"Ahahaha! This city sure has a lot of people."
"Hey, leave at least a few alive... Otherwise, we won't have anything to report to the higher-ups."
"What's the big deal? We're working for the glorious Great Kingdom! If these lowlifes won't talk, they can all die!"
"Exactly. We... are the Divine Race!"
Several figures of varying heights and builds sat at the center of Angel City, surrounded by raging flames.
The entire city had already been plunged into ruin.
The only common traits among these individuals—aside from their massive black wings—were the eternal orange flames burning at the backs of their heads.
They were the Lunarian Race, a people nearly extinct on the seas eight hundred years later.
But eight centuries ago, they not only seemed numerous...
Their behavior also appeared no different from that of the Celestial Dragons eight hundred years later.
Before them lay the lifeless body of the city official—the same woman who had provided Michael and Toki with the adoption papers—now sprawled in the dirt.
These Lunarians had effortlessly turned a city of considerable size into...
Hell.
"Still, we're not here for fun... That Wano native who funded the rebel army with money and supplies may be dead, but their daughter is still alive." The lead Lunarian snorted. "Those idiots in the guard corps are utterly useless—letting a defenseless child slip through their fingers!"
"But this woman died without revealing the girl's whereabouts... Could she have had some connection to that couple?"
"Isn't this perfectly normal? Remote barbaric regions like the four seas, far from the Great Kingdom, are naturally prone to breeding lawless madmen... Fortunately, we haven't failed the teachings of God's Nation, bringing purification to this land."
"Hahahaha! You're truly a genius at bureaucratic rhetoric, boss!"
The members of the Lunarian Race erupted into maniacal laughter at the heart of this "hell."
But just then...
Six Wings gently unfurled in midair.
Michael looked down coldly upon this hellish tableau...
When his gaze fell upon the corpse of the city official, he couldn't help but exhale deeply.
After spending a whole year as a stay-at-home dad, he'd thought his temper had mellowed somewhat...
But he was wrong.
He would always remain Michael.
With this thought, he gently flapped his Wings and descended toward the ground.
Then, without a word, he walked toward the group of Lunarians.
"Huh!? Who are you? Did we leave any survivors earlier?"
"Could he be someone who wasn't in town earlier? Perfect timing—I haven't had my fill yet! Hey! This one's mine—don't any of you dare steal him!"
"Wait, why does he have six Wings on his back? And white ones at that? Is he trying to imitate us gods?"
"Probably a Devil Fruit User... something like a Swan Fruit..."
These bloodstained Lunarians paid Michael's appearance no mind, merely looking at the white-winged man with the eyes of children examining a new toy.
To them, it was just one more person to kill.
From beginning to end, Michael didn't spare them a single glance.
He simply walked silently to the city official's body, removed his outer garment to wrap her in it, then lifted her in his arms.
Then he turned and began walking away.
"Hey! You lowly human! Don't tell me you think you can walk out of here alive?"
"Hahahaha! Look at his face—he actually looks sad!"
"Of course! It's just one insect sympathizing with another!"
As they spoke, the Lunarians rose and surrounded Michael.
Michael didn't respond. Instead, he reached out and gently closed the city official's lifeless eyes.
The next instant, murderous intent surged like an inverted ocean pouring down, accompanied by overwhelming Conqueror's Haki that engulfed the entire city.
The raging Eternal Fire was instantly extinguished under the pressure of the Haki.
The terrifying aura shot straight into the heavens...
Present-day Michael's Conqueror's Haki alone was powerful enough to split the sky.
Only then did Michael finally look at the Lunarians.
A single glance was all it took—these self-proclaimed "gods" immediately fell to their knees uncontrollably.
Boundless terror instantly seized control of their once-powerful bodies.
Despite the enhancement of their Eternal Flames, they couldn't rise from the ground.
Michael drew Morning Star and dug a grave for the city official at the city's center.
After laying her to rest, Michael initially intended to carve a tombstone.
But when he picked up a stone slab, he froze.
Only then did he remember...
He never even learned the city official's name.With a regretful shake of his head, he planted the stone slab before the grave.
Turning around, he gazed at the members of the Lunarian Race...
Before arriving here, in his original timeline, the only known surviving member of the Lunarian Race was "Wildfire" King.
Though Michael was no saint himself, he was still far from being as purely wicked as the likes of Blackbeard.
But these Lunarian people before him...
In Michael's eyes, they were no different from those foolish and cruel Celestial Dragons—swine in human form.
He even began to wonder...
Perhaps this was the true reason the Lunarian Race had been exterminated?
As the saying goes, the dragon-slayer eventually becomes the dragon.
Could it be that the Lunarian Race, along with those later branded by the Celestial Dragons as "born in sin," were the very dragons the Twenty Kings had slain eight hundred years ago?
Michael exhaled deeply.
These matters... could wait.
"Hey, you killed everyone here, didn't you?"
"If you don't answer, I'll take that as a confession."
"As the saying goes, those who live by the sword, die by the sword."
"So there shouldn't be any issue if I take your heads to honor this city, right?"
The moment Michael's words fell, his murderous intent became so palpable that the Lunarians' survival instincts finally overcame their fear, allowing them to regain control of their bodies and stand up.
"He's just someone with Conqueror's Haki... There's no way he can take us all on at once!"
"He's alone!"
Michael watched the blustering beasts before him, his Wings silently flapping as he hovered mid-air.
Conqueror's Haki pulsed around him, streaks of black lightning crackling through the air.
In the next instant, a terrifying slash imbued with Conqueror's Haki erupted forth.
"Paradise Lost·Lucifer."
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