"Leviathan?"
Sakura's voice was filled with delight and surprise. Opening her eyes, she saw the dozens of eyes on the giant beast before her filled with laughter.
Tilting its head, the giant beast brushed past Sakura and the rabbit.
Wrapped in a storm, it erupted with a terrifying roar unlike any before, plummeting downward.
"What?!"
The giant face within the sea of pigment contorted. Dorian didn't even have time to evade before Leviathan, clad in Armament Haki, slammed into his face.
The immense mass effortlessly tore through all the pigment, revealing the descendant of the Creators hiding within.
"How dare you-"
Boom!
A sound like a mountain collapsing and thunderclaps erupted.
The last vestige of Dorian's pigment defense was swallowed by the colossal creature. A crimson, blazing light rose from the earth.
Then, the earth was torn apart!
"Oi, wait, Leviathan, what are you doing?"
Sakura, who was holding the rabbit, was wrapped in the giant beast's tentacle and pulled along as it fell toward the ground.
The cataclysm caused by the fall of such immense mass did not stop.
After embedding itself in the earth, Leviathan didn't halt its momentum but instead continued plunging downward.
Crack!
The last remaining outline of the pure white earth shattered violently, replaced by a brand new appearance.
Colorless Realm: Breached.
Leviathan's colossal form plunged deep into the paradise, causing the stable world to tremble once more under the onslaught of the tidal wave it stirred.
The space that gathers the wonderful ideas of many souls begins to change. Earthquakes, torrential rain, and fierce winds seeped down from the upper layers, sweeping through and running rampant.
Crack!
The pervasive fog and clouds still couldn't stop the giant beast. Fissures spread to every corner, the membrane separating the layers was pierced once more.
Nirmanarati Realm: Breached!
The nightmare-like figure continued to fall, piercing through worlds, descending into hell.
It even cast its shadow over the shacks and the village, over the dull and bewildered faces of every citizen of Elshakh.
The Paranirmita-vasavartin Realm was reached. The passage was now fully open.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch... Leviathan, you bastard, you're really too reckless..."
Sakura, half-buried in the soil, struggled to pull herself out. Staggering, she leaned against the giant beast's body and sat down.
"Hehe, just thought~ it would feel~ really good~ to do this~"
The giant beast raised its head slightly. Its lazy laughter stirred up waves of air.
In the distance, the citizens of the Kingdom of Elshakh hid among the ruins and dust. The home they relied on for survival was destroyed!
The white cat leaning against a broken wall widened its eyes, the hand holding the cane trembling.
"That... that's a passage that can take everyone to the uppermost layer!"
"Ugh..."
The white rabbit, Hermod, his head groggy, also climbed out from under the rubble.
Seeing the humble daily life the citizens had worked so hard to build vanish into nothingness, a nameless fury rose from the depths of his heart.
"Bastard! Look what you've done! You destroyed their home!"
Understanding the giant beast and Sakura were together, the white rabbit rushed forward and grabbed Sakura's trench coat fiercely.
"So what?"
In the dead silence, Sakura's mocking laughter reached every animal's ears.
"You cold-hearted woman!"
Gritting his teeth, words full of hatred were squeezed out from between the white rabbit's teeth.
"Kid, it seems you haven't recognized my true nature yet. I... am a pirate!"
Sakura broke free from the white rabbit's grasp, instead grabbing him and lifting him up to face her.
"Let go of Prince Hermod!"
"You bad person!"
"Pirates... they really can't be trusted after all!"
One by one, the citizens of Elshakh, filled with righteous indignation, glared fiercely at the girl, their eyes like daggers.
Sakura's gaze swept over the many faces filled with fear, hatred, and timidity. She released the white rabbit, casually dropping him to the ground.
She took a deep breath and loudly declared: "Yes, we pirates are bad people, thugs, scum… destroyers who rampage across the seas."
"So, I'm going to continue destroying. What about you? Do you want to keep being playthings for the Celestial Dragons in your dreams? Or do you want to come with me up there and slaughter them?"
Sakura spread her arms, proclaiming to all the animals looking up, to everyone watching her.
"But... but we don't have the power to fight the Celestial Dragons! It's a fate that surely leads to death!"
An animal hugged its knees, curled into a ball, trembling as it fell to the ground, tears wetting the foul-smelling earth of the Paranirmita-vasavartin Realm.
"Ridiculous! If you don't even dare to ignite the will to resist, how will you ever gain power in a world like this?"
"And besides, I've said I'm just a pirate. If the fire of anger at unwilling enslavement still burns within you, if you want to go and destroy something, then follow me!"
With that, Sakura didn't care at all if anyone followed. She stepped onto Leviathan's body and began climbing toward the upper layers.
"I'll go! Take me with you!"
A cane clattered to the ground. The aged white cat pushed through the crowd of animals and slowly walked forward.
"Commander Christopher! But she's a pirate!"
The animals moved closer, wanting to separate the white cat from Sakura ahead.
"Fools! This is our country! Someone else is fighting our enemy! Should I, the commander of this kingdom's army, just stand by and do nothing?!"
The white cat slapped away the hands trying to support it. Though its body was aged and stooped, its dazzling will shone like a beacon in the night, making it impossible to look away.
"Open your eyes and see! The miracle we've prayed for day and night is right before us! Since we must make an enemy of the gods, then we have no choice but to walk with demons!"
Will burned. Life surged in its final throes. The white cat's body erupted with boundless strength.
It actually managed to grab onto Leviathan's many tentacles and began climbing upward, bit by bit.
"I'll go too! I can't bear my children living like beasts any longer!"
A pair of squirrel spouses emerged from the animals and climbed onto Leviathan's tentacles.
"And me...", "Count me in...", "Don't leave me behind..."
After a brief dead silence, more and more eyes that hadn't yet gone numb began to gleam.
Those voices gradually overlapped, becoming impossible to erase, transforming into roars of unwillingness that echoed through the air.
"Prince, are you alright?"
Little white deer, little white snakes, little squirrels... children who had already forgotten how to be human gathered around the white rabbit.
The Prince of Elshakh, Hermod, was stung by their worried gazes.
After a long moment, he seemed to have a sudden realization and slapped himself.
Silently, he smiled self-deprecatingly.
"So, the coward has been here all along!"
The white rabbit looked up at the girl leading everyone upward.
She was so dazzling, just like the king he had once admired long ago.
"Since things have come to this, as a member of the royal family, I must fight alongside my people!"
Forcing his trembling legs to steady, the white rabbit broke into a run. He pressed his hands against the ground, opening a rabbit hole.
The next instant, the exit of the hole opened right on the skin of Leviathan beneath Sakura.
The white rabbit leaped out from within and ran alongside Sakura.
"Pirate! Don't think you can destroy our town without paying any price! I'll destroy your target before you can!"
Sakura laughed heartily, turning to give the white rabbit a serious look.
"Hahaha, if you can do it, then come and try!"