Even though Imu had appeared, Makoto had completely lost interest in him.
"Ishigami, I'll leave him to you."
"Yes, Senpai!"
The Gun Devil form Yu immediately agreed. His giant gun-barrel head turned toward Imu, his face made of fangs, rotting flesh, and gun barrels making him look even more like a devil than Imu.
"Use whatever tricks you have quickly, or you won't get the chance."
Imu's face was pale. After forty years, that feeling of utter humiliation was rising again.
Just like that, the two most anticipated battles of this war were decided.
Makoto vs Nika.
Yu vs Imu.
Imu took a deep breath and held nothing back.
He raised his hand. From his palm emerged a mass of pitch-black, burning, flame-like substance… Omen.
That was the ultimate form of Domi Reversi, his last trump card.
Omen poured from his palm, spreading outward like a living creature, wrapping around those who had signed contracts with him.
Doflamingo's expression changed instantly.
"You... what are you doing?!"
The Heavenly Yaksha's body began to heat up. The life force within him was draining at an alarming rate.
His skin began to shrivel, his muscles atrophied, his bones protruded. His whole body seemed to be emptied out.
"Bastard—!"
Doflamingo roared, waving his hands, sending transparent threads flying toward Imu.
But just an instant before the threads could reach Imu—
Doflamingo's eyes sank inward, his lips disappeared, revealing white, gleaming teeth.
Within seconds, a living, breathing person had turned into a pile of white bones.
"Imu... I'll be waiting for you over there..."
Before dying, Doflamingo couldn't help cursing Imu one last time.
The bones scattered on the ground. The pink feather coat lay empty and flat.
Rebecca, following behind Makoto's main force, watched this scene, stunned.
Happiness had come too suddenly, leaving her at a loss.
She had been on Makoto's ship for a year, and she knew he had no interest in the grievances between her Riku Family and Doflamingo.
But seeing so many experts on the ship, Rebecca felt she could learn a technique or two. Then, when she had the chance, she could become strong enough herself to take revenge on Doflamingo.
She never expected Doflamingo to just... die like that.
She stood frozen, unable to snap out of it for a long time.
Seeing Doflamingo's miserable state, everyone was startled.
Then, one after another, the others who had previously signed contracts with Imu also began to wither and shrivel, turning into white bones one by one.
Edward Weevil, Gecko Moria, Blackbeard Teach... one after another, they fell, their bones scattering on the ground.
"Da... damn... I... I didn't want to die such a pathetic death..."
Teach reached out his hand and charged toward Imu, trying to stop him before dying, just like Doflamingo had attempted.
But before his hand could stretch out very far, it turned into white bones.
"Imu-sama! Have mercy!"
The members of the God's Knights fell to their knees, begging for mercy.
They naturally knew the true nature of this technique.
It absorbed the power of those under contract for Imu's use. Once he used it, the lives of those under contract were forfeit.
Imu glanced at the God's Knights and gestured with his eyes.
The Omen on the God's Knights instantly dissipated.
Shamrock and the others breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground, gasping heavily.
It seemed Imu was sparing them.
That wasn't surprising. After all, after this war ended, Imu would still need people to help him manage the World Government.
But now, facing Yu in his Gun Devil form, Imu knew he had to give up something significant to defeat him.
So, he turned his gaze to the Marine Vice Admirals and the remaining Seven Warlords.
"Stop—!"
Momonga's pupils contracted sharply. His body began to shrivel.
Onigumo, Dalmatian, Strawberry, Yamakaji... one after another, their bodies withered and turned into white bones.
Before dying, these Marine Vice Admirals' eyes were full of intense unwillingness.
They were not afraid of dying on the battlefield, even if their bodies were crushed to pieces, they wouldn't bat an eye.
But to die like this, just as Blackbeard had said, was too pathetic.
"..."
Tsuru's eyes widened. Her body began to shrivel.
"Sengoku-san! Run!"
A Marine officer shouted.
Sengoku tried to run, but it was too late.
The Omen had already wrapped around his body.
His body began to shrink, his skin wrinkling against his skeleton.
"I... won't..."
Sengoku's lips trembled. He wanted to say something, but couldn't.
