Trafalgar Law had only just been about to surface when he saw the island hanging in the sky, and for a moment, he froze.
What the hell was going on?
"Captain, maybe we shouldn't go up there," Bepo whispered from the side, shrinking his neck nervously.
"This is way too dangerous."
"No matter what, I have to go see it for myself. ROOM!"
As Law spoke, he flipped his wrist and grabbed a handful of screws.
A pale-blue surgical field spread out in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, he was already outside the submarine.
He hurled the screws high into the sky.
His body swapped places with them through Shambles, and he continued climbing upward bit by bit.
...
Meanwhile, on the island floating high above, the people trapped within the Encircling Wall were in the greatest danger.
Although they had risen into the sky along with the whole island, what lay beneath their feet was not solid ground, but a thick layer of ice.
One careless step, and they could slip off the frozen surface and plunge from the heavens.
Whitebeard had clearly noticed this.
Holding Murakumogiri, he looked at Shiki and spoke in a deep voice.
"I'm moved that you'd say something like that to me… but you went too far, Shiki."
"Of course I know what you're thinking, you idiot. Your family will be fine."
Shiki stood back-to-back with Whitebeard, facing the Marines below.
The threat of those two joining forces was so immense that even Garp and Sengoku could not help wanting to step in.
"Your fists haven't rusted, have they, you troublemaking bastard?"
Sengoku threw the coat of Justice from his shoulders onto the ground and rolled his wrists, his knuckles cracking loudly.
"As hard as ever," Garp replied in a low voice, clenching both fists. "You're the one who'd better not drop the ball when it matters, you senile Fleet Admiral."
"What about that thing in the sky?" Sengoku glanced up at the Raigo gathering overhead, his brows locked tight.
"Leave it to Cain and the others. They're the ones who made it."
As Garp spoke, his gaze turned toward Cain.
"I believe those kids won't let that thing fall."
…
Cain looked at Ace, who was still struggling desperately, trying with everything he had to reach Whitebeard, and anger surged in his chest.
He raised his hand and slapped Ace hard across the face.
"ENOUGH! CAN'T YOU SEE HOW MUCH OF A MESS THIS HAS BECOME?! STAY ALIVE PROPERLY, DAMN IT! STOP THINKING ABOUT THROWING YOUR LIFE AWAY!"
The force behind Cain's roar snapped Ace back to his senses.
Ace held his stinging cheek and looked around at the gruesome battlefield, where corpses lay everywhere and severed limbs were scattered across the ground.
His throat bobbed, and he forced down the impulse surging in his heart.
Cain saw the same scene.
He lifted his head toward the Raigo gathering in the sky, his brows tightly furrowed.
"This is bad."
If that attack was left alone, even more people would die.
That was not what Cain wanted.
A deep sense of guilt rose in his heart.
After all, Raigo was a technique he had told Dragon about, who had then passed it on to Sabo and had Sabo place it above Marineford.
In other words, the root cause of all this was him.
"Sabo, can you cancel it?"
Sabo walked over slowly while supporting Luffy, who was on the verge of passing out.
He shook his head.
"It's still under my control for now, but the entire island's magnetic field has already started attracting the lightning. It won't be long before it explodes. Unless I go up there myself and absorb all the electricity."
Seeing Cain's grave expression, Sabo tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing that familiar smile.
"Relax. Don't forget, I'm the user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit."
Cain looked up at the Raigo, which was so massive it seemed to cover half the sky, and his expression grew even heavier.
Even if Sabo had the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the magnetic field inside Raigo had already gathered far too much natural lightning from the heavens and earth.
Its power had long since surpassed the range that could be safely controlled.
Even Sabo would probably be gravely injured by it.
Cain remembered what Lilith had said just before Kuma sent him flying.
"Cain, you don't need to worry about us. Just follow your own thoughts… We don't have any concerns left on our side. That form of yours…"
Cain took a deep breath.
His eyes slowly hardened with resolve.
"I'll go with you."
Nearby, Luffy lay against Sabo, barely forcing his heavy eyelids open.
