Franky pressed Pluton's firing button.
He hesitated before doing so. The people in the Holy Land were not only Celestial Dragons, but also countless slaves.
If this shot was fired, the Celestial Dragons would die, but those innocent slaves might not survive either.
Furthermore, Luffy was down there as well.
"Luffy has caused a huge commotion. He's surrounded by enemy forces and won't have time to escape!"
Now that things had reached this point, Franky could no longer worry about questions of innocence. Gritting his teeth, he pressed the firing button in the control room.
In the next instant, Pluton, hidden within the darkness of the night, emitted an intense white light from its main cannon.
The white radiance dispersed the darkness and illuminated half the sky as though it were daytime.
The sight awakened countless people throughout the Holy Land. The patrolling soldiers raised their heads one after another, completely confused.
"What is that?"
"No idea... some kind of celestial phenomenon?"
The confusion quickly turned into panic.
At the same time...
Inside the City of Pangaea, which had been sealed by countless vines, the guards struggled desperately to free themselves.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" someone shouted.
"Inform the Elders immediately!"
What they didn't know, however, was that the Elders in whom they placed so much hope were currently locked in a stalemate before the Empty Throne.
---
xXx
Luffy pointed his sword toward the people below the staircase.
"What do you mean? Pluton? Pluton, one of the Ancient Weapons?"
All of the Holy Knights were shocked.
They first looked at Supreme Commander Figarland Garling, who had lost his weapon, then at the Five Elders, and finally at Imu.
Saint Jaygarcia Saturn's face was filled with disbelief.
"Impossible! Even if you obtained the Ancient Weapon blueprints, it's impossible to build it in such a short period of time!"
"A bluff?" Topman Warcury also refused to believe it.
Faced with the thirty-second countdown announced by Luffy, everyone felt uneasy.
Under the influence of Luffy's Supreme King Haki domain, they had lost the ability to use Observation Haki to investigate the outside world.
"Twenty-four seconds remaining."
Luffy smiled.
This group was truly interesting.
When confronted with the truth, their first reaction was denial.
"Even if what you're saying is true, you're here as well!" Marcus Mars snorted. "Pluton is powerful enough to pierce the Red Line. You'll die too!"
"I'll die? That's funny."
Luffy made a casual gesture.
The western sword in his hand was instantly thrown.
One hundred times faster!
The tip of the blade instantly pierced through Figarland Garling's chest and emerged from his back.
Too fast!
It wasn't a speed that could be tracked with the naked eye.
Even if one's eyes could perceive the attack, the body simply wouldn't have time to react.
Figarland Garling was blasted backward and pinned to the wall.
Imu's expression changed slightly.
Even he hadn't been able to react completely.
"The Momo Fruit..."
He immediately recognized the ability.
He knew virtually every Devil Fruit in existence.
"Twenty-two seconds remaining."
Luffy took a step forward.
And vanished.
The three Elders once again assumed their Mythical Zoan forms, positioning themselves in front of Imu.
All of them were horrified by the combat power Luffy had displayed.
Absolute speed.
Absolute power.
Without sufficient Haki to oppose him, fighting on equal terms was impossible.
Tick.
Tock.
Blood flowed from Garling's chest.
He wasn't dead yet, but he was already on the verge of death.
His hand gripped the sword impaling him.
He tried to pull it out.
But the scene before his eyes caused him to freeze.
No attacks were visible.
Yet his subordinates, the Holy Knights, were dying one after another.
In the blink of an eye, one died.
In another blink, another fell.
Every one of them possessed powerful Devil Fruits and advanced Haki mastery.
Yet at that moment, they couldn't offer any resistance whatsoever.
Luffy was like someone crushing insects.
Killing them one after another.
Three blinks later...
When he reappeared before Imu and the others, the five Holy Knights were dead.
They had died standing.
Their brains hadn't even realized they were dead yet.
All of them had been decapitated.
