Dozens of beasts, each standing tens of meters tall, had already begun their invasion of Skypiea.
Everywhere they passed, destruction followed. Trees were uprooted, buildings crushed, the landscape itself scarred by their massive forms.
The native creatures of Skypiea didn't stand a chance. The island's wildlife were either swallowed whole or crushed into paste by the overwhelming power of these synthetic monsters.
From where the Shandians lived near the ruins of the City of Gold, the sounds were getting closer. Roars, crashes, screams of dying animals... all of it carried on the wind.
"No..."
The brief moment of calm they'd felt after Shiki left shattered instantly. Hearts that had just begun to slow were now hammering again.
They'd finally escaped Enel's tyrannical rule. And now they were facing something even worse.
Wyper had lost an arm in a single exchange with that floating man. Just one gesture from Shiki, and their best fighter was crippled.
The terrifying gap in power made everyone present sink into despair. If Wyper couldn't even land a hit, what chance did the rest of them have?
"Chief!" one of the tribal elders shouted. "We need to evacuate! Back to the White-White Sea village! If we take the hidden paths, we can still make it!"
The White-White Sea had been their true home for generations. The White-White Sea sat at seven thousand meters, while the White Sea was at ten thousand. Their hand-carved residential zone existed in the middle layer, around eight thousand meters up.
After four centuries of development and expansion, it had become a maze of platforms and dwellings, layer upon layer, so well concealed that even the residents of Angel Island had never found it.
The Shandia Chief stared toward the west. Though he couldn't yet see the monsters themselves, the vicious roars and the words that terrifying man had spoken told him everything he needed to know.
Then he looked east.
"Have the people from Angel Island started moving toward us?"
"Why are we worrying about them right now?" another elder protested.
At that moment, a mantis-like beast flew to the edge of the city's ruins.
Screeeech.
Excitement gleamed in the mantis' compound eyes as it surveyed the gathered Shandians.
The native sky mantises of Skypiea had grown larger over the four centuries since the island was knocked into the sky, but they were still at most the height of a tall man. And even the larger specimens were thin and fragile as twigs, fleeing the moment they spotted humans.
This thing was different. Its exoskeleton looked thick and reinforced. And fresh blood dripped from its mandibles.
The Shandian warrior standing at the perimeter reacted on instinct, raising his spear to defend himself... Sliiek!
Both spear and warrior were cleaved cleanly in half. The two pieces of his body hit the ground, blood pooling instantly.
"NO!"
The other Shandian warriors snapped out of their shock, and those with firearms immediately opened fire.
Gunshots cracked through the air. Explosions from impact dials bloomed against the mantis' body. Smoke obscured their view for a moment.
When it cleared, the beast had only faint scorch marks on its carapace. No real damage at all.
"What?!"
"Run!"
Wyper immediately grasped the situation. This thing was beyond anything they could handle with conventional weapons.
But the mantis beast seemed to understand that these people couldn't harm it. If anything, that made it more excited. Its cicada-like wings began vibrating with a high-pitched whine.
It launched itself into the air and dove toward the Shandian warrior who'd turned to flee.
Wyper's body moved before his mind could catch up, charging forward.
"Wyper, no!" Raki grabbed him around the waist with both arms. "You can't! You'll die! Your injuries are too severe, you can't keep fighting like this!"
As the great warrior of his generation, watching his people get slaughtered was something Wyper simply couldn't tolerate. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to fight.
"That's right!" Aisa clung to his leg, tears streaming down her face. "Lord Usopp said that in times of crisis, if we call his name, he'll come! He promised!"
She was terrified of the enemy, but she could hear Wyper's "voice," and it was growing weaker with every passing second. This fierce warrior who'd never shown weakness was already at death's door.
Hearing Usopp's name, Wyper's expression shifted.
His hand came to rest on Aisa's head.
Seeing this, both women thought he'd given up on his suicidal charge, but the next moment, a surge of force shoved them both backward.
"Wait!"
Raki couldn't even grab the corner of his clothing.
Wyper burst forward, his mangled right arm hanging useless at his side, blood dripping steadily from his fingertips.
The Shandia Chief watched him go.
"Move toward the vines!"
The order confused many of the Shandians. Some of the elders opened their mouths to object. But there was no time for debate. More monsters were appearing around the perimeter of the ruins, emerging from the western jungle.
