"Ridiculous."
Imu lowered its gaze, staring coldly at the pale-faced Pride seated upon the throne. Its blood-red vortex eyes brimmed with disdain.
Whoosh~
The black wings behind Imu fluttered slightly, and in an instant, it appeared directly before Pride.
Sizzle!!!
Black demonic energy surged together with overwhelming Haki and pitch-black demonic flames, condensing into a razor-sharp demonic blade.
"Shirogai, it seems I overestimated your strength."
Gripping the blade with both hands, Imu slashed downward with terrifying force.
"Fallen Demon Slash!!!"
The demonic blade erupted with dark light infused with Haki and demonic flames. A sinister brilliance illuminated the heavens the moment the attack descended.
Crack!!!
A deafening roar capable of shaking the heavens exploded across the sky. Golden Haki lightning burst violently through the air.
The space surrounding Pride shattered instantly, hideous black spatial rifts spreading outward like fractures in reality itself.
Boom!!!
The overwhelming demonic power from Imu's slash surged into the rifts, detonating into a catastrophic dark storm that devoured everything nearby.
Within the collapsing space, Pride's irritated voice echoed out.
"That hurts! Hey, Imu, you're obviously taking revenge on me!"
Imu remained expressionless.
"As expected, pure cutting attacks cannot harm you. You never possessed a true physical body to begin with."
Before the final word faded, a pitch-black inverted pentagram appeared beneath Imu's feet. Endless demonic flames erupted upward, swallowing the sky in darkness.
A black grimoire slowly floated before Imu.
The book resembled a forbidden scripture pulled straight from the abyss itself.
"Grimoire of the Abyss."
Imu calmly flipped through the pages before stopping on one specific section.
Its blood-red eyes locked onto Pride, who was struggling beneath layers of Haki and demonic flames while forcing its way out of the shattered rift.
"Even if you are merely Shirogai's clone, sealing you will still inflict severe damage upon his true body."
Swoosh...
Clouds and mist instantly condensed into thousands of razor-sharp blades that surrounded Imu from every direction.
Deep within the rift, a face identical to Shirogai's slowly emerged.
However, unlike Shirogai, this face was pale and filled with boundless arrogance.
The clone looked down at Imu with contempt.
"Imu, do you truly believe you've surpassed me?"
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Dozens of black-and-white mist blades shot through the air toward Imu.
Suddenly, the entire flow of space and time froze.
Everything became motionless.
Imu softly chanted an ancient incantation before speaking indifferently.
"Return to the seal, Shirogai's clone."
The Grimoire of the Abyss erupted with thick black mist resembling flowing ink. The abyssal energy twisted violently through the frozen world, devouring the mist blades, shattered space, and halted time itself.
The surrounding space began to distort and melt apart into fragments.
Then, in an instant, the entire battlefield was absorbed into the pages of the grimoire.
Snap!
Imu closed the ancient black book and turned toward the transparent glass overlooking the distant sky.
"Shirogai, I have no desire to wait any longer. Your body will eventually belong to me."
Clang...
The sound that had gone ignored this entire time finally echoed outside the chamber.
Imu slowly turned toward the open doorway.
The Gorosei also looked over in surprise.
"Hm? It's you?"
The Scientific Defense God, Saint Saturn, frowned in disgust at the figure standing outside.
Heavy chains tightly bound the man's limbs. Shackles still hung from his wrists and ankles. Messy gray hair covered his face like tangled rope. His upper body was bare, while his lower body was wrapped in torn burlap cloth.
"Worthless slave!"
Saint Saturn slammed his cane against the floor.
"How dare you enter the Holy Land without permission? I ordered you to wait outside. Get out immediately!"
The man remained silent.
Slowly, he raised the two weapons in his hands.
"I know you completed the weapons," Saturn sneered, "but I never permitted you to enter. A filthy commoner like you has no right to step into this place."
Leaning on his cane, Saturn glared at him with utter contempt.
"If you still weren't useful, you would've died long ago."
Imu spoke calmly.
"Saturn, who is this?"
Saint Saturn immediately lowered his head respectfully.
"Lord Imu, this slave was personally captured by me a year ago. He possesses the Forge Fruit."
"It is because of this ability that he was capable of forging Devil Fruit users into weapons that even ordinary people can wield."
Imu glanced toward the disheveled man.
"So it's him."
Its gaze shifted toward the weapons in the man's hands.
"Bring them here."
"At once!"
Saint Saturn hurried forward and snatched one of the swords impatiently.
"You lowborn trash, it seems the punishment I gave you before wasn't enough. To think you'd make decisions on your own, you really are..."
The man slowly raised his head.
The sword in his hand trembled slightly.
Swish!
Silence descended upon the room.
...
In that instant, a terrifying change swept through the entire space.
Only Imu within the chamber, and the God King and Cero outside in the sky, noticed it.
Imu's expression changed drastically.
"!!!!"
Its black wings instantly spread wide, every muscle tensing violently as it roared toward Saturn.
"WATCH OUT!!!"
Saint Saturn looked up blankly.
"Lord Imu, wha..."
Clang.
The cane in Saturn's hand split cleanly in half.
Then came his body.
Without sound.
Without visible sword light.
Without Haki lightning.
Saint Saturn was sliced straight down the center from head to toe like a butchered corpse.
His body slowly separated into two halves before collapsing onto the floor.
Black mist escaped from the wound like a dying soul struggling in agony.
Crack...
Immediately afterward, the Red Line itself began splitting apart from the exact location where Saturn had been cut down.
"What?! When did that slash happen?!"
The remaining Gorosei froze in horror.
None of them had seen an attack.
None of them sensed a slash.
Yet Saturn had already died.
"You bastard! What did you do?!"
Imu's demonic aura exploded violently throughout the chamber. Its blood-red pupils trembled with fury as it glared at the seemingly ordinary slave.
"You actually killed my servant!!!"
...
Far above the world, the God King Shirogai looked down at the splitting Red Line and the sea that had silently divided apart beneath it.
He sighed helplessly.
"You went a little overboard, Evil Thought."
As his voice fell, the collapsing Red Line slowly rose back into place. The massive cracks sealed shut rapidly, restoring everything to normal.
The violent ocean also calmed.
The sea that had been split apart by the slash returned to its original state.
Everything returned to normal.
Except for the pitch-black skull inside the Flower Room of Pangea Castle, which remained permanently divided in two.