Above the endless abyss, at the former site of Mary Geoise.
Imu suddenly turned toward the edge of the West Blue. The atmosphere there twisted violently as raging gales swept through the sky, causing both the air and the deep-sea abyss below to tremble as if the world itself were crying out.
That aura.
Violent, overwhelming, and painfully familiar.
There was no mistake. It was him.
Lucien.
But that only deepened the disbelief. How could his presence have surged to such a monstrous level in such a short time? It made no sense. It defied every rule Imu knew.
Beneath the hazy mist that concealed Imu's form, the expression darkened like an approaching storm. In the next instant, Imu vanished from the spot.
Across the world, powerhouses locked in battle paused, their gazes instinctively shifting toward the West Blue. Even separated by vast seas, that presence was unmistakable. It was not something a normal human should possess.
"How could you… how could you have become this strong?"
Emma's voice trembled with despair. The man before her radiated an aura so overwhelming that resistance felt meaningless. The gap between them was not a difference in strength, it was an unbridgeable abyss.
"For a cheater, nothing is impossible!"
A playful voice whispered into her ear.
Emma's body went rigid.
He had crossed over a hundred meters in an instant, appearing beside her without the slightest warning. She had not even sensed his approach.
Her throat tightened.
"Still thinking about struggling?"
Before she could react, a massive crystal hand clamped around her pale neck. Suffocation hit instantly. Her pupils shrank as air was cut off. At the same time, four crystal thorns pierced through the space around her limbs, spreading her body apart and suspending her in mid-air, her curves cruelly exposed, completely immobilized.
Lucien's amethyst eyes gleamed with cold amusement.
"Honestly, I would not have minded indulging myself. I am a nostalgic man, after all."
His left hand slid slowly across her face, down her neck, over her chest, lingering with deliberate mockery. His touch traced her waist, narrow enough to grasp with one hand, then lower, lingering with obscene familiarity.
"If you dare, then kill me!"
Emma screamed through clenched teeth. Rage twisted her face, but the moment the words left her mouth, her body shuddered violently.
Blood spilled from the corner of her lips.
She looked down in horror.
A crystal hand had pierced straight through her chest, bursting out her back, its fingers wrapped tightly around her still-beating heart.
"I have never heard such a reasonable request."
Lucien's voice was calm, almost bored.
The crystal hand began to open, forming a grotesque mouth. It devoured her flesh and blood without mercy.
"You…"
Emma could no longer finish her sentence. Shock filled her eyes as her once vibrant body rapidly withered, her life draining away in seconds.
"Emma!"
From afar, Ethan watched with bloodshot eyes. His body was already battered and broken, blood streaming down his face, but fury alone kept him standing. He raised his wolf-tooth club and brought it down with a desperate roar.
Lucien did not even bother to look back.
His crystal right hand blocked the strike effortlessly. At the same time, a crystal thorn lashed out from his tailbone, slicing across Ethan's face. Flesh tore, teeth flew, and Ethan was sent crashing away once more, transforming into a streak of light before slamming into the ground with a chain of deafening explosions.
"Brother… run… please… run…"
Emma whispered with the last remnants of her strength. Her head tilted lifelessly, blood matting her hair, despair frozen on her face.
"No!"
Ethan's scream tore through the air.
With a dull explosion, Emma's body disintegrated into ashes, scattering into the wind. Only her torn dress and undergarments fluttered down from the sky, empty and meaningless.
But Lucien was not finished.
His crystal hand, shrouded in pale soul mist, reached out and seized Emma's soul itself. Ignoring her terrified screams, he opened his mouth and forced it inside.
"I want you dead!"
Ethan roared, tears mixing with blood as his rage reached its peak. His body swelled grotesquely, veins bulging across green skin as the ground within a thousand meters detonated.
He shot into the sky.
Lucien looked down at him with naked disdain. Flipping his body mid-air, he descended. With a casual flick of his palm, a colossal Divine Dragon tens of thousands of meters long manifested behind him, its presence warping the heavens.
"Great Might Heavenly Dragon!"
"Roar!"
The collision was cataclysmic. A circular shockwave exploded outward, tearing through the sea and land alike.
Flesh shattered. Bones snapped.
Ethan howled as his body was driven downward with a sonic boom.
Before he could even crash, Lucien stomped down onto Ethan's swollen chest, driving him deep into the earth. Mountains rose and collapsed around them as golden lightning crackled violently through the air.
"Not even worth watching."
At the bottom of an immeasurable sinkhole, Lucien grabbed Ethan by the hair like discarded trash, lifting him into the air. Three crystal thorns pierced into Ethan's body, draining him mercilessly.
Ethan's eyes bled. His body shriveled and dried, his furious roars fading into nothing. He crumbled into ashes, scattered by the wind.
His soul barely had time to emerge.
Lucien seized it and swallowed it whole.
He closed his eyes, a look of pure satisfaction spreading across his face as both body and soul were thoroughly nourished.
Then, without warning, a hazy figure appeared above the sinkhole.
Lucien opened his eyes.
Light flames carried him upward until he stood level with Imu.
"How could you recover so quickly? Not only that, your strength has risen to such a terrifying degree."
Imu's voice was low, turmoil seeping through every word.
"Surprised? Very surprised?"
Lucien smirked, his expression infuriatingly calm.
Imu said nothing.
"Bang!"
A world-shattering impact erupted.
Both figures vanished, leaving only afterimages.
Ten thousand meters away, their elbows collided. Another ten thousand meters, knees smashed together. Lucien's uppercut struck Imu's face, only to be answered by a brutal counter.
Afterimages filled the sky.
The entire West Blue shook violently. The atmosphere screamed as the fragmented Red Line collapsed. Their battle tore through the South Blue, triggering endless natural disasters, then swept across the Calm Belt, carving a vast abyss. It surged into the Grand Line, tore through the East Blue, smashed into the North Blue, and finally returned to the New World.
"Roar!"
A dragon's roar split the heavens. Tsunamis parted as if commanded.
Silent mushroom clouds rose, linking sea and sky.
At the bottom of a massive sinkhole that exposed the ocean floor, Imu lay battered, blood splattered everywhere. The mist that once concealed the form was gone.
Lucien hovered above, flames and lightning intertwining around him. His hands cupped at his waist as a blue sphere of energy rapidly expanded, rays of light piercing the darkened sky.
"Your face is… unexpected."
Blood trickled from the corner of Lucien's mouth as he narrowed his amethyst eyes, momentarily intrigued.
Then he attacked.
"Kamehameha!"
The New World itself seemed to awaken. The ocean compressed, then erupted, unleashing a tsunami tens of thousands of meters high. The resulting catastrophe surpassed all comprehension.
Volcanoes erupted. Seafloors split. The planet screamed.
Destruction devoured everything.
From space, the world looked bitten, scarred by an immense, sunken wound.
At the center, chaotic power raged endlessly. Space shattered again and again as terrifying force fields erupted without pause.