The Holy Land of Mariejois was burning.
Smoke swallowed the marble towers that once gleamed like heaven's teeth. The gold-inlaid streets were split and blackened; the shrill chime of shattered bells still echoed in the wind.
The city of "gods" was choking on its own flames.
The white stone towers that once scraped the sky now spat black smoke.
The air reeked of scorched silk and molten gold.
The "throne of gods" had become a pyre.
From the highest terrace, Ada stood, dress torn by wind, the glow of the inferno painting her dark hair in red and gold.
The Marines had fallen back. The Celestial Dragon guards had fled or died where they knelt.
The smell of fire and salt filled the holy capital.
Her eyes scanned the devastation below — the holy banners trampled in the streets, the gilded mansions collapsing under their own arrogance.
Behind her, her crew gathered — each one marked by battle, but still unbroken.
Bullet exhaled slowly, fists smoking. "So this is what heaven looks like when it falls."
Mihawk slid Yoru into its sheath, his gaze flicking toward the burning horizon. "Heaven never stood that high to begin with."
Enel gave a short, humorless laugh — sparks flickering across his arms as he looked up at the smoke-stained sky. "They spent centuries pretending to be gods. All it took was one storm to remind them they were just men."
Ada didn't answer. Her eyes were already on the plaza below — where the last of the chains clattered against the stones.
Dozens of slaves, some human, some fishmen, some barely standing, were being freed by Fisher Tiger, Okiku, and Lilith.
"Keep going," Ada ordered. "No one stays behind."
Fisher Tiger nodded. His deep, calm voice carried through the din.
"You heard her! Break every lock you see — these chains will never touch you again!"
He tore through a shackle with one massive hand, lifting a fallen man to his feet.
"Breathe, brother," he said. "You're free."
The man sobbed, clutching his arm. "Free…? Are you— Are you real?"
Tiger smiled faintly. "Real enough. Go — the path below leads to the sea."
Okiku knelt beside a young girl, gently wiping the soot from her cheek.
"There. You can walk now. Don't look back."
The girl stared up at her with wide, trembling eyes. "Are you an angel?"
Okiku chuckled softly, shaking her head. "No, little one. Just someone who hates cages."
Lilith moved quickly among them, slicing through locks with a plasma cutter she'd built from scrap. Her mechanical eyes flickered as she scanned the wounded.
"Vitals stabilizing… heart rates dropping… good," she muttered, more to herself than anyone. "You'll live."
One of the slaves — a tall, green haired man with bruised wrists — caught Ada's attention.
He stepped forward hesitantly. "You… you're the one who brought this down?"
Ada's eyes met his, steady and cold. "No. They did — when they built their heaven on the backs of slaves. I just tore it down."
The man swallowed. "My name is Tesoro… I had everything once. Until they took it all." His voice shook, but his eyes burned. "Take me with you. I won't rot in someone else's cage again."
Ada studied him for a long, cold moment.
"Then earn your freedom. Strength isn't enough — purpose keeps you alive."
He nodded firmly. "Then I'll find mine, Captain."
A shout rose from the far side of the plaza.
Fisher Tiger turned sharply.
A group of slaves dragged several trembling Celestial Dragons across the ground — their robes torn, faces pale with terror.
One tried to crawl away, shrieking, "Y-You can't! We are gods! You—"
A slave kicked him to the ground, rage shaking his hands. "You're nothing! Nothing!"
The air grew thick — a single heartbeat of silence before Ada's voice cut through it.
"Do as you will."
The words carried like judgment.
She turned her back as the former slaves dragged the trembling nobles toward the crucifix posts they once used for their victims.
The cries rose — pleas, curses, sobs — then broke into silence.
"Let them feel the sun for once," Ada murmured. "It's warmer than heaven ever was."
No hesitation. No mercy.
The slaves looked to her — then back to their captors — and began their grim work.
The posts that once held their kind now bore the gilded masks of their masters.
The cries echoed — high, desperate, unholy — until fire and silence took them both.
Okiku turned away, eyes shadowed. "It's cruel."
Ada's voice came quiet, unwavering. "It's justice. Cruelty is what they called order."
A faint sob caught Ada's attention.
She turned and saw three young girls — small, trembling — huddled behind a broken statue.
Their eyes were wide, their wrists bruised, their ankles chained together.
One of them — the tallest, with long black hair — stepped forward despite her fear. Her voice trembled, but she stood firm.
"Stay away from us!"
Ada walked closer, her steps slow, careful.
"I'm not your enemy."
The girl glared. "You… you killed them."
Ada knelt so she was eye-level.
"They killed themselves the day they took your freedom."
With a single motion, she touched the chain. It shattered into dust.
The girls gasped, clutching each other.
"What's your name?" Ada asked.
The eldest hesitated. "…Hancock."
Ada nodded. "Then listen to me, Hancock. Hate them. But don't let hate control you. The world is big — and cruel. You'll have to be stronger than both."