After decapitation, the brain still takes a few seconds to comprehend what happened.
Thud!
Figarland Garling watched everything with a vacant stare.
The three Elders were horrified.
Saint Saturn, in his Gyūki form, widened his eyes.
"You bastard!"
He snapped his fingers.
Dense white threads emerged from his palm like spiderwebs.
The threads wrapped around Luffy's arm.
Immediately, a sensation of numbness appeared.
"Poison?"
Luffy grabbed the threads with his free hand.
And pulled.
Saturn was instantly dragged toward him.
One hundred times greater strength!
The pulling force was simply irresistible.
Saturn's pupils contracted.
"I—"
Puff!
Before he could finish speaking, Luffy's hand pierced through his chest.
Without any expression, Luffy killed another Elder.
When he withdrew his hand, blood streamed down his arm.
"That's really an annoying ability."
He commented honestly.
In his Gyūki form, Saturn possessed the ability to control webs and poison.
The first resembled Doflamingo's Ito Ito no Mi.
The second was similar to Magellan's Doku Doku no Mi.
The combination of those two abilities formed the power of the Mythical Zoan Gyūki.
Honestly, it was an extremely powerful Devil Fruit.
"Saturn..."
Saint Warcury took a deep breath.
Luffy ignored him.
Instead, he looked at Imu.
From beginning to end, Imu had merely watched.
He showed no intention of acting.
That left Luffy somewhat puzzled.
"Your subordinates are almost all dead."
"They have merely returned to the underworld."
Imu replied calmly.
"Nineteen seconds."
Luffy continued the countdown.
"Don't get arrogant, Straw Hat!"
Saint Warcury gritted his teeth and charged forward with his enormous weapon.
"Stay standing while you still can!"
Luffy raised an eyebrow.
Then he saw something surprising.
The dead Holy Knights and Saturn himself began emitting black souls.
It was different from Big Mom's Soru Soru no Mi.
The souls extracted by Big Mom's ability were pink.
These were completely black.
The souls gradually took on humanoid forms.
Transforming into undead warriors.
"Hah! In front of my ability, you can't kill anyone!" Warcury declared disdainfully. "Physical death means nothing. We can restore bodies or simply replace them!"
"Really?"
Luffy smiled.
"Now I understand why you're not worried."
As he spoke, he casually tossed out several bullets.
The bullets were coated with Haki and accelerated one hundred times.
Whoosh!
In an instant, the newly formed souls were pierced and scattered.
"It's useless!" Marcus Mars shouted. "Souls cannot be killed! They're even harder to eliminate than a Logia's elementalization!"
Transformed into his enormous golden bird form, Marcus Mars flapped his wings and charged at Luffy.
His claws aimed directly for Luffy's neck.
Luffy simply raised a hand.
Caught the claw.
And slammed him into the ground.
Boom!
The impact shattered the floor.
The entire area collapsed.
Everyone fell into the dark depths below.
Luffy landed lightly.
An ancient chill filled the surroundings.
He looked behind him.
There, preserved atop a stone platform, was a gigantic straw hat.
Then he heard Imu's voice.
"This is the place where Joy Boy died eight hundred years ago."
"So that's his straw hat?"
Luffy observed it carefully.
"I did not defeat him."
Imu's eyes remained cold.
"He died because his lifespan ran out."
"You awakened the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. Therefore, you should understand."
"The Drums of Liberation grant nearly infinite power. But that power is purchased with one's own life."
A divine fruit could only reveal its full potential in the hands of someone truly immortal.
Imu had always wanted that fruit.
But he had never been able to obtain it.
"Monkey D. Luffy. You will be the second Sun God to die in this place."
A strange red light shone in Imu's eyes.
Luffy observed carefully.
Around Imu stood the Holy Knights whose souls had returned.
Luffy simply laughed.
Then he took a pocket watch from his pocket.
He calmly opened it.
"Ten seconds remaining."
---
(End of Chapter)