Rumble…
Every Noble Phantasm shone with dazzling crimson light.
Then they detonated.
Endless destructive force erupted at once, like tens of thousands of thunderbolts crashing down from the highest heavens.
A shockwave so dense it nearly became tangible swept outward.
In an instant, the explosion thundered across tens of thousands of meters.
At the edge of the yellow-sand world, people looked up at the flashes of red light bursting in the distant sky.
Terror, confusion, panic, curiosity—
countless emotions flickered through their eyes.
"God is angry! God is going to destroy the world! We are all sinners chosen for punishment!"
An elderly believer with white hair dropped to his knees, facing the sky where the crimson light had erupted.
Two trails of tears rolled down his cloudy eyes.
Around him, more and more people knelt as well.
Their bodies trembled uncontrollably as they muttered prayers.
"Spare me…"
"I am guilty…"
"Great god, please punish us…"
But many others believed it was simply the power of a Devil Fruit.
They had no mind to worship any god.
They fled desperately, running from the red light as if something more terrifying than demons were chasing them.
At the same time—
Crocodile, standing at the center of the Broken Phantasm explosion, had never looked more serious.
Facing that crimson radiance, so red it seemed ready to drip blood, he understood one thing clearly.
If he turned his body into sand now, he would be evaporated and crushed in an instant.
He could only take it head-on.
Desert Sunflower!
Crocodile dropped to one knee.
The violent wind from the explosion lifted his coat into the air as he thrust his right hand into the desert.
An invisible wave spread from his palm.
But in that instant, his expression stiffened.
His pupils contracted.
There was no water beneath the sand.
What was going on?
Crocodile could not understand it.
In that moment, he had sensed everything within a radius of over a thousand meters.
Yet within that entire range, there was not a single underground water vein.
He could even confirm that beneath this vast desert stretching tens of thousands of meters, there was not a single drop of water.
There was no time.
Crocodile roared inwardly.
The yellow sand beneath him exploded upward, wrapping around his body in reverse.
The crimson light pressed down like a flood pouring from the heavens.
It carried enough power to shatter space itself.
Overbearing.
Unstoppable.
Enough to annihilate everything.
"Retreat! Hurry!"
Cobra's clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat as he watched the crimson light descend.
He roared without hesitation.
At that moment, his heart nearly stopped.
Under an explosion like that, no one could possibly survive.
The elite royal army he had brought would be buried here forever, reduced to bones beneath the yellow sand.
"Fall back!"
"Don't panic!"
In an instant, the royal army was thrown into chaos.
Everyone retreated desperately.
No one cared about formation anymore.
Survival was all that mattered.
"Father, carrying me will only slow you down."
Vivi spoke from Cobra's arms.
She did not want to drag her father to death with her.
The red light filling heaven and earth today would be branded into Vivi's heart forever.
The soldiers at the front looked at the approaching crimson radiance and swallowed hard.
The terrifying pressure it released made their legs tremble.
Their spears and shields slipped from their hands, falling into the sand with dull thuds.
Across this world, tens of thousands of people trembled at the same time.
Their minds nearly collapsed.
Rumble…
Finally, the red light swallowed everything.
Time seemed to freeze.
The blood-red sky became even brighter, as if a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood had been hung upside down above them, ready to pour bloody rain upon the desert.
No one knew how long passed.
At last, the red began to fade.
The dense color in the sky slowly drew back, like spilled ink being pulled away.
The land fell silent.
Everything returned to calm.
Clean.
Empty.
Only endless yellow sand remained.
The earth was dead and desolate, as if all life had withered away.
Not a single survivor could be seen.
Even Crocodile had disappeared.
Only one figure remained, standing in the sky.
Kairos' expression was calm.
His eyes were deep as an abyss.
His black clothes fluttered in the wind.
Behind him, several enormous golden gears, each as large as a mountain, turned and interlocked.
In the endless yellow sand below, a faint clatter of armor suddenly sounded.
A rough hand broke through the sand.
Then a soldier covered in dust and grime slowly climbed out.
His armor was filthy, but there were no dents from impact.
"What… happened?"
The soldier stared blankly at the endless sand around him.
Then he collapsed onto the ground, his mind completely empty.
He could not understand what had just happened.
He only remembered the sky turning blood-red.
Then that red descended.
Like a desolate heaven falling.
Unstoppable.
As he woke, more and more sounds came from beneath the sand.
One person after another climbed out.
All of them were alive.
"Kairos…"
Cobra, still holding Princess Vivi, was unharmed as well.
He ignored the sand covering his face and clothes, silently staring at the figure standing in the sky.
Everything felt unreal.
Like a dream.
That figure…
was like a god descended from the heavens.
Standing above the sky.
Looking down upon the world.
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