The thunderous noise outside shook the palace so violently that the tables and chairs began rattling across the floor.
Even the hot tea before the Five Elders spilled from its cups as the tremors continued.
A sudden sense of danger stabbed into their minds.
The Five Elders exchanged glances, unable to imagine what could possibly threaten them in Mary Geoise.
Even so, they all rose together and decided to see what was happening outside.
The Cipher Pol agents had not yet reached the palace to deliver their report when the Five Elders pushed open the doors and stepped out to face the disturbance themselves.
Fierce gusts swept in from the distance, carrying clouds of dust and sand with them.
The Five Elders' robes billowed in the wind.
The cursed-blade Elder narrowed his eyes at the tornado surging toward them from afar.
Dark clouds covered the sky, with lightning flashing between them.
A colossal tornado that looked capable of destroying the world was approaching the center of Mary Geoise at terrifying speed.
"What is that?"
The Five Elders had been caught completely unprepared.
Eight hundred years of peaceful rule had made their thinking rigid. Their first assumption was that the tornado had been caused by some abnormal weather.
"Have the Shield of the Celestial Dragons and Kong stop it. That tornado cannot be allowed to reach the city."
"If it disturbs the Celestial Dragons, everyone responsible will pay the price."
The Five Elders did not mention Imu by name.
They simply ordered Cipher Pol to deal with the tornado as quickly as possible.
In their eyes, although such a storm posed a threat to ordinary people, it would have great difficulty injuring true powerhouses.
Even so, they had to preserve the peace of Mary Geoise.
Otherwise, those members of their own race whom they had raised into pampered pigs would complain and stir up trouble everywhere.
"We cannot allow it to disturb Lord Imu's cultivation. If that happens, we will certainly be held responsible," Mars said coldly.
Warcury judged the tornado's distance before relaxing his furrowed brow.
"It should be fine. It is still some distance away. The Shield of the Celestial Dragons can stop it."
Just as the Five Elders began mobilizing their forces to forcibly halt the tornado, they suddenly caught sight of what looked like ships inside the storm.
"Wait. Something about this is wrong."
Nusjuro stared intently into the tornado, trying to confirm that what he had seen was not an illusion.
Then the Shield of the Celestial Dragons made their move.
The seemingly unstoppable tornado gradually slowed. Under the force of projected Armament Haki, the vast clouds of sand and compressed air it carried began falling to the ground.
At the same time, the scene within the tornado became clear.
"What are those ships doing there?!"
Nusjuro stared at the vessels floating in the air and shouted in disbelief.
He had already realized that something was terribly wrong.
None of the ships caught inside the tornado had suffered serious damage. In fact, they were almost completely intact.
His Observation Haki also told him something else.
There were countless human presences aboard those floating ships.
A powerful voice suddenly rang out from one of them, spreading across the whole of Mary Geoise in an instant.
"Today, the Revolutionary Army has crossed the Red Line and arrived in Mary Geoise!"
"We have come to fulfill our promise and give this world an answer!"
"This world has been rotten for far too long. Only a complete revolution can change it!"
"If gods truly exist in this world, they could never be the Celestial Dragons of Mary Geoise—pigs and dogs who call themselves divine!"
"Our purpose here is to shatter the world's belief in these so-called gods and tear apart the ideas that have been rooted in people's minds for generations!"
"Even if we fail here today, our spirit will live on forever!"
"A hundred years from now, more righteous people will come here carrying their own answer for the world. They will walk the road we walked and finish the work we could not!"
"We will tear away the divinity they claim to possess and expose their so-called noble blood for everyone to see. The world will learn that this place, praised as the home of gods, is inhabited by nothing more than ordinary mortals!"
As Dragon's roar shook the sky, the lightning churning within the dark clouds gathered into a single form.
A thunder dragon several miles long emerged from the clouds and lunged toward the palace that represented the World Government's highest authority.
Rumble!
Everything in the thunder dragon's path was reduced to charcoal.
Even the Cipher Pol agents who threw themselves in front of it without regard for their lives could not slow it in the slightest.
Nusjuro's face burned with fury. Dragon's speech had driven him nearly mad with rage!
"Don't even think about it!"
"You demon of the D. Clan!"