His trembling hand lifted, offering Ace the small key he had gripped until it had grown warm in his palm.
His voice was weak, but clear.
"Ace… the key… Take it. We… we saved you."
Tears surged from Ace's eyes once again.
He tightly held Luffy's hand, gripping that tiny key with it.
Guilt, gratitude, regret—all kinds of emotions twisted together inside his chest.
At last, he clenched his teeth and made his decision. Turning toward Whitebeard, he screamed,
"I'LL LIVE PROPERLY FROM NOW ON! I WON'T LET YOU DOWN, POPS!"
Just then, Ivankov's voice rang out from the distance, carrying a trace of joy.
"Sabo! Luffy-boy! I finally found you!"
…
Elsewhere, Doflamingo, no longer under Uta's control, was tied up tightly and leaned drowsily against the broken ruins.
The prisoners from Impel Down were fleeing in all directions in panic.
Their cries mingled with the cracking sounds of the ice beneath them.
"STOP RIGHT THERE! WHAT ARE YOU ALL SCREAMING FOR?!"
A sharp shout suddenly exploded through the chaos, instantly freezing all the fleeing prisoners in place.
Buggy stood on a raised block of ice with his hands on his hips, his chin lifted high.
In front of him was a broadcast Den Den Mushi, its camera fixed firmly on his smug face.
"LISTEN UP! THIS GREAT CAPTAIN BUGGY IS A MAN WHO ONCE SAILED SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE PIRATE KING, ROGER!"
Buggy shouted at the top of his lungs, spit flying from his mouth.
"Why panic over a little scene like this?"
In reality, cold sweat had long since soaked his back, and his legs were trembling slightly.
Even so, he forced himself to look calm and composed, continuing this shameless performance.
Before he could finish boasting, the prisoners around him suddenly fell silent.
One by one, they froze where they stood and slowly raised their heads toward the area behind Buggy, terror filling their eyes.
Without thinking, they turned the camera in that direction, broadcasting the scene to the entire world.
"W-What is it?"
Buggy's heart tightened.
He whipped his head around and followed everyone's gaze.
A deafening dragon roar suddenly rang through the world!
Orange clouds churned and spread, blocking the view of half the battlefield.
A vicious horn first pierced through the clouds.
Then a massive dragon head covered in pink scales slowly emerged.
It was an enormous dragon, its entire body colored sakura pink.
Though the color was soft, it carried an overwhelming majesty that seemed to look down upon all living things.
Its body was absurdly huge.
Even the vast battlefield of Marineford could barely contain half of its dragon form.
It slowly ascended into the sky, enormous claws stepping on Flame Clouds, heading straight toward the Raigo suspended high above.
When Garp and Sengoku saw this, both of them visibly froze, a flicker of shock passing through their eyes.
They had never expected Cain to use that form at a time like this.
"THAT GUY… IT'S THAT BASTARD!"
Shiki was already struggling in his fight against Garp and Sengoku, and when he saw the dragon's appearance clearly, he could not stop himself from shouting.
Whitebeard, heavily wounded at his side, reacted the same way.
Hearing the cry, he turned back with difficulty.
"That's… Kaido?" Whitebeard's voice carried a hoarse trace of confusion.
"LIKE HELL IT IS! IT'S AN ANNOYING BRAT!" Shiki snapped through gritted teeth.
By now, Zephyr and Yamato had already broken away from their fight.
Zephyr was busy evacuating trapped Marine soldiers, while Yamato was anxiously rushing toward Ace.
Yet both of them stopped at the same time and looked up at the enormous figure that blocked out the sky.
"That's… the same form as that ape."
Yamato's pupils shrank sharply.
She suddenly remembered something and finally understood why the form Cain had used when they released Hakai together had felt so familiar.
But at that moment, a powerful surge of Conqueror's Haki erupted, sweeping across the entire battlefield.
Yamato froze.
Who was releasing Conqueror's Haki at a time like this?
Immediately after, an urgent shout carried over.
…
"YOU WANT ANOTHER INJECTION OF TENSION HORMONES? THAT'S INSANE!"
Ivankov's voice was full of shock and anger.
"JUST ONCE! ONE TIME IS ENOUGH, IVA! AT LEAST LET ME THROW ONE LAST PUNCH! PLEASE!"
Luffy shouted while dragging his exhausted body upright.
When he heard that Cain and Sabo were going to stop the Raigo in the sky, he could no longer hold himself back.
Ace had only just been rescued. Sabo had finally reunited with them too.
He absolutely could not let the two of them face that dangerous thing alone.
Just now, almost entirely on instinct, he had released his Conqueror's Haki. But in his panic, he had not noticed it at all.
Unable to withstand Luffy's pleading, Ivankov finally relented and gave him a small injection of Tension Hormones.
The effect appeared instantly.
Luffy, who had been slumped and powerless, suddenly straightened his back.
Focus returned to his eyes, and energy surged through him again.
At that moment, a blazing tornado of fire shot into the sky.
It was Ace, who had removed his Sea-Prism Stone shackles. He reached out directly and carried Luffy onto his back.
Luffy shouted instinctively, "ACE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"All of you are risking your lives for this. As the older brother, I don't want to fall behind."
Ace looked gravely up at the sky as he answered.
"NO! I'M RUBBER, SO LIGHTNING DOESN'T HURT ME! SABO'S USING THAT LONG-EARED GUY's POWER! CAIN CAN CONTROL LIGHTNING TOO! BUT YOU—!"
Luffy shouted anxiously, his voice trembling.
"Luffy, the way you are right now… isn't it just like me back then, trapped in a dead end?"
Ace turned to look at him and smiled.
"No matter what, we're brothers! When there's trouble, we face it together!"
…
"CAIN, THIS LIGHTNING IS TOO STRONG! YOU WON'T LAST!"
Sabo braced himself against the edge of Raigo with all his strength, absorbing the violent current.
Veins bulged on his forehead, and even the tips of his hair crackled with electricity.
At this moment, Raigo had already shrunk by more than half, but the remaining energy was still enough to destroy the island below.
He shouted toward Cain, who was also absorbing lightning beside him.
"No. This level won't hurt me. We just don't have enough time…"
Cain's brows were locked tight as he spoke gravely, thunder gathering constantly in his mouth.
"If it really comes down to it, you back off. I'll take all of it myself… After all, I caused this mess, so I'll solve it."
The lightning remained calm around Sabo, but when it reached Cain, it was as though it had found an outlet.
Bolts of thunder crashed down on him one after another.
They did not cause much damage, but Raigo was already on the verge of exploding.
At that moment, a shout reached them.
"SABO! CAIN! WE'RE HERE TO HELP!"
Ace came rushing over with flames churning beneath his feet, carrying Luffy on his back like a crimson meteor.
"LUFFY, THAT THING IS AS BIG AS AN ISLAND! CAN YOU DO IT?" Ace shouted urgently, his voice filled with worry.
"If it's not big enough, then I'll just keep going…!"
Luffy inhaled with all his strength again and again, his chest swelling to an astonishing size.
Yet he still felt it was not enough.
"LUFFY, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO HOLD UP LIKE THAT!"
From high in the sky, Sabo saw what was happening below and hurriedly shouted for him to stop.
"NOT ENOUGH! I'M GONNA KNOCK IT AWAY!"
Luffy roared, then began blowing air violently into his arm.
"NO ONE GETS TO TEAR US BROTHERS APART!"
"GUM-GUM—GIANT PISTOL!"
Luffy entered Gear Third.
His arm swelled several times over, transforming into a gigantic fist far larger than Cain's dragon form.
Pitch-black Armament Haki wrapped tightly around the surface of the fist, and with a force that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth, it smashed straight into Raigo.
By all logic, lightning should have been an intangible mass of energy.
Yet strangely enough, Luffy's fist truly struck Raigo as if it had a physical body, blasting the enormous thing away.
And more than that, inflating rubber to such a ridiculous scale should have made it burst long ago.
Yet nothing seemed wrong with Luffy at all.
Even the toughest rubber should never have been capable of something like this!