A few seconds later, he and Tsuru turned into two piles of white bones.
Garp stood at a distance, his body covered in wounds, looking at the skeletal remains of Sengoku and Tsuru.
"..."
In the distance, Akainu and Kizaru, who had already withdrawn from the battlefield, watched their former superior and colleagues meet this end, their expressions complex.
Kizaru was relieved he hadn't signed that strange contract.
Akainu remained silent. It was unclear what was going through his mind.
Imu paid no attention to the wails of these lackeys.
After absorbing the life force of so many people, his power had reached unprecedented heights.
His body began to expand. Already larger than Kaido, it now reached a size comparable to the Complete Body Susanoo and Yu's Gun Devil form.
Black Omen twisted around him like giant serpents.
His eyes also turned pure white, his pupils disappearing. Fangs grew from the corners of his mouth.
The spear he wielded as a weapon had its blade covered in Omen like Amaterasu flames.
"Die!"
Imu roared, thrusting his spear at Yu.
Yu was not to be outdone. He swung his arm, composed of densely packed firearms, to meet the attack.
Boom—!!!
The collision of the two forces instantly shook the world.
The ground of Marineford trembled, the sea surged, the sky tore.
The shockwave spread outward, leveling the surrounding buildings, sending stone slabs flying, pushing distant ships away.
Watching this exaggerated battle, Makoto's women, who were still in the midst of fighting, along with Dragon, Garp, and the remnants of the Red Hair Pirates, all marveled at this power and quickly retreated.
"Are... are they even human?"
"Run! Get back to the ship!"
Everyone was evacuating the central battlefield.
However, during the retreat—
Bang!
A bullet was fired at Garp.
Such an attack naturally couldn't harm Garp. He didn't even use Armament Haki to defend. As if swatting a mosquito, he instinctively raised his hand and swatted the bullet away.
But when Garp and the others looked, they saw that the shooter was not one of Makoto's subordinates, nor was it anyone important.
It was just an ordinary soldier wearing the standard uniform of a Marine grunt.
He looked young, around thirty.
But his hand holding the gun was trembling. His eyes were full of hatred.
"You... why?"
Garp looked at him in confusion, unable to understand why a Marine soldier would attack him.
Facing Garp's question, the soldier who had fired, though his legs trembled with fear, gritted his teeth and said, "Do you know? My sister was taken away by the World Government twenty years ago, and she never came back."
At these words, Garp's expression changed dramatically.
He immediately understood what the soldier meant.
The soldier continued, his voice trembling, his eyes reddening. "I joined the Marine to investigate why the World Government took my sister. But I never imagined the truth would be this!"
"Although Roger and the World Government caused the tragedy, Marine Hero Garp-san… don't you bear any responsibility at all?"
"If you had chosen to reveal the truth back then, my sister, and so many other innocent pregnant women and children, wouldn't have died, right?"
Garp was silent.
He opened his mouth several times to speak, but in the end, nothing came out.
Hearing this, not only Garp fell silent, but even Ace, also retreating from the central battlefield, unconsciously stopped in his tracks, looking at the nameless soldier with complex expression.
The nameless soldier's gaze grew increasingly resolute. He raised his gun and fired at Garp again.
"I want revenge for my sister!"
In his view, there were three main people responsible for his family member's tragedy—
One was Roger, one was the World Government, and the last was Garp, right before him.
Roger, that bastard, was about to die, yet still couldn't control that thing, had to leave a seed.
The World Government was even more beastly. Just to deal with a newborn infant, they collectively executed all the pregnant women and newborn infants from that entire decade.
And Garp, while not as beastly as the first two, was only slightly better.
As a Marine Hero, he concealed the clues about the Pirate King's son and even turned a blind eye to the women and children caught up in the matter.
This caused many soldiers, especially those who had admired Garp and joined the Marine because of him, to feel completely disillusioned.
Not to mention people like this nameless soldier, whose relatives had been persecuted back then.
And now, Roger was already dead, and the World Government was basically just Imu and the God's Knights, who were probably about to be dealt with by Makoto's group.
Then, the only enemy left for him was Garp.
Thinking this, the nameless soldier charged at Garp.