Cake Island, backyard pool.
Lucien lay on a recliner, eyes half closed, enjoying a slow, deliberate massage. The one serving him was none other than the most beautiful woman in the world, Boa Hancock. Her hands moved across his shoulders with practiced devotion.
In the pool nearby were Shirahoshi, Ain the user of the Reverse Reverse Fruit, Kaido's daughter Yamato, Monet, and several other stunning women. Laughter echoed softly over the water.
It was the kind of life many only dreamed of. Drunk, resting on a beauty's lap. Awake, holding power over the world. Sharing a bed with legends. For Lucien, it was simply reality.
"Master."
Caesar Clown stepped out from the Mirror World and floated toward the backyard, his long coat swaying behind him.
Lucien did not open his amethyst eyes. He merely tilted his head slightly, signaling Hancock to continue.
"Has there been any progress with Da Ivan?" he asked calmly.
Caesar rarely returned to Cake Island without reason.
"Yes. Da Ivan has almost been completely researched. Only one final component is missing."
He could not hide the pride in his voice. Under his supervision were tens of thousands of scientists, all captured by the Savior Group from across the seas. Entire kingdoms had fallen to supply this research.
Lucien finally opened his eyes, violet irises glinting coldly.
"What is missing?"
"Dyna Stones."
"Dyna Stones?"
At first, Lucien showed no reaction. Then his expression shifted slightly.
He remembered. Those weapons had appeared in the events surrounding Zephyr. They were comparable to Ancient Weapons in destructive capability.
"Yes," Caesar continued eagerly. "Dyna Stones are extremely unstable weapons. The moment they come into contact with oxygen or experience intense pressure, they detonate. With sufficient yield, the explosion becomes catastrophic."
Lucien sat up.
"Bring Zephyr."
A guard immediately moved.
Before long, Zephyr arrived. His severed arm had long since been restored through Trafalgar Law's ability.
"You know where the Dyna Stones are," Lucien stated, not asking.
"I do," Zephyr replied.
He had once planned to seize the Marines' Dyna Stones and destroy the three magma chambers in the New World, wiping the entire sea off the map. Before he could act, he had been crushed and forced into the Savior Group.
"Take Garp, Kizaru, Shiki, and Dragon. Retrieve every Dyna Stone and deliver them to Caesar."
"Yes."
Zephyr left without hesitation.
Soon after, Garp, Kizaru, the Golden Lion Shiki, Monkey D. Dragon, and Zephyr soared into the sky, heading toward a Marine fortress in the New World.
Lucien leaned back again.
"With the Dyna Stones, how long until Da Ivan is complete?"
"Three months," Caesar answered after brief calculation. "I guarantee it."
"Good. Fail to meet that deadline, and you will kill yourself."
Lucien waved him away.
Caesar's face turned pale. "Yes."
He quickly returned to the Mirror World and disappeared.
Lucien kept his eyes closed.
"Squat down. Use your mouth."
His voice was indifferent, as if giving a routine order.
Hancock obeyed without hesitation.
Shirahoshi, Monet, and the others barely reacted. They had long grown used to Lucien's depravity.
After eliminating billions of lives without blinking, such indulgences were trivial to him.
Eventually, Lucien rose from the pool area and began training.
Lust meant nothing compared to life.
In Lucien's philosophy, life equaled power. Only the strong survived. Only the strong decided fate. Everything else was decoration.
With weight enhancement constantly applied to his body, he could train anywhere. He pushed himself beyond exhaustion, tearing muscle, rupturing skin. Blood soaked the ground beneath him.
As long as a breath remained, Mansherry, Law, and Kuma could restore him.
The only regret was that self inflicted damage could not trigger his near death ability. Otherwise, he would have exploited it endlessly.
He was ruthless even to himself.
The next day, Dragon and the others returned with a massive quantity of Dyna Stones.
Now, they waited.
Their raid only deepened the conflict between the Savior Group and the World Government. Small skirmishes became frequent. Medium scale battles were inevitable.
Three months later.
On a central island in the Calm Belt, the sky split open.
A vast mushroom cloud connected sea and heaven. Three concentric shockwave rings expanded outward, annihilating everything in their path.
The island, stretching beyond the horizon, disintegrated instantly. A colossal tsunami swallowed the surrounding waters. At the center, a black abyss remained, as if reality itself had been scooped away.
Even the atmosphere seemed to recoil.
Lucien stood midair, T shirt and beach shorts whipping violently in the wind. His amethyst eyes reflected the blazing pillar of destruction.
Behind him floated Whitebeard, Shiki, Redfield, Dragon, and others. Every one of them was shaken.
Da Ivan had been completed.
Though its power was only half of the version Lucien had originally envisioned, it still far surpassed any conventional weapon. One detonation erased an island completely.
"Caesar," Lucien said softly, "you've done well."
Caesar trembled in excitement.
"I'm granting you two more months. Increase production to one hundred units. That is the minimum."
Caesar's grin faltered.
"Master… two months is too short."
"Then work without rest," Lucien replied coldly. "In two months, I want the World Government erased."
He stepped into a mirror and vanished, leaving Caesar drenched in cold sweat.
While Lucien advanced his weapons, the World Government responded.
The Marines' equipment was upgraded overnight. Technology that did not belong in this era suddenly appeared.
Missiles. Aircraft carriers. Submarines. Aerial warships. Humanoid mechanical weapons resembling Pacifista on an entirely new level.
All of it emerged from within the Red Line.
Even Sengoku and the highest ranking officers were stunned.
A new military branch surfaced, the Air Force.
Its members were elite combatants, each possessing strength comparable to Vice Admirals or even CP0 agents. They operated advanced weaponry with terrifying efficiency.
Additionally, an army of artificial Devil Fruit users was deployed.
Everything flowed out from beneath Mary Geoise.
Around the Holy Land, massive openings appeared in the Red Line. From within them emerged gigantic mechanical constructs, some nearly fifty meters long, clearly weapons of mass destruction.
After eight hundred years of rule, the World Government had finally revealed its fangs.
These relics of a lost era pointed toward the Void Century. Secrets likely tied to Laugh Tale itself.
None of it could be concealed any longer.
Inside the central castle of Cake Island, Lucien sat upon his throne, reviewing intelligence reports.
His eyes narrowed at the sight of aircraft carriers and aerial fleets.
He had believed he alone possessed overwhelming weapons.
Now he understood.
The enemy had been hiding far more.
And that only made him smile.
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