Chapter 218: Sky-High Spectacle!
High above in the sky, a violent, world-ending vibration began to rumble!
It was not the sound of ordinary thunder, nor was it the howling of a typical New World storm.
Instead, it was a deep, tectonic groaning that seemed to originate from the very fabric of the heavens themselves.
The sheer acoustic pressure of the sound pressed down upon the earth, rattling the teeth of every living soul standing on the surface of Purple Bamboo Island.
Everyone watched in absolute, paralyzing horror as the brilliant midday sun was abruptly and unnaturally eclipsed.
Massive, jagged silhouettes began to tear through the thin veil of the upper clouds, revealing themselves as they descended into the lower atmosphere.
They were gargantuan rocks, each measuring well over a hundred meters in diameter, floating ominously in the sky directly above the coastal town!
Hundreds upon thousands of these colossal geological monstrosities blotted out the entire sky.
They cast deep, suffocating shadows of pure despair over the ruined port and the trembling pirate encampment below.
The air grew unbearably heavy, thick with the smell of ozone and the terrifying scent of crushed stone.
"What... what kind of ability is this?!"
Garo, the ferocious captain of the Fire Lion Pirates, squeezed the words out through a throat that felt entirely filled with dry sand.
His eyes were completely bloodshot, bulging from their sockets as he stared up at the apocalyptic ceiling of floating boulders.
"You've got to be kidding me!!!"
Leo, the leader of the Azure Wolf Pirate Crew, echoed the sentiment with a pathetic, wet wheeze.
His rugged, battle-scarred face had lost every single trace of color, turning into the sickly, waxy white of a fresh corpse.
Their fake, boisterous bravado as 'seniors' of the sea had evaporated entirely.
These were the last conscious, coherent thoughts that flashed through the terrified minds of Garo and Leo.
Because in the very next moment, the beautiful blue-haired maid suspended in the air finally made her move.
Rem's outstretched, delicate white hand pressed down toward the earth with a casual, effortless grace.
It was a motion so gentle and elegant that she might as well have been placing a delicate teacup onto a porcelain saucer.
"Rock Meteor Shower."
Her voice was soft, melodic, and completely devoid of any killing intent or rage.
Yet, that gentle whisper acted as the absolute trigger for a localized doomsday.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The countless giant rocks hanging in the sky seemed to instantly awaken, turning into an inverted, catastrophic meteor shower.
They tore through the atmosphere with a screaming, high-pitched roar that threatened to rupture the eardrums of anyone listening.
The sheer speed of their descent caused the air around the boulders to superheat, creating trails of glowing, white-hot friction.
With the unyielding, unstoppable force of a thousand thunderbolts, they crashed down ruthlessly upon the pirate fleets below.
The outlaws of the Fire Lion and Azure Wolf crews, still paralyzed and twitching from the previous barrage of lightning, could not even attempt to run.
They could only watch helplessly as the sky literally fell upon their heads.
That was not a battle.
There was no clashing of swords, no exchange of Haki, and no desperate struggle for survival.
It was a one-sided, absolute, and microscopic burial.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth shook violently, and the distant mountains swayed as if the very foundations of the world were collapsing!
Each colossal boulder impacted the ground with the kinetic energy of a falling fortress.
Thick, towering columns of gray dust and pulverized rock soared hundreds of meters into the sky, instantly obscuring the sun once more.
The entire Purple Bamboo Island seemed to groan and tremble under the weight of this terrifying, continuous bombardment.
The shockwaves from the impacts sent visible ripples through the dirt, tossing pirate ships into the air like discarded wooden toys before crushing them into splinters.
It was an annihilation so absolute that it defied the very limits of human imagination.
When the deafening roars finally ceased, a deathly, ringing silence fell over the devastated coastline.
The choking clouds of dust lingered in the air for a long time, slowly settling over the ruined landscape like a heavy, gray shroud.
When the dust finally cleared enough to reveal the aftermath, the scene was completely unrecognizable.
The bustling pirate encampment, the docked galleons, and the arrogant men who had occupied them were all gone.
Only a massive, interconnected network of incredibly deep craters remained, perfectly carved into the earth by the giant rocks.
Within the jagged depths of those craters, there were no identifiable corpses or screaming wounded.
There were only the indistinct, crimson-stained remains of hundreds of outlaws who had been instantly crushed into fine meat paste.
The Fire Lion Pirates and the Azure Wolf Pirate Crew, two infamous groups that had terrorized the local seas, were completely wiped out.
