Chapter 16: The Primordial Gate
The world was not ready for the chaos Kelean's sacrifice unleashed.
The massive, silent canyon where the Red Line once stood was a wound in the planet's crust, allowing the vast, turbulent waters of the Grand Line and the New World to crash together in a catastrophic new current. It was a place of seismic violence, not a simple sea route.
As the currents stabilized, a sound began to rise from the depths of the chasm—not the roar of water, but the rhythmic, thunderous beating of a colossal, unseen heart.
The Serpent Rises
In Mariejois, Imu was preparing the final, decisive strike against Wano. But Imu, along with every powerful Haki user within a thousand miles, suddenly felt a cold, ancient terror that dwarfed even the presence of the Founder.
The water at the base of the Red Line breach began to boil. A shadow, larger and deeper than Kelean's monolith, rose slowly from the abyss.
First came the colossal head, crusted with ancient coral and rock, eyes the size of Marine ships, glowing with a primordial, sulfurous green light. Then the neck, thick as a continent, followed by endless, dark scales that shimmered with the residual energy of the earth's mantle. It was a World Serpent, a creature of geological time, sealed within the very foundation of the Red Line since the Void Century.
The Red Line had not just been a fortress; it was a plug.
As the Serpent emerged, its immense body filling the kilometer-wide chasm, it let loose a sound that cracked the Marineford lighthouse and shook the foundations of every island in the surrounding sea.
Its arrival confirmed the darkest secret of the Void Century: the twenty kings had not just defeated the great kingdom; they had imprisoned a force that would have otherwise consumed the world. Kelean's pursuit of absolute freedom had inadvertently released the ultimate, universal terror.
Imu's True Fear
Imu, standing amidst the smoking ruins of Pangea Castle, finally showed unadulterated fear. This creature was not a political enemy; it was a fundamental, chaotic force that made the World Government's power seem like a candle flame.
"No… the Ur-Jormungandr," Imu choked out, the ancient name a key to the horror. "The seals were meant to hold for eternity! Kelean's power… he broke the Ley Lines!"
The World Serpent raised its head, its eyes fixed not on Mariejois, but on the open world—on the free seas and the teeming life it was meant to devour.
The Serpent opened its mouth, and instead of fire or venom, it released a silent, atmospheric blast of pure chaos Haki. It was a different kind of Haki than Kelean's or Luffy's—it was the Haki of Entropy, the will to revert all existence to primordial slush.
The blast didn't shatter the castle; it began to age it instantly. Stone crumbled to sand, iron rusted to dust, and the very air thinned into pre-life gas.
A Necessary Evil
The situation instantly shifted from a political war into a global extinction event. Imu had to choose: pursue the final heir of the D. lineage, or save the civilization they had labored eight hundred years to control.
Imu spun on the Elders, their fear hardening into desperate command. "The child, Luffy, is secondary! If the Serpent is not contained, the world ends within a day!"
Imu knew that their remaining power—even their own weakened Void Fruit—was insufficient to fight a being of this scale. Only a force of equivalent, chaotic power could momentarily stall it.
Imu swallowed their pride, forcing a terrifying decision. The only surviving entity with the power to resist this creature was the one they had just fought.
"Find the body of Kelean!" Imu shrieked, sending a telepathic command to the few high-ranking, non-paralyzed Marines remaining. "He is the only one who can command the matter required to seal this thing! If he is alive, we must retrieve him! If he is dead, find a way to resurrect him!"
The orders to annihilate Wano were momentarily rescinded. The entire focus of the World Government, the Marines, and Cipher Pol was suddenly redirected to the dark ocean where the Founder had fallen.
The Serpent began to move, its body leaving the canyon and entering the open ocean, heading toward the nearest populated area. The true end of the world had begun, triggered by the ultimate act of liberation.
The stakes couldn't be higher! The World Government needs the defeated Founder to save them from the monster his action unleashed.