The swirling white mist dispersed under the powerful aura, and the surrounding air whipped up into a fierce gale. A cold, merciless Reaper appeared before the two Knights of God.
"Whoosh~"
The towering Reaper Brook slowly exhaled a puff of white mist from his mouth. The ground ahead instantly frosted over, and wherever the deathly aura reached, plants withered, birds plummeted, beasts collapsed—life snuffed out!
Suddenly, a deep black hole appeared beside Brook, and a massive surge of Underworld water gushed out, rushing straight at the Knights of God, Gabriel and Raphael.
The two dodged at blinding speed, but a few splashes still hit them. Their bodies sizzled with smoke; this Underworld water acted like concentrated sulfuric acid, relentlessly eating away at their Armament Haki defenses!
"This isn't good—he's gotten even stronger!"
Knight of God Gabriel sensed an unprecedented threat from this terrifying Reaper, like the star of death was throbbing, hell itself calling...
"This form's gotta have a time limit; it can't last forever! We'll play the long game, drag it out, and then strike when we see an opening to take him down for good!"
Knight of God Raphael might've been all about honesty and order, but he'd been in his share of fights and dealt with plenty of those explosive Devil Fruit types.
Just hold out through their power spike, and the enemy's ultimate mode would crumble soon enough, leaving them ripe for the Knights of God to judge and put down!
As he pulled back, Raphael kept firing off those binding golden beams at the intimidating Reaper Brook, sticking to his slimy tactics—but this time it was all about locking down and stalling, not pinning for a final showdown!
The Reaper Brook stayed silent, casually beckoning with a hand. Fresh souls spawned across the battlefield were drawn to him.
One soul after another morphed into ghosts, charging ahead in waves to cancel out Knight of God Raphael's binding golden beams, clearing the path for Brook's assault!
"You gonna shatter your own masters' souls?"
The Reaper Brook's vast, echoing voice drifted in from every direction, hitting the two Knights of God like a shockwave, making them shudder, their resolve cracking.
More than a dozen ghosts clad in Celestial Dragon outfits materialized, hurling themselves right at Raphael's binding golden beams and Gabriel's wind blade rain cones.
"No! Your Highnesses!"
Raphael and Gabriel couldn't pull back their attacks in time, forced to watch as five or six Celestial Dragon Highnesses' souls got shredded by their own moves.
"Congrats! You just offed your masters, wiped out those Celestial Dragons so clean they don't even get a shot at reincarnation—souls gone for good!"
The Reaper Brook's words echoed like a curse in the two Knights of God's ears, throwing off their retreat, making their steps falter!
Like they say, kill the man, crush the spirit—take 'em down from the inside!
Brook had all kinds of tricks to wreck these Knights of God's mindset and loyalty!
Sure, those Celestial Dragon ghosts got scattered, but he could always remake them in his Underworld hell—unless he fed them to his ghost generals for a total wipeout!
He'd figured out these Celestial Dragon ghosts were gold against the World Government's Knights of God. Hell, maybe they'd work on the Navy too!
Come on, you Celestial Dragon lapdogs—send your bosses to the grave for real!
The thought got Brook itching to test these Celestial Dragon souls on Navy Fleet Admiral Kurotaka, Sengoku, Garp... see if they'd even flinch!
Spotting the openings in the two Knights of God, the Reaper Brook wasn't about to let a prime chance slip!
Brook's sword wrapped in that life-draining hellish nether energy, hacking wildly toward Knight of God Raphael and Gabriel.
The Bind-Bind Fruit's mine, Weather-Weather Fruit—hang tight!
Raphael felt that killer intent from Brook bearing down, his whole body exploding in golden light, like he was locking down the entire space—everything frozen in place!
And Gabriel cranked up the real power of the Weather-Weather Fruit, calling down a blinding white thunderbolt from the storm clouds to slam into Brook, packing the punch of a Rumble-Rumble Fruit strike!
A massive burst of Conqueror's Haki exploded from Brook, smashing right through Raphael's ultimate bind, shaking off the Bind-Bind Fruit's devil grip.
With that white lightning staring him down, the Reaper Brook had no choice but to drop the chase on the two Knights of God, swinging his Shichiseiken to blast it apart.
Meanwhile, Raphael and Gabriel used the moment to put more distance between them and Brook—that Bind-Bind Fruit was a real pain in the ass!
Brook was gearing up to go after them again when a shrill alarm blared from the Golden Ark, making him furrow his brow, his instincts screaming danger!!
The Hell Pirates' fighters all froze for a split second at the sound; they knew exactly what that meant!
"Rocks! I'm bailing! If you're not coming, stay here and rot!"
Brook yelled at Rocks, his power spiking once more. Before pulling out, he had to make sure these two pesky Knights of God couldn't follow—their Devil Fruit powers were too much of a hassle!
"Run again, and I'll wipe out your masters' souls!"
Brook barked at the two Knights of God, all while charging up his signature move—soul slash!
Seeing the two Knights of God actually hesitate, Brook grinned, eyes lighting up as he unleashed his ultimate soul slash wave, slicing right into them and drawing out screams of bitter agony—they'd taken the hit again.
"Hit the dirt!"
Brook laughed triumphantly, ready to follow up, but the Golden Ark let out a barrage of urgent, piercing alarms, starting to get under his skin.
Sniper Silva's double alarm meant the Celestial Dragons' 'national treasure' from the Holy Land Mary Geoise was really on the move, and closing in fast—if they didn't bolt now, they'd be staring down what looked like the Ancient Weapon Uranus's killer strike!
"I'll let you live today, Bind-Bind Fruit, Weather-Weather Fruit!"
In Brook's powered-up eyes right now, these two Knights of God were just placeholders for those Devil Fruits—he'd snag 'em eventually!
The Hell Pirates' officers all unleashed brutal, all-out attacks, breaking free from their tangles and heading back to the Golden Ark to prep for takeoff!
"Rocks, if you don't go balls-to-the-wall, I'm done with you! That thing's coming!! I'm out!!"
"Kurotaka, come smash your Celestial Dragons' souls yourself! Yo ho ho~"
After tagging the two Knights of God, Brook hustled to help his crew pull back, even steering Celestial Dragon souls straight at the Navy Fleet Admiral and the Knights of God—hell, he tossed one each to the CP0 boss, Sengoku, Garp, Zephyr...
"That thing? Damn it!!"
Rocks was still gunning for another Mythical Zoan power, but with the Hell Pirates dipping out, sticking around meant getting buried for real!
"Rocks Pirates, fall back!!!"
Rocks bellowed in frustration, then downed another ES drug. His aura exploded, black hair whipping around, terrifying dark matter pouring out from him!
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Fanfic is finished 955 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg