Garp was the first to move. Blood suddenly erupted from his body, and his back seemed to burst open.
These injuries had not come from the Thunder Angel. They were the result of the tremendous burden his last punch had placed upon his body.
His body was powerful, but his right arm was even stronger.
The arm had been cloned from his original limb, then enhanced with demon cells and a Devil Fruit. At full strength, especially in its human-beast form, the right arm possessed far greater power than the rest of his body.
When Garp released strength that even the arm could barely withstand, the remainder of his body naturally failed under the burden.
Manipulating lightning with the Red Dragon's power and drawing down countless thunderbolts from the heavens had gathered immense power inside his right hand. Releasing it had also inflicted tremendous damage upon his body, resulting in his current condition.
"Garp!"
Sengoku hurried forward and caught Garp as he fell from the sky. Garp's blood stained him, but he did not care.
How could he possibly care? That blood was proof that Garp had given everything he possessed. It was the emblem of their victory.
Garp's injuries were severe. In addition to the burden created by his strongest attack, he had completely abandoned his defenses and allowed the Thunder Angel's beam to strike him. His shoulders and abdomen were badly burned and pierced, and blood flowed continuously from the wounds.
"I hate to admit it... but could I really be getting old?" Garp panted. He stood with Sengoku's assistance, his vision growing blurry.
"If an old monster like you is getting old, the world's young people are going to weep," Sengoku replied.
Garp was about to answer when an exceptionally sharp cry erupted from the Thunder Angel. At such close range, the sound was almost unbearable.
Both men immediately tensed, fearing that the creature was about to transform again.
Fortunately, the Thunder Angel merely contracted its body.
It had previously resembled an artillery platform drilled into the ground, with two enormous golden wings spread outward like part of the Black Order's architecture.
Now it drew every structure inward, becoming much smaller than its original form.
Was it transforming again?
Sengoku gritted his teeth. Was this creature immortal?
Fortunately, the event he feared did not occur. The Thunder Angel's next change involved every crystalline plate extending backward, followed by an eruption of blood.
Yes, crimson blood surged from the enormous monster like seawater, directly sweeping Garp and Sengoku into the distance.
A strange odor emanated from the blood, like the scent of death. Only then did they confirm that the Thunder Angel had finally "died."
"Is it... over?"
Sengoku could not help asking.
The Thunder Angel's sudden appearance filled him with unease. The creatures targeting Terminal Dogma might possess teleportation, which would make defending the location even more difficult in the future.
A thunderous roar came from behind them. The Thunder God descended from the sky and emerged from the lightning. Looking at the Thunder Angel's colossal body on the ground, he said with relief, "Fortunately, both of you were here. The Thunder Angel suddenly disappeared from the battlefield. We could only rush back as quickly as possible."
"Fortunately, Garp was already heading this way," Sengoku said. "The creature's ability was too strange. Our attacks were useless against it. Only attacks exceeding a certain threshold could force it into tangible form."
The Thunder God nodded, then looked around. "But... what do we do now?"
Nearly a third of the island was covered in the Thunder Angel's blood.
It resembled a sea of blood, with many people still struggling inside it.
"Quickly! Hurry!"
Just as Sengoku was about to speak, a familiar voice came from above. It was Vegapunk!
Vegapunk had grown even more bizarre since they last met. His head had extended farther upward.
A man supported him beneath both arms as they descended from the sky. Immediately after landing beside the others, Vegapunk shouted, "Collect the blood! And retrieve the Thunder Angel's bodily structures!"
Two people had accompanied him.
They were a man and a woman. The handsome man had black hair, bright eyes, and a confident expression.
The woman looked equally heroic, with flowing blonde hair moving in the wind. The two were approximately the same height.
Most importantly, black flames burned continuously over the woman's body, apparently to prevent the blood from touching her.
These were the "androids" created by Vegapunk. After suffering a great many failures, he had finally produced two nearly perfect artificial humans.
Android 17 was the man, while the blonde woman was Android 18.
The two were currently Vegapunk's proudest creations.
"You're such a nag, Doctor." Android 18 looked at the foul-smelling sea of blood with disgust.
The flames burning across her body were the fire of the Lunarian Tribe. The Lunarians were an exceedingly ancient people known as a race of gods. Their flames granted extraordinarily powerful defenses that even someone on the level of an Emperor of the Sea would struggle to penetrate.
"Don't complain. It's only natural for the Doctor to get excited over a species he's never encountered before." Android 17 crouched down and used a container to collect some blood.
Vegapunk concentrated entirely on analyzing the Thunder Angel's blood with some kind of instrument.
Sengoku felt helpless as he watched the scientist's fanatical concentration.
Akainu and Aokiji finally arrived as well. The combatants previously scattered from the Black Order had gathered once more.
They decided to examine the Thunder Angel's core.
Their earlier battle had made it clear that the creature possessed a core and based its numerous transformations around it.
Garp's strongest punch had also targeted that core. Attacks that failed to strike it caused only superficial harm to the Thunder Angel, something already demonstrated during its battle with Akainu, Aokiji, and the Thunder God.
They waded through the sea of blood. Just as they were about to approach the core, another change occurred!
A black speck suddenly appeared inside the cross-shaped region Garp had torn into the sky.
The speck was extremely small, but everyone present was an extraordinary expert.
The battle had only just ended, and no one dared lower their guard. They feared another change in the Thunder Angel and had kept their Observation Haki active.
Although the black speck was tiny, its abrupt appearance immediately attracted their attention.
Everyone looked up at the sky.
The speck expanded within their vision and finally...
Stopped approximately one hundred meters above the ground. As its true appearance gradually became visible, they realized that it...
Was a person?!
A person!
Someone...
Very familiar!
At least, Garp and Sengoku were extremely familiar with him!
A black cloak covered his body, and a hood concealed his head. He wore a familiar mask and emitted an exceptionally strange aura. He seemed to exist and not exist at the same time, resembling both a demon and a god.
The sensation and attire were far too familiar.
"Zero!"
Garp shouted. The exertion tore open his wounds and sent intense pain through his body, but he merely gritted his teeth and stared in disbelief.
How could it be him?
Zero?
This person should have disappeared several decades ago!
He was the man who first triggered the changes throughout the world. Everything began when he unleashed the Nine-Tails to rampage across the Sabaody Archipelago. His identity had also been uncovered long ago.
The so-called Zero had been the finest "seed" among an Aatrox-worshiping tribe who acquired demonic power through Pandora's Box. The name Zero meant that he was Subject Zero. They were a collective whose purpose was to carry Aatrox's power and become the vessel for his resurrection.
A member of that group had sailed aboard Roger's ship, although he had not become Subject Zero. Instead, he had been the finest candidate beneath Zero, "Subject One."
But that entire group should have been eradicated long ago.
During the battle in the Jaltzburg Kingdom, every demon worshiper sacrificed themselves to summon the Demon Lord Aatrox and became the flesh of his newborn body.
Afterward, even Pandora's Box was brought to the World Government by Makima, and Pandora Island was established around it. Yet...
Why had another Zero appeared?
As they watched him floating in the sky, Garp and Sengoku felt as though time itself had become disordered.
The others had never personally seen Zero, but their expressions changed dramatically upon hearing the name. It appeared in the World Government's classified files, which required at least Admiral-level clearance to access.
Everyone present possessed that clearance. They all knew of Zero and understood what the name represented.
Without Pandora's Box, how could another Zero exist?
And what did he intend to do?
Whatever his goal, they could not allow him to accomplish it.
"Buddha's Light Shines Everywhere!" Sengoku roared.
He thrust out a palm, then leaped directly toward Zero.
The others also moved to surround Zero. Garp wanted to join them, but his wounds erupted once more, causing him to collapse into the sea of blood.
Despite facing attacks from so many people, Zero remained completely calm. He merely extended a hand. Faint radiance emerged from the Thunder Angel's core, which transformed into countless points of starlight and rose like innumerable grains of glowing sand.
The luminous grains reached Zero before Sengoku and the others. Only then did Buddha's Palm: Buddha's Light Shines Everywhere strike his body.
Then something inconceivable happened. The palm strike containing such tremendous power...
Passed directly through Zero's body?!
Every subsequent attack did the same. Sengoku's palm, the Thunder God's lightning, Akainu's magma, Aokiji's ice, and the black-flame-infused lasers of Androids 17 and 18 all passed through Zero.
"He... absorbed the Thunder Angel's ability?!"
Everyone's pupils contracted. This was precisely the power the Thunder Angel had displayed, yet it had now appeared in Zero.
Considering that the Thunder Angel's core had vanished, Sengoku could not help shouting his conclusion.
"Absorbed?" Zero finally spoke. His voice was deep and magnetic but seemed completely devoid of emotion, making him somewhat different from the former Zero.
"This power belonged to us from the beginning. How can you call its return absorption?"
"All who steal the power of God must die," Zero said softly.
He extended a finger, but instead of pointing at Sengoku and the others, he aimed toward the Thunder Angel's "corpse" below.
A dazzling flash appeared at his fingertip, then erupted into an enormous pillar of light!
The pillar descended without mercy and swallowed the Thunder Angel's body. As though purified by radiance, the creature dissolved into particles of light and vanished...
It disappeared completely.
The enormous crystalline body simply ceased to exist.
Even the spreading sea of blood began evaporating.
Zero's eyes were arrogant, yet seemed to contain a trace of pity.
Then his body vanished.
He left only a crowd of almost stupefied people at the Black Order headquarters.
Zero...
Had displayed spatial abilities from the very beginning.
Sengoku descended to the ground, his heart unable to calm down.
Zero said the Thunder Angel's power had originally belonged to them, then called the creature a thief of God's power. What exactly...
What did that mean?
As they stared at the empty ground ahead, their hearts felt equally empty.
After fighting for so long...
What had their efforts accomplished?
"What... exactly is Zero?" Sengoku unconsciously asked.
No one could answer. He had at least personally experienced Zero's era, while everyone else belonged to a younger generation. If an old man like him did not know, how could the young possibly understand?
"Fleet Admiral?"
A person suddenly appeared before them, a woman.
Makima stood where the Thunder Angel had fallen, though no one knew when she had arrived. Its body had already been consumed by the light, yet she seemed to be stroking something that remained.
Makima, who had been absent throughout the battle, turned toward the Admirals and clasped her hands behind her back. "You have all worked hard. You successfully protected this world."
"..." Everyone remained silent.
Immediately after defeating the Thunder Angel, they had indeed believed that. They had protected the world and felt joy at their success. Now, however, they felt uncertain.
Had they...
Truly protected the world?
Or had all their effort merely benefited Zero?
"There is no need for uncertainty. You need only protect the justice at your backs," Makima said. "At the very least... your defense has allowed this fragile and pitiful world to survive for another..."
She raised her head and looked toward the place in the sky where Zero had appeared and disappeared.
She quietly finished her sentence.
"Seven days."
----
You can read 30 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi