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Chapter 346 - The Massacre in Zou [346]

The Mangekyō Sharingan spun slowly, red and intense, filling Riser's gaze with a cold, absolute glow.

The space around him reacted to the activation, warping like glass under pressure.

"Kamui."

The black vortex opened in a spiral, pulling in light, air, and every presence around it.

ZUUUUM!

The next moment, Riser was no longer in the physical world.

The gray, dense void of Kamui stretched in all directions. Floating platforms remained inert, sustaining his presence with immutable stability. Here, he was sovereign. Here, nothing escaped his control.

The red eyes spun again. The Mangekyō reached beyond the void, searching for the exact point in the ocean where Zou should be.

His perception crossed seas, clouds, and islands. Every detail of the New World bent under his precise observation. Until, at last, he found it.

Zou.

The ancient colossus walking the seas. The millennial elephant, whose wrinkled skin seemed like a continent of its own. The city built on its back appeared before Riser's eyes, but what he saw was not what he remembered from the anime.

The silence was abrupt.

Kamui revealed a scene of devastation.

The ground was covered in bodies. Warrior Minks, hunters, children, elders scattered like broken puppets. Their lifeless forms lay on stone streets, wooden stairs, and even the rooftops of the city. That proud people, known for their strength, had been massacred without mercy.

The stench of death clung to the air. Not even the wind moved.

Riser tilted his head slightly, his eyes assessing every detail with coldness.

"What the fuck is this..."

The words came out low, dry.

It wasn't just the massacre that caught him.

At the city's heart, a blue tear floated in the air. An unstable portal, spiraling, spitting sparks of energy that cracked the ground with incandescent fractures.

The blue glow pulsed, and from within, creatures began to crawl out.

They did not belong to One Piece. They were not sea beasts or Government weapons. They were abominations.

Monsters of twisted, illogical shapes. Tentacles covered in eyes writhed with unnatural rhythm. Jaws opened at impossible angles, dripping black, viscous ichor that corroded stone where it fell. Their bodies were grotesque masses of flesh and bone forced to coexist.

Each step left marks, each sound made the dead city echo as if it still had a soul.

Riser narrowed his eyes.

"This wasn't in the anime... what the hell happened here?"

His voice carried the weight of the discovery.

Kamui kept recording the scene. The monsters spread, walking over corpses without distinction. The many eyes spun in random directions, as if searching for unseen prey.

Some Mink corpses were dragged, devoured by the creatures like discarded carcasses. Blood mixed with the black ichor, forming dark pools that evaporated under the unstable glow of the portal.

Riser remained calm. His expression showed no shock. Only cold calculation.

The Mangekyō spun again, recording every detail, analyzing the rhythm of the distortions, measuring the dimensional pulse of that portal.

"That portal..."

His eyes locked on the center of the blue spiral.

"...and those monsters. They are not from this world."

The silence within Kamui grew heavier.

The memory of his arrival in the One Piece universe echoed in his mind. The System had warned him: he would encounter something different. It wasn't just the natural differences between worlds. It was greater, deeper, more twisted.

Now, before the corpses of the Minks and the blue portal vomiting abominations, the message made sense.

Riser did not react with fear. Nor with surprise.

He only smiled, coldly.

His eyes kept watching.

'So that's what you meant, System... when you brought me into this world. A new version of One Piece.'

[Confirmation. This world has suffered structural alterations in its line of destiny. External elements have infiltrated.]

The glow of the Mangekyō flared for a moment, then returned to its slow, calculating pace. Riser absorbed every detail as Kamui recorded the scene.

Since Luffy's death, he had learned that nothing was untouchable in this world. Now, with the Minks exterminated and the abominations advancing, the conclusion was inevitable.

Robin's visit to Zou would have to wait.

The dimensional vortex opened around Riser.

ZUUUM.

In seconds, the massacre vanished from his sight. Space folded again, and he emerged back into his office at the Phoenix Nest.

