The vast sea.
An unbelievable scene unfolded.
Hundreds of thousands of misshapen beings—dog-headed, human-faced hounds—were slamming into the World Government's last hope.
The other armies?
They didn't even move.
Imu saw this and issued another order.
"Bring Pluton to bear. Aim at the Aokiji's base island!"
Behind a thousand warships, Pluton came fully online.
As the coverings slid away, the world saw it at last:
An exaggerated cannon revealed itself.
The barrel was a faint blue, its outsized form searing itself into every eye that dared to look.
Just the barrel alone—
a full ten meters thick!
"Worthy of the ancient weapon that can erase an island in one shot. The World Government hid it deep…"
The sky dimmed.
The World Government had committed Pluton.
And the Chief Priest of the Eternal Faith, Monkey D. Dragon, had no intention of standing back to watch.
He became a blue dragon, falling from the clouds—
and a mysterious sky island drifted into view behind him.
A dragon that only soared over the blue sea?
Hardly.
His power had already reached into the White Sea. The entire sky archipelago now lay within the Eternal God's dominion.
A "great battle"?
Hah… it was merely a game, their way of sweeping the World Government's vermin from the board.
"Fire!"
Boom.
A purplish-red energy beam punched toward the dragon-shadow in the sky.
Dragon's grin showed white in the glare.
Lightning wrapped his entire body.
"Vermin of the World Government, did you think ancient weapons would save you? Witness the power of God!"
"God's Verdict!"
The two forces collided.
The world lost its color.
When sight returned, Imu saw the former Revolutionary Army leader floating, unscathed—
and saw Pluton, under Dragon's strike, coming apart in a ball of flame.
After all, it was only an ancient weapon, not a divine artifact. It could output destruction—
but its defenses could not withstand the dragon's blow.
"Do you see, you eight-hundred-year-old bedbug? This is the power granted by God!"
Below, the divine hounds surged forward again, roaring, reaping the lives of the death-soldiers.
At the same time, CP0 and the Five Elders were locked in brutal combat with the Eternal Faith's envoys.
Imu stood atop Uranus and smiled faintly.
"Do you know," he said, "how confident the men of that Ancient Kingdom once were? Only when they saw my power did they learn fear.
"Is the Devil's power strong?
"Or is the God's power strong?"
As he spoke, his body began to swell.
A huge tree demon rose in the world's vision.
Devil Fruits derive from the Devil Fruit Tree.
The strongest ability?
Not the Water Fruit, nor the Time Fruit—
but the body of the Devil Fruit Tree itself, the purest seed.
It feared no seawater.
It held the potential of all fruits.
Once it assumed its true body, it would bring on the end of the world.
Back then, the One Piece world had not been like this—
the magnetic fields had not been so chaotic.
It was because of Imu's evil that it became what it is!
"Fate shatters when destiny is broken!"
Time. Space. Causality.
Imu waved his hand lightly—
and Dragon was swatted from the sky.
There was no defense at all.
Even Observation Haki saw no future—
time itself had been blocked.
Yet Dragon suffered no injury; his state never fell from its peak. The attack left no pain, couldn't even crack his outer dragon scales.
But below, the divine hounds fell by the thousands; even Kizaru (Borsalino) was cleaved in two.
For hundreds of li, the sea turned a color like blood.
"Where are your goddesses?" Imu laughed. "Send them out. Do you think I'm afraid…"
The Devil Fruit Tree-body shuddered.
Within the Holy Land Mary Geoise, no living thing remained. All the Celestial Dragons had been thrown into an energy furnace and burned by him.
If the world could not be harmed—
then what use were they to Imu?
"What the goddesses are doing," Dragon's voice rolled back, "is no concern of yours, Imu. Did you think we sat idle while you prepared?"
A million troops fell from the sky.
Every one of them stepped on Moonwalk, hanging in the air.
They were not each as mighty as the dragon, no—but the momentum they carried dwarfed even Garp's greatest days.
For half a year, the Revolutionary Army's soldiers had trained on the Sky Islands, unceasing, day and night.
Every day but training was training.
For this moment.
"Go… warriors of God!" Dragon commanded. "At this sacred hour, the world is about to be liberated! Eliminate this culprit!"
At his order, a million fell upon Imu.
The sky filled with figures.
And every soldier could strike at range.
Lightning. Wind. Flame…
All kinds of divine arts rained down.
On Uranus, the Future Country's survivors worked the controls and stole it away.
Imu's vast body—
every eye chose it as their target.
"Time Break. Sky Rend!"
Space, time, and tearing.
Hundreds of thousands died under Imu's hand; the force he wielded was terrifying.
But no one retreated.
Death was only another cycle.
So long as the world was freed, all of it was worth it.
Imu's consciousness began to fray.
