A few days after the Great Cataclysm, in the year 1522 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
The hurricanes and tsunamis created by the clash of immense energies gradually calmed, while the magma surging up from the planet's core also slowly cooled and solidified. Even so, the destruction inflicted upon the world would take years to recover from.
Fortunately, Pluto's main cannon had collided with the magma. Otherwise, the planet's core itself might have exploded.
The Red Line, once ten thousand meters high, had been torn open by a massive gap. Ships no longer needed coating and could now sail directly from the Grand Line into the New World.
As the disaster that had affected countless people and islands around the world slowly subsided, the great war in the New World also approached its end.
* * *
Above the former Mariejois, Egghead Island floated in the sky.
Several days had passed. After enduring the aftermath of the extreme catastrophe, the Marines stationed throughout the New World had gradually returned to normal operations.
Using communication technology that provided a godlike perspective, they launched overwhelming strikes and systematically divided and exterminated pirate crews of every size.
However, global communications had not been restored, and this was a vital part of the plan.
Everyone in the world believed the loss of communication was caused by the disaster, while Marine Headquarters informed Marine personnel that a new technology developed by the research division allowed communication within the New World. Only a handful of high-ranking officers knew that this was actually bait…
The few kingdoms that possessed advanced technology, such as Vegapunk's homeland, Karakuri Island, were immediately brought under Marine control.
All communications across the world's islands were blocked, leaving every island cut off from the outside world. The isolation would tempt certain hidden figures to investigate.
When order disappears for long enough, the desires buried deep within people's hearts begin to grow. The Marines they once feared seemed nowhere to be found, while the remaining Marine branches in the Four Blues were little more than insignificant forces.
Among those hidden individuals were both good people and bad, but every move they made was being recorded.
The infiltrated Den Den Mushi collected fragments of information through surveillance, after which the intelligence was organized and analyzed. The Marines would then track them down one by one and conduct another cleansing…
* * *
Egghead Island floated ten thousand meters above the sky.
The laboratory among the clouds no longer needed to remain hidden. It stood openly above the island.
Inside the laboratory.
Carlo looked somewhat better than he had several days ago, though his face was still pale and his body noticeably thinner. As he stared at the center screen, he said, "So this is the last group."
On the screen, a blue giant over a hundred meters tall suddenly descended from the sky onto an island.
Ignoring the pirate fleet that had desperately turned around before even reaching shore, the giant walked to the foot of a mountain and thrust both hands beneath it. Then, with a tremendous heave, he uprooted the entire mountain.
Watching the fleeing pirate fleet, he swung his arms and hurled it forward, smashing the fleet of more than a dozen battered pirate ships into the sea amid absolute despair…
Vegapunk rubbed his temples tiredly before replying, "That's right. This is the last large pirate fleet. The only ones left are scattered survivors hiding throughout the New World. Anyone carrying a Den Den Mushi can be located, and I've already sent their coordinates to the command headquarters overseeing the extermination."
Carlo nodded and let out a quiet sigh. "The surveillance department has been set up. There won't be any issues on this side, right?"
"No problems," Vegapunk answered with a soft grunt of acknowledgment.
His finger tapped the control panel, and a three-dimensional map of the entire world immediately appeared on the giant screen. It had been created using data gathered by the "satellites" launched by the research division, and countless islands were densely displayed across the map.
"Monitoring can begin at any time. We've designated priority listening zones based on different locations on each island, allowing useful information to be obtained as quickly as possible."
Nearly half the islands glowed with faint light, indicating the presence of Den Den Mushi and making them targets for surveillance.
Of course, some islands showed no light at all, and most of those were deserted islands. But nothing was absolute. Perhaps a solitary powerhouse lived on one of them. No one could say for certain.
After all monitored islands had been thoroughly cleaned out, those isolated islands would be investigated one by one. No one would escape.
The communication blackout was the Marines' greatest ally. The military power that had accumulated without interruption for hundreds and thousands of years had been shattered by Sakazuki. The World Government, the Marines, pirates, and the Revolutionary Army, along with the strongest figures and the four dominant forces of the seas, had all been wiped out by Sakazuki's schemes and massacres.
The New World had completely become the Marines' backyard, and all of the world's remaining top fighters now belonged to the Marines. At present, Bullet alone could suppress the entire world.
Through surveillance, every hidden rat would be dragged into the light, and no one could escape the hunts led by Bullet, Enel, and Soter.
On those isolated islands cut off from information and communication, making a person or even several people disappear was far too easy.
Even the destruction of an entire island would be forgotten within a few years. If islands themselves could be erased from memory, then these vanished individuals would likely be forgotten completely within a few months.
Once communications were restored, the world would stand upon a perfect foundation.
Then "Sakazuki" would slowly shape it into the world he desired.
* * *
After briefly examining the three-dimensional map, Carlo nodded and walked to the window.
Endless volcanic ash covered the surface of the planet. As the center of the eruption, this region could no longer see the sea below. Only the occasional flashes of lightning within the gray haze beneath them remained visible.
Looking at them, Carlo sighed. "Doctor, prepare the seawater prison. I'm going to bring him back. He needs to calm down."
