Whoosh—
Sacred light bloomed explosively from Luffy's body, illuminating the entire sky in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, under the shroud of evolution's radiance, Luffy's body rapidly swelled and grew.
Linked heart-to-heart with Red, the moment Red pressed down on his Pokémon bracelet, Luffy activated Gear Fifth and Pokémon evolution at the same time.
At this moment, it could be said that Luffy had brought out every cheat he possessed.
"Ooooooooh~!!!!"
A shout that shook the clouds rang out above everyone's heads, and the thick layer of ice suddenly trembled.
Luffy crossed his arms, curled his body into a ball, then abruptly spread himself open and roared toward the sky:
"This power… is way too strong!!!!"
Whoooosh~!!!
It was only a single shout, yet the sound waves that spread outward were like a roaring gale, sweeping in every direction and lifting the seawater beyond the ice into towering waves.
Boom!!!
A pair of enormous, deep footprints suddenly appeared on the heavy ice. In the next instant, Luffy's massive body became like a white gale, leaving behind a mysterious trail of flame in the air as he arrived directly above Imu and the others.
"What!?"
The Five Elders froze at the sight.
They never could have imagined that, at such an important moment in battle, the Straw Hat Pirates would act with such a complete lack of martial courtesy and simply start fighting.
No, seriously—both sides were at least the strongest forces in the world today. This was a battle that would decide the future direction of the entire planet. Were they really not going to exchange even a single line of grand opening dialogue!?
How did they hold themselves back!?
The Five Elders simply could not understand.
But just as they instinctively tried to gather their own momentum and defend themselves, they were horrified to discover…
Under the might of Luffy's punch, they did not even have the courage to actively meet the attack!?
What was going on?
The Five Elders' expressions went blank with shock.
But before they could recover, Luffy's fist had already landed on them.
The hard surface of the starship suddenly caved inward like jelly, forming a massive depression, and the Five Elders and Imu vanished together into that sunken point.
Rumble!!!
The terrifying sonic boom seemed to arrive with a delay, erupting only a moment later. And when Luffy lifted his extended heavy fist, the fist imprint that had sunk inward under the influence of Nika's power did not recover along with it.
The awakening of Paramecia-type Devil Fruit powers did not merely enrich the combat style of the ability user; it also greatly strengthened their destructive power over the material world.
This was… the power of fantasy!!!
"Hm? Did I miss?"
Luffy's voice thundered down from the sky like muffled lightning.
In the next instant, a pair of gigantic feet descended from above and stomped heavily onto the starship, causing the island-sized vessel to suddenly tilt and plunge headfirst into the sea.
At the same time, a huge black magic circle suddenly appeared at the stern of the starship.
Accompanied by flashes of pitch-black lightning, the figures of Imu and the Five Elders quickly emerged from the magic circle.
"They dodged?"
Luffy lowered his head and looked into the distance.
After undergoing the dual effects of Pokémon-ization and Dynamax, his current body had already reached several hundred meters in size. Beside him, Imu and the others looked like tiny insects.
"Lord Imu… something seems wrong, doesn't it?"
One of the Five Elders spoke in a trembling voice, not daring to turn back as he addressed Imu behind him.
Just now, in front of Luffy, he had actually felt an ultimate sense of Pressure.
It was as though a lower life-form had encountered a higher life-form; even his ability to move and think had been suppressed.
But this… how was that possible?!
Although they were extremely reluctant to admit it, at this moment, deep within the hearts of the Five Elders, the same thought rose up in unison.
This white giant before them was even more terrifying than Lord Imu!
And Imu's terror came more from the fact that Imu controlled their lives.
But the terror of the person before them… was simply… a crushing superiority in quality of life itself!
This… was there even any need to fight!?
For a moment, the Five Elders, who had always stood high above all others, actually felt a trace of cowardice in their hearts.
But just then, a chilling aura suddenly surged from behind them, and endless darkness instantly occupied this stretch of empty space.
Facing Luffy's sudden assault, Imu, after being stunned for a brief moment, had already become furious to the extreme.
The Straw Hats' way of doing things was far too absurd. For a moment, he had not even reacted to what had happened, only reflexively using his ability to evade the attack.
But now that he realized what had occurred, the anger in his heart instantly erupted like a volcano.
"You damned ants… how dare you…"
"Roooar~!!!"
Boiling black flames suddenly surged out from around Imu's body, then expanded abruptly and burned fiercely.
