name, the flames of ambition rekindling in his eyes:
"I'll be back. I was careless this time.
To completely eliminate Imu, I must obtain the three things: the Conqueror's Haki that suppresses immortality, Davy Jones's Dark God Nika, and Joy Boy's Sun God Nika."
The so-called Dark God Nika was the awakened form of the Dark-Dark Fruit.
Through this operation, Rocks deeply understood one truth: he still needed to keep growing.