Did Silas still have cards to play?
Saint Lucas wasn't sure, but he knew if the Holy Knights didn't act now, even if Silas truly had no more hidden strength, reversing the tide would be extremely difficult.
"Attack!"
He'd originally wanted to eliminate those White Wolf Pirates journalists filming first, but the situation left no room for delay.
"Ha, Commander Saint Claude, Vice Commander Saint Granreid, you must work hard to kill that old man and avenge us!"
Every time he remembered the Battle of Sabaody Archipelago, Saint Kurt's head would throb faintly—the scene of being instantly defeated by Silas kept replaying in his mind.
Saint Pedro beside him felt the same.
Among the Holy Knights members, only these two had followed Saint Granreid to Sabaody Archipelago to face Silas. The result was not only defeat but also having their heads removed and kicked around like balls by Silas.
They'd been mocked for months because of this. Of course, since Commander Saint Claude and Vice Commander Saint Granreid also had their heads removed, those guys didn't dare go too far.
But this could definitely be called the shame of their lifetime!
"Naturally!" Saint Granreid said viciously.
This time the Holy Knights mobilized in full force—including the commander, vice commanders, and commander-in-chief, eleven people total, all possessing immortality. Normally, any one of them could destroy a nation. Only a high-level war like this was worth full deployment.
"Too bad those samurai didn't survive; otherwise, we could completely reverse the situation."
"Hehe, if White Wolf Silas knew that when he launched his attack, those eleven allied nations also came under assault, I wonder what his reaction would be."
"Hmph, their numbers just happen to match ours."
The Holy Knights members didn't take the current battle situation seriously at all. Even the Marines or CP organization intelligence agents weren't, in their eyes, a bunch of groveling servants. What right did they have to their attention?
They instead felt dissatisfied. If not for the Marines and CP organizations being too useless, they'd still be enjoying life at Mary Geoise instead of coming to this filthy lower realm.
"Haha, to deal with these lower-world scum, there's only one answer." Saint Pedro snapped his fingers. "Come out, my shadow army!"
Boxes previously placed in corners opened one by one. Zombie soldiers crawled out, emitting low, guttural roars.
Among the eight members of the Holy Knights, each had their own abilities, but when it came to commanding a one-man army, no one could match Saint Pedro, who had eaten the Shadow-Shadow Fruit.
Though the Celestial Dragons' treasury held another similar but more powerful fruit, that one awaited an excellent younger generation to consume it.
"Tsk, compared to you, my ability isn't very useful in this environment." Saint Kurt smacked his lips seeing this scene.
Though his fruit ability's area lethality exceeded the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, achieving that purpose required certain conditions. First, a sufficiently quiet environment. Second, having his voice clearly heard by everyone.
Only by meeting both requirements could even enemies stronger than him fall prey to his power—unless enemies possessed future sight ability. Before he spoke, they'd either have to interrupt his speech or find ways to avoid hearing him.
And on this battlefield—
BOOM!!!
Giants and Admiral-level fighters' violent collisions constantly produced deafening sound waves, making it impossible to hear anything beyond these terrifying crash sounds.
Seeing this, the Holy Knights girl who'd concealed her form, wearing a cloak covering her face with only her eyes showing, acted first. She pointed, and arrow-like attacks shot straight toward Harald, who was fighting Ortega.
"What is this!?"
As a giant with a massive build, Harald naturally excelled in Observation Haki—future sight was no problem for him. But in his foreseen future, he actually saw himself being hit by a human girl and then blown away.
"Haha, attacking the strongest ones right away?"
"After all, White Wolf is Commander's prey."
"Should we also find strong opponents? I don't want to waste time on trash."
Though this was a terrifying war, in these Holy Knights members' eyes, it was like a field trip—no tension whatsoever. After all, possessing immortality, they wouldn't die no matter what. They had every right to be arrogant!
Meanwhile, as the CP organization's supreme commander, Stephens gasped for breath, protecting SaintLucas, SaintClaude, and Saint Granreid's family before him.
"Lord Saint Lucas, Lord Saint Claude, and Lord Saint Granreid, this subordinate is incompetent, unable to oppose White Wolf Silas." Stephens lowered his head.
To outsiders he was the CP organization's head, commander-in-chief of this world's most powerful intelligence organization. But before Celestial Dragons, especially Holy Knights who could even judge Celestial Dragons, he played the role of an incompetent but loyal servant perfectly.
"Stand down!" Saint Claude snorted coldly. "Next, we'll handle White Wolf Silas."
Saint Claude had no intention of letting Stephens participate in ganging up on Silas. Their inability to take Silas down alone was already embarrassing enough—if not for that lord's death order, they couldn't swallow the shame of fighting together against one opponent.
Not letting Stephens participate in the group assault actually made sense. Because based on Silas's previously displayed strength, the three of them were sufficient to capture him, while Stephens could help others eliminate the White Wolf Pirates' fighters, freeing up combat power.
Wasn't this also a form of containment?
But what they didn't expect was that upon seeing them, Silas not only wasn't tense but actually looked relieved.
"Just you?"
One sentence made Saint Claude and Saint Granreid simultaneously furious. As the Celestial Dragons proud sons, when had they been so despised? Moreover, by a pirate they considered beneath them!
"Arrogant!"
"White Wolf Silas, today this will be your burial ground!"
"I'll make you pay for your previous actions!"
Despite saying this, neither Saint Claude nor Saint Granreid moved. The former because of being backstabbed and carrying that trauma. The latter was purely from wariness of Silas, fearing he still had cards to play.
Finally Saint Lucas spoke. "White Wolf Silas, whatever moves you have, use them all. Even if Snake Princess Rona were here, she couldn't help you escape alive!"
Right. In Saint Lucas's view, Silas's only hidden trump card was Rona. After all, she was the Marines' former Admiral—blocking any one of the three besides him would be no problem.
But even so, Silas would at least face a three-person assault. Even if Silas's strength had improved since Mary Geoise, fighting two Admiral-level fighters simultaneously didn't mean fighting three.
And merely resisting was useless. After the Holy Knights entered, it was like injecting the Marines with a cardiac stimulant. Eight Holy Knights members with strange abilities plus immortality were sufficient to break the battlefield balance.
Then, even if Silas could contend with three Admiral-level fighters without defeat, once his crew members died, what could he alone do?
"Ha." Silas smiled. "Who said I need Rona's help? She's my woman after all—I won't make her do things she's unwilling to do."
"Your woman!?" Silas's words had just finished when Saint Claude's eyes reddened. "I knew it; that bitch has problems!"
He'd courted Rona before. Though only wanting her as one of his many wives, given Rona's strength, if she truly became his wife, her status would definitely exceed his other wives.
But facing his advances, Rona not only didn't accept but backstabbed him instead, making him feel other Celestial Dragons gazes always seemed to hide something when they met.
Was it mockery? Was it ridicule?
Now the truth was revealed. Rona had rejected him because she'd long been with Silas.
"Very good!" Saint Claude lowered his voice. "Then after I remove your head, I'll capture that bitch and make her understand what she missed!"
"I think that day won't come." Silas's expression remained calm. "You think, why would I choose this battle knowing you Holy Knights would act? Because of this!"
Silas threw out a sword. The black-purple blade embedded itself deeply into the ground.
"This is..."
"The famous blade Shusui, Wano Country's national treasure." Silas looked at the four before him, grinning. "Do you know who its owner is? I think you're very familiar!"
Shimotsuki Ryuma had spent his life preventing countless pirates and world nobles from invading Wano Country. Just feeling the Haki remaining in the blade revealed that the Holy Knights, the Celestial Dragons' peak warriors, had a nine-in-ten chance of having fought Ryuma.
Nations like Wano and the Giant Kingdom could stand in the world without constraint only by displaying their strength. Wano's national destruction came from losing such deterrence.
Under Saint Lucas's shocked gaze, Silas called out, "Shimotsuki Ryuma, awaken!"
Saint Lucas frowned deeply, looking at Silas as an absurd thought arose. Could Silas resurrect the dead!? How was that possible!? Silas's fruit ability had no records of reviving dead people! Let alone someone dead for centuries!
But what made him incredulous actually happened. The longsword fallen on the ground, after hearing Silas's voice, actually trembled once. Then faint Haki began spreading from the blade.
But on this battlefield, the first to realize something was wrong wasn't top-tier fighters like Harald and Saint Lucas, but a girl whose strength didn't look particularly impressive yet possessed a strange fruit ability—one who'd been constantly using Harald as a target.
"This Haki..." The girl's movements suddenly stopped. Even facing Harald's instinctive counterattack, she made no reaction.
Memories not belonging to her emerged. She remembered when the Celestial Dragons began conquering the world in those first two hundred years, they'd launched countless wars to subjugate more nations. Only two failures.
Once threatened by a samurai using Wano's opening as leverage. Once facing Elbaf's ancient giants.
Two war failures made the World Government abandon complete world control, choosing the Marines to maintain world balance instead. The Marines were originally born from that once-invincible army.
The samurai's name had been forgotten. What could still be recalled now was only that Haki nearly reaching the absolute peak.
From a trickling stream to an endlessly flowing river took under three seconds. Further on, what Lucas saw was tyrannical, lightning-like, terrifying Haki pouring endlessly from that long, black-purple sword without limit.
"Haha, exactly!"
Already near peak strength, but Shimotsuki Ryuma being system-designated as his current opponent meant his strength couldn't possibly be weak. So when Silas awakened Ryuma, the violent Haki erupting from the blade made Silas's skin feel like needle pricks.
This Haki finally attracted the other top-tier fighters' attention on the scene. The biggest reaction was naturally from Wano's great swordsman Tentsuki Takiichi.
"This Haki..." Tentsuki Takiichi's expression turned incredulous. He'd felt this Haki when young—once their Wano shogun had used a sword sealing this Haki to suppress a rebellion.
The famous blade Shusui being called a national treasure wasn't just because its owner had once been the world-renowned sword god, but because Shimotsuki Ryuma had once sealed his Haki in Shusui. Once released, it could unleash the equivalent of Ryuma's full-power strike.
At the right moment, this strike was sufficient to kill an ordinary great swordsman! After using this Haki, Shusui would become an ordinary black blade.
But now, Tentsuki Takiichi clearly felt that blade-severing, terrifying Haki again—and so clearly, as if the Haki's owner had been revived centuries after death.
No "as if." A man in a white kimono, blue scarf, and wooden clogs appeared at the battlefield's center, gripping the sword from the ground.
"Who is Silas?"
As if waking from a very long dream, Shimotsuki Ryuma now had only vague memories. A voice had told him a man called Silas had awakened him.
"Me!" Looking at Ryuma, Silas smiled with genuine regret. "If this were a different time, I'd be very happy for an all-out battle with you. But not now."
Silas's words made Ryuma frown. He keenly sensed his current state wasn't permanent. His awakening was only temporary. Perhaps soon, he'd die again.
And Silas's next words made Ryuma erupt with towering killing intent.
"Wano Country has been destroyed! Those Celestial Dragons over there did it. Fight them with me. After it's done, I'll help restore Wano!"
No need for many words. Just knowing Silas wasn't lying, Ryuma's choice was singular.
"Then let's go!" Shimotsuki Ryuma looked toward Saint Lucas, speaking calmly.