Governor Kaido…
Lord Kaido…
Watching Kaido fall, the retreating Beasts Pirates were swallowed by despair.
Big Mom and Kaido had been defeated one after the other.
Two of the Three Emperors were already down.
How could Marco alone possibly defeat the Gorosei and Imu?
At that moment, Saint Peter's body twisted and stretched, transforming into a gigantic sand worm. With Big Mom clamped unconscious between his jaws, he slithered forward, then spat her onto the ground like garbage. Looking up toward the figure in the sky, he reported, "Lord Imu, this ant has lost consciousness."
Imu listened and gave a slight nod.
Originally, he had only planned to make Kaido a war slave. But now that Big Mom had also been defeated and was still breathing, he didn't mind taking another.
Even if Big Mom's strength was inferior to Kaido's, she was still a formidable weapon.
"Cough… cough… damn it…" Kaido wheezed. Dark cones born from Imu's ability had skewered him and nailed his massive dragon body to the earth. He couldn't even revert to his human form, sprawled there in a completely vulnerable state.
Imu studied him. Even after being pierced by hundreds of dark thorns and pinned in place, Kaido still clung stubbornly to consciousness. He couldn't help but be impressed by his body and spirit.
"As expected of the Ogre race's physique," she remarked, "and such astonishing willpower. He'll make a very good war slave."
"What a joke!" Kaido roared, forcing his voice out through the pain. "I am Kaido of the Beasts! How could I possibly be your slave? Not even if I die!"
Imu's gaze remained cold and distant. He paid no mind to his helpless rage as he replied cruelly, "You have no choice. After this, I will erase your memories and instill new ones."
"However, you don't need to feel ashamed. Although you will be my slave, I will still bestow upon you the status of a Celestial Dragon.
Feel honored.
Becoming my slave is something countless ants yearn for."
"What a joke!" Kaido repeated, bellowing in fury.
But just hearing Imu's words filled him with a fear he couldn't suppress.
He didn't doubt Imu had the means to wipe his memories clean. This monster could possess others and grant immortality to the Gorosei and the God's Knights. With power like that, erasing one man's mind was trivial.
"This is the fate you must accept for resisting the creator," Imu said coldly.
With a casual wave of his hand, a magic circle bloomed into existence above Kaido's head.
From its center, a colossal nail emerged—over a hundred meters long—then plunged straight down toward his dragon skull.
Kaido let out a bloodcurdling scream. Agony exploded through him, his eyes rolled back, and his consciousness was finally snuffed out.
"So strong! He defeated that Kaido of the Beasts so easily… Is this the power of the king of the world?" On the Marine side, those witnessing Imu's display of power were all trembling with excitement.
"Governor Kaido!"
"Mama...!"
Crew who'd been ready to retreat—soldiers of both the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates—suddenly turned back, rushing toward the battlefield in a desperate attempt to save Kaido and Big Mom.
The sight only drew scorn from the Gorosei and the God's Knights.
"How foolish."
"If they'd chosen to flee just now, they might've had a chance to survive. Instead, they ran back to die."
"In that case, let's eliminate them."
Saint Nusjuro's gaze turned icy as he looked toward the distant Moby Dick.
He had already noticed that all of these pirates had come from that ship.
As Gorosei, they naturally knew there was a Mirror-Mirror Fruit user among the Three Emperors Alliance, and it was obvious the pirates were using the mirrors on that ship to move around.
"Since you want to save them, then you can all stay here."
Saint Nusjuro drew his sword in a blur. A crushing wave of sword aura exploded forward.
With a single slash, the massive Moby Dick was cleaved cleanly in two. The surging sword energy tore through the hull and shattered every mirror aboard.
"The ship's been destroyed!"
"The mirrors are gone too!"
"What do we do?! Governor Kaido and Big Mom have both been defeated—there's no one left who can deal with the Gorosei!"
