"I originally thought we wouldn't need to take action ourselves, but it seems we underestimated Demon Eye Ryūjin."
Saint Saturn stared ahead, his eyes filled with shock.
Saint Peter slowly shook his head and let out a long sigh.
Throughout history, the world had never truly known the strength of the Five Elders. Even so, anyone with common sense would assume they stood at the absolute peak of the world.
Otherwise, how could they possess the authority to rule it?
The Navy Admirals and the Four Emperors, figures regarded by ordinary people as untouchable monsters, were little more than lambs before the Five Elders.
Even Kong the Steel Bone, acknowledged by many as one of the strongest men alive, was insignificant in their eyes.
Although recent intelligence reported that Demon Eye Ryūjin had defeated Kong with overwhelming force, the Five Elders never believed Ryūjin had surpassed them.
After all, they could do the same.
The reason they had dispatched three Elders was simply to eliminate any possibility of failure.
Yet reality had completely exceeded their expectations.
Demon Eye Ryūjin was far stronger than they had imagined.
Strong enough to kill Nusjuro with ease.
Had they not witnessed it themselves, they would never have believed such a monster existed.
The moment Saint Nusjuro fell, both Saint Peter and Saint Saturn reached the same conclusion.
They could not afford to stand aside.
Otherwise, the situation could spiral beyond control.
The reason they considered it a battle of three against one soon became clear.
Buzz!
The two Elders suddenly sensed something and simultaneously turned toward Saint Nusjuro's corpse.
The Shodai Kitetsu lying in his hand began releasing vast amounts of black and red energy.
The strange energy surged into Saint Nusjuro's body, wrapping around him like a cocoon.
Then, with a sudden movement, the dead Elder stood up.
The black and red aura gradually faded, revealing his figure.
Everyone present widened their eyes.
The horrifying wound that had nearly split his body in half had completely disappeared.
"He's alive! Elder-sama is alive again!"
"You nearly scared me to death!"
"As expected of Elder-sama!"
Exclamations erupted throughout the warship.
The surrounding Marines stared in disbelief.
A wound like that should have been fatal.
Yet not only had he survived, he had recovered instantly.
The Marines quickly shook off their earlier panic and regained their confidence.
"Demon Eye Ryūjin is too powerful. None of us can defeat him alone."
Saint Nusjuro looked toward the other two Elders, his voice heavy with shock.
"At this point, we must join forces."
The other two Elders nodded solemnly.
They had already come to the same conclusion.
"To think three members of the Five Elders would join forces against me. I'm honored."
A mocking voice suddenly rang out.
The three Elders' expressions changed instantly.
The surrounding Marines stiffened as if struck by lightning.
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice.
There, standing casually on the deck, was Demon Eye Ryūjin.
"So you're not dead after all."
Ryūjin glanced at Saint Nusjuro, his expression carrying both surprise and understanding.
His previous Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion had not been used at full power, but it should still have been enough to kill a Gorosei.
Back at the Sabaody Archipelago, Ryūjin had pierced Kong's body with Truth Seeking Orbs, wounds that should have guaranteed death.
Yet Kong had survived.
At the time, Ryūjin suspected it had something to do with the cursed sword.
Now, seeing Saint Nusjuro revive, his suspicions were confirmed.
That sword definitely hid some kind of secret.
"Demon Eye Ryūjin, you're far too arrogant. With the three of us working together, you have no chance."
Saint Peter snorted coldly.
"Yeah right."
Ryūjin shrugged and suddenly clapped his hands.
Slap!
"Shadow Imitation Technique."
His shadow split into three separate strands and connected directly to the shadows of the three Elders.
"What is this?!"
"I can't move!"
"What kind of strange technique is this?!"
All three Elders immediately realized their bodies had been restrained by an invisible force.
They could not move at all.
However, the Five Elders were no ordinary opponents.
The instant they were immobilized, the Shodai Kitetsu flew from Saint Nusjuro's hand and slashed toward Ryūjin.
At such close range, Ryūjin had to maintain the Shadow Imitation Technique.
He immediately used Wood Release to defend.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Branches erupted from his body.
Unfortunately, they grew far slower than the sword's attack.
Before the defense could fully form, the Shodai Kitetsu had already struck.
Bang!
Ryūjin was sent flying backward.
The connected shadows instantly broke apart.
The three Elders regained their freedom.
Yet before they could celebrate, all three suddenly froze.
Their eyes widened.
Three glowing swords had pierced directly through their chests.
Lightning crackled around the blades.
The three swords converged into the grip of a single person.
Another Ryūjin.
