Except for those who already knew the plan, everyone else fell into complete silence.
The citizens watching the broadcast.
The soldiers standing on the battlefield.
No one knew what to say.
Their minds went blank, as if countless flies were buzzing inside their heads.
Even the soldiers of the Christi Kingdom, who had been told that powerful reinforcements would arrive, had never imagined that the reinforcement would be a pirate.
Not just any pirate.
A Great Pirate.
Now only one question echoed in everyone's mind.
Why had the Dark Emperor, Marshall D. Teach, appeared on the battlefield?
Why had he come to Saint Louis Island?
Teach floated high above the battlefield.
Just looking at him made people tremble.
Even from such a distance, the aura radiating from his body filled everyone with deep fear.
As he slowly descended, the pressure only grew stronger.
"Gulp…"
"Gulp…"
Hearts pounded violently.
Cold sweat poured down countless faces. Within moments, collars were soaked.
Many soldiers instinctively wanted to run.
But they couldn't move.
Their legs would not obey them.
It was as if their bodies had completely lost control.
This was Teach's entrance.
Through precise control of his aura, the Christi Kingdom army suffered far less pressure than their enemies.
Compared to the soldiers of the Three-Kingdom Alliance, their condition was significantly better.
After all, if the Christi army collapsed from fear, the coming war would become meaningless.
Winning the battlefield was only the first step.
They still needed these armies to invade the territories of the three kingdoms and establish control.
Even before making a move, Teach's mere presence created overwhelming fear.
The broadcast carried the scene to every corner of the Christi Kingdom.
This entrance was not flashy.
But it burned itself deeply into people's memories.
If he was to become the future ruler of Saint Louis Island, it was necessary to leave a profound impression on his future subjects.
Teach looked down over the vast battlefield.
Then his gaze shifted toward the Three-Kingdom Alliance.
He had no interest in wasting time.
From the moment he appeared, this war had already ended.
His ruthless and domineering eyes flashed.
Then it happened.
A terrifying wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted from Teach's body.
An invisible storm of willpower exploded outward, sweeping across the battlefield in an instant.
Thanks to Teach's precise control, the Christi Kingdom army was spared from its full impact.
But for the alliance army, it was like the descent of an abyss.
The mental shock struck like a divine punishment.
In a single instant, consciousness was ripped away.
An unbelievable scene unfolded.
Through the high-altitude broadcast cameras, the citizens of the Christi Kingdom could see everything clearly.
The army of the Three-Kingdom Alliance consisted of more than one million soldiers.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze.
Then, one by one…
Rows upon rows of soldiers collapsed.
Like falling dominoes.
Thousands.
Tens of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands.
Until the entire battlefield was covered with unconscious bodies.
The massive army they had feared just moments earlier had been wiped out instantly.
All by a single attack.
This was the power of the Dark Emperor's Conqueror's Haki.
The citizens of the Christi Kingdom were not unfamiliar with Conqueror's Haki.
Living in the New World and with the spread of video technology, many had at least heard of it.
But seeing it in person was completely different.
The shock left them speechless.
Meanwhile, the Christi Kingdom soldiers stared in confusion.
They had clearly felt the pressure when Teach released his Haki.
For a moment, they had even believed they were about to die.
Yet they had not collapsed.
They had not suffered the devastating mental shock that destroyed their enemies.
Gradually, some soldiers realized the truth.
The reinforcement promised by their generals…
Was the Dark Emperor, Marshall D. Teach himself.
Among the watching citizens, some people also came to the same conclusion.
Teach was not their enemy.
He was their ally.
Teach glanced at the results of his attack and smiled slightly.
Then his eyes shifted toward the rear of the alliance army.
Someone had resisted his Haki.
That surprised him a little.
Even many fighters at the level of Marine Vice Admirals would struggle to withstand such a blow.
But he quickly understood.
It could only be one person.
The commander of the Three-Kingdom Alliance.
Their Great General, and the strongest warrior among them.
Inside a fortress at the rear of the battlefield, a man gasped for breath.
His body leaned against a table.
His face twisted in agony.
This pain did not come from physical wounds.
It was mental.
Compared to physical injuries, damage to the mind was far more terrifying.
His skull felt as if it were about to split apart.
Even if he survived, he would likely need ten days or half a month of sleep to recover.
This man was the Great General of the alliance.
He had barely endured the sudden mental shock.
His eyes were bloodshot.
His mouth hung open as he struggled to breathe.
Saliva dripped from the corner of his lips.
Compared to him, the unconscious soldiers were far luckier.
They simply needed to sleep and rest for a few days.
The Great General slowly regained a bit of clarity.
He looked around at the countless fallen soldiers.
And he understood.
It was over.
Completely over.
Before he could even step outside the fortress, he suddenly felt something strange.
An invisible force grabbed him.
A powerful gravitational pull dragged his body forward.
Before he could resist, he was pulled violently through the air.
At first he was confused.
Then a terrible sense of familiarity struck him.
He had seen this before.
A terrifying ability that left an unforgettable impression.
"Dark Water."
Teach raised his hand.
Black energy spiraled around his arm.
In his palm, a swirling vortex of darkness appeared, releasing overwhelming gravitational force.
