Kizaru was protecting the kings of affiliated nations, while Akainu was standing guard at Marine Headquarters.
Garp and Sengoku were also nearby, but they were currently in full spectator mode—eating senbei and drinking tea. Using "supporting Kizaru" as a justifiable excuse, they stood by and did nothing.
As for the Celestial Dragons' God's Knights, their presence was even weaker than that of the Five Elders, those five meeting-addicted old men.
The Five Elders convened meetings for both major and minor matters; after discussing and reaching conclusions, they would assign others to carry out the work. Like earthbound spirits, they were tied to Mariejois.
The God's Knights were even more peculiar. They seemed almost isolated from the world, and in most cases were only responsible for handling the internal affairs of the Celestial Dragons.
Aside from that, even if a Celestial Dragon were beaten up outside, it would still be the Marines' problem.
Only incidents of the scale of God Valley could truly draw them out, which was also one of the reasons Dragon wanted to force these unknown figures into the open.
In their eyes, the current turmoil was something the Marines were fully capable of handling, so they took no action at all.
Even among the Celestial Dragons themselves there was a hierarchy. In the eyes of the God's Knights, ordinary Celestial Dragons were also just a bunch of annoying trash; it was only because of their bloodline that the God's Knights bothered to deal with such matters.
The Revolutionary Army didn't send many people, but all of them were elites—three army commanders plus a chief of staff. Ordinary soldiers and agents were basically useless.
Ryokugyu had originally thought this mission would be easy, but not only did Fujitora barely help, he even tried to drag him down while slacking off.
If that meteor really got pulled down, Ryokugyu figured he'd have to deal with the meteor first.
The Celestial Dragons were also stabbing him in the back. The moment he made a move, they started cursing—one moment telling Ryokugyu not to affect them, and the next complaining that he had damaged their houses.
Right now, Fujitora was evenly matched with Karasu, but Ryokugyu could see clearly that Fujitora was hiding a great deal of his strength. Even taking the circumstances here into account, Fujitora's ability should not have allowed Karasu to so freely manipulate soot.
"Always causing trouble… this makes it impossible to fight properly."
Unlike Fujitora, who could kneel down and apologize to ordinary citizens, Ryokugyu held a strong sense of allegiance to the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. To sum it up in one word: bootlicking.
The World Government hadn't completely lost its mind. While they wouldn't stop the Celestial Dragons from executing ordinary soldiers, they wouldn't casually discard a military asset like a Marine Admiral.
If it were anyone else, they wouldn't care about the voices of other Celestial Dragons, but Ryokugyu was the exception.
His ideology was the complete opposite of Fujitora's. He believed that people from non-affiliated nations didn't deserve human rights, because humanity had survived by trampling on "lower" species, and non-affiliated nations were equivalent to being "inferior."
Only by stepping on non-affiliated nations could people from affiliated nations live in peace; "discrimination" was equivalent to peace of mind.
"These b*stards… Groves of Wrath!"
"Dark Tide!"
Even under restrictions, he was still the current Admiral. Once he lost his temper, Morley would find it very difficult to deal with him.
But just as Ryokugyu summoned a vast forest, a surge of darkness swept up from the ground, completely engulfing and pulverizing all the trees he had created.
"Sabo, go get the keys to the slaves' collars! We'll hold them off here!"
The range of Kuma's and the slaves' collars was limited to Mariejois. Before removing the collars, it was impossible for them to leave directly.
If it were just one or two people, they could remove the collars using special methods, but there were too many slaves. Without getting the keys from the slave quarters, their operation would likely fail.
The Revolutionary Army's destruction drew the attention of most of the guards, leaving the place where the keys were stored barely guarded. Sabo quickly obtained the keys and used soot crows to deliver them to other crows.
The only remaining problem was Kuma.
Here, Sabo also encountered Bonney, who had come looking for Kuma. Hearing that she was Kuma's daughter, he handed Kuma's key to Bonney, told her Kuma's location, and instructed her to wait there for support.
He himself then infiltrated the area he had previously failed to enter.
At this moment, Charlos still hadn't given up his greed for the Mermaid. After having his wounds bandaged, he took advantage of Roswald resting and once again took Kuma away, intending to secretly capture Shirahoshi.
Mjosgard and several princes tried to stop Charlos, but it was useless. Having made up his mind, Charlos directly resorted to force.
Because Kuma was currently being "leased" by Charlos, and Charlos was conscious, his authority was higher than Mjosgard's. Mjosgard could only stop the CP0 at Charlos's side, but he couldn't stop Kuma.
"Gyaaaa ha ha ha ha, this is really troublesome. Are we just going to watch?"
"Yo yo yi~ orders are orders. We can only obey. But in my humble opinion, this will all be over very soon."
Kaku and Lucci were already dead, but their teammates had smoothly been promoted to CP0 during this period, and at this moment had become Charlos's accomplices.
Even if they did nothing but watch, they didn't think the few princes of the Ryugu Kingdom would be a match for Kuma.
"Saint Charlos, that is a princess of an affiliated nation. Perhaps you should calm down…"
The other kingdoms didn't dare to interfere, but some people found this behavior hard to stomach. Mustering their courage, they offered a word of advice, hoping Charlos would abandon the idea, but it had no effect.
"So what? Even if they're royalty, these Fish-Men can be settled with money. Get out of my way. Invincible Slave Kuma, if anyone dares to block me, kill them all!"
Charlos pointed at Fukaboshi and the others charging toward him as he issued the order, but at that moment, Bonney had already arrived at Kuma's side.
"That's enough, Dad! Don't let these b*stards enslave you anymore! This isn't who you are, and it's not what you want to do! Please, please succeed in turning back into your original self!"
In her hand, Bonney held the paw-shaped bubble she had found on Egghead, then shoved it straight into Kuma's body.
Kuma's body suddenly went rigid. He neither recovered as Bonney had hoped, nor did he continue to obey Charlos's commands.
"You actually broke my Invincible Slave?! CP0, kill this woman!!!"
Kuma's shutdown left Charlos furious, as if some beloved toy of his had been ruined. And since Mjosgard was only forbidding the CP0 from touching Shirahoshi, this coincidence gave Charlos an opening.
The CP0 could only follow their orders and launch an attack on Bonney.
"Sorry, little girl. You shouldn't have offended a Celestial Dragon."
Jabra spoke words of apology, but his body had already transformed into a werewolf, all ten fingers stabbing toward Bonney's back.
Because Kuma hadn't yet recovered, Bonney was utterly dejected, showing no reaction at all to Jabra's attack.
However, Jabra's attack never landed. Kuma's arm resolutely blocked in front of Bonney.
"This new body… it's a bit rusty."
"Dad!"
The familiar voice reached Bonney's ears—its tone still as leisurely as ever, yet she could sense the emotion within it. And in Kuma's eyes, a flicker of clarity now shone.
"You are… Bonney? You've grown so much."
"Wait, Dad, I'll open your collar first."
Filled with joy, Bonney trembled as she extended the hand holding the key. Kuma reached out with his other hand and dotingly patted Bonney's head, making her recall the happiness of more than a decade ago.
As the sound of chains falling rang out, Kuma also turned his gaze toward Jabra.
"If you were to travel, where would you want to go?"
The calm tone seemed to suppress a trace of anger. At this moment, Jabra finally understood what Tyrant was. In his eyes, the once-gentle Kuma had become a raging beast; sharp fangs seemed to circle his throat, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any time.
Smack!
Kuma removed his glove and swung his arm at Jabra. In that instant, Jabra's figure vanished from the spot.
"Y-you… where did you send Jabra?!"
"Where? Probably… to the end of the world."
At that moment, the ground wriggled, and Morley, who had been preparing to retreat, emerged from below.
"Kuma-chan! You've really regained consciousness? That's wonderful!"
"Morley? Why are you here?"
"Long story short: the Revolutionary Army's operation. Anyway, let's leave this place first!"
"Wait a moment…"
Then Kuma directly tore apart the chains on Shirahoshi and said to her gently, "I'm sorry. Because of me, you went through something unpleasant. This place is too dangerous, I'll send you back to Fish-Man Island first."
As he spoke, Kuma swung his arm again, sending Shirahoshi and the others back to Fish-Man Island one after another. Then he lifted Bonney onto his shoulder, intending to leave directly with Morley.
"Stop! Invincible Slave Kuma! Kill that woman and all these guys! I'm your master, are you disobeying my orders?!"
Charlos couldn't accept the idea of his slave escaping right in front of him. He even raised his pistol and fired at Bonney and Kuma. In his eyes, a disobedient slave had no reason to exist.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out in succession, yet Kuma asked another question.
"Morley, the Revolutionary Army has already declared war, right?"
"Yes, Kuma-chan. The leader has already decided."
"Then there's no problem."
A laser gathered in Kuma's mouth, and his target was Charlos himself. Amid the smoke produced by the roaring laser, Kuma and the Revolutionary Army vanished from the scene, and so did Charlos.
However, the burning scraps of cloth on the ground proved that a Celestial Dragon had once existed there.
The army commanders in the Domain of the Gods also began to withdraw, disappearing one by one into the ground like moles, leaving behind only that bomb.
The bomb Lindbergh had acquired wasn't a single one, but a pair. After blowing up the food storehouse, they left this one behind to cause further trouble.
In the end, Fujitora used antigravity to send the bomb high into the air, then Ryokugyu wrapped it in trees. It didn't cause much damage, but it achieved the goal of buying time.
However, the shockwaves produced by Queen's special bomb caused numerous cracks to appear in the ground of the Domain of the Gods. Beneath it had originally been the space for a man-powered escalator.
Large numbers of slaves had been pushing the walkway from below to serve the nobles above. Now that those slaves had been rescued, the ground collapsed. Coupled with the gravity Fujitora had used earlier in battle, the cavern beneath was exposed.
Ryokugyu picked up a massive rock and tossed it down, but never heard it hit the bottom.
"Just how deep did they dig…?"
Aside from Sabo, the rest of the Revolutionary Army had already begun withdrawing. Their strategic objectives had long since been achieved.
But at this moment, Sabo was following Cobra, who was heading to meet the Five Elders, and near the Five Elders, during this turmoil, Gengar had also infiltrated the area.
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