The Ryūjin who had used the Shadow Imitation Technique earlier had merely been a Wood Clone.
Using a clone to restrain enemies while the real body launched a surprise attack was an old tactic of Ryūjin's.
Now he had perfected it.
Although Saint Nusjuro had broken the technique with the Shodai Kitetsu, that brief delay was enough.
For someone at Ryūjin's level, even a fraction of a second was more than sufficient.
Using Lightning Release Chakra, he condensed three lightning swords and pierced all three Elders simultaneously.
Each strike targeted the heart.
However, the moment the attacks landed, Ryūjin noticed something unusual.
Only Saint Nusjuro's heart had truly been pierced.
One Elder's heart had transformed into water.
The other's had become stone.
The remaining two were Logia Devil Fruit users.
As expected, the Five Elders were not easy to kill.
The next moment, Saint Nusjuro collapsed.
At the same time, Saint Saturn's body unleashed countless high-pressure water jets.
Saint Peter fired an overwhelming storm of razor-sharp stone spikes.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Water jets punched countless holes through Ryūjin's body.
The stone spikes followed immediately after.
In an instant, his body looked like a grotesque sieve.
The two Elders were stunned.
Had Demon Eye Ryūjin really died that easily?
Splash!
Then Ryūjin's body suddenly dissolved into water.
It was merely a Water Clone.
"It's a fake!"
Both Elders immediately turned.
Sure enough, Ryūjin was standing leisurely in another location.
Meanwhile, the Shodai Kitetsu that had knocked away the Wood Clone transformed into a streak of light and flew toward the fallen Saint Nusjuro.
After witnessing several revivals already, Ryūjin naturally understood what would happen if the sword returned.
He wasn't about to allow that.
Raising his hand, he activated Shinra Tensei.
The Shodai Kitetsu was forcibly pulled toward him.
Ryūjin caught it effortlessly.
"You dare grab the Shodai Kitetsu with your bare hand? You're courting death!"
The two Elders sneered.
They watched as the evil spirit inside the sword surged toward Ryūjin and launched a spiritual assault.
Boom!
Ryūjin coated his fist with the Human Path's power and smashed the spirit apart with a single punch.
"What?!"
The pupils of the two Elders shrank.
The Shodai Kitetsu was completely ineffective against him.
No wonder he had snapped the sword in half back at Sabaody.
Only now did they truly understand what had happened.
Then a terrible feeling arose in their hearts.
Why had Ryūjin deliberately taken hold of the sword?
The answer appeared immediately.
A thin layer of black material emerged from Ryūjin's hand and completely enveloped the Shodai Kitetsu.
It was a Truth Seeking Orb.
Then...
Boom!
The Truth Seeking Orb detonated.
Wrapped inside it, the Shodai Kitetsu was completely erased.
Not broken.
Not shattered.
Erased from existence.
The sword vanished entirely.
"Not good!"
"Damn it!"
The two Elders' faces changed dramatically.
The black and red energy attached to the sword also dispersed completely.
Without the sword, Saint Nusjuro could no longer revive.
His eyes slowly closed.
Shock and unwillingness filled his face.
This time, he truly died.
Completely.
"Demon Eye Ryūjin! I'll kill you!"
Saint Saturn roared like a beast.
Saint Peter's face twisted with murderous intent.
Both prepared to fight desperately.
Then suddenly, their vision blurred.
The world around them transformed.
Everything became black and white.
It was an unfamiliar world.
"W...Where are we?"
"What's happening?"
The two Elders were completely confused.
One moment they were aboard a warship.
The next, they stood in a strange monochrome realm.
Before they could react, their vision blurred again.
The world returned.
However, something was wrong.
Their throats had been slit.
Neither of them remembered it happening.
Blood erupted from their necks like fountains.
Their life force rapidly drained away.
Their consciousness faded.
Then everything went dark.
Thud!
The two Elders collapsed.
Their corpses landed beside Saint Nusjuro.
The three of them lay together.
Silence descended over the battlefield.
A suffocating silence.
Every Marine stared at Ryūjin in terror.
Their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
They couldn't understand what had happened.
The two Elders were Logia users.
Why had they stood motionless and allowed themselves to be killed?
Why hadn't they transformed into their elements?
None of them knew.
Ryūjin had instantly dragged both Elders into the T
sukuyomi world.
Having never encountered such a technique before, they never realized they were trapped inside a genjutsu.
How could they have thought to elementalize?
Without warning.
Without resistance.
They were killed silently.
A long time passed before anyone finally found their voice.
"Dead... the Elder-samas are dead!"
"All three Elder-samas were killed!"