Under the shroud of the black flames, Imu's figure also changed in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, a colossal creature whose size was not at all inferior to Luffy's current form suddenly appeared at the other end of the starship.
Pitch-black demon wings. Thick, enormous horns. Savage fangs. Scarlet eyes filled with blood-red veins…
A gigantic demon of mysterious identity appeared on the starship.
The white giant wore a brilliant smile, while the black demon bared its fangs and brandished its claws, displaying its own power!
At this moment, it was exactly like that moment in the past!
Boom!!!
The confrontation between the two sides lasted only an instant. In the next moment, the figures of the two colossal beings suddenly vanished from where they stood, and a massive roar shook the entire starship.
The force that erupted caused the seawater beneath the starship to rise in layered waves, sweeping toward the entire Pokémon Sea.
In an instant, the Straw Hat members located across the various regions of the Pokémon Sea all stopped what they were doing and turned their gazes toward the frozen zone.
Usopp said, "Has it already started?"
"In that case, I need to pick up the pace on my end too!"
As soon as his words fell, he turned his head again.
Not far in front of Usopp, a fleet belonging to a kingdom army was cautiously crossing the boundary line of the Pokémon Sea.
Clearly, this was yet another pitiful fleet that had been forced by the World Government's pressure to enter the Pokémon Sea.
"Let's finish this quickly!"
Usopp, who had originally been preparing to continue using his Butterfree legion to hypnotize the fleet, now had a resolute glint flash through his eyes.
Without waiting for the fleet to fully enter the Pokémon Sea, he abruptly waved his hand.
In an instant, a densely packed insectoid legion swarmed out from behind him. Like an enormous palm descending directly from the sky, it swept violently across the ships on the sea.
Rumble!!!!
The kingdom army fleet had never imagined that they would suffer an attack of this scale the moment they entered the Pokémon Sea. Unprepared, they were directly overturned along with the warships beneath them.
Some sharp-eyed, quick-handed people grabbed onto nearby fixed objects and avoided the fate of falling into the sea.
But even more soldiers were unable to react at all and fell straight into the water like dumplings dropping into a pot.
The sound of splashing water rang out endlessly.
However, before they could steady themselves underwater, a group of strange insects hidden in the sea, with snake-like bodies, had already locked onto them. At lightning speed, they abruptly bound their bodies.
Immediately afterward, the bodies of those strange binding insects suddenly expanded, forming multilayered swim rings that then carried the soldiers one by one back to the surface.
With technical support from Vegapunk and the Scientific Research Corps, Usopp's body now contained tens of thousands of different insectoid legions.
They perfectly helped Usopp respond to all kinds of combat needs and provided assistance in all kinds of environments.
Perhaps the current Usopp was still slightly lacking in terms of top-end combat power, but in conventional warfare and various adventure environments, there was almost nothing he could not solve.
The same was true for Franky, who had hidden a large number of androids inside his body.
Only, compared with insectoid legions that were fast to cultivate and low in cost, Franky was still a fair distance away from the level of an "all-purpose handyman."
At the same time, after noticing the situation in the frozen battlefield region, the Straw Hats also changed their earlier conciliatory policy one after another and began dealing with the kingdom army soldiers in a much more efficient manner.
Although these soldiers were now nothing more than weaklings incapable of stirring up any waves in the hands of the Straw Hats, or even the Straw Hat Grand Fleet…
The number of kingdom troops was simply too great.
Every force easily numbered in the tens of thousands. Capturing them without causing large-scale casualties still required some effort.
Facing kingdom armies spread across every direction of the Pokémon Sea, with a total number in the millions, even the Straw Hat Pirates would inevitably be delayed for a while.
And this was already the result of the Akatsuki having deployed in advance and completely mapped out the marching routes of these kingdom armies.
While the Straw Hats were sweeping through all opposition on their side…
On the battlefield in the frozen region, the atmosphere had become strangely bizarre.
"You lowly ant! You can never defeat me!!!"
Bang!!!
A white giant fist crossed the void like lightning and punched the enormous demon right in the face.
Imu, struck head-on by Luffy's full-force blow, suddenly leaned backward, staggering several steps as his feet left several faint marks on the starship.
"Lord Imu!"
Seeing Imu get hit right after roaring, the expressions of the Five Elders changed drastically.
They never could have imagined that in just one or two short months, the Straw Hat Pirates' strength would grow so quickly.
Half a year ago, they had clearly still been weaklings chased by Saint Mars in Itsumade form from the Red Line all the way to the New World!
How had they transformed so completely that even their greatest reliance, Lord Imu, was now no match for Straw Hat Boy!?
Cold sweat streamed down the Five Elders' foreheads.
At that moment, the bald Five Elder suddenly spoke:
"No! We can't wait any longer!"
"Staying here won't help Lord Imu in any way!"
"Notify Aokiji. Have all ships immediately change direction, avoid this frozen land, and advance into the Pokémon interior!"
"Remember!"
"If you encounter any obstruction, kill without mercy!!!"
Realizing that they had become dead weight, the Five Elders quickly made their decision.
Since they could not interfere in the battle between Lord Imu and Straw Hat Boy, why not use the brief moment while Straw Hat Boy was being held back to enter the interior of the Pokémon Sea?
At that point, whether they destroyed the Straw Hat Pirates' headquarters or sabotaged the servers of Pokémon World, either option would definitely be more valuable than standing around here doing nothing.
After learning of the bald Five Elder's thoughts through their special connection, Imu did not convey any intent to stop them.
After all, eight hundred years ago, he had used exactly this method to successfully defeat Joy Boy and his allied forces.
After receiving Imu's tacit approval, the Five Elders did not hesitate in the slightest. They hurriedly took out their Den Den Mushi and prepared to make contact.
But before the Den Den Mushi in their hands could connect its signal, a frivolous, lazy voice suddenly appeared behind the Five Elders.
"Hey!? Are you really just going to ignore us like that?"
"Don't tell me Luffy is the only one you can see?"
Swish—
A pitch-black spatial wormhole suddenly appeared.
In the next instant, Red, bringing Zoro and Sanji with him, suddenly appeared behind the Five Elders.
"It's you!!!"
Seeing the figures of Red and the other two, the Five Elders showed almost no hesitation. Pitch-black electricity instantly flashed across their bodies, along with black flames identical to Imu's, though much smaller.
Four enormous monsters appeared directly before Red and the others.
"Brat! I will make sure you die without a place to be buried!!!"
Boom!!!
The Itsumade, which had flown directly into the sky the moment it transformed, flashed with viciousness in its bird-like eyes.
In the next moment, endless flames suddenly spewed from its mouth, burning toward Red and the other two.
It seemed the Five Elders had also learned something from Luffy's completely unannounced strike just now. This time, for once, they did not spout any unnecessary nonsense to show off their "immortal" nobility.
Unfortunately…
Even though the Five Elders possessed mysterious and powerful strength, in the eyes of the current top combatants of the Straw Hat Pirates, it was merely power worth taking a look at.
Boom!!!
Before the blazing flames filling the sky could even get close to Red and the others, a streaking shadow had already arrived before the flames and taken the initiative to meet them head-on.
"Playing with fire in front of a chef? Who exactly gave you that confidence!?"
Whoosh~
Sanji, who had arrived in front of Red, smiled disdainfully.
A fiery red glow suddenly flashed through his eyes. Sheets of deep crimson flame appeared around Sanji's body like blooming roses, rapidly condensing before spreading along the flames sprayed by Saint Mars.
"Not good!"
Saint Mars' eyes changed abruptly as he sensed the danger.
He hurriedly stopped controlling the flames, then fled upward into the sky in panic.
Immediately afterward, the sea of flames that should have been sprayed out by Saint Mars suddenly changed hands, being completely absorbed by Sanji's deep crimson flames before roaring toward the spot where Saint Mars had just been.
And because Saint Mars had successfully dodged, those flames instantly lost their active target.
Under Sanji's control, the sea of fire spread directly toward the locations of the other Five Elders.
"What is this!?"
"Saint Nusjuro!!!"
Saint Peter, who had transformed into a giant worm, shouted loudly.
As an insect-like creature, although he would not be completely killed, the pain after being surrounded by a sea of fire far exceeded what he could endure.
"I know!"
Saint Nusjuro, who had transformed into a half-human skeletal horse, staggered as he drew Shodai Kitetsu from its sheath.
A gloomy, chilling light suddenly flashed, then transformed into endless cold air that surged toward the incoming flames.
Hiss—
The two opposing elements of flame and ice collided, instantly releasing a massive amount of white steam that enveloped the entire battlefield.
(End of Chapter)