"W-What's happening?!"
In Alubarna, the two sides had only just recovered from the tremor and were preparing to resume their battle when one disturbance followed another.
Less than five seconds after the initial tremor and pressure subsided, the entire city began shaking again. This time, the tremors were stronger and showed no sign of stopping!
Rumble...
Many buildings that had survived the Cartel's bombardment began to collapse. People fled in panic as if the end of the world had arrived.
Luffy punched one of the blue gorillas and sent it flying, only for a nearby building to topple onto him and bury him beneath the rubble.
He smashed through the stone slabs and leaped free, swiveling his head from side to side as if searching for whoever had just ambushed him.
The violent shaking made it difficult for him to stand, but the gorillas were mindless monsters. They charged with their bloody maws wide open and knocked Luffy dozens of meters away.
"Gah!"
Luffy spat out a mouthful of blood. As he watched the people desperately searching for safety, he sensed chaos all around him, and something else...
Fear!
He spread his Observation Haki outward, but it seemed unable to detect anything.
Some terrifying existence was nearby, and its presence was interfering with his Observation Haki. What could it be?
The answer appeared a second later.
Rumble...
The earth suddenly caved in, revealing a dark pit of unfathomable depth. No one could have imagined that such an enormous chasm lay beneath Alabasta's capital!
"Ahhhhhhh!"
The people who had been standing above it plummeted in terror. The abyss swallowed their screams, and in the blink of an eye, they vanished from sight.
Luffy was fortunate enough to be at the edge of the pit. As he began to fall, he hurriedly stretched out an arm, grabbed a huge rock outside the chasm, and pulled himself back up.
His heart pounded with lingering fear. It felt as though something unimaginably terrifying waited below.
Once the screams faded, another sound emerged from the depths. It resembled both a mournful cry and an unusual melody. The tune sounded sorrowful, yet also extraordinarily sacred.
Then the source of the sound appeared.
Luffy involuntarily retreated two steps.
A colossal object had appeared before him.
Even towering buildings seemed insignificant beside it. Could it even be called a creature?
It was not a living being at all, or at least not a humanoid one.
What gradually rose from the abyss before everyone's eyes, continuously producing that sorrowful yet sacred melody, was a blue octahedron.
It was incomparably enormous. A person looked utterly insignificant beside it. It slowly ascended like a messenger attempting to climb into Heaven.
In the royal palace, Robin's expression changed dramatically as she watched the blue octahedron emerge from the chasm. At that moment, the hidden angel within her stirred once again, as though the powers of the two beings were resonating.
There could be no mistake. This was an angel!
She did not know whether it was an Angel King, but judging from its sheer size, it was certainly not an opponent that a nation on Alabasta's level could handle.
"W-What is that?" Koza stared blankly from beside her, as though something had appeared that shattered his entire understanding of the world.
More than ninety percent of Alubarna's people reacted the same way. The remainder had nearly been driven mad with terror by the colossal monster.
"A m-monster!"
After enduring extreme pressure for so long, one of the royal guards finally lost his mind. As though overcome by megalophobia, his expression grew deranged and he aimed his rifle at the enormous blue octahedron.
"Die, monster!"
He opened fire without regard for the consequences. A succession of gunshots rang out, and his actions caused a chain reaction. No one knew what kind of monster it was, but one glance made it clear that it was not human.
Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!
The royal guards and Cartel soldiers suddenly shared a common target. They pointed every rifle and cannon at the angel, then unleashed a deafening barrage.
"You idiots! Who ordered you to fire?!"
Koza was furious, but his orders could no longer reach the soldiers below. Ever since the octahedron appeared, it had continuously emitted a songlike melody that enveloped all of Alubarna.
Human voices, gunfire, and cannon blasts all seemed insignificant beneath it.
The attacks themselves were equally insignificant.
The people fired like mad, but neither bullets nor shells could reach the octahedron. A diamond-shaped barrier seemed to surround its body, and every attack struck that barrier instead.
Once the octahedron completely emerged from the abyss, everyone finally saw its full form. It truly was a perfectly regular blue octahedron, pure and flawless like a perfect diamond.
Boom!
After emerging, the octahedron paid no attention to Alubarna's people, no matter how loudly they shouted or how fiercely they attacked.
Then...
Like some kind of aircraft, it suddenly shot forward at an astonishing speed!
In the blink of an eye, it completely disappeared from Alubarna.
"What... just happened?"
The people of Alubarna were left bewildered. None of them knew what had happened. Neither Koza among the Cartel's leaders, nor Igaram or even Cobra among Alubarna's leaders, understood the situation.
In the entire city, there was probably only one person who possessed even a vague understanding, and that person was a woman.
"Is it going to attack... Terminal Dogma?" Robin whispered.
.......
Far away at Marine Headquarters...
Ann was in a conference with the World Government's senior leadership.
The screen before her displayed the Five Elders, Vegapunk on Pandora Island, and Makima of the Black Order.
In other words, the World Government and the leaders of all three major institutions under its command had gathered together.
"The entity that appeared this time is the Thunder Angel."
Makima tapped a finger, displaying footage from Alabasta on the screen. It showed the blue octahedron's emergence, accompanied by its sacred melody.
"At the Thunder Angel's speed, it will reach the Red Line in three hours at most," Vegapunk said. "Once it crosses the Red Line, it will have effectively reached Lilith's Egg."
Lilith's Egg was the name of the island that housed the Black Order's headquarters. If the Thunder Angel reached it, the world would suffer an enormous Impact, one powerful enough to destroy a third of the planet.