As the Moby Dick split apart and its mirrors were pulverized by that overwhelming slash, the pirates' morale collapsed.
"Damn it! They destroyed our ship!" members of the Phoenix Pirates shouted angrily.
"Don't be scared; we still have Captain Marco!"
"That's right! So what if Kaido and Big Mom are down? We still have Captain Marco!"
At that moment, Marco cut down another member of the God's Knights.
The system's mechanical voice rang in his mind:
"Defeated God's Knights Member Ethanbaron V. Komuro. Reward: 7000 attribute points."
"Killed God's Knights Member Ethanbaron V. Komuro. Reward: 5000 attribute points."
With another 12,000 attribute points gained, Marco's total finally reached 40,000.
Without hesitation, Marco decided to upgrade his Haki.
He opened his status panel. Under Special Attributes, a prompt appeared:
Armament Haki (Top-tier) → Armament Haki (Legendary)
Required: 30,000 attribute points
Marco immediately spent 30,000 attribute points to raise his Armament Haki to Legendary.
The panel updated:
Name: Marco
Age: 43
Attribute Points: 10,000
Devil Fruit: Zoan-type, Mythical Model—Phoenix Fruit (Awakened)
Devil Fruit Awakening Ability: Flames of Destruction
Haki:
- Armament Haki (Legendary)
- Observation Haki (Legendary)
- Haoshoku (Legendary)
Body Techniques:
- Shave (top-tier)
- Rankyaku (Advanced)
- Moonwalk (Advanced)
- Iron Body (Top-tier)
- Shigan (Advanced)
- Kami-e (Advanced)
Strength: 42,054
Speed: 24,900
Defense: 23,800
Recovery: 60,000
Stamina: 25,100
Spirit: 31,300
System Combat Power Assessment: Strong King Level
Seeing that his overall assessment was still only at the Strong King level, without another breakthrough, Marco couldn't help feeling a twinge of regret.
He stared at the remaining 10,000 attribute points, hesitating over whether to invest them all into stamina—when the Gorosei were already closing in on his position.
Topman Warcury bared his fanged jaws and lunged straight at Marco.
Wreathed in black flames, Marco shot upward, wings beating as he took to the sky.
Nusjuro and Saint Peter attacked from left and right, their combined assault forcing Marco to climb even higher into the air.
Hovering above, Marco glanced down at the three Gorosei closing in, then farther off at Imu, quietly watching. His expression hardened.
The Moby Dick lay in ruins. The mirrors were gone. There was no way to retreat now.
Seeing the shaken, faltering pirates below, Marco drew in a breath and bellowed, "What are you all looking so down for? We haven't lost yet!
Big Mom Pirates! Beasts Pirates! If you want to save Kaido and Big Mom, then fight to the death!
"Our retreat's been cut off!
"If you want to live, you can only fight to the very end—and let these high-and-mighty bastards see the courage of warriors of the sea!"
Marco's roar washed over the battlefield. The pirates whose morale had just crumbled felt their blood surge again; eyes lit up, hands tightened around blades and guns.
"Yeah! Even if we die, we'll tear off a piece of their flesh!"
"Kill! Wipe out all the Marines!"
"And the God's Knights and the Gorosei—we'll take them all down!"
Driven into a corner with nothing left to lose, the pirates charged in a frenzy. The Marines saw the tide turning, and panic flickered across their ranks.
Those who had just recovered from being knocked out by Marco's Haki came to their senses only to find crazed pirates rushing them, and their faces went deathly pale.
But the God's Knights and the Gorosei remained calm. With their immortality, and Marco the only one present who could threaten it, they felt no fear.
The lives of Marines meant nothing to them. Their goal was simple: erase the Three Emperors Alliance.
How many Marines died in the process was irrelevant.
To them, Marines were insects—expendable and replaceable. Even if all thirty thousand fell here, as long as the Three Emperors Alliance was annihilated, it would be a "victory."
