Sengoku, Garp, and other Marine officers vomited fresh blood and were thrown backward. They were completely unable to stem the tide of the pirate side's attack.
Even ordinary pirates were affected by the aura of the high-level fighters. They shouted with full enthusiasm and stormed into Mary Geoise bravely.
The remaining Pacifistas kept firing lasers to slaughter the pirates, but most of those attacks were successfully deflected. Instead of having a major impact, the robots were instead mobbed by the pirate masses and destroyed into scrap metal.
"Over there is the Tenryuubito's hiding place! Brothers, charge with me!"
Someone shouted, and someone raised their hand toward the palace in the inner part of the island. At this time, there were still some Tenryuubito who hadn't had time to be evacuated.
The world's hatred toward the Tenryuubito was deeply ingrained. Their arrogance and cruelty disgusted everyone. Whether ordinary people or pirates, now that they had the opportunity for revenge, they all became very enthusiastic and excited.
"Behead them! My wife was killed by the Tenryuubito!"
"My father too! If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have become this damn pirate!"
"Brothers, ATTACK—!"
The current situation had begun to spiral out of control. The Marine side truly couldn't hold back the great wave of pirate forces pouring in. Although the opposing side didn't have an organized formation, they moved like an unstoppable plague of locusts.
"Is this the end..." Sengoku lowered his head listlessly. In a situation like this, he had no more options.
Meanwhile, Shirohige and the others didn't stop the action. They only watched Sengoku and his companions to ensure they had no chance to counterattack.
The crimes of the Tenryuubito were already very clear, some of them even worse than pirates; letting them vent their anger was perhaps the fair thing to do.
Suddenly, at that very moment. A terrifying energy exploded from the distance. Then, a roaring voice that was unclear whether male or female was heard from the palace direction: "BE GONE—!"
An extremely powerful sound wave formed physically and swept from far to near in an instant. In the blink of an eye, the wave engulfed the entire pirate force.
*BUZZ!*
The ordinary pirates swept by this sound wave suddenly stiffened with blank expressions. Their eyes turned white, then one by one they collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"An extremely terrifying Haoshoku Haki!"
The faces of Shirohige, Roger, and the others changed drastically. Their faces paled slightly, and cold sweat began to appear on their foreheads.
At that place, only Shanks and Roger's faces didn't change much. Their Haoshoku Haki was at the peak level, so they could fully withstand an attack like this.
Of course, this was also because the distance was quite far so the shockwave's effect had been drastically reduced. If facing it directly, perhaps the two of them wouldn't feel it so lightly.
"Who?!"
Everyone couldn't help but look up toward the palace. Sengoku and the others looked up with hope, their spirits revived.
From that palace, suddenly a black figure shot into the sky, then transformed into a flash of light that dove sharply toward them.
*BOOM!*
The impact force upon landing made the ground around it crack apart. After the dust thinned, the newcomer's figure revealed its true form.
This was someone over five meters tall, wearing a strange black robe, and their face covered by a mask with mysterious carved patterns. Their entire body emitted an aura that was difficult to describe in words. As if the air around them was distorted by their own aura, making their figure appear blurred.
"Retreat now, and I will spare your lives!"
A loud shout that was unclear whether male or female was heard from behind the mask.
"Imu?" Shirohige asked to confirm.
The other party didn't answer, but also didn't deny it.
Everyone immediately understood. Indeed, a person who had this level of power was most likely only the most mysterious ruler of the World Government, Imu.
Facing the destruction of Mary Geoise and the threat of the Tenryuubito's extinction, Imu finally couldn't restrain themselves from taking action.
It wasn't that they didn't want to finish off all the pirates who dared challenge the World Government's authority, but currently their wounds hadn't fully healed, the Gorosei also couldn't help them, and their enemies weren't ordinary people—they were people who made it onto the Gold List and received rewards.
Fighting alone was very difficult for them.
Shirohige realized that Imu was actually bluffing amid their weakness, he laughed heartily: "Imu, you're the person ignored by the Gold List. You've never even received its rewards, while most of us have obtained them. Your power is indeed very strong, but with this many of us, we don't need to fear you!"
Imu snorted coldly: "You can try, then your head will be the first to baptize my sword!"
While speaking, her right hand reached to her back and drew a long sword that emitted black light. As it came out of its sheath, the sword let out a wailing sound like a baby's cry.
"Saijo O Wazamono—Oni-no-Akago (Demon Baby)!"
As the world's number one swordsman, Mihawk had unmatched knowledge about swords. He immediately recognized the Saijo O Wazamono sword that had never been officially shown to the world.
Shanks also stared at the Oni-no-Akago in Imu's hand with a serious expression. He had certainly heard about this sword; known as the strangest and most evil cursed sword among the ranks of Saijo O Wazamono, a sword that couldn't be controlled by just anyone.
As soon as Oni-no-Akago emerged, phantom shadows appeared!
On Imu's side, vague black shadows appeared whose faces couldn't be seen, emitting strange roars and pitiful cries that made hair stand on end.
"Demon's Cry—Baby Massacre!"
Imu swung Oni-no-Akago, launching a slash directly toward Shirohige and his companions.
A pitch-black slash emerged from the sword, transforming into a giant black slash that charged at them.
Wherever the black slash passed, everything turned pitch black.
The bodies of pirates and Marines hit by that attack instantly stiffened, and phantom shadows were directly pulled out from their bodies to merge into the black slash. In just seconds, after absorbing many souls, the black slash enlarged by one level.
"DODGE QUICKLY—!" Shirohige and the others roared loudly.
They clearly saw how terrifying this slash was because it could absorb human souls. It should be noted, some of the Marines and pirates earlier weren't even dead yet. This was truly forceful soul extraction, very evil.
They saw clearly that on the surface of the black slash, there were many shadows and phantom faces struggling while extending their hands as if wanting to escape, continuously emitting terrifying howls.
Roger and the others wore very serious faces. At that moment, they exerted all their strength to unleash their strongest attacks to stop the slash's advance.
Fire, sword slashes, energy waves; various powers gathered and collided with the black slash in the air.
There was no large explosion, only a soft hissing sound. Before long, those powers vanished like melting snow.
Although the black slash shrank slightly, its momentum remained unstoppable and still carried terrifying destructive power. Just as everyone's expressions changed and they were about to retreat, a voice full of joy was heard from above.
Instantly, before Shirohige and his companions, appeared a red-robed young man with beautiful long black hair. A pair of golden wings on his back slowly stretched before retracting into his body. Meanwhile, before him, the deadly slash was already right in front of his eyes.