Sabaody Archipelago, Hotel Street.
Inside a quiet room, Emma stood by the window, a stack of newspapers clutched tightly in her hands. Her expression shifted constantly, sometimes hopeful, sometimes grim.
Ethan sat nearby like an iron tower, silent and unmoving. A cup of coffee on the table released faint steam as he stared out at the distant mangroves.
"That bastard isn't dead," Emma said at last, her voice low.
She placed the newspapers down carefully.
If the target had died, the Main God's mission would have automatically disappeared. But the mission still remained active.
That meant Lucien was alive.
And if he was alive, they still had a chance to kill him with their own hands.
Their time, however, was running out.
The Pirate World was vast beyond imagination. Finding one man within it, especially one who could alter his appearance at will, was almost impossible.
If they still had exchange points, they could have solved this easily. But their previous mission failures had not only stripped them of their points, they had also shortened their lifespan.
The situation had turned desperate.
Emma narrowed her eyes as she analyzed the latest reports.
Almost half of the New World had been destroyed. The entire Totto Land Sea had vanished. Even if Lucien survived such devastation, he must have been severely wounded.
He had to be hiding somewhere to recover.
They needed to find him before he fully healed.
What she did not know was that Lucien was neither injured nor hiding in fear. He was preparing something far worse.
On a desolate island in the Calm Belt, carved into the wall of a bottomless abyss, stood a massive mirror.
Beyond that mirror lay another world.
The Mirror World.
The interior was a vast, distorted space of endless reflective walls. Most of the mirrors connected to the New World had shattered during the bombardment, but several remained intact, linking to the Underworld, parts of the Grand Line, and secret locations controlled by the Revolutionary Army.
The Whitebeard Pirates, the Beasts Pirates, the Blackbeard Pirates, and the Revolutionary Army were all temporarily stationed there. Supplies were not an issue.
The Calm Belt was full of Sea Kings.
Whenever food ran low, Shirahoshi would simply step outside. The Sea Kings would gather obediently, lining up as if offering themselves for slaughter.
Red Hat Wolf's enormous frying pan could easily accommodate even a medium sized Sea King.
Prometheus had been reduced to cooking duty, roaring flames beneath the pan while muttering in frustration.
Lucien did not isolate himself.
He dispatched Katakuri, Doflamingo, Catarina Devon, Crocodile, and others to gather intelligence. Each altered their appearance. As long as they avoided using their Devil Fruit abilities, no one could recognize them.
Sitting on his throne, Lucien flipped through newspapers brought back from the outside world.
His amethyst eyes glinted with ridicule.
"Jump around while you can," he murmured.
Da Ivan was being manufactured daily inside the Mirror World. In three months, the number would reach five to six hundred. When that time came, he would show the World Government what a true mushroom cloud looked like.
Competing in ruthlessness with him was a mistake.
As for whether the planet itself would survive, Lucien did not care.
Humanity meant nothing to him.
Sunrise. Sunset.
Time slipped away like sand between fingers.
Three months passed.
The sea had still not fully calmed. Although the Totto Land Sea was gone forever, other parts of the New World gradually stabilized. Some regions still suffered constant earthquakes and violent hurricanes. In one area, magma had formed an entire sea of fire.
It was estimated that at least half the New World's population had perished. Hundreds of millions of lives erased.
Countless islands vanished, leaving only ruin.
The World Government publicly declared the Savior Group annihilated. Secretly, however, they continued searching. The Marines, the Army, and CP0 operated tirelessly.
It was also announced that one of the Admirals selected during the World Military Draft, Fujitora Issho, had resigned.
He had reportedly clashed with Sengoku over the World Government's merciless cleansing of the New World. Their disagreement nearly escalated into violence. Refusing to accept such inhumanity, Fujitora left the Marines.
The Marines now stood with four Admirals once more, Silver Dragon, Aokiji, Akainu, and Aramaki.
Tonight, the moon was full and bright. Stars shimmered across the sky, illuminating Mary Geoise atop the Red Line.
At an altitude of thirty thousand meters, Lucien endured the freezing winds. Beside him floated Golden Lion Shiki and Koala.
Koala used her ability to disperse the surrounding clouds, clearing their view of the Holy Land below. At the same time, she condensed thick cloud platforms for Katakuri and the others to stand on.
A giant mirror was retrieved from a book. One after another, powerful figures emerged, standing upon clouds like descending gods.
"Begin," Lucien said softly.
His smile was cold and vicious.
One by one, Da Ivans were transported out. Golden Lion controlled them with the power of the Float Float Fruit.
Five hundred massive warheads hovered in the sky.
Then they dropped.
The air screamed as they plummeted toward Mary Geoise. Only one bore a visible countdown. The rest required none. A single detonation would trigger the chain reaction.
Tonight would become a festival of mushroom clouds.
"This altitude isn't safe. Retreat further," Lucien ordered calmly.
Five hundred Da Ivans.
Even he could not guarantee survival at this height.
Koala pushed the cloud layer higher. Only the strongest remained present.
Below, Mary Geoise glowed faintly in the night.
Guards looked up.
"Did you hear that?"
"You heard it too?"
"Look up!"
Panic spread instantly.
Alarms blared across the Holy Land. A golden protective barrier rose as automated weapons aimed skyward and began firing.
The Five Elders, awakened from sleep, felt dread grip their hearts. Such an alarm signaled catastrophic threat.
Deep within the Room of Flowers, a shadowed figure stirred awake.
Then the world turned white.
A blinding explosion consumed the night. Mushroom clouds crowned with five concentric halos rose into the heavens. They merged into a single, colossal pillar of destruction.
Mary Geoise vanished instantly.
The Red Line shattered, collapsing in sections as billions of tons of rock disintegrated. Countless lives were reduced to dust before they could comprehend what was happening.
Shockwaves rolled outward. Flames devoured everything. The sky burned. The sea boiled.
From space, it resembled a newborn sun rising violently from the surface of the planet, expanding, swelling, growing larger with each passing second.
Sabaody Archipelago, closest to the blast, melted instantly under the extreme heat.
Ten thousand meters below, Fish Man Island was crushed by unimaginable pressure and reduced to nothing.
At the new Marineford, Marines stared in horror as a wall of blazing destruction surged toward them. They turned to ash before they could scream.
The explosion at the world's center triggered global collapse.
The Four Seas, the Grand Line, the New World, all were thrown into chaos. Submarine volcanoes erupted. Tsunamis swallowed continents. Earthquakes fractured the seabed.
The world itself seemed to break.
And high above the devastation, Lucien watched.
His amethyst eyes reflected the birth of a second sun.
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