He drew his cursed blade in one swift motion and unleashed a slash comparable in size to the thunder dragon itself.
High above Mary Geoise, the lightning dragon and the sword beam collided violently.
Boom!
A deafening explosion tore through the sky.
The sword beam cut down the thunder dragon, scattering it into countless bolts of lightning that crashed around the palace.
Screams immediately rang out from every direction, accompanied by the scorched smell of burning buildings.
Nusjuro's expression turned ashen.
What they had feared had finally happened.
Fighting inside Mary Geoise made it impossible for them to control the destruction caused by their power.
Even if they successfully blocked Dragon's attack, everything nearby would still be devastated.
And the area surrounding this palace was filled with members of the Celestial Dragon families.
Mars quickly summoned a Cipher Pol agent.
"Evacuate the Celestial Dragons immediately. If any of them object, knock them unconscious and carry them away."
Although the Five Elders privately regarded the ordinary members of their race as little more than pampered pigs, they still could not allow them to die like this.
More importantly, their deaths could not be allowed to teach the common people that gods could die too.
Once Dragon realized that a decapitation strike against the Five Elders would not work, he turned his attention to the Shield of the Celestial Dragons.
Sabo, meanwhile, confronted Commander-in-Chief Kong.
Red-Haired Shanks had not yet received any orders from the Five Elders, so he chose to remain where he was and quietly watch the battle between the Revolutionary Army and the World Government.
When Dragon withdrew his power, the ships floating in the air began falling.
They crashed directly into the buildings of Mary Geoise.
One lavish structure after another, decorated with ornate carvings and statues, was easily crushed beneath them.
Revolutionary Army soldiers armed with rifles, sabers, and swords then leaped from the ships and launched a merciless assault.
This was a war waged by mortals against "gods."
It was also humanity's judgment upon those "gods."
...
Almost at the same moment Dragon launched his attack, the thunderous noise from ten thousand meters above finally reached New Marineford.
Raleigh was sitting inside his office when he heard it.
In an instant, he vanished and appeared atop the highest point of the building, looking toward the distant sky.
"So you've finally made your move, Dragon?"
As far as Raleigh was concerned, only Dragon or Imu could cause such a disturbance in Mary Geoise.
Imu should not yet have completed the final evolution needed to become the true master of the Empty Throne.
That left Dragon.
Besides, Raleigh could roughly guess Dragon's objective and route.
The only thing he had never been certain of was when Dragon would launch his attack on Mary Geoise.
"Raleigh, what happened?"
After the explosion reached New Marineford, Momonga and Cleveland failed to find Raleigh inside his office.
Sensing his presence on the roof, they quickly followed and appeared behind him.
Raleigh raised his right hand and pointed toward the sky.
"Up there, in Mary Geoise, the Holy Land of the Celestial Dragons, a group of fearless people are slaying gods."
Momonga and Cleveland immediately understood whom Raleigh meant, and their eyes widened.
"They really attacked Mary Geoise?"
Their shock was understandable.
The two of them had privately calculated what it would take to invade Mary Geoise.
According to their estimates, even with the advantage of striking first, reaching the heart of Mary Geoise would require at least two days.
The World Government had its own army stationed there aside from the Marines.
Cipher Pol was also an extremely troublesome opponent.
Combined with the Red Line's naturally defensible terrain, even two days was an optimistic estimate.
Yet the Revolutionary Army, which lacked almost everything, had somehow broken directly into the Celestial Dragons' Holy Land.
Neither of them could understand how it was possible.
"How did they get in?" Cleveland could not help asking.
Raleigh rolled his eyes.
"How would I know? I'm not Dragon."
Ten minutes later, while the three of them were still speculating about how Dragon had climbed the Red Line, a Marine soldier called up from below.
"Fleet Admiral Raleigh, urgent intelligence!"
"The World Government is ordering us to deploy immediately to Mary Geoise and eliminate the Revolutionary Army. The Five Elders have also demanded that you personally appear."
"We have also received a special live broadcast signal. It seems to be coming from the battlefield in Mary Geoise."
Raleigh initially looked dismissive when he heard the report, but then his eyes lit up.
"Wait. What did you say?"
"You can receive a live broadcast signal from Mary Geoise?"
