This novel is finished, and I have posted all the advanced chapters on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
Rowen had been able to resist the Dream Fruit's intrusion because he remained in a constant state of Awakening.
The Goro Goro no Mi, refined to an inhuman degree, ruled his body like a tyrant. Any fluctuation of foreign Devil Fruit power that tried to invade him was ruthlessly expelled before it could take root.
Only Awakening could oppose Awakening!
Unless the opponent possessed an Awakening of a higher level, or an Awakening with a restraining nature, like Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit, this power was essentially untouchable.
The Toy-Toy Fruit?
The Slow-Slow Fruit?
It made no difference.
No matter how strange or broken the ability, as long as it failed to meet those conditions, not a single power could interfere with Rowen's true body.
That said, the moment he fully transformed into pure lightning, this balance could no longer be maintained.
And Imu seized that opening without hesitation.
The instant he realized the target was nothing more than a clone meant to draw him out, shock and rage flared in his eyes, but he suppressed them instantly and acted.
He commanded the Dream Fruit to activate.
Buzz!!
The world itself seemed to change color. Yet within Rowen's perception, there was no warning at all.
Everything felt real.
The violent resistance traveling through the thunder halberd, the thin air of extreme altitude, the screams ringing in his ears, every sensation was flawless, indistinguishable from reality.
Then…
"This weakness… it's especially obvious in these shadows, isn't it?!"
Shuā!
Like someone snapping awake from a deep dream, Rowen's pupils shrank violently. His body jerked backward as if shocked, forcibly tearing space open between himself and the enemy.
He stared at the Dream Fruit's shadow, which had stopped just ahead of him, and tightened his grip on the thunder halberd.
"Damn it!"
"Heh… heh heh… ha ha ha ha ha!!" Imu's laughter rang out, sharp and venomous. "You let your guard down, Soryu (Azure Dragon)."
Malice flooded his gaze as he fixed Rowen in place.
"Those who drown are always the ones who know how to swim. You're too used to controlling the battlefield, so much so that you never question it. That arrogance is your greatest flaw."
Even clay figures could feel anger.
Psychological warfare had always been Rowen's forte, twisting words to guide an opponent's thoughts, forcing mistakes. Yet now, having his weakness exposed so bluntly and thrown back at him, there was no way Imu wouldn't relish it.
"I'll return that lesson to you," Imu said softly. "Now…"
He raised a hand. The Dream Fruit's shadow turned into a streak of black light, slipping behind him and merging seamlessly into his body.
Two Devil Fruit abilities overlapped and a vast, surging aura exploded outward.
Bang!
Before, Rowen only needed to stir the surrounding currents to steady himself, lightning naturally responding to his will.
Now…
A crushing force erupted from within his own body.
His spine bent under the pressure.
"My body… won't respond…" Rowen's eyes widened as he struggled to stand. This time, his will meant nothing.
"A mere mortal…" Imu snorted, forcibly driving Rowen down until he knelt in the empty void itself.
At the same time, the wrinkles on Im's face deepened, his expression growing colder.
"Kill him."
The shadows moved again.
Imu didn't use the Dream Fruit to end Rowen immediately. He didn't want a clean death. He wanted to savor this moment, to slowly destroy the only being in eight hundred years who had pushed him this far.
Heaven-Shaking Tremor!
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit's shadow struck first.
A world-splitting shock slammed into Rowen's back.
Kā… Chā…
With no defense, he couldn't withstand a tremor on par with Whitebeard's power. Blood burst from his mouth as ribs shattered one after another.
Yet almost instantly, aided by his regeneration, the damage vanished as if it had never existed.
Imu paused, then smiled faintly.
"Ah… right. That ability."
His smile faded, replaced by something colder.
"But that only makes this better."
Because Rowen wasn't easy to kill, Imu could vent his rage without restraint.
Bang! Rumble!!
The remaining five shadows surged forward.
Flames scorched, frost froze, tremors tore through flesh, and black spikes pierced without mercy. Rowen's immobilized body was carved apart again and again.
In an instant, he was reduced to a grotesque wreck. Flesh and blood flew in every direction, chunks of his body ripped free and scattered through the void.
And yet…
Under the terrifying reinforcement of his regeneration, those wounds healed at a speed that made even Im's heart shudder.
One moment, Rowen's arm bones were shattered into fragments. The next, even as the limb dangled uselessly, held together only by spurting blood, the bones regrew, reconnecting with sickening precision.
Envy burned in Im's eyes.
"If I had possessed such an ability back then…"
'Then it wouldn't have mattered who stood in my way. I could have challenged them all.'
The thought flickered only briefly as Imu was not foolish enough to chase every temptation.