They had been erased from the face of the earth as easily as one sweeps away dust.
High above the carnage, Rem floated elegantly back down from the sky.
She descended with the lightness of a falling feather, landing gently beside Ram's side.
Despite having just unleashed an attack capable of destroying a small country, she looked as if she had merely performed a trivial household chore.
Not a single speck of dust or drop of blood had managed to touch the pristine white frills of her maid skirt.
"Rem, Rem, this is one of the last few islands we need to move back, right?"
Ram spoke in her usual cool, composed tone, her pink hair fluttering gently in the residual winds of the destruction.
She did not even spare a single glance at the mass graves created by her sister.
To Ram, the lives of those arrogant pirates were entirely beneath her notice.
"Sister, sister, that's right."
Rem nodded enthusiastically, her lips curving into a beautifully warm and completely innocent smile.
A distinct hint of deep anticipation and absolute devotion rang clearly in her sweet voice.
"Soon, we will complete the task assigned by Lord Suzaku. We must not keep him waiting."
Their casual, sisterly conversation drifted clearly across the devastated landscape.
It perfectly reached the ears of the surviving Simon, who was currently standing near the town's entrance.
The young man was completely dumbfounded, his entire body trembling uncontrollably with absolute terror.
Mov... moving an island?
His brain aggressively rejected the scale of the words he had just heard.
That world-shattering, apocalyptic scene just now—the meteor shower that had wiped out the enemies who could easily destroy his hometown...
Was all of that just a minor, preliminary clearing of the area before they actually got to work?!
Prostrate on the violently cracked ground, Simon stared at the miraculous, terrifying sight before him in total disbelief.
His mouth hung open, but no words or sounds could possibly escape his paralyzed vocal cords.
Then, he slowly shifted his gaze to look at the two beautiful, delicate girls chatting casually at the town entrance.
His brain had completely and utterly shut down, unable to process the sheer absurdity of the situation.
These beings were not humans; they were walking calamities disguised in maid uniforms!
Further back in the town square, the situation was no different.
Even the local women and children, who had been crying hysterically since being escorted out by the pirates, were shocked into a deathly silence.
The collective trauma of the pirates' threats had been instantly overridden by the awe-inspiring display of godly power.
They huddled together, their eyes wide and unblinking, too terrified to even draw a loud breath.
But the miraculous spectacle was far from over.
Simon watched in a daze as the girl named Rem stepped forward and gently placed her hands against the surface of the ground.
[Multiverse Summoning System]
[Ability: Advanced Earth Magic / Gravity Manipulation - Active]
Suddenly, the entire Purple Bamboo Island began to vibrate violently!
"Rumble... rumble... rumble..."
The sound was incredibly deep, vibrating through the soles of their feet and directly into their bones.
Simon immediately dropped to his knees, gripping the dirt desperately to keep his balance.
However, he quickly realized that this was not a normal earthquake.
The shaking of a natural earthquake is always violent, chaotic, and destructive, tearing buildings apart at random.
But what Simon and the villagers felt right now was entirely different.
It was a massive, unified, and perfectly distributed upward force with a majestic, almost rhythmic pulse!
It felt exactly as if an invisible, colossal hand of creation had reached down into the depths of the ocean.
That divine hand was currently supporting the entire bottom foundation of Purple Bamboo Island, intending to rip it straight out of the sea!
Back in the main square, the women and children who had just managed to stop crying erupted into terrified screams once more.
Their overlapping voices formed a collective chorus of pure panic as the ground beneath them began to tilt and heave.
They huddled together tightly, desperately clutching at one another's clothes.
It was as if human contact was the only possible way to draw a sliver of warmth from this overwhelming, apocalyptic scene.
"What... what's happening?!"
"Mom! I'm scared! Make it stop!"
"Help us! Is the island sinking into the sea?!"
"Boom!!"
An even more violent, earth-shattering tremor surged through the town, cutting off their screams.
This time, the vibration was accompanied by a horrifying, tooth-gritting tearing sound!
It was the unimaginable sound of the island's deep geological foundation completely detaching from the ocean's seabed!
Millions of tons of solid bedrock snapped and groaned under the immense magical pressure.
Everyone in the square, from the oldest elder to the youngest child, was entirely unable to stand steady.
They fell heavily to the ground in complete disarray, sliding across the dirt as the island's center of gravity drastically shifted.
The overwhelming shaking lasted for an unknown amount of time.
To the terrified minds of the villagers, it could have been a single minute, or it could have been an entire century.
The extreme G-force of the upward acceleration pressed heavily against their chests, making it incredibly difficult to breathe.
Finally, the heart-pounding tremors began to smoothly subside, transitioning into a steady, floating sensation.
Simon struggled weakly to his feet, his legs feeling like absolute jelly beneath his weight.
He looked around nervously, his eyes darting toward the edges of the town.
He fully expected to see exactly what he feared most.
He wanted to see if the island had tragically sunk beneath the waves, to see if the dark seawater was currently rushing in to drown them all.
However, what he actually saw was a sight that left him completely and utterly stunned.
"Mom, look! Clouds... white clouds!"
A tender child's voice, suddenly filled with bright curiosity and innocence, broke the dead, heavy silence of the square.
The young boy pointed a small, shaking finger toward the very edge of the island, where the cliffs used to overlook the ocean.
"The clouds are so close! We're so close to the white clouds! It's so beautiful!"
Clouds?
Simon's heart skipped a heavy beat as he subconsciously looked up and outward.
Then, his entire body froze stiff, as if he had been struck by an intense, freezing spell.
At some point during their terrifying ordeal, the scenery surrounding the island had completely transformed.
Clusters of thick, marshmallow-like white clouds were currently floating all around the town!
They drifted lazily through the air, close enough to be within arm's reach of the nearest houses.
A sudden gust of biting, freezing cold wind—a wind entirely unique to extremely high altitudes—blew past them.
The crisp gale quickly dispersed the remaining dust and the heavy mist lingering at the island's jagged edges.
In the very next second, everyone's pupils suddenly constricted to the absolute limit!
The villagers crawled toward the edge of the cliffs, peering cautiously over the rocky precipice.
The azure sea that had once gently carried their home for countless generations had completely vanished from its usual place.
Instead, it had now become a incredibly distant, bottomless blue canvas located thousands of meters directly below them!
The crashing waves of the New World looked like tiny, insignificant white ripples from this terrifying vantage point.
And the Purple Bamboo Island beneath their feet had actually left the surface of the sea completely.
It was currently floating steadily and majestically, thousands of meters high in the thin air of the firmament!
"Are we... in... the sky?"
An elderly villager murmured the words in a hollow, dreamlike voice, completely unable to process the impossible reality.
They had been forcefully relocated from the treacherous ocean into the domain of the heavens.
But incredibly, this was not the end of the shocking spectacle!
When their terrified but fascinated gaze traveled past the jagged edge of their own island and reached out toward the distant horizon...
They saw a grand sight that was easily a hundred times more insane than their own "island taking flight" experience.
In the far distance, scattered perfectly across the staggered, varying heights of the firmament, were other islands.
Islands of entirely different sizes, shapes, and climates were suspended in the sky!
They were floating quietly and obediently, exactly like a flock of submissive lambs being herded by an unseen shepherd.
Some of the floating islands were lush with vibrant, dense jungles and roaring waterfalls that spilled off the edges into nothingness.
Other islands were craggy, dark, and utterly barren, looking like the sharp fangs of a prehistoric beast.
Some of the massive landmasses even retained their original towns, bustling ports, and tall lighthouses.
All of them were now hanging silently and permanently in the vast blue sky!
They were perfectly arranged in a highly complex, mysterious orbital trajectory.
The entire formation of floating continents was slowly rotating, surrounding a single, terrifying centerpiece.
Hovering exactly at the center of this majestic aerial array was a massive, pitch-black steel warship.
It was the heavy cruiser "Pola", its futuristic, heavily armored hull gleaming menacingly under the high-altitude sun.
The terrifying 203mm naval gun turrets of the vessel were locked in position, acting as the absolute core of this flying domain.
The countless floating islands orbited the steel behemoth exactly like loyal stars orbiting a magnificent moon.
This miraculous, divine scene left every single person on Purple Bamboo Island completely afraid to make a sound.
The sheer scale of the power required to achieve this was beyond the comprehension of mortal minds.
This was clearly an... Aerial Fleet!
It was an unstoppable, mobile empire composed of countless entire islands, all ripped from the sea to serve a single ruler.
"What... what on earth is going on?!"
Simon's voice was hoarse, entirely raw from extreme shock and the freezing, thin air.
He stared at the distant flag of the Vermillion Wing fluttering proudly on the mast of the central cruiser.
Even now, looking directly at the literal reshaping of the world, his mind simply couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.
[Akarin Note:
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