That was precisely why the Black Order had requested support from Marine Headquarters, prompting the Marines to mobilize as much of their fighting strength as possible to defend Lilith's Egg.
It was also one reason Marine Headquarters had not interfered with the Cartel.
Compared with the safety of the entire world, everything else was expendable.
All three Marine Admirals were stationed at different positions throughout the New World, cooperating with the Black Order to protect Lilith's Egg and prevent the Angels from reaching Terminal Dogma.
Large numbers of Marines were stationed along the Red Line to intercept Angels attempting to travel from Paradise into the New World.
Part of the Marines' strength also had to be diverted to keep the New World's pirates under control. Marine Headquarters was truly short on manpower. It could maintain its deterrence only because Fleet Admiral Ann remained at headquarters.
The Black Order had previously informed them about the Angels and Terminal Dogma.
In simple terms, the Black Order had inadvertently acquired an extremely dangerous sealed object. If one of the monsters known as Angels merged with it, the resulting Impact would destroy a third of the world.
The Black Order had therefore requested the World Government's assistance in preventing the Angels from reaching the sealed object.
"The Thunder Angel is extremely powerful. The Marines on the Red Line probably can't stop it," Ann said gravely. "Should I intervene?"
"No!"
Her proposal was rejected immediately. Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, a member of the Five Elders who wore a black suit and flat cap, with white curly hair, a thick beard, and a scar across the left side of his face, spoke at once. "Unless we have absolutely no alternative, you must not take action!"
"If the enemy seizes the opportunity, losing one of our greatest combatants will be the least of our problems," another Elder added. "Do not forget that someone in this world is constantly waiting for you to make a move."
Ann folded her hands, feeling somewhat displeased, but she knew that the two Elders were right.
A little over three years ago, a strange demon had appeared in the world. It could devour another person's attack and then create a copy with identical abilities but a completely opposite personality.
Of course, the copy would take half of the original's power.
The appearance of that demon was the reason people like Ann rarely took action anymore.
If the demon ever found an opportunity to create a copy of Ann, the consequences would be disastrous.
Fortunately, it also possessed a weakness.
It could use its ability to create a copy only once per year. As soon as it made one, Ann would be free to hunt it down and kill it.
With Ann's Observation Haki, she would certainly be able to find it within a year if she searched seriously.
The demon understood this as well, which was why it had chosen Ann as its target. If it could copy only one person, it naturally wanted to copy the strongest.
"Where is Vice Admiral Garp?" another Elder asked.
"He went to the New World with Vice Admiral Tsuru. They're currently near the waters of Dressrosa," Ann answered truthfully.
"In that case, the first half has no meaningful defensive force. Should we recall SWORD?"
"No. SWORD is a crucial deterrent against the Four Emperors."
"What about Zephyr?"
"...He's in the North Blue."
"Monet is also absent at the moment," Vegapunk said. "Should we deploy the Seraphim?"
"How close are the Seraphim to completion?"
"They still have a few flaws, but nothing that will impair their combat performance."
"We cannot jeopardize their completion. Order the nearest Admiral, Akainu, back to the Red Line. The Thunder Angel must not be allowed to cross that barrier!"
As everyone discussed their options, Makima suddenly spoke again. "Everyone, I do not believe the Thunder Angel is our greatest problem."
"Hmm?"
"Please look." Makima appeared to rewind the footage. "Before the Thunder Angel emerged, Alubarna had already experienced a tremor and the appearance of an extremely terrifying power."
The footage showed the initial tremor and the confusion of the Cartel soldiers and royal guards.
"After analyzing and comparing the energy..." Makima said gravely, "its characteristics are identical to Aatrox's power."
"What?!"
The Five Elders were shocked. They understood exactly what Makima's statement meant. Everyone participating in this conference, even Ann, the youngest among them, had witnessed Aatrox's terrifying power.
At a time like this, the sealed Demon Lord was also about to return? This was...
"This is bad!"
Vegapunk's expression suddenly changed as well. "Energy analysis has detected another terrifying power in the first half of the Grand Line, one no weaker than Aatrox!"
"What?!"
Everyone in the conference was stunned. Despite their authority and extensive experience, even they had never encountered a situation like this.
Ann's hands involuntarily tightened. Her pupils widened slightly, and even she could not hide her shock at Vegapunk's news.
What did this mean?
It meant that two Demon Lords had appeared in the first half of the Grand Line!
Was the world about to end?!
"What about Wano Country? Nothing has happened there, has it?" one of the Five Elders hurriedly asked.
They had not forgotten that another Demon Lord was prophesied to appear in Wano within the next few years.
If that one emerged now as well, the world might truly be finished.
"Do not worry. According to the prophecy, we still have two years," Makima replied much more calmly. "The one in Wano will not appear now."
"Hmph. A Demon Lord's absence does not mean Wano will remain peaceful," Saint Jaygarcia Saturn said. "The more chaotic the world becomes, the happier they will be."
The people of Wano also knew that a Demon Lord would descend in two years. They naturally had no intention of waiting helplessly for death, but as long as they remained in Wano, they would be the first to face the Demon Lord's destruction.
Their best option was therefore to relocate their national territory before the Demon Lord arrived. Within the next two years, they needed to move to a region far from Wano's homeland.
But where could they find enough suitable territory for Wano's enormous population?
Any land rich in resources and capable of supporting over a hundred million people would have been occupied long ago. How could any such place remain available for Wano?
They would therefore inevitably start a war within the next two years, a war to seize the living space they needed to survive.
If...
If they used the opportunity created by the Demon Lords and the Angels' assault on Lilith's Egg to launch that war, the World Government would truly have no good way to stop them!
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