The fact that five fighters at Admiral-level still couldn't lay a hand on Rocks D. Xebec filled the Five Elders with a sense of crisis.
More importantly, judging from Rocks' current state, he looked visibly relaxed. It wasn't hard to see that he wasn't feeling pressured at all. That alone was terrifying—so terrifying that they dared not imagine what would happen if this madman survived. With the absolute prestige he would establish in this war, how many pirates would answer his call with a single command? How many kingdoms would abandon the World Government and seek his protection?
Such a thing could never be allowed to happen.
If it did, the five of them might not live to see another day.
"Use it. The final trump card—the strongest one."
"But with Rocks' Haki and speed, a rash attack may not be effective."
"A decision must be made. To keep a man like him here forever, we will have to pay a painful price."
"…Agreed."
Saint Warcury remained motionless. The remaining four Five Elders reached their decision through silent communion. Their near-immortal bodies gave them ample confidence.
The gigantic Sandworm Form—Saint Shepherd Ju Peter—let out a deafening roar. Among the five, his regenerative ability was the strongest. After awakening his Devil Fruit, he had gained an ability so monstrous it bordered on absurd.
The spiral teeth within his gaping maw began to rotate. His aura surged to its peak.
Whitebeard, who was fighting him, felt a jolt of alarm and instinctively took a defensive stance—but the expected attack never came.
Instead—
Boom!!!
The enormous sandworm body, hundreds of meters long, suddenly exploded.
Its entire form burst into chunks of flesh. The green mucus clinging to the pieces was nauseating. Then, as if boiling, the slime began to churn violently.
From those scattered chunks of flesh, the sandworm regenerated at astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, thousands of sandworms the size of an adult's arm appeared. They clustered together in a dense, writhing mass—enough to make anyone with trypophobia faint on the spot.
"What the hell is that…?"
Whitebeard felt his stomach churn.
He wasn't a squeamish man, nor particularly fastidious—but he couldn't stop himself from seeing the split body of Saint Shepherd Ju Peter as nothing more than gigantic maggots. Snow-white bodies dragging tails, each one bearing a human face—
Was there anything more disgusting in this world?
"ROOOAR!"
Thousands of sandworms howled in unison and surged toward Whitebeard.
He swore he did not want to be touched by those things.
"Gura Gura no Mi—Tremor: Murakumogiri!"
Even Whitebeard shouted the name of his attack this time—a clear sign of his mood.
A world-shaking tremor erupted at the center of the swarm. Hundreds—no, thousands—of sandworms were instantly reduced to pulp.
Yet some still rushed toward him.
Whitebeard's face turned pale—but then he noticed something strange.
Only a small portion were coming at him.
The vast majority were charging past him.
Behind him… stood only one man.
Rocks.
A sense of foreboding gripped Whitebeard's heart.
He didn't hesitate.
"ROCKS! WATCH OUT!!!"
The roar caught Rocks' attention. He turned—
—and saw a writhing tide of white sandworms rushing toward him.
His stomach churned, though not as violently as Whitebeard's. Casually, he gathered a sphere of darkness in his palm and hurled it like a grenade into the swarm.
The black sphere exploded at the center of the mass—
far more destructive than any ordinary grenade.
The attack's destructive power was considerable. Even so, most of the sandworms continued surging toward Rocks.
Disgust was written across his face. His Observation Haki spread to its limit, locking onto Fleet Admiral Kong and the other four. Meanwhile, the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit surged in his hands as he hurled one black sphere after another into the swarm.
Given their slow, writhing movement, they were nothing more than living targets.
So why would Saint Shepherd Ju Peter resort to such a tactic?
It seemed meaningless. Perhaps it was a supreme escape technique—but as a killing method, these creatures were barely at the level of a Marine Headquarters Major. Against Rocks, they were worthless.
That was what everyone thought.
Including Rocks himself.
However—
Under Rocks' relentless assault, the number of sandworms quickly dropped below a thousand. Just as he prepared another sphere of darkness to wipe out the remainder—
The mutation came.
The sandworms suddenly erupted with speed beyond imagination—over a hundred times faster than their previous crawling pace.
The distance between them and Rocks had never been great. And because Rocks' Observation Haki was focused on Fleet Admiral Kong and the other four—
He reacted a fraction too late.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of sandworms coiled around his body.
Each arm-thick creature expanded several times over. The human faces on them twisted grotesquely.
Armament Haki Coating covered their entire bodies.
The sheer quantity of Haki was staggering—even for beings at the level of the Five Elders, it was no small burden.
But why would they go this far?
Rocks' expression changed—not from fear, but revulsion.
The Armament Haki on those creatures was not weak. Even for him, breaking free would take at least a second.
And there were not merely hundreds—
There were thousands.
A white tide engulfed Rocks.
Then it turned black under layers of Armament Haki.
It all happened too suddenly. By the time anyone reacted, Rocks was firmly restrained.
"So they were hiding their true speed all along…"
Whitebeard muttered, watching the remaining white sandworms retreat rapidly.
From the very beginning, their target had never been him.
It was their captain.
At such close range, with such explosive speed—
Even Rocks couldn't respond in time.
Then—
Thousands of mouths spoke at once.
"Rocks, we acknowledge your strength. As you said, in power, speed, Haki, and Devil Fruit ability—you stand at the very peak."
"But you are still human. And humans always have weaknesses."
Saint Shepherd Ju Peter's voice echoed from thousands of mouths simultaneously, sending chills down everyone's spine.
"Long-standing invincibility has blinded you. Your pride is your fatal flaw."
"Pay the price for everything you have scorned."
"URANUS!!!"
The instant the word fell—
The black night sky lit up.
A colossal flying warship appeared overhead, nearly three times the size of God Valley itself.
Rocks' pupils contracted.
His instincts screamed a warning. Every hair on his body stood on end.
At the center of the massive vessel were thirteen enormous apertures, within which blinding blue light began to gather.
A name surfaced in Rocks' mind—
One of the Three Ancient Weapons.
Uranus.
The Heavenly King.
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