The girl's chin quivered, but she nodded, eyes wet.
"Then I'll get stronger."
Ada stood, turning to Fisher Tiger. "Get them out. They don't belong here anymore."
Tiger smiled gently. "Aye."
Mihawk watched from the side, his tone low. "You're gathering quite a strange flock, Captain."
Ada didn't turn. "Freedom attracts the strangest kinds."
The crew regrouped by the grand stairway.
Below, smoke coiled down the cliffs where Dragon's ships waited beyond the mist.
Lilith moved beside Ada, eyes darting between the falling embers and her data screens.
"Readings are stabilizing. The evacuation routes are clear," Lilith reported, her tone oddly cheerful for the carnage around them.
Enel leaned on the railing, sparks still flickering across his shoulders. "Tch. Not bad for a holy city. Guess even gods burn when struck by lightning."
Ada didn't respond — her eyes scanned the chaos below. Hundreds of slaves streamed down the stairways, some limping, some carrying the wounded, all following Fisher Tiger's lead.
Hours passed, and the smoke began to thin.
Below, the sea shimmered faintly — the Revolutionary Army's ships now faint silhouettes beneath the mist. The freed slaves streamed down the path carved through the Red Line, guided by Enel's lightning illuminating their way.
Lilith worked beside Ada, adjusting a small recording snail she had mounted on her shoulder. "I've kept the feed rolling. Everything we've done here — every chain broken — it's all on record."
Ada nodded slightly. "Good. Let the world see what their gods have built."
Mihawk leaned against a broken pillar, arms crossed. "The world will see more than they can stomach."
Bullet grinned. "Then they'd better start chewing."
Perona's voice crackled faintly from the den den mushi back on the ship. "Captain, the lower air currents are stable — the last group's almost aboard. Tiger says they're ready to depart on your order."
"Hold position," Ada said. "No one leaves until I say."
The plaza fell quiet for the first time.
Only the crackle of flames and the faint rumble of the Red Line filled the silence.
Ada walked to the edge of the terrace and looked down — to the endless sea, to the smoke curling toward the stars.
Her voice dropped low, almost to herself.
"Everything they built was meant to last forever. Funny how fast forever burns."
Enel gave a soft snort. "Guess eternity didn't plan for us."
Then, without warning, Lilith stiffened.
Lilith's eyes suddenly flickered as data streamed across her visor. "Ada… I'm detecting multiple high-energy signatures inbound — five, converging fast. Their readings are… absurd. I've never seen anything like it."
Bullet's head snapped up. "Marines?"
Lilith shook her head, her voice unsteady for the first time. "No… something else. Five massive energy signatures — too steady to be human."
Bullet frowned. "Five?"
Lilith's lips pressed into a thin line. "It matches the old classified files… the highest authority."
Ada's eyes narrowed.
Her voice dropped to a cold whisper.
"No. That must be them — the ones who rule behind the curtains."
The air changed — pressure bending, heavy enough that the flames flickered out in patches.
Even the smoke began to swirl unnaturally.
Fisher Tiger froze mid-step. "What… is that?"
Ada's hand went to her sword, her eyes narrowing.
"The Five Elders."
The ground trembled faintly — not from impact, but from presence.
Through the heat and smoke, five figures emerged — cloaked, silent, their very outlines distorting reality.
Their eyes glowed faintly in the haze, calm and cold.
The world itself seemed to hush as they stepped into the light of the burning plaza.
Mihawk's fingers twitched toward his sword. "So they finally come down from their throne."
Enel's grin faded. "And here I thought I'd met gods before."
Bullet cracked his neck, smirking. "Good. I was getting bored."
Ada didn't move. Her gaze locked on the approaching silhouettes, her tone flat but sharp as a blade.
"They finally crawl out of their shadows."
One of the Elders stopped a few paces away — tall, white-haired, his expression unreadable.
"You've done enough, Nyx D. Ada. Your crusade ends here."
Ada's lips curled faintly. "Crusade? You call this faith? You enslaved children and called it order."
The Elder's eyes narrowed. "You think your chaos brings peace?"
Ada took a step forward.
"No. But it brings truth. And that's the one thing your world can't kill."
The air quivered. Even the crew felt it — the weight of something vast, ancient, and monstrous pressing against their senses.
Ada exhaled slowly.
"You've hidden behind thrones and monsters long enough," she said.
"You built your heaven on the backs of slaves… and called it order."
Her hand slid to the hilt of her blade.
For a heartbeat, the world held its breath.
Then she smiled — a calm, defiant curve of her lips.
"Let's see if gods can bleed."
Lightning flared behind her as Enel's aura surged again.
Bullet cracked his fists. Mihawk's blade hummed.
Okiku and Lilith positioned themselves defensively before the slaves. Fisher Tiger's stance shifted, ready for war.
The five shadows advanced, silent as death.
And as the wind screamed through the burning ruins of Marie Geoise, the first sparks of the next battle began to glow.