The Devil Fruit Tree's power could not be controlled by a human indefinitely. Under the repeated assaults, the Tree's own consciousness awoke!
The trunk swelled further, and countless demonic abilities crept across its surface—
hardening, multiplication, barriers.
"I hate this world. I hate everyone… I hate destiny even more…"
Imu murmured to himself, just before the Devil Fruit Tree's will took fully over.
"Chief Priest," a voice crackled in Dragon's ear, "the dead exceed one million. What do we do?"
"Hold," Dragon said. "They will be here—soon."
Before his last word fell, a glazed flame bloomed on the horizon.
"Fire Divine Spell: Sun-Flame Annihilation."
Dongfang Huaizhu's voice carried from a distance.
Her sword-qi arrived before her words, piercing the Devil Fruit Tree's body.
Barrier—shattered.
Time membrane—shattered.
All defenses—shattered one by one.
It was Huaizhu's all-out strike, every reserve gathered into a single blow.
"It's yours now," she said, breath misting, a faint smile on her lips. "My power's spent."
Then a vast serpent shadow uncoiled in the clouds.
"Don't worry, sister," came the reply. "You know my strength."
The serpent was more than a hundred meters long, marble-white, holy and gleaming. It fell like a meteor, smashing into the Devil Fruit Tree.
The impact hurled up seas like walls.
And that seawater—the entire surge—was gathered by Shirahoshi.
"Tide Art: Time-Smashing Whirlpool!"
A sea-blue shockwave crashed down upon the Devil Fruit Tree.
Time freeze—invalid.
Space distortion—invalid.
All defensive measures—invalid before the three goddesses.
The Law stands above all.
In a world with only a shattered godhead, members of God's Domain—weavers of complete laws—could not be bound. Shirahoshi's attack would not be checked by any move beneath the level of time.
The groaning trunk splintered.
Its stored energy bled away.
The trunk, swollen on stolen life, fell apart, section by section.
The World Government was finished.
Dongfang Huaizhu turned to Dragon and bowed slightly, contrite. "We're truly sorry. We'd planned to correct the world's magnetism—but we discovered this creature had been tampering with everything."
They had intended for Dragon to pin the enemy while they slipped into Mary Geoise to search for a world-vein control. But upon arrival, they realized something was wrong.
Imu—no, the Devil Fruit Tree—the embodiment of malice within the world's own consciousness—
for reasons unknown, had manifested.
Amid the ruins of Mary Geoise, that history lay bare.
By manipulating the Devil Fruit Tree, one could steer the world's weather.
That was the causality of One Piece's world.
Or perhaps… the Devil Fruit Tree found its chance to tempt Imu, seeking to break free from its prison.
…
Now, with the Devil Fruit Tree slain, the strange weather vanished. The twisted rules faded.
All across the seas, Devil Fruits—fragments of law—returned, one by one, to the world's essence.
Luffy, mid-drill on a new move, suddenly discovered his arms would no longer stretch.
Within the Eternal Faith, Chopper—the doctor—had become an ordinary reindeer, though he still retained his wisdom.
But those who practiced Eternal Meditation did not lose their Devil Fruit power—
because they had swallowed the power of law itself.
Dragon watched as the goddesses turned into motes of light and rose. He returned to human form, knelt upon the air, and bowed.
"See the goddesses off…"
The world could finally quiet—but his work was just beginning. There were humans on the moon, people from other nations—all waiting to be rescued.
"Everyone," he called, voice hoarse but steady, "begin. Bury the dead. They are the world's heroes."
A long howl answered him.
…
In God's Domain, Liu Che sat in the palace and listened to the tale of the One Piece world from beginning to end.
He smiled, and nodded.
"Hatred can truly drive a soul mad. If you cannot harness your emotion, you become a slave to the Way of Love. It seems my power can rise again."
He gathered the vengeance in his hands, pressed it into the law—
and his strength grew by one-thousandth.
…
Ten Thousand Worlds Chat Group
For Peace: "It'd be nice if I could change my name in the future."
Spirit of the Demon Sword: "Why do you say that?"
Ninja Scientist: "I think Brother Dragon must have unified the world and fulfilled his long-cherished wish."
For Peace: "Yes. Orochimaru is right. With the goddesses' help, the tumor in our world has been excised. A thousand-year tragedy born of hatred—ridiculous, really…"
Pursuing Sentient Beings: "Hatred is what stirs the deepest potential. Without it, I wouldn't have joined the Faith."
If the world had not lied to him, how would Fahai have entered the Eternal God Cult in a fury? Hatred is a good thing—
and a bad thing.
The Fox Who Only Loves Money: "Mm. If we can master our own emotions, hatred becomes nourishment. My sister Solanum and I have grown because of it!"
Group member General Yuwen has joined the chat group.
The Bearded Swordsman has joined the chat group.