The Fragment of Light...
Back when they still lived in the Lawless Zone, they had encountered a mysterious phenomenon. Afterward, every founding member of the Cartel gained a strange power.
They not only transformed into geniuses, but also gained the ability to make their shots more penetrating.
But they had never known what that power was. The Cartel had searched for an answer but found nothing.
"Fragments from the heavens descended beneath the earth and fell into Hell," Belit said softly. "That was... the power of punishment. And the demon fused with that power of punishment is... the creature known as the Thunder Angel."
.......
Boom!
Near the Red Line, Akainu, the Thunder God, and Aokiji abruptly stopped after fighting the Thunder Angel for over an hour.
Initially, only Akainu and the Thunder God had been present. Fighting over the sea placed Devil Fruit users at an enormous disadvantage, while the Thunder Angel possessed extraordinary firepower and the astonishing passive defense of its A.T. Field. It was not long before the World Government deployed Aokiji as well.
His arrival made the battle considerably easier. Aokiji froze the sea within a radius of ten kilometers, effectively creating an enormous island of ice.
With solid ground beneath them, no need to fear the seawater, and Aokiji's additional strength, they gradually began suppressing the Thunder Angel.
Two Admirals from Marine Headquarters and one from the Black Order could join forces to handle any powerhouse on the seas. Not even the mysterious Thunder Angel was an exception.
At that moment, however, all three simultaneously sensed intense danger!
The Thunder Angel suddenly transformed, breaking through the ice below like a spiraling drill.
Its central core then gathered seemingly infinite light.
A laser shot from it into the sky!
It resembled a sword being drawn from the creature's body. Instead of disappearing after being fired, the laser remained connected to the Thunder Angel as tremendous power condensed within it. The resulting blade was probably more than ten thousand meters long!
Boom!
The beam's radius seemed insignificant compared with its length, but it was still immensely wide by human standards!
A pair of indistinct wings appeared behind the Thunder Angel, each containing three hollow rings. Its tremendous power shook the heavens. The laser blade, over ten thousand meters long, slashed downward like the colossal sword of an impossibly tall giant!
It was obviously not an attack they should confront directly. Akainu, Aokiji, and the Thunder God hurriedly retreated to either side. Before the blade of light even reached the ground, the ice began to crack, and the entire frozen surface within a ten-kilometer radius shattered.
And...
That was not all.
The colossal sword of light was so long that it reached the distant Red Line. An enormous cutting sound came from afar, as though heaven and earth were collapsing. Akainu's pupils contracted, and he could not help looking back.
At this distance, he should have been unable to see anything, yet he felt as though he had personally witnessed the Red Line being severed!
The Marines stationed on the Red Line remained constantly vigilant.
They could not even see the distant battlefield, but they were always prepared to open fire.
At that moment, the faraway sky suddenly became incomparably bright. A brilliant beam climbed into the heavens, shining more intensely than the sun and forcing them to close their eyes.
Then the light tilted downward toward...
Them!
"Run!"
No one knew who shouted the warning. The soldiers closest to the sword of light frantically fled to either side, but light was far too fast. Before they had gone far, a torrent of radiance descended from the heavens.
The dazzling, turbid stream of light sliced through the solid continent as easily as tofu. Not even the Red Line, the continent that divided the world, could withstand it. Amid an earth-shattering roar, those on both sides felt the ground shake violently as the land between them was consumed.
After approximately three seconds, the radiance gradually faded. Everyone's heart seemed lodged in their throat, and when the light vanished, they stared in unacceptable disbelief.
A gap approximately one hundred meters long stood before them. The continental "wall," incomparably vast beside a human, had been split apart!
The Red Line had withstood countless years and innumerable assaults from the sea without suffering damage, yet now...
They had long heard that Aatrox damaged the Red Line several decades ago. The World Government had expended enormous effort repairing it afterward, but no one had witnessed how he inflicted the damage.
This time, they had personally witnessed a scene so terrifying it threatened their sanity.
And...
The severed surfaces were as smooth as mirrors. This had not been an explosion, but a cut. Everything touched by the light had vanished as though it had never existed. The exposed surfaces did not contain the slightest irregularity. They were impossibly neat and smooth.
"Is this... the power of a god?"
A Marine collapsed to the ground and stared at the scene in despair.
Before such power, what did they amount to? What did justice amount to?
The Admirals...
Were they fighting a monster like this?
Despair spread outward and took root in everyone's heart.
Even the Admirals fighting the Thunder Angel were shocked by its attack.
"Ice Block!"
Aokiji increased his power and froze the Thunder Angel, but the ice shattered in the next instant.
The Thunder Angel could not speak. It merely remained fixed on its objective.
At this moment, it seemed to have entered an entirely new state.
It was different from before.
Not only had two illusory wings appeared behind it, but it seemed to possess a new power.
"Hell Hound!"
Sensing that the Red Line had been torn apart, Akainu furiously punched forward. The force of a volcanic eruption condensed within his right fist before exploding outward!
Based on their earlier battle, his fist should have struck the strange barrier surrounding the Thunder Angel. Only after breaking that barrier could he possibly harm the creature itself.
But this time...
"What..."
Akainu, Aokiji, and the Thunder God were all stunned.
Akainu had passed through the Thunder Angel's body without encountering the slightest resistance!
Schrift X, The X-Axis. Its power pierced everything between the muzzle and its target. More importantly, it did not merely pierce enemies. Its user constantly remained in a state of being "pierced" as well!
In other words, its attacks passed directly through an enemy's body, while enemy attacks passed through its own!
