At the same time—outside the auction house.
Watching pirates and civilians alike flee in panicked waves from the area around the auction house, Enel casually dug a finger into his ear, irritation written all over his face.
"So what happened inside?" he said lazily. "It's noisy as hell.That straw-hatted guy… did he really punch that woman with the glass bubble on her head?"
"For now, it appears so," Kuma replied calmly, giving a slow nod. A trace of something like approval flickered deep in his eyes—so faint it was almost impossible to catch."As expected of Dragon's son."
"In that case," Enel grinned, excitement spreading across his face, "doesn't that mean it's finally this god's turn to make an entrance?!"
He could already picture it—the moment he descended like divine punishment itself, tidying up the aftermath in overwhelming splendor.
Before his laughter had even fully faded, and without waiting for Kuma's response, lightning flashed around Enel's body. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a bolt of electricity and vanished from where he stood.
Kuma followed close behind.
Inside the auction house, the Straw Hat crew was locked in fierce combat with the guards brought by Saint Charlia.
This wasn't the same situation as before—there was no Kid, no Law lending a hand. Inside the auction hall, it was only the Straw Hats.
As a result, the battle was anything but clean. Chaos reigned.
Just as Luffy sent another guard flying with a punch, a voice tinged with mockery and a distinctive drawl echoed from above.
"Well, well! You really went and laid hands on a Celestial Dragon, huh? Tsk, tsk—got guts, Straw Hat brat."
Enel hovered in midair, arms crossed around his golden staff, clearly prepared to savor the struggle of these "mortals" before formally announcing his arrival.
But before the grin on his face could fully form, his gaze casually swept across the display stage—and the instant it landed on the mermaid inside the glass enclosure, his expression froze.
"—!!"
Enel's pupils contracted violently. Shock—and then pure, unrestrained fury—erupted across his face.
"A mermaid?! Someone from Fish-Man Island?!These filthy scum… they actually dared lay hands on something within Gern's claimed territory?!"
At that very moment, Disco—the auction house manager, who had been collapsed on the floor moments earlier—caught sight of Enel's unmistakable figure.
Recognition struck like lightning.
With a terrified yelp, Disco scrambled to his feet, desperately trying to flee—but the instant he turned around, he slammed headfirst into something immovable, something as solid as a mountain.
Kuma.
Disco stumbled backward and fell hard onto the floor, staring at Enel and Kuma in sheer terror, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.
"New World… G-10's direct 'Natural Disaster' line…Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral…'God' Enel… and… the 'Tyrant,' Bartholomew Kuma?!It's over… it's over… this is bad… this is really bad…"
Just then, Saint Charlia—her face swollen grotesquely from Luffy's punch, her vision still spinning—struggled up from the rubble.
She had vaguely caught the words "Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral" and, abandoning all decorum, shrieked hysterically:
"Marines! A Marine Vice Admiral?! You're finally here!I was attacked by these lowly pirates!Hurry—arrest all of them! Kill the one who hit me!Where's the Admiral?! Call an Admiral at once! Wipe out this whole—"
Her words cut off abruptly.
At some point, Enel had already appeared right in front of her.
One hand shot out—ruthless, merciless—clamping tightly around her head as she raised it.
"Urgh—!!"
The crushing grip twisted Saint Charlia's face into a mask of agony.
Enel looked down at her. The teasing amusement from earlier was gone completely. All that remained in his eyes was glacial, absolute killing intent as he asked in a low voice:
"Don't you know… that Fish-Man Island… belongs to G-10?"
At this close distance, staring into Enel's murderous gaze while searing pain pulsed through her skull, Charlia's mind finally caught up.
Combined with what she had just heard Disco muttering, realization crashed down on her.
The man before her—he was one of the direct subordinates of "Heaven-Shaking" Gern, the very figure whose influence had indirectly led to the deaths of her father and brother.
"Gern's subordinate…The subordinate of that man who, among the Celestial Dragons themselves, is known as someone who must never, ever be provoked…!!"
In an instant, all of Charlia's arrogance evaporated.
Her body shook violently with fear. Tears and snot streamed down her face, soaking the silk scarf that hid her features as she screamed in a broken, sobbing voice:
"I—I'm sorry! I was wrong! I didn't know! Please spare me!"
Seeing that Enel showed no reaction whatsoever, her mind raced back to their encounter days earlier…
And in that moment, overwhelming terror completely crushed the pride of a so-called "descendant of the creators."
"Papa! Papa Enel! Please forgive me!I'll never do it again! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!!"
To save her life, she abandoned everything—dignity, status, pride—screaming the word father without hesitation.
The entire auction house fell into deathly silence once more.
The Straw Hat crew. The remaining guards. Disco. Even the auction staff who had just arrived.
All of them stared in disbelief at the Celestial Dragon who had moments ago ruled the room with absolute arrogance—now groveling like a pitiful worm in Enel's grasp, begging for mercy.
The arrogance of power, when faced with absolute strength and the terror of death, revealed itself to be nothing more than a fragile joke.
Enel did not respond to Charlia's pleas.
He didn't even look at her again.
The arm gripping her head erupted in blinding lightning.
"Divine Judgment."
With that cold pronouncement, an impossibly thick bolt of lightning tore through the ceiling of the auction house and struck Charlia with flawless precision.
"No—!!"
She managed only a brief, desperate scream before the blinding thunderlight swallowed her whole. The sound cut off instantly.
When the lightning faded, all that remained was a charred, twisted corpse, smoke curling upward—barely recognizable as human.
Like discarding a piece of trash, Enel flung the carbonized remains aside.
Then he walked straight to the display stage.
Looking at Camie, curled up inside the shattered glass enclosure and trembling in terror, the icy edge of his expression softened just a fraction.
"You've suffered enough," he said flatly.
With a light flick of his finger, a thin arc of electricity flashed—and the reinforced glass enclosure shattered instantly, reduced to fine dust.
Almost simultaneously, Kuma raised his massive hand and gently struck the slave collar around Camie's neck from a distance.
"Pop."
The explosive collar was knocked free, instantly transforming into a tiny orb of light that flew out of the auction house and silently vanished in the distant sky.
The crisis was over.
Camie collapsed to the floor, and Pappag and Hatchan rushed to her side at once, holding her tightly as all three broke down in tears.
Only then did Enel turn his gaze back to the Straw Hat crew, still standing on high alert—and then to the silent Kuma beside him.
"Public and private must be kept separate."
What was public?Gern had drawn a line. The authority of G-10 had been openly challenged. That was public.
What was private?The request Kuma carried from Dragon—to "teach the Straw Hat boy a lesson." That was personal.
But now, with Gern's authority having been directly provoked, the public matter came first.
Private affairs would have to wait.
"You intend to…" Kuma said, seeming to grasp his meaning.
Enel turned slightly, casting a sideways glance toward the chaos engulfing the Sabaody Archipelago outside. Lightning crackled around his body as a cruel curve lifted the corner of his mouth.
His verdict came out clear, cold, and absolute:
"God has decided to slaughter… every auction house in Sabaody."
This wasn't about killing one to warn a hundred.
This was about seizing the opportunity to use the bloodiest, most terrifying means imaginable—
To erase, without discrimination, every slave-trading den on the entire archipelago.
To burn the consequence of provoking the "Natural Disaster" into everyone's memory.
And so, on this day—
The Sabaody Archipelago welcomed the judgment descended by a "god,"
A judgment known as Purge.