Flashback
The Holy Land of Marie Geoise burned.
Once a pristine city of marble and gold, it now shuddered beneath its own arrogance.
The flames Nyx D. Ada had unleashed reflected in the broken glass domes, painting the heavens red. Smoke bled into the air, mixing with the echoes of fleeing slaves and the clash of steel. The scent of ozone lingered — Enel's lightning still dancing in the clouds above.
Below the ruins, the freed captives cried out — voices trembling between disbelief and joy as they ran toward the shattered gates. Chains clattered against the stone, broken and cast aside.
Hiyori and Perona moved through the smoke, helping the children and the wounded down the crumbling slopes. Lilith's drones projected flickering blue routes through the flames, guiding the escape toward the sea.
Ada stood at the center of it all, the light of the burning capital glinting against her eyes.
"Okiku!" she called out over the roar of collapsing marble.
The samurai turned immediately, her blade still dripping with blood from the fight against the God's Knights.
Ada pointed toward the retreating crowd of former slaves — men, women, children, all staggering toward the lower path.
"Go with them," Ada ordered. "Make sure they reach the shore alive. If those bastards try to chase them, cut them down."
Okiku hesitated. "Captain— what about you?"
Ada's voice was steady, sharp through the chaos.
"Don't worry about me. The fight's not over yet. But their freedom comes first. That's an order."
Okiku looked into her eyes for a long second, then nodded firmly. "Understood."
She turned and sprinted into the smoke, her armor glinting faintly in the firelight.
Her voice carried back through the roar — calm, strong, resolute.
"Everyone, this way! Stay close! The sea's waiting for us!"
End of Flashback
Now on the highest terrace — the throne's shadow — Ada stood still.
Her drsss fluttered behind her, torn and blackened by ash. Bullet and Mihawk flanked her, silent and ready. Enel hovered a few steps above the ground, lightning humming softly around his arms. Fisher Tiger's chest heaved, his body covered in burns and blood, yet his eyes burned brighter than ever.
The ground trembled.
A sound like stone screaming split the air.
From the heart of the city, five silhouettes emerged through the smoke — massive, ancient, their presence suffocating. The Five Elders had arrived.
Each one was different — one bald and towering, one hunched and serpentine, one with cold, dead eyes that gleamed like obsidian. Their steps cracked the ground beneath them. The air itself warped.
At their center stood Saturn — eyes glowing with a cruel, dark light.
"Nyx," he said, voice deep as thunder. "Even after all these years, you haven't learned your place."
Ada's gaze was steady, her voice calm — too calm.
"It's been a while, Saturn. You look less divine when you're standing in the dirt."
A murmur rippled through her crew.
Lilith blinked, her mechanical lens focusing. "She knows his name…?"
Enel tilted his head. "Oi, oi… since when were you on a first-name basis with these freaks?"
Saturn's face darkened. "You should not speak that name so casually, pirate. You are standing in the land of gods."
Ada smirked faintly. "Gods? I've seen better manners from sea kings."
Her hand brushed the side of her gun — a lazy, deliberate motion.
Behind her, Bullet's grin widened. "So, these are the ones behind all that 'divine justice,' huh? Don't look so high and mighty to me."
Mihawk's fingers slid along Yoru's hilt. "Their presence is heavy… but not untouchable."
Saturn took a step forward, and the air rippled like boiling tar.
"You shouldn't have come here, Nyx D. Ada. Your existence alone threatens the order of the world."
Ada tilted her head slightly. "Order? You call this order? Slavery. Lies. A throne built on bones. You call that divine?"
Saturn's eyes narrowed. "You speak of things you cannot comprehend."
Ada's smirk faded into something colder. "Oh, I comprehend plenty. But tell me—"
Her eyes lifted, meeting Saturn's with a cutting sharpness.
"Where's the King of Rats?"
Silence.
The wind seemed to stop.
Bullet's brow furrowed. "King of what now?"
Mihawk's gaze flicked toward her, sharp and questioning.
Even Lilith's drones paused, hovering in midair.
Ada continued, her voice quiet but lethal.
"Don't tell me he's hiding again. He was always good at that."
Saturn's face twitched — a crack in his immortal calm. "You dare—"
Ada cut him off. "The world believes the Empty Throne is sacred. That no one sits upon it. But it's not empty. There's someone sitting there. His name is Imu."
The name hung in the air like a curse.