To put it simply, it remained intangible through an effect similar to Kamui!
And the Thunder Angel had fused with more than thirty percent of The X-Axis's power!
Boom!
Hell Hound struck behind the Thunder Angel and instantly melted the ice Aokiji had created. Akainu had to leap onto a section that remained frozen. Passing unexpectedly through the Thunder Angel had left him momentarily unable to control his strength.
The Thunder Angel returned to its original form, a blue octahedron, though the pair of golden wings remained behind it, with three hollow rings on each wing.
An illusory halo also appeared above it, giving the Thunder Angel a sacred appearance.
The three men warily observed its transformation. The Thunder God and Aokiji attacked again, but every blow passed through the creature without exception.
Then, in an instant, the Thunder Angel vanished!
"What?!"
The three men were stunned, but the Thunder Angel had truly disappeared. It had vanished from their sight and from the range of their Observation Haki!
The Thunder Angel was gone?
Where had it gone?
The answer soon became obvious...
"What are you doing?! You allowed the Thunder Angel to reach Lilith's Egg?!"
The Five Elders' furious voices came through their earpieces. "Never mind! I don't care what you're doing. Return to Lilith's Egg immediately and intercept the Thunder Angel!"
The Thunder Angel...
Had gone directly to Lilith's Egg? It had reached the Black Order's headquarters?
How was that possible?!
How had it done that?!
The three could scarcely believe it. They immediately rushed toward the Black Order. The Thunder God was much faster than the other two and disappeared from the waters first.
"Damn it! That thing possesses a spatial ability. It can teleport!" Akainu said through gritted teeth.
Teleportation was an ability associated with demons. The teleportation abilities humans obtained from Pandora's Box had also originated with demons, so it was not strange for demons to possess them.
But the Thunder Angel had always been called an angel. They therefore had not classified it as a demon or considered that it might also possess teleportation. That was why they had transferred one defender after another away from the Black Order's headquarters!
No, no one had ever said that teleportation belonged exclusively to demons. If demons existed, why couldn't angels? And if demons could teleport, why couldn't angels do the same?
Moreover...
Had the creature's ability truly been teleportation?
Akainu and Aokiji recalled their battle with the Thunder Angel. It had not only possessed a formidable passive defense, but its attacks had also been exceptionally...
Sharp!
Yes, sharp.
Sharpness alone would not have mattered. The important point was how it had "evaded" Akainu's punch. His Hell Hound had passed directly through the Thunder Angel's body. How had that happened?
Now it had suddenly crossed an enormous distance to reach the Black Order...
Only then did they realize that they still did not understand the Thunder Angel's true ability!
Faster. They had to move faster!
They needed to arrive before the Thunder Angel entered Terminal Dogma!
.......
At the Black Order's headquarters...
Not long ago, this had been the safest place in the world.
The Black Order's Fleet Admiral and two Admirals had been stationed on the island. The three Marine Admirals guarded it from three directions, and Pandora Island, another major World Government institution, was located nearby.
In other words, between seventy and eighty percent of the World Government's combat strength had been gathered there.
But as one incident followed another, the people stationed nearby departed one by one.
Monet of Pandora Island went to Drum Island. Akainu, Aokiji, and the Thunder God left to intercept the Thunder Angel. Kizaru traveled to Alabasta. The once-crowded area was suddenly empty, with more than half of its high-level combatants gone.
There should not have been a serious problem. After all, Akainu, Aokiji, and the Thunder God had departed specifically to intercept the greatest current threat to this location, the Thunder Angel.
The headquarters was therefore still perfectly safe...
Right?
Without the slightest warning, an enormous life-form simply appeared upon the island steeped in religious symbolism.
A blue octahedron!
The octahedron possessed angelic wings and a halo. Yet the instant it appeared in the guise of an angel, it caused destruction worthy of a demon.
A laser gathered at its center and instantly released a deadly beam. Everything in its path was erased, and vast numbers of buildings were scoured from the ground!
A strange sound spread outward, something between music and melody. It resembled a sacred hymn heralding the end of the world.
"Stop!"
After firing its first attack, the Thunder Angel was about to advance when a furious roar came from ahead. A man appeared and thrust out a palm, instantly forming an enormous handprint!
It was Sengoku, using the Buddha's Palm!
His version was not as powerful as Ah Xing's, but years of cultivation had allowed Sengoku to attain exceptional mastery over the technique. With Conqueror's Haki Infusion and psychokinesis further strengthening it, he had surpassed even his prime!
Boom!
The palm strike possessed incomparable power, but even the strongest attack was meaningless if it could not hit its target.
The immensely powerful palm passed straight through the Thunder Angel and demolished the buildings behind it without resistance. Its tremendous force even traveled beyond the island and left an enormous palm print upon the sea!
"How can this be?"
Sengoku was stunned, unable to understand what had happened.
His palm had clearly struck the Thunder Angel, so why had it...
Boom!
Light gathered at the creature's core and shot toward Sengoku. He hurriedly evaded, and the beam destroyed the entire street where he had been standing.
Only then did the surrounding Black Order personnel react. They hurriedly attacked the Thunder Angel, but every attack passed through its body just as before.
"Monster!" Sengoku exclaimed.
Damn it! How were they supposed to fight this thing?
Could it simply ignore every attack?
He had been silently cursing Akainu and the others for somehow allowing the Thunder Angel to reach the Black Order's headquarters without warning. Now it seemed that the failure probably was not their fault...
This creature...
It was a monster that could not even be struck. How could anyone possibly stop it?!
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