Chapter 488: Skyfall
"BOOM—!!!"
"Marines!! How dare you—!!!"
Saint Ju Peter's furious roar detonated like thunder, shattering the sea of clouds as violent winds swept upward.
However, before his words could even fade—
Roy raised his hand. The space in his palm abruptly collapsed, compressing the air until it nearly burst.
"Hmph... Let me give you a little welcoming gift first."
The space between heaven and earth violently twisted.
In the next second, the firmament seemed to be cleaved open by a sharp blade—
A rift of light and wind tore through the high altitude, followed by a thunderous commotion.
A massive shadow slowly emerged from that spatial rift—
It was a colossal floating island!
The entire island stretched across the sky, surrounded by raging gales. At the very peak of that island, a figure stood proudly.
His blonde hair blazed like fire, his black cape snapped fiercely in the wind, and raging flames of war burned in his eyes.
—It was none other than the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, Sabo!
The island beneath his feet was supported by the power of the "Float-Float Fruit." The entire landmass slowly floated and tilted under his will.
"Hahahaha—I'm here! Big Brother Roy!!!"
Sabo's laughter detonated within the storm, carrying boundless heroism and battle intent!
"Sabo—!!!"
Ace and Luffy shouted simultaneously, their voices brimming with pleasant surprise and hot-blooded excitement.
Sabo's laughter echoed across the horizon. Pressing both hands down fiercely, his voice boomed alongside a furious roar:
"Skyfall!!!"
"RUMBLE—!!!"
The air currents of the Float-Float Fruit reversed. A billion-ton shockwave of air poured down. Under Sabo's power, the entire island violently accelerated, plunging toward the mortal realm like a burning crimson meteor!
At the same time, Roy brought his palms together, superimposing spatial pressure onto the falling trajectory.
The spatial collapse and the floating gravitational drop merged perfectly, forming a world-destroying impact!
Blistering flames tore through the cloud layers, compressing the air into high-temperature plasma. Light and wind intertwined along the falling trajectory into a searing red meteor stream, illuminating the entire world.
"ROAR—!!!"
Saint Ju Peter roared at the sky. The colossal sandworm beast struggled madly, the golden patterns on its body flashing as a brilliant pillar of golden energy erupted from its mouth.
But beneath the shadow of that island falling from the heavens—all light seemed insignificant and desperate.
"BOOM————————!!!!!!"
In that moment, heaven and earth collapsed.
A deafening explosion swallowed all sound. The island collided head-on with Pangaea Castle. Energy waves swept across the horizon like a tsunami.
The sandworm's roar was instantly swallowed by raging flames, and the figures of Saint Ju Peter and Pangaea Castle were completely submerged in the explosive light.
Flames and rubble shot up into the sky. The blazing light pierced straight through the nine heavens. At this moment, heaven and earth seemed to merge into one, and even the world itself was trembling.
...
Dust churned, and the raging flames had yet to disperse. The original plateau of Mary Geoise had long been reduced to scorched earth.
That massive island, jointly manipulated by Sabo and Roy to fall from the sky—now lay quietly embedded within that crater spanning dozens of kilometers.
It completely buried the former Holy Land, acting like a gravestone stretching across the history of the world.
On the scorched earth, flames still burned quietly, and warping heatwaves permeated the air.
The storm gradually subsided. Sabo flew down from the sky, landing steadily in mid-air. Coming face-to-face with Ace and Luffy, the three smiled at each other, their fists bumping together simultaneously.
"It really has been too long since we fought side-by-side—"
Ace spoke with a smile, warm and familiar.
"Hahaha! That attack just now was so freaking cool!" Luffy laughed excitedly.
Sabo coughed lightly, replying with a smile: "Alright, alright, next time don't shout my name so loudly. I got spoiled before I even made my entrance."
However, their smiles only lasted for a fleeting moment.
When the three brothers turned their heads simultaneously, what they saw was Roy and Garp hovering in mid-air—both of their expressions remaining grim.
Ace frowned, his voice tinged with tension: "Grandpa, Big Brother Roy... what's wrong?"
"Could it be—they can still survive an attack like that?"
Before his words faded, the ground suddenly began to tremble.
VMM—!
