"Use the Space-Time: The Creator card directly and stage a Twelve—Sunfall catastrophe at Mary Geoise.
Wipe out the Celestial Dragons along with part of the Red Line in one clean strike and prevent any unforeseen factors from appearing."
Ren quickly thought of this angle.
But no matter what, the preliminary plan had already been completed.
He began descending, crossing the continuously raging sea at astonishing speed and entering the range where he could sense the location of Ancient Wano.
The changes in the terrain were still ongoing. The vast energy released by the great cross-shaped star had almost boiled the seawater in that region.
Ren shifted his Haki into a protective state and isolated a certain amount of space around himself.
The seawater was still there, but it could no longer stop him.
Ancient Wano drew closer and closer within his perception. At the same time, he sensed Pluton sleeping there.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ren took out one of the trump cards he had prepared for this operation.
It had cost more than a billion Beli.
It was the result of multiple syntheses, combined with a core item from the Doraemon world.
.
[Modified Shrink Ray]
[Origin: Doraemon/???]
[Type: Rule Creation]
[Effect: Turn on the light and aim it at the "thing" to be operated on. The object can be shrunk or restored to any degree.
Energy must be paid when executing the operation. The extent of the size change depends on the amount of energy input.]
[Consumption: Energy]
.
The description was extremely concise, but with Rule Creations, every word in the description needed to be examined carefully.
What could be operated on in the description was a "thing," which usually referred to an inanimate object.
Pluton naturally satisfied this condition, and… there was no upper limit on the size of the thing!
Ren switched on the seemingly ordinary flashlight, and a shrinking beam caught Pluton.
Then it locked onto the "thing" known as Pluton and rapidly miniaturized it.
The sea level was still dropping quickly. Wano had lost one of its barriers, causing its inland sea to gush outward like a punctured balloon.
However, Ancient Wano was still submerged beneath the sea. It would take time for the seawater to drain away.
Besides, this was no longer the era from several centuries ago. The sea level had changed drastically.
There was one confirmed fact about the world of One Piece.
The sea level of this world was constantly rising and had never stopped over the course of several centuries.
Or rather, in the revelations of the original story's plot…
The greatest crisis in this world was not the Celestial Dragons, but a flood that would submerge the world.
Ren was dazed for a moment. When he came back to himself, he raised his hand and grabbed, and a Heavenly Might Blade returned carrying a palm-sized "thing."
He glanced at Pluton in his hand, which looked so small that someone might mistake it for a toy. He did not touch it directly, instead storing it in his inventory.
Boom—!
Scorching white light erupted within the sea current, and Ren soared upward, leaping into the sky.
Below him, the inland sea of Wano, destroyed by the Super Collapsing Star Roaring Cannon, was still surging violently. Perhaps it would take a very long time before it became level with the outer sea.
He did not care about that. One of the core reasons for opening the country was to give Kaido something to deal with.
During the Marineford War, he would harvest a huge amount of time units. That would become the foundation for his next qualitative transformation.
Until it ended, it would be best for the Four Emperors to stay quiet.
As for the other reasons, they included displaying his power and making his allies clearly recognize the reliability of his side.
The main issue was that completing things too quickly would make people subconsciously believe it was not difficult.
Then there were some arrangements concerning the Kozuki family.
There were quite a few plans involved, the only difference being that Ren still had not decided whether to execute them.
He did not like Oden, nor did he care for all the so-called greatness that people praised about him. But Wano might be a decent resource location.
There was a large amount of labor here, Seastone mines, and a great number of experience monsters—by which he meant members of the Beasts Pirates.
But no matter what, the Wano battlefront ended here.
Dragon and the Revolutionary Army began to withdraw, along with the Angel of Glory units.
The profits from this Wano war would erupt after the Marineford War.
Ren was looking forward to it. But for now, the most important thing… was still the Marineford War raging at full intensity!
The Marineford War was still continuing, but it had already taken a different direction from the original story.
The Navy's firepower had been almost completely destroyed. Only the pirates' cannons had been speaking.
That was the situation from the previous stage. Afterward, the Navy soldiers urgently transported more cannons and began retaliatory bombardment.
But in terms of firepower, there was not much difference between them and the Whitebeard Pirates anymore. They could no longer play the enormous role Sengoku and the others had expected.
This greatly reduced the Whitebeard Pirates' Haki consumption.
Reflected on the battlefield, this meant the Navy's front line was under tremendous pressure.
After all, their opponents were the Whitebeard Pirates, who had dominated the New World for decades.
Over all these years, many of the strongest and most outstanding pirates who had been tempered and survived countless purges and battles had joined Whitebeard's command.
In other words, there were no so-called weaklings there.
The most fatal issue was the collective betrayal of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. With Ren at the forefront, their backstab had caused a major problem in the overall strategy.
The absence of the core combat forces on the forward battlefront had not only turned the front line into an empty shell.
It had also caused the morale of the Navy soldiers at the front to plummet so rapidly that it was nearly collapsing.
Even though Mihawk sensed that something was wrong and, out of certain considerations, took the initiative to act a few times and ease the pressure in certain areas…
Another Warlord was not someone who obediently listened.