Mihawk's eyes narrowed. Enel's lightning flickered erratically. Bullet stopped grinning.
Lilith's recording lenses clicked frantically. "Recording— recording— unknown term detected— Imu…?"
The elders moved almost simultaneously. One slammed his hand into the ground — the marble cracked and hissed with black fire. Another's shadow stretched into monstrous shapes, twisting around Ada's feet.
"Enough!" Saturn roared. "You will not speak that name!"
Ada didn't move. Her voice dropped to a whisper, but every word carried.
"Rocks failed because of that bastard. Imu destroyed God Valley — not us."
The crew froze.
Even Bullet looked momentarily stunned.
"You mean— Rocks didn't…?" Enel started.
Ada's eyes stayed on Saturn. "He failed because he challenged a ghost sitting on the world's throat. And now that ghost thinks it can stay hidden."
Saturn's aura expanded — grotesque horns and limbs tearing through his human form. His voice grew deeper, distorted. "To know that name is to forfeit your life, Nyx D. Ada!"
Ada drew her pistol, her voice calm and sharp as glass.
"Then come and take it."
The world exploded.
Saturn lunged — monstrous, his form half-demon, half-machine. Ada dodged to the side, her Pierce-Pierce Fruit activating with a sharp crack as she cut through the air. The blast she unleashed tore a trench across the marble, sending shards flying.
Bullet charged another elder, his body warping into mechanical mass, fists like cannons.
"Come on then, old bastards! Let's see if immortality can save you!"
He slammed one through a column, the explosion echoing like thunder.
Mihawk engaged another, their swords clashing with a metallic shriek that split the air. Sparks rained around them, their movements too fast to follow.
Enel raised his arm — lightning streaked from his fingertips, searing through the mist and blasting an elder who tried to flank Ada.
"Your thunder's late," Ada said without looking.
Enel smirked. "Figured you'd want the first shot."
Lilith stood behind, drones flying frantically around her, recording every movement. Her hands trembled as she narrated for the record.
"Five Elders confirmed— exhibiting unknown biological and… divine transformations— impossible power signatures…"
Fisher Tiger swung a massive trident, intercepting one of the shadowy forms lunging toward Ada. His muscles strained, his teeth clenched.
"They call themselves gods— but they bleed just the same!"
Saturn turned his gaze toward him. "A slave dares raise his hand to divinity?"
Ada's bullet struck his arm before he could move.
"She dares raise hers too."
Saturn's arm exploded into black ichor, reforming almost instantly. His gaze returned to Ada, his voice low and vibrating with fury.
"You know too much. You always have."
Ada's stance didn't falter. "And you've hidden too long."
The two lunged at each other again — shockwaves tearing through the ruins, shattering what remained of the palaces. Their clash rippled through the entire Holy Land.
Mihawk cut down another elder's attack that would have pierced Ada's back, his voice calm amid chaos.
"You're attracting divine attention again."
Ada smirked faintly. "It's about time."
Bullet's laughter echoed through the smoke. "This is it! The gods, the throne — all of it! Let's show 'em what the new world really looks like!"
From the edge of the platform, Lilith's drones panned toward Ada as she stood among the flames — gun raised, cloak torn, eyes glowing faintly from the heat of the battle.
Then—
The ground trembled again.
From beneath the great palace, a dark pulse spread through the marble. The flames bent inward, drawn toward something vast and unseen. The air thickened. Even the Elders froze for a moment.
Ada stopped moving. Her eyes narrowed toward the highest tower — the throne room.
Her voice came quiet, like a whisper meant for the world itself.
"So you finally woke up…"
She lifted her gun, aiming it toward the burning palace.
"…Imu."
The smoke parted for just a second — enough to reveal a shifting silhouette atop the throne.
Eyes gleaming like stars through the haze.
The Five Elders turned as one, expressions suddenly grim — almost fearful.
Lilith's drone caught it all.
The recording burned in, the lens overheating, yet it kept filming.
Ada exhaled slowly, lowering her gun just slightly.
"Looks like the king of rats still remembers me."
The wind carried her words through the wreckage of the Holy Land, through fire and ash.
And in that moment — as the shadow of Imu loomed above them, and the Elders surrounded the crew — it felt as though the world itself held its breath.
The throne was no longer empty.
And amid the ruins and the throne, Nyx D. Ada still stood — the woman who refused to bow.