Besides, as the self-proclaimed creators and gods of this world, they saw the Three Emperors Alliance's repeated defiance as an unforgivable sin—a crime that could only be cleansed in blood.
"Marco…" Ace stared up at him, worry tightening his chest. After he and Yamato had taken down Ryokugyu, his stamina was nearly gone. As a Conqueror's Haki user, he burned to help—but his body simply wouldn't move the way he wanted.
Marco paid no mind to Ace's concern. He raised his voice so all of Egghead could hear: "Imu! Gorosei! And you trash from the God's Knights—if you want to kill me, then come on!"
With that, he turned and streaked through the sky toward Egghead's massive garbage disposal plant.
"Bastard! How dare you insult us!" Warcury roared, fury exploding across his face as he launched himself after Marco in hot pursuit.
The members of God's Knights seethed with rage. As God's Knights, they stood above even most Celestial Dragons—true elites among elites. Yet now, a mere insect dared to insult them. It was an affront they could hardly endure.
Imu's voice cut through their anger. "God's Knights, you stay here and keep an eye on Kaido and Big Mom. Both of them are excellent war slaves. We cannot let these insects rescue them."
"Yes, Lord Imu."
Even burning with fury, the God's Knights could only obey. They remained behind, standing guard over Kaido and Big Mom alongside the Marines.
By now, Kaido had reverted to his human form. His massive body was wrapped in Sea Stone chains, slapped on him by the Marines, and he lay there unconscious. Big Mom, right beside him, was in the same condition—bound and comatose.
King charged at the Marines and the God's Knights like a madman, roaring, "Bastards, hurry up and release Kaido-san!"
"Ant, don't get cocky." Figarland Gorum stepped in front of him, blocking his path outright.
Saint Garling gave his own cold order. "Marines, advance! Wipe out all these pirates—leave no one alive!"
In the next instant, the Pirates of the Three Emperors Alliance once again clashed head-on with the Marines and the God's Knights.
Against the Marines alone, they could still manage. But they had no reliable method to deal with the God's Knights' so-called immortality. As far as they were concerned, the only option was to hack them apart, pack the pieces into boxes, and dump them into the sea.
The problem was that there were more than a dozen God's Knights present, and every single one of them possessed at least Yonko Commander–level strength. Overcoming that many monsters was anything but easy.
"Don't think you can stop me." Marco didn't spare a glance for the three Gorosei chasing close behind.
He soon reached Egghead Island's garbage disposal plant. Despite the name, the "trash" piled here was far from ordinary trash. Mountains of cast‑off black‑tech creations lay scattered about—devices Vegapunk had personally deemed failures and thrown away.
Marco's eyes were immediately drawn to the giant robot looming amidst the heap of "technological garbage." Half its body was buried under a tangle of electronics and machinery, but its colossal frame still dominated the area.
This was the ancient robot Emit. It was Marco's trump card.
When Marco had first set foot on Egghead Island, he already understood that the World Government would never just sit back and watch Vegapunk be taken away by him.
On top of that, Vegapunk himself had no desire to leave Egghead, bound as he was to the lab equipment and research data here. So Marco had long been certain that a massive battle would inevitably break out on this island.
Back then, he had specifically asked Vegapunk to show him the Ancient Robot Emit.
Marco wasn't Luffy, nor was he Joy Boy. He had no way to awaken Emit in the same manner. But that didn't matter—because he quickly spotted the thick rope tied around Emit's waist.
Within this rope, Joy Boy's Conqueror's Haki was sealed.
Marco had prepared it only as a last resort. He hadn't thought he'd actually have to use it here.
The problem was that he had underestimated the Gorosei, assuming they were still at the same level as back on Cake Island. He was wrong. With God's Blood as their hidden trump card, all five had suddenly surged to king-level strength, catching Marco completely off guard.
Then the God's Knights and Imu himself appeared. Together, the Marines and World Government forces completely overwhelmed the Three Emperors Alliance.
Imu flew toward him, