On the walls of Mary Geoise, Kael Grylls closed his eyes. His Observation Haki spread outward from him in ripples, like circles expanding across a still pond.
The screaming, the collapsing buildings, the crackle of flames… all that noise was filtered out automatically.
His perception pierced stone and crowds, locking onto several unusual targets with pinpoint precision.
Within the packed stampede of fugitives, a man with gray-green hair was forcing his way upstream.
He shouted Stella's name over and over, frantic. In those eyes, burning like molten gold, lived an obsession and desire intense enough to devour everything.
Gild Tesoro.
Kael's awareness paused on him for the briefest moment.
The future Gold Emperor's talent was beyond question. A piece like that could not be wasted.
His senses stretched farther, skimming across a chaotic courtyard before fixing on a pocket of shadow.
A black-haired girl was shielding two younger sisters with her body. Unlike the other slaves, whose faces held only terror and confusion, her eyes were coldly calm, vicious in a way that didn't match her age, waiting for the right moment.
Boa Hancock.
A thought flickered through Kael's mind.
His villa did seem to be missing a maid to handle the cleaning.
Or maybe… a whole combat maid squad was not a bad idea.
Hancock, you don't want your sisters…
Just then, a powerful wind surged up from below the Red Line, carrying three familiar presences with it.
Kael's attention shifted to the sea. He caught the speeding vessel and the man at its prow, cloaked in green.
So Dragon actually came.
A ripple stirred through Kael's thoughts. Looks like Dragon didn't become the "Sweating King" from the original story after all, sacrificing comrades for the so-called greater good.
"You don't understand revolution."
"You don't understand the bigger picture."
"The Revolutionary Army was still weak back then."
Fair enough.
After all, at this moment, Fisher Tiger wasn't exactly top tier. In the original story, a single Marine vice admiral with twenty soldiers could wound him badly.
And yet even with that level of strength, he could tear through Mary Geoise and escape alive.
That told you how empty the Holy Land's defenses were right now.
Question: How do you storm Mary Geoise?
Tiger: If you have hands, you can do it.
Dragon's arrival was an expected variable.
Kael gathered his thoughts and turned his head, murmuring instructions to Gecko Moria beside him.
"Kehehehehe… leave it to me." Moria let out a creepy laugh, his body sinking into the shadow at his feet, vanishing without a sound.
Only then did Kael look the other way.
Donquixote Doflamingo's body trembled with warped pleasure. He held his sunglasses in place, staring into the burning hell below.
That place had once been his home.
It was also the root of everything he hated.
"Well, Doffy?" Kael's voice was soft.
"Fufufu…" Doflamingo's laugh crawled up from his throat. He turned slowly, grin splitting into something unhinged. "This is the best kind of high!"
"Go." Kael's tone stayed even. "Watch quietly, or slaughter to your heart's content. Do what you want. I'll cover you."
Doflamingo's laugh stopped dead.
The madness slipped off his face. He stared at Kael, stunned.
A moment later, the proud Heavenly Demon lowered himself to one knee, bowing his noble head with rare solemnity.
Then he sprang up. His fingers twitched, threads snapping out to coil around distant buildings. He became a streak of light and shot straight into the fire and chaos.
No one could see what his expression looked like then.
The movement atop the wall finally drew the attention of the CP units below.
A CP9 agent directing the scene was screaming himself hoarse, trying to hold some kind of order inside the sea of flames.
He glanced up by accident.
His body froze. It was like being plunged into ice.
"Hawk-Eye" Mihawk.
And the other one… the man who only had to stand there for the air over the sea itself to congeal…
"Wave King" Aaron Kael!
The man who, by his own strength alone, had turned the Great Pirate Era upside down!
"It's the Wave King! The attack on Mary Geoise… he planned it!"
A shrill scream tore through the chaotic night.
Kael: ?
That same scream split the sky again.
In an instant, every CP agent putting out fires, escorting Celestial Dragons, or hunting escaped slaves stopped at once.
They whipped their heads up toward the wall. The moment they recognized the two figures, an icy chill shot from their feet straight into their skulls.
How dare he?
How dare he show up here?!
The shock lasted only a heartbeat before it turned into a tidal wave of rage.
This was the ultimate blasphemy against the gods' home.
"All units! Target the Wave King on the wall!"
"Take him down at any cost!"
"Protect the Celestial Dragons! Do not let him get closer to Mary Geoise!"
Orders were almost unnecessary.
Dozens of figures kicked off the air with piercing booms, surging upward from every direction.
Soru. Geppo. Rankyaku.
The Rokushiki techniques that could make ordinary pirates tremble were unleashed without restraint. Blades and killing intent wove together into a suffocating net in the sky, crashing down toward Kael!
These were the elite of the elites within CP. Every single one of them possessed strength comparable to Marine HQ officers.
Kael's expression didn't change.
The Five Elders… can you still sit there?
He slowly raised his right hand. Black-red lightning erupted out of nothingness, raging around his body!
"Immortal Dao Killing Art: Ten Thousand Me!"
The sky darkened.
Not from clouds blotting out the moon, but from something deeper, higher, more dimensional.
Firelight, moonlight, starlight… every source of light was swallowed in an instant.
A colossal black hand, impossible to describe with human language, slowly reached down from the heavens above everyone's heads.
The lines in its palm were intricate and grotesque. Stare too closely and you could swear they were made of countless voiceless, wailing souls twisted together.
It pressed down with absolute indifference, as if looking upon ants.
It lowered over all of Mary Geoise.
Time and space turned viscous.
Those CP elites charging Kael went stiff in midair the moment the hand appeared.
The rage and murderous intent on their faces were replaced by pure, ultimate terror.
Then they fell, one after another, like puppets with their strings cut.
On the ground, slaves fleeing in panic and guards scrambling in fear were slammed flat by the overwhelming pressure, pinned so hard they couldn't move.
They looked up, faces filled with terror and confusion.
And the Celestial Dragons, who usually perched high above everything and called themselves gods, became the ugliest of all.
"T-that… what is that monster?!"
"Someone! Guards! Guards!"
One Celestial Dragon rolled his eyes back, foaming at the mouth, and fainted on the spot.
More of them collapsed, limp as rags, foul liquid soaking into their luxurious clothes.
As "gods," when had they ever felt death this close?
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