The Great General was an Ability User.
A Zoan-type Sheep-Sheep Fruit, Antelope Model user.
While the ability did not interest Teach much, it was still worth taking.
More importantly, the man himself was one of the primary targets listed by the Christi Kingdom.
The gravitational force dragged him through the fortress wall.
The stone structure shattered instantly.
Within seconds he was flying through the air toward Teach.
As he drew closer, the Great General finally saw his opponent clearly.
His pupils shrank in terror.
It was the Dark Emperor.
Marshall D. Teach.
Now he understood everything.
Why the alliance army had collapsed.
Why the Christi Kingdom soldiers remained standing.
Teach had intervened in the war.
And he was standing on the side of the Christi Kingdom.
Their defeat had been decided the moment he appeared.
The Great General struggled desperately.
His body transformed into a Human-Beast Form.
White wool spread across his body.
Curved horns grew from his head.
But the struggle was meaningless.
A massive hand suddenly seized his throat.
Teach held him effortlessly in the air.
The terrifying ability of the Dark-Dark Fruit suppressed his powers.
The hybrid form quickly reverted back to human.
Their eyes met.
The Great General saw nothing but ruthless dominance in Teach's gaze.
He already knew his fate.
Teach did not waste time.
With a slight squeeze of his arm…
The man's neck snapped.
His life ended instantly.
Dark energy surged again.
The corpse was swallowed into Teach's Dark Space.
Along with it, the power of the Devil Fruit was absorbed.
Even after death, the power of a Devil Fruit remains within the body for a short period before dissipating.
Teach took advantage of that moment.
With everything finished, Teach looked once toward the Christi Kingdom army.
Then he turned and left the battlefield.
There was nothing more for him to do.
The war was already over.
Killing the unconscious soldiers of the alliance would only create resentment among the population of the three kingdoms.
Those soldiers would soon become subjects of the unified Saint Louis Island.
Teach had no intention of creating unnecessary enemies.
It took a long time before the people on the battlefield finally regained their senses.
The general of the Christi Kingdom army quickly received orders from the palace.
His face flushed with excitement.
The Three-Kingdom Alliance had been completely defeated.
No force remained to stop them.
He raised his voice and shouted across the battlefield.
"Leave two hundred thousand troops behind to capture the alliance soldiers!"
"The rest of the army will advance!"
"Split into three divisions and invade the three kingdoms!"
"Reclaim our lost territories!"
His command echoed across the broadcast.
The soldiers were stunned.
Victory had come so suddenly.
But as the order sank in, excitement erupted throughout the ranks.
Invade the three kingdoms.
Reclaim lost land.
Those words filled their bodies with renewed strength.
Across the Christi Kingdom, citizens watching the broadcast erupted with joy.
This was a victorious war.
And it had cost almost no lives.
Soon the massive army began moving.
The defensive lines the alliance had spent so long constructing were crushed with ease.
Leaving behind a portion of troops to guard the unconscious prisoners, the remaining forces divided into three massive armies.
They swept into the territories of the three kingdoms like unstoppable floods.
Most of the enemy's military strength had already gathered on the battlefield.
Very few soldiers remained inside their homelands.
Resistance was almost nonexistent.
Even worse for them, Teach's Conqueror's Haki had prevented any news from escaping the battlefield.
The kingdoms had no idea what had happened.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted within the three kingdoms.
The Executive Officers of the Nightfall Pirates had already begun their own operations.
Inside the palace of the Kingdom of Ser, corpses lay scattered everywhere.
Blood flowed across the ground like a crimson river.
News had spread throughout the royal city.
The royal family had been exterminated.
Key ministers had been assassinated.
A demon had appeared within the palace.
At the center of the massacre stood Laffitte.
He held a blood-stained cane sword.
A strange, excited smile rested on his face.
Despite the carnage around him, not a single drop of blood stained his clothes.
Like a gentleman standing above the chaos.
The next moment, dark red bat wings spread from his back.
He vanished again in a streak of crimson light.
The slaughter continued.
Inside the Kingdom of Lock, sharp bone spikes pierced through the bodies of palace guards.
The entire royal family had already been slaughtered.
Standing among the corpses was Kaguya.
His expression remained completely emotionless.
Like an executioner carrying out his duty.
After confirming that every target had been eliminated, he calmly walked out of the palace.
None of the remaining guards dared to stop him.
There was no point.
Their royal family was already gone.
Within the Kingdom of Moore, another nightmare unfolded.
A ghostlike figure moved through the palace corridors.
Bodies fell one after another.
That figure was Shiryu.
His eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty excitement.
He had volunteered for this mission and arrived early in the royal city, waiting patiently for the moment to strike.
Now he reaped lives like a harvester in a field.
Elsewhere, other members of the Nightfall Pirates were carrying out their own hunts.
Nelson.
Pito.
Each had their own targets.
Not all of them were located within the palaces.
Across the three kingdoms, assassination operations unfolded simultaneously.
At the same time, news of the battlefield defeat began to spread.
Chaos engulfed the kingdoms.
Hidden agents of the Christi Kingdom emerged from the shadows.
Together, they began a massive purge.
The final cleansing that would erase the old regimes forever.