Leaving aside how horrifyingly invasive Rowen's regenerative cells were, the Celestial Dragons had already proven, through a disastrous experiment, that forcibly transplanting such power led only to uncontrollable consequences.
And this body he now inhabited… It could not endure anything more.
The seed that gave birth to Devil Fruits had been created from a mysterious force Imu had torn from within himself, which mortals later came to call divine power.
That power allowed him to seize control of the world at breathtaking speed.
But it had also weakened his true self.
Rowen's existence was abnormal. His nature allowed him to plunder even the Goro Goro no Mi, a Devil Fruit born directly from Im's own divine essence. If he were allowed to go further, if he could plunder the godly power filling this body as well, then Im's fate would be no different from that of the one who fell in the New World.
'I cannot afford to lose.' Imu exhaled slowly and raised his head. Divine fire burned within his eyes as he surveyed the battlefield.
"But it doesn't matter," he murmured. "Once I completely devour this planet, this body will lose all meaning."
At that point, he would no longer merely stand upon the world.
He would be the world.
The planet's will would be his will. The planet itself would be Im.
"To sit atop a mountain of treasure and never realize it…" A trace of disdain crossed his face. "A world capable of producing something as unique as Seastone, and all you desire is to be a petty god worshipped by mortals."
Then…
A familiar voice cut in.
"Lord Imu… it seems you've forgotten something. Again."
Rowen's body was scorched pitch-black by flames, like burned charcoal. Yet on that ruined face, his eyes still moved sharply, alive with mockery as they fixed on Im.
Shuā!
Imu lifted a hand, halting the attacking shadows. His lips curled into a contemptuous smile.
"Oh?" he said softly. "Then enlighten me."
"Cough… Cough… Ptui!"
Rowen spat out blood and foam. Beneath his skin, crimson muscle fibers rapidly knitted themselves back together, restoring what had been torn apart. His body was still immobilized, but his voice remained steady.
"I've been thinking about this for a long time," he said. "Why you're so obsessed with this authority."
ImU's expression stiffened for just a fraction of a second.
"Like I said back in the Room of Flowers, I could even use this as leverage against you…" Rowen continued. "But something didn't add up."
"What do you actually want this authority for?"
"If all you wanted was to rule the world, then with your power, you could do it effortlessly. So why leave those non–Allied Kingdoms untouched?"
Rowen addressed him as you, without the slightest hint of reverence, only naked arrogance and disdain.
"So I came up with a hypothesis."
ImU's face twitched.
"…What hypothesis?"
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake.
Rowen smiled.
"What you want isn't authority," he said calmly. "It's territory."
"What you want isn't the throne of the World Government, but the absolute, untouchable authority that comes with it."
"To use fear, worship, and brutality to ensure that something… never happens."
As he spoke, Rowen suddenly turned his head.
Far away, atop the Red Line, in the direction of the Holy Land, Ark-shaped aircraft, no larger than sesame seeds at this distance, rose into the sky, heading toward the moon on the far side of the planet.
"…And while you're at it," Rowen continued, "You erase that one hundred years of history that humiliated you and the Celestial Dragons, reinforcing your rule."
"All of it, everything, was done for one reason. To prevent the Mountain Ancestor from awakening and destroying the world!! As long as the Holy Land remains the center of the world, standing above all else, then no matter how the seas change, no one dares challenge it."
"And as long as no one challenges it… the Mountain Ancestor never awakens."
Under Imu's killing gaze, Rowen grinned.
"Do you know," he asked lightly, "how the Sea King managed to awaken it early?"
Imu's eyes flew wide.
"You figured it out long ago?!"
"I did," Rowen replied. "And I didn't."
He shook his head slowly.
"I only noticed that after the armored Sea King legions were wiped out, some… small things remained beneath the Red Line."
"I just never expected them to go this far."
"Funny, isn't it?" he added. "How accidents like these happen."
"Bastard!!!"
Creak!!
Imu finally lost control.
With a roar, he seized Rowen's head and twisted it violently, once, twice, until it spun a full seven hundred and twenty degrees.
Then he yanked upward.
Puchi!
Bones snapped apart. Blood sprayed as a perfectly intact head shot straight into the sky.
And yet…
Even then, a relaxed smile lingered on Rowen's face.
The severed head opened its mouth.
Imu read the words from his lips.
"You… fell for it."
ROAR!!!
A monstrous roar that shook heaven and earth thundered across the world.
Imu spun around.
From the direction of Sabaody, an unimaginably vast landmass began to rise from the sea.
That single mass alone covered nearly one-tenth of the planet's surface.
And it was not merely land.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Colossal crab-like legs burst from the ocean, churning tens of thousands of tons of seawater as they planted themselves onto the world.
The most terrifying creature in history…
The Mountain Ancestor…
Had fully awakened.
(End of Chapter)