Vegapunk walked over, and as he watched the flashes of lightning below, a trace of sorrow appeared in his eyes. "Didn't you tell him what Sakazuki left behind?"
Carlo nodded, then shook his head. "He never accepted the existence of 'Fleet Admiral Sakazuki.'"
After a brief pause, he added, "Make the preparations. I'll go find him."
Whoosh!
He vanished.
Vegapunk took a deep breath and forced himself to regain some energy before returning to the control panel and pressing a button.
At the center of the island, the seawater prison that had once trapped and killed Borsalino and Aramaki slowly rose from below…
* * *
On the sea below, atop the solidified magma, dark-red lava still flowed in some places while bubbles occasionally surfaced and burst. Most of it, however, had already cooled into black rock over time.
Such a thing would have been impossible in the past…
Enel had become so thin that he looked almost skeletal. His skin was deathly pale as he floated above the hardened magma, lightning crackling around his body. The golden staff in his hand resembled a divine scepter that ruled over thunder itself, releasing visible webs of electricity in every direction.
Whoosh!
Carlo appeared.
Armament Haki coated his body as he looked at Enel and spoke in a deep voice. "That's enough, Enel!"
Yet Enel, who stood not far away, acted as if he hadn't heard a thing and continued directing his lightning toward the endless sea.
Armament Haki flowed over Carlo's arms as he stepped forward and charged at him.
"Enough!!!"
Clang!
The golden staff that controlled lightning had somehow appeared in front of Enel, blocking his path.
Enel slowly opened his eyes. Violence, obsession, and madness swirled within them as he stared at Carlo and roared, "Not enough!!!!"
The electricity around his body erupted violently.
Boom!!
A violent explosion of lightning blasted Carlo away. At the same time, Enel's body, already so emaciated that he looked like a skeleton, suddenly fell from the sky and crashed onto the flowing dark-red magma below.
Sizzle!
The sound of burning flesh echoed out as Enel coughed violently.
"Cough... cough..."
His body was so weak that he couldn't stop himself from coughing up blood. Struggling against the pain, he rose from the dark-red magma, lightning flickering at his fingertips as he tried to continue searching.
Before he could, a somewhat disheveled Carlo teleported beside him and grabbed his wrist.
Holding it firmly, he said in a low voice, "That's really enough. The war in the New World is over. Next, we follow 'Fleet Admiral Sakazuki's' plan and clean up the world. The Marines need you."
Enel took a deep breath. His gaunt body slowly lifted its head, and as he looked directly into Carlo's eyes, he spoke in an extremely hoarse voice.
"That guy is fake! You're all lying to yourselves!! The real him is definitely waiting for me somewhere beneath the sea..."
Bright and scorching lightning burst from his arms as he tried to break free from Carlo's grip.
"He needs me..."
But Carlo's Haki-covered hand didn't move in the slightest. Meeting Enel's obsessive gaze head-on, he activated his ability.
Whoosh!
Both of them vanished.
* * *
Above Egghead Island's seawater prison.
The moment Carlo activated his power, Enel sensed something was wrong. Boundless killing intent erupted from him as a torrent of lightning exploded toward Carlo.
BOOM!!!!!
Lightning and seawater collided, triggering a massive explosion.
The blast nearly swept all the water out of the underwater prison. Less than half a meter remained, barely covering the two figures lying motionless within.
The surge of lightning damaged the mechanical arms attached to the prison. A few of Vegapunk's satellite bodies hurriedly jumped down and pulled Carlo out.
Lying on a flying platform, Carlo was soaked from head to toe, with tiny arcs of electricity still crackling across his body.
"Cough... cough..."
The craft flew back to shore.
Vegapunk himself looked shaken, and even his clothes had been soaked by seawater.
Carlo jumped down and let out a sigh. "Inject him with some anesthetic. Give him nutrient fluids and let him rest properly for a while."
Looking down at Enel lying motionless in the seawater at the bottom of the prison, his expression still twisted with obsession and madness, Vegapunk nodded. "I know."
Carlo gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment and began walking toward the edge of the island.
* * *
At the edge of Egghead Island, a justice cape fluttered in the wind.
That familiar figure stood quietly at the island's edge, gazing down at the world shrouded in darkness and ash.
Carlo approached from behind and reported, "'Fleet Admiral Sakazuki.' The surveillance teams are ready. We can begin coordinating with S.W.O.R.D. and start monitoring at any time."
The "Sakazuki" before him slowly turned around and looked at the somewhat battered Carlo. "He still hasn't accepted it?"
Carlo forced a bitter smile.
"Sakazuki" shook his head. "Let him calm down for a while. Begin the plan. Drag every rat in this world out into the open."
Carlo nodded. "Yes."
He slowly withdrew to carry out the order, showing no sign of anything unusual.
The "Sakazuki" possessed all of Sakazuki's memories from before the final battle. Whether in appearance or mannerisms, he was no different from the real Sakazuki, but Enel refused to acknowledge him.
Because his true body was nothing more than a fragile leaf, a fake, a substitute.
Even though this was the last thing Sakazuki had left behind…
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