Once the Marine confirmed it, Raleigh immediately brightened.
He looked even happier about this than he had upon realizing Dragon was attacking Mary Geoise.
"Order the signal transferred to the large screen in the plaza. At the same time, have the Staff Office connect it to the global broadcasting network."
"We are going to show this battle to the entire world!"
Raleigh burst into laughter.
He would be doing himself a disservice if he passed up such a perfect chance to kick the World Government while it was down.
During the Summit War, Sengoku had become so furious because the things he wanted hidden had been exposed.
Buggy had broadcast Whitebeard's final words to the world.
That had helped usher in the Worst Generation.
But now, the situation was different.
This time, the Marines controlled the broadcast, while the World Government would be the one suffering the headache.
In truth, Raleigh did not have much confidence in the Revolutionary Army's chances of victory at Mary Geoise.
What he valued was the enormous impact their assault would have.
Even if the Marines stayed out of the conflict between the Revolutionary Army and the World Government, the World Government could not possibly lose to a Revolutionary Army that possessed little wealth or equipment.
Whether in the number of powerful fighters or the quality of their weapons, the World Government far surpassed the newly risen Revolutionary Army.
The Revolutionary Army had simply caught them unprepared with a sudden attack directly at their heart.
Once Cipher Pol stabilized the battlefield, the Revolutionary Army's gains would steadily diminish until they were finally annihilated.
But even if they failed, they could still destroy the world's fear of the Celestial Dragons.
People would see that the Celestial Dragons they had never dared look directly at could die like ordinary humans.
They would see the same red blood flowing from their bodies.
That sight would break the rigid beliefs rooted in their minds.
People would begin asking themselves: if "gods" could bleed, what made them different from mortals?
If the Revolutionary Army could resist them, why couldn't everyone else?
At the same time, this battle would teach Marine soldiers that the Celestial Dragons were nothing extraordinary.
After all, in the minds of most Marine soldiers, the Celestial Dragons were still the world's sacred nobility.
If even a Revolutionary Army incapable of defeating the Marines could inflict heavy casualties upon the Celestial Dragons, then how far could the Marines go?
That was why Raleigh wanted the battlefield in Mary Geoise broadcast to the entire world.
...
At the same time, people across the world suddenly put down whatever work they were doing.
They turned toward the large screens lighting up in their cities.
As the broadcast announcer explained the location, they realized where the battle was taking place.
Then every one of them fell speechless with shock.
They stood frozen like wooden statues, able only to watch the figures dying across the battlefield.
The most eye-catching among them was a man dressed in the traditional clothing of a Celestial Dragon, lying on the ground with resentment frozen across his face.
He was a Celestial Dragon of the purest blood.
And he was the first Celestial Dragon to die at the hands of the Revolutionary Army.
Even after sacrificing their lives, Cipher Pol's agents had failed to stop the Revolutionary soldiers charging forward like hungry wolves.
When the Celestial Dragon was caught, he still wore his usual arrogant expression.
He had even drawn his pistol and tried to shoot the Revolutionary soldier beside him.
The result was obvious.
The Revolutionary soldier did not hesitate.
The moment the Celestial Dragon raised his weapon, a bullet tore through his body.
Then gunfire erupted around him like a storm, bullets falling like rain.
Filled with resentment until the end, he died in Mary Geoise—the place called the sacred home of the Celestial Dragons.
"H-Hey… this has to be a joke…"
"A Celestial Dragon actually died!"
A voice suddenly rose from the crowd, and then everyone erupted into panic.
They were afraid.
Experience had taught them that whenever a Celestial Dragon died, the World Government and Marines would retaliate without mercy.
The killer would be hunted down and reduced to ashes.
But as people began running, another voice called out from among them.
"Why are you running? He died in Mary Geoise, not here!"
That one sentence made the fleeing civilians stop and realize the obvious.
The Celestial Dragon had not died anywhere near them.
There was no reason they could not go back and continue watching.
And so, the entire world gathered before its screens and watched the battle between the Revolutionary Army and the World Government.
As more and more Celestial Dragons died at the hands of the Revolutionary Army, a young voice rose from the crowd once again.
"So world nobles can die too. Their blood is also—"