Although Hancock did move, she basically launched indiscriminate attacks. After acting twice, she struck a pose and stopped doing anything.
In other words, in essence, there was not much difference.
And with Oz Jr.'s entry onto the battlefield, the frontal battlefield became even worse. An opponent of such massive weight was like a chisel, gouging open the forward line of the frontal battlefield.
Thud—!
With a heavy, muffled sound,
Oz Jr. once again defeated a Giant vice admiral wielding a massive axe, letting out a tremendous roar in the center of the battlefield.
"Ace! I'm coming!"
At this moment, he was only a short distance away from the execution platform where Ace was.
Of course, that was a "short distance" by his standards.
But the appearance of this scene also meant that the bay battlefront was about to collapse.
Kizaru, who had been entangled with Marco all this time, finally could not hold back any longer. First, his entire body shone as he formed countless laser beams, blasting Marco, who was clinging stubbornly to him, into a mass of blue flames.
Immediately afterward, a laser beam shot furtively toward that gigantic head.
"Despicable bastard!"
Marco's expression changed drastically, but he was still in the middle of high-speed regeneration and could not rush over in time.
On the battlefield, Mihawk suddenly swung his blade, sending out several slashing waves that intercepted Whitebeard's men who were trying to help defend Oz Jr.
Ren's group's betrayal, along with the conduct of the people earlier, had shaken the necessity of the Warlords.
As one of the Warlords who, for the time being, had no intention of becoming enemies with the Navy or the World Government,
Mihawk felt that he needed to do something. At the very least, he could not be like Hancock, who was posing beside him while, for some reason, her presence had weakened considerably.
It was also at this moment—
Whitebeard, who had been stationed on the whale-head ship… vanished!
"Has he made his move?"
On the execution platform, Sengoku and Kuzan's expressions changed at the same time, revealing nervous looks.
Then they saw him—the man who had appeared atop Oz Jr.'s head.
He merely raised his hand and struck casually with a fist. With a creaking sound, the laser beam exploded in midair, lighting up the sky with a huge firework.
A laser beam capable of blasting apart a tree so massive that several hundred people could not wrap their arms around it was so fragile before this fist.
And that was not all.
"Whitebeard…"
Kizaru's expression changed. Then his entire body transformed into light and slipped away. In the next instant, the quake force that arrived from across the distance tore apart that area of the sky.
Marco flew out from the blue flames but did not choose to pursue him, because the direction Kizaru had escaped toward was the execution platform.
He quickly arrived beside Oz Jr. and stood by, because Pops was right there.
"You've done enough, Oz."
Whitebeard gently stroked Oz Jr.'s hair.
"From here on, this isn't something you children should do. Let me open the way for you!"
Without waiting for Oz Jr. to answer, he abruptly swung his fist.
The atmosphere creaked and shattered, then erupted with a white shockwave. Terrifying quake force burst forth in an instant, charging straight toward the execution platform.
Along its path, whether it was Navy soldiers, buildings, defenses, or the continuous ice walls Kuzan rapidly released, everything was crushed under that terrifyingly amplified resonance!
From the bay onward, the entire Navy line was carved open by quake force, forming a "passage" nearly a hundred meters in diameter that continued to extend forward.
"Oh my, he's losing his temper."
Kizaru frowned slightly, but he did not act. Akainu was the same. Neither of their Devil Fruit powers was suitable for use within friendly lines.
On the execution platform, Sengoku narrowed his eyes. When the quake force was about to arrive, his form changed.
Zoan-Type Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Model: Great Buddha Form!
His body rapidly expanded into a massive golden Buddha statue. As golden light radiated from him, he struck out with a palm.
The shockwave and the incoming quake force collided. However, it did not go as expected, where the aftermath would be cleverly redirected into a gale rushing skyward.
Instead, it stirred up a shockwave across the Navy's own battle line, causing who knew how many Navy soldiers to be caught in the Fleet Admiral's attack.
Boom—!
Countless Navy soldiers screamed as they were sent flying.
Some Navy officers turned back in shock and saw the Fleet Admiral, his face dark, say only that it had been a mistake.
"Gurararara! Aren't you underestimating me a little too much?"
Atop Oz Jr.'s head, Whitebeard said mockingly, "Or are you so old that you can't even control your own strength anymore?"
"Whitebeard… who helped you?"
Sengoku's eyes were gloomy. He had already understood what had just happened.
Or rather, he had once again confirmed a fact.
The other man truly was stronger than before, and he was completely unaffected by old age!
The brief exchange just now was an example.
Whitebeard's attack had perfectly controlled the range and power of the quake force.
Even if Sengoku had not counterattacked, that punch would have stopped before destroying the execution platform!
"Gurararara! Who knows?"
Whitebeard laughed. He seemed to want to continue saying something.
But suddenly, his eyes shifted. Within his field of vision, an old man wearing a coat of justice walked onto the execution platform.
Navy Hero—Garp!
"So you're taking the stage too? I thought there would be a certain tacit understanding between us."
Whitebeard's tone changed, becoming somewhat difficult to read.
Sengoku's expression grew tense, and Kuzan could not help looking toward Garp as he walked over.
"Mr. Garp…"
(End of Chapter)