The Mangekyō Sharingan glowed one last time before fading. His eyes returned to their natural tone as he slowly leaned back in the black marble chair.

The silence in the office felt heavier now. Maps and documents still covered the desk, but nothing on paper could compare to the image in his mind.

'System... do you have information about those creatures?'

[Partial data available. Classification: Extrinsic Entities. Origin: another dimension. Function: destruction and annihilation of all contact.]

Riser frowned.

'That's it?'

[Affirmation. Incomplete record. Unstable nature.]

His fist closed over the desk. Not in anger, but in disappointment at the simplicity of the answer.

Still, it was enough to confirm the essential.

The creatures did not belong to One Piece. They had invaded this world through distorted portals. Their purpose was singular: to destroy and consume.

His thoughts circled an uncomfortable truth.

He had reincarnated in DxD, ascended to absolute power, then crossed into the world of One Piece. Now, this universe too was being invaded by something external. The balance was being corroded.

Riser felt no fear. But the idea unsettled him in another way.

This world was his new home. His empire.

And he would not allow it to be destroyed before he completed his total dominion.

His nails tapped against the desk, rhythmic. A red glimmer flickered beneath his skin, even without the Sharingan active.

'I need a solution. Those monsters won't spread through my territory.'

The immediate idea came naturally.

Invade Zou through Kamui, crush every creature, close the portal by force. It was direct. Practical. It was what he had always done.

But even in his mind, the conclusion sounded incomplete.

'If I destroy the portal in Zou, nothing stops another from opening on some other island. And another. And another. I'd be putting out endless fires.'

The System responded.

[Correction. Extrinsic portals are not isolated events. They are manifestations of dimensional instability. Once the connection is opened, multiple points can emerge in different regions of the world.]

Riser leaned back in his chair, eyes narrowed.

'So it's not just Zou. This entire world could be consumed.'

[Affirmation. Probability of exponential expansion. Extrinsic entities lack territorial logic. Only multiplication and destruction.]

The silence in the office thickened. The golden phoenix crest reflected the dim torchlight, but Riser's mind was elsewhere.

Thoughts clashed quickly, like sharpened blades.

He could exterminate every creature that appeared. He could even turn their corpses into an example, showing the world that not even abominations escaped his dominion.

But it wasn't only about power.

It was about purpose.

'This is the world where Luffy died. The protagonist. The center of everything. If even he was removed from the equation, this was never just One Piece. Maybe this world was already a lost cause from the start.'

His hands clasped over the desk, fingers tight, as if holding an invisible decision.

'And yet... it is the world I chose to rule.'

The System spoke again.

[Note: Neutralizing extrinsic entities in a single point will not prevent new manifestations. Recommended: locate the phenomenon's origin.]

'Origin... so there is an initial entry point?'

[Affirmation. Traceable through cross-analysis of dimensional anomalies. Requires full activation of Dimensional Travel function.]

Riser's gaze hardened.

Dimensional Travel.

Until now, the feature had remained at zero. Locked. A future promise, never used. But if it was the key to finding the source of the problem, sooner or later it would have to be unlocked.

'So it's not just about monsters. It's about the very fabric of the world being corroded. These portals don't belong here. They're fractures... and I'll have to decide whether it's worth patching them.'

He rose from the chair. The black cloak slid across the marble floor, reflecting the faint flame of the lamps.

His steps echoed through the office, slow and heavy, each sound reinforcing the inevitable conclusion.

He had the power to crush monsters. The power to burn entire portals. The power to drag the One Piece world back into balance by force.

But that wasn't what unsettled him.

It was the doubt.

If this world was doomed to collapse, was it worth saving? Or merely exploiting until its last resource, before moving on to another?

The red flame glowed beneath his skin, answering without words.

The Phoenix Empire would not be ruined. Not by men. Not by gods. Not by extrinsic abominations.

Silence returned to the office. But now, there was direction.

Riser Phenex would not abandon the world so soon.

He only needed to decide whether to purify it... or rebuild it in his own image.

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