A deep, low resonance emanated from the center of the island, as if some sort of seal had been torn apart.
Subsequently—a blinding black light flashed in the sky above the entire island!
Pitch-black energy spiraled in the sky, forming a massive pentagram array. Runes twisted and surged, writhing like living creatures.
The air currents of the entire world were pulled by that power. Even the sunlight was devoured, plunging the surroundings into a bizarre, dark red hue.
"—They're coming."
In the next moment, the center of the pentagram array violently detonated, and four colossal dark silhouettes roared out from the pitch-black rift!
"ROAR—!!!"
The first to charge out was a half-human skeletal horse. That was—Saint Nusjuro's hybrid form!
He stood roughly six meters tall. His lower half consisted of the four limbs of a skeletal horse covered in a bony exoskeleton, while his upper half retained its human form, draped in a white kimono. A ghostly blue, freezing light flickered in his eyes.
With his right hand, he drew that legendary famous blade—the Shodai Kitetsu.
The blade was as black as ink, its sharp edge condensing a thick, white freezing mist. The air around it froze, emitting cracking sounds.
"Go to hell—!!!"
Saint Nusjuro roared, swinging a slash with terrifying force!
In that instant, the colors of heaven and earth changed—
The blade severed space, transforming into an ice-blue slash hundreds of meters wide. Carrying a terrifying frigid aura capable of instantly freezing the air, it hurtled straight toward Roy, Garp, and the others in mid-air!
"So fast—!!!" Sabo's pupils shrank as he exclaimed in a low voice.
The speed of that slash was so fast that the air didn't even have time to wail. It was merely a flash of light, yet it made it seem as if the world had been cleaved in two.
But high above, Roy and Garp remained perfectly composed.
"BOOM—!!!"
Two figures shot out from behind Roy and Garp simultaneously, bringing with them blistering heatwaves and violent air currents!
"Leave this to us—!!!"
Raging flames ignited on Ace's hands. The fire spiraled and gathered between his arms, transforming into a massive flaming blade that illuminated the entire sky.
He roared loudly, carrying a monstrous heatwave as he charged toward that ice-blue sword aura!
"Flame Slash—!!!"
Almost simultaneously, Luffy's half-dragon body violently shuddered. His scales shone with golden-red light under the sun, his chest puffed up, and a rumble echoed from his throat!
"Dragon Breath—!!!"
Accompanied by a furious roar, a blindingly white, searing dragon breath spewed from Luffy's mouth. Raging flames and shockwaves merged into one, converging in the air to form a devastating fire dragon storm!
"—BOOM!!!"
Flames and frost collided violently in mid-air. The light of the explosion illuminated the entire sky, tearing the cloud layers to shreds with its shockwave.
The forces of extreme heat and extreme cold devoured each other. Sparks of fire and shards of ice crystals fell like rain, igniting the ruins below.
Ace and Luffy's combined attack forcibly shattered that icy slash in mid-air! The explosive airwaves compressed the surrounding air into a sonic boom!
"What the heck was that thing just now?!" Luffy steadied his stance amidst the wind pressure, his dragon eyes locked dead on the ground below.
"This aura... there's more than one," Ace said in a low voice.
In the next instant—
The pentagram array erupted with blinding black light, and one towering figure after another slowly stepped out from the teleportation formation.
An ancient aura spread out, an oppressive pressure blanketing heaven and earth.
Saint Garling, Saint Shamrock, Saint Chiringorm... and—that splash of red fluttering in the wind.
He slowly lowered his hood, revealing that familiar, dazzling red hair.
The fierce gale swept past, his cape snapping between the light and dust.
That was—Saint Shanks.
He looked down at Mary Geoise, which had long since been reduced to scorched earth beneath his feet, and then looked up at Roy, who was gazing down coldly from high above.
The wind brushed between the two of them, carrying currents of flames and ashes. His red hair fluttered gently. Light flickered in his eyes, yet it couldn't conceal that trace of complex emotion.
"How..."
He murmured softly. His voice was almost drowned out by the wind, yet everyone heard it clearly.
"How did it suddenly develop into this kind of situation... Roy."
The wind stopped.
The crackling of the flames, the falling ice crystals, the howling of the broken wind—
In this moment, everything came to a standstill.