Each one possessed terrifying combat power that made their weapons feel like toys.
The Shandian warriors had no way of seriously harming these creatures. Long-range fighters could at least stay out of reach, barely, but the warriors wielding spears and shields were swatted aside like insects. Bodies slammed into the ruins.
Warriors who'd fought evenly against Enel's priests, men and women who'd trained their entire lives, now seemed as helpless as children before these beasts.
There was no time to deploy tactics or coordinate attacks. This wasn't a battle; it was a massacre.
The elderly and children fled first, streaming toward the massive vines. The vines weren't far, less than a kilometer from the City of Gold.
But that kilometer felt long when death was chasing you.
Behind them, more than ten beasts had already converged on the area, drawn by the concentration of prey.
The one saving grace was that these monsters weren't coordinated. When two of them spotted the same target, they'd turn on each other instead, fighting over the kill.
But even the shockwaves from their battles were enough to knock fleeing Shandians off their feet. Some didn't get back up.
The monsters would eventually remember their original prey after finishing their fights with each other, but those brief moments of distraction were all that kept more people from dying.
Still, as more beasts emerged from the jungle, despair spread through the Shandian ranks.
Because now, towering above even the other monsters, came something truly massive.
A leonine beast over thirty meters tall lumbered into view. It looked like a lion that had been crossed with a giraffe, its long neck swaying as it walked. Each footstep made the ground tremble.
Wyper, who'd just pulled a wounded warrior to safety, stared up at the predator.
Fight it? With just himself, in his current condition? Impossible.
The mantis that had killed the first warrior had no intention of letting Wyper's interference go unpunished. It lunged, scythes sweeping in for a killing blow.
The blade whistled through the air.
CLANG.
Metal struck stone as Wyper dropped into a crouch, the scythe passing over his head.
The mantis' compound eyes widened in surprise. This prey was faster than expected.
Click.
The mantis had no time to react. The Reject Dial unleashed its devastating payload directly into the creature's thorax.
Impact and force were completely different concepts. A punch could knock you back. A Reject Dial's output went straight through armor and obliterated everything inside.
The attack bypassed the mantis' reinforced exoskeleton entirely and liquefied its internal organs in an instant.
For a moment, the creature stood frozen, its outer shell completely intact. Then blood began seeping from the joints in its armor. Its eyes went dull and lifeless.
The mantis toppled forward and crashed to the ground.
Blood trickled from the corner of Wyper's mouth. His legs nearly gave out.
Already gravely wounded, using a Reject Dial again sent the recoil through his entire body. It felt like his bones were grinding against each other. His vision swam.
Braham was firing wildly at the advancing monsters. Using Flash Dials as ammunition, he had the best chance of anyone to keep the beasts at bay, the blinding light confused and enraged them.
But he was just one man. He couldn't hold off more than one or two at a time.
Seeing Wyper destroy the most dangerous predator with his Reject Dial, he let out a breath of relief, but his worry for his fellow warrior only intensified. Wyper had already survived a blow that should have killed him. How many more could he possibly take?
"Wyper, you need to—"
His moment of distraction was all it took.
An ape-like beast, its arms full of extra joints that let them bend at impossible angles, swung one of those limbs. The blow caught him across the chest and sent him flying backward.
He hit the ground, tumbling across the golden stone before slamming into a ruined pillar. He didn't get up.
"Braham!"
The battle line collapsed in seconds.
The fight had started quickly, and ended even faster. The Shandian warriors were being slaughtered without any real resistance. Their weapons, training, and courage, none of it mattered against these beasts.
Aisa clutched her ears, trying to block out the sounds, no, the voices, as they disappeared one by one.
"No... please, no more..."
Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes. She'd heard so many voices go silent under Enel's rule. She couldn't bear to experience it again.
Raki held the trembling girl while guarding the retreating Shandian survivors. When she glanced back, she saw countless warriors she'd known her entire life either spewing blood or being crushed into the ground.
"Great God Usopp..." Aisa whispered through her sobs. "Please save us... don't let the voices disappear again..."
She wasn't the only one praying. Every woman and child was doing the same, their voices joining in desperate pleas.
At this moment, besides praying to their god, there was nothing else they could do.
BOOM!
A loud explosion echoed across the City of Gold.