Thousands of meters away, the battered onlookers swallowed hard, their mouths dry.
Even now, their spines tingled with fear.
A stone giant, dozens of meters tall, had been obliterated in a single strike.
If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they'd never have believed it.
Rayleigh stood nearby, his gourd of liquor crushed in his hand, disbelief etched into his weathered face.
Just moments ago, he'd been wondering how far Luoyu's mastery of Conqueror's Haki was from the legendary Rocks D. Xebec.
According to Shakky, Rocks hadn't just mastered Conqueror's coating—he'd reached the level of compression and release.
As a fellow wielder of Conqueror's Haki, Rayleigh knew how difficult that was.
But what Luoyu had just done?
It shattered everything he thought he knew.
To manifest a beast.
To summon lightning.
To weaponize Haki like that?
It was beyond comprehension.
If earlier he'd wondered how far Luoyu was from Rocks…
Now he wondered if Rocks was even in the same league.
Of course, Rayleigh had also noticed the flaw.
The blood-red Qilin wasn't like traditional Haki coating.
Whereas coating compressed power into a blade for piercing force, the Qilin was about detonation—a massive burst of destructive energy.
The more Haki poured in, the more devastating the result.
Two extremes.
But across the entire sea, who else could mold Conqueror's Haki into a beast and unleash it at will?
No one.
Rayleigh looked at the shattered gourd in his hand and muttered:
"Maybe Roger was right. Maybe the one to shake this old era… will come from the Navy."
In the ruins, Luoyu took a slow sip of his liquor, eyeing the half-buried, possibly-dead Pica.
His body still felt hollow from that last attack.
But the system never disappointed.
Using the Intermediate Mutation Card on his Conqueror's Haki?
Absolutely worth it.
He'd thought he'd hit the ceiling with tangible Haki blasts.
He hadn't expected to summon a mythical beast.
Skipping the twenty-pull Silver Chest spree to upgrade to Gold?
Genius move.
And now, with Platinum-tier rewards on the horizon…
He was itching for a ten-pull.
"Ain, any word from Fleet Admiral Sengoku? How much is CP9 worth?"
Luoyu scanned the ruins.
He spotted Gabra and the others, pale-faced and trembling.
"Where are the other four? Ran off? Guess I'll have to go fetch them."
"N-no, Admiral Luoyu! We were just keeping our distance! We'd never run!"
"Joining the Navy is the greatest honor of our lives!"
"And we're valuable! At least a million apiece, right?"
Kalifa scrambled forward, followed by Bruno and the rest.
After witnessing that sky-splitting attack, they were grateful Gabra had convinced them to stay.
If they'd run…
They'd be rubble like Pica.
They looked at the half-buried, charred remains of the Warlord's top fighter.
Their legs still shook.
In the shadows, Spandain and the CP0 agents were stunned.
This was supposed to be the strongest CP9 in 800 years?
Where had their pride gone?
They'd surrendered.
And priced themselves at a million Berries each.
Spandain knew that if CP9 had fallen into any other hands, their secrets alone would be worth billions.
But to Luoyu?
They were just a bargain-bin bonus.
Still, if things went well, maybe he could take them back.
"Spandain, CP9's in the Admiral's hands now. What do we do?" Iga asked.
They'd taken a huge risk coming here.
That Qilin strike still echoed in his bones.
"I don't like this," Iha muttered. "That kid doesn't play by the rules. Let's just report back to the Five Elders."
He'd encountered Luoyu twice in three days.
Both times, he'd felt like he was brushing shoulders with Death.
Luoyu still stood in the ruins, untouched.
Unmoving.
Iha had no desire to test fate.
"Relax," Spandain said with a sly grin. "I've got something he won't be able to resist."
"And don't forget—we're CP0. The Navy's just assisting us. CP9 belongs to us."
"We'll offer him credit, rewards, and a clean handoff. Everyone wins."
"Come on. Let's go talk to the new Admiral. Don't forget the reward I promised you. This is a rare opportunity."
With that, Spandain stepped out.
Iga hesitated, then followed.
Iha lingered, torn.
But finally, he gritted his teeth and moved.
"Those agents… CP0 will take them."