"Can it be used without the Mother Flame?"
Rosen's eyes narrowed as he watched the terrifying sphere descend from the sky—a blazing sun radiating apocalyptic pressure. He recognized it instantly: the power Im wielded to obliterate the Kingdom of Lulucia.
He just hadn't expected Im could still use it before Vegapunk completed his research on the Mother Flame.
Recalling his arrival at Mary Geoise, Rosen remembered finding the Holy Land nearly empty—aside from Im, the Knights of God, and the Five Elders, there were almost no Celestial Dragons present. The pieces clicked.
Even without the Mother Flame, Im could command the national treasure, but at a cost. That was why the Celestial Dragons had vanished from Mary Geoise, and why Im had remained hidden for eight hundred years.
"This attack..." someone whispered, voice trembling.
"It'll wipe Mary Geoise completely from the Red Line! No, the Red Line itself will shatter!"
Gazing at the purple sphere hurtling down, both Celestial Dragons and Marines knew the truth: if this struck, Mary Geoise would be reduced to ash, not a single brick remaining. The Red Line itself might crumble.
"It's over."
"Like the great kingdom of eight hundred years ago."
"It's just a pity for the holy land."
"It's nothing. To bury an invincible king is worth it."
Faced with such power, the Five Elders stood silent, awaiting Im's judgment. Granted immortality, they had no need to flee. As long as Im willed them to live, they would.
The Knights of God, led by Figarland Garling, scattered like birds and beasts. No one else possessed immortality—not even their supreme commander.
"Rosen."
Unlike the Knights, Gion, Kakei, Sakazuki, and other naval heroes remained in Mary Geoise. They had watched Rosen shatter the dreams of countless pirates. Today would be no different.
Every Marine officer who followed Rosen into the Holy Land held unwavering faith.
...
Facing the purple sphere—vast as the sun, capable of erasing Lulucia from existence—Rosen calmly raised his left hand.
His Ultimate Susanoo, matching his movement perfectly, raised its own arm.
Clang!
Armament Haki surged from his palm like a torrent, transforming into a massive, jet-black bow.
Boom!
The Ultimate Susanoo's other hand rested on the bowstring. The entire Red Line fell silent, save for the deafening roar of Haki shaking the heavens.
Rolling black lightning, like a dragon emerging from the sea, surged from the string, forming an arrow over a thousand meters long, shimmering with crimson light.
Conqueror's Haki as the arrow.
This technique was nothing new—Rosen had demonstrated it against Douglas Bullet before his graduation. But now, things were different.
Back then, his arrow could pierce mountains, cleave seas, and destroy all things.
Now? Simply drawing the bow and nocking the arrow distorted the sky above the Red Line.
"Before the Navy, there is no match."
Rosen's voice swept through Mary Geoise like a storm.
The Marines smiled.
The Five Elders' expressions twisted in horror.
Before they could react, Rosen released his grip.
The Ultimate Susanoo simultaneously released the Conqueror's Haki Lightning Arrow.
BOOM!
The bowstring vibrated like a thousand thunderbolts, unleashing a shockwave that shattered the air itself.
WHOOSH!
The arrow pierced the sky—a celestial river of overwhelming power, soaring straight toward the descending sun.
The Conqueror's Haki Lightning Arrow met the purple sphere head-on.
Armed Bow, Conqueror's Arrow against the National Treasure: Heavenly Dragon's Hoof.
Like stars colliding, they met in a white light that eclipsed the world.
The expected earth-shattering explosion didn't come. Instead, two colossal meteorites collided in a silence that transcended reality.
The world went still. The sun lost its light, leaving only an endless white curtain.
A few breaths later, the curtain shattered like glass, cracks extending kilometers until the entire sky fragmented.
CRACK.
The sky broke apart, collapsing like heaven and earth tearing asunder.
BOOM!
The purple sphere—powerful enough to erase Lulucia—burst open like a balloon, transforming into a torrent of purple energy that swept across all directions.
"No!"
Im's face lost its arrogance, replaced by shock and disbelief. She spread her wings, soaring into the sky, extending her dragon claws as if trying to grasp the fading power.
But she could only watch helplessly as Rosen's arrow, after piercing the heavenly hoof, continued ascending ten thousand meters toward a colossal creature perched on a sea of clouds—a being whose nature was indistinguishable from a weapon.
And then...
An arrow pierced through.
BOOM!
A deafening roar exploded thousands of meters high, like a star falling to earth, its sound echoing across the Red Line and reaching the Grand Line.
Even without visual Den Den Mushi transmission, the kings watching in Marine Headquarters heard the endless thunder.
Atop the Red Earth, and in Marine Headquarters, countless eyes witnessed a scene from mythology:
An arrow shot down the sun.
Then a celestial dragon fell.
The power Im relied upon. The slave world's eight-hundred-year-old national treasure. Both were shot down to earth, sinking into the sea.
The Knights of God, fleeing Mary Geoise, froze mid-flight.
The Five Elders stood speechless, mouths agape.
Marine personnel looked upon Rosen with awe, as if witnessing a god.
---
After an unknown time, the silence of Mary Geoise was shattered by Im's roar—indistinguishable between fury and terror.
"Terror makes you only roar?" Rosen looked down at Im, whose dragon face twisted with rage and fear. "Truly unworthy of the title King of the World."
"You think you've won?" Im shrieked. "Fool! Shooting the national treasure is pressing the countdown to the world's destruction! Everything will cease to exist!"
Im wasn't concerned about humanity or sea races. But if the world perished, what would she rule? When Joy Boy wielded three Ancient Weapons, he shattered a vast kingdom, shifting world maps and raising sea levels, yet half the races survived.
Now? The national treasure was sinking into the sea. What followed would be like dozens of Whitebeards awakening the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, continuously unleashing sea tremors.
The world's sea levels would rise until the treasure's power exhausted.
CRACK.
As if responding to Im's words, the pierced national treasure exploded into hundreds of pillars of light, each ten thousand meters long like divine judgment, descending through the Red Line and striking the sea.
BOOM!
The torrential ocean was powerless. The unfathomable depths, like butter against a red-hot knife, were pierced from surface to seabed, tens of thousands of meters down, shattering underwater continents.
BOOM!
Magma erupted from the ocean floor.
The world's sea level slowly rose.
The national treasure's initial strike eliminated Lulucia and raised sea levels by one meter.
Now, destroyed and unleashing its full power, the rise wouldn't be one or two meters—but ten, tens, or even a hundred.
"How could this?" Sengoku stared at the sea, his Observation Haki seeing countless purple beams scattering across the ocean, piercing the seabed.
He had rejoiced at Rosen shooting down the national treasure. He never imagined its destruction would press the world's destruction countdown.
"This is why the Celestial Dragons won eight hundred years ago," Sengoku realized. Perhaps Joy Boy wasn't unable to defeat Im—he couldn't, and dared not. As long as the national treasure existed, the world persisted. Destroy it, and the world perished.
Even the Sun God would be helpless.
"The sea level rises. The world is destroyed," Im roared, spitting venom. "Is that so?"
"Then just calm the sea," Rosen said calmly. "So the sea level doesn't rise even a meter."
Celestial Dragons, Marines, kings in headquarters, and observers in Eghadridge—all were shocked.
Calm the sea? Stop the sea level from rising? Could only a god do that?
Rosen's expression remained cold and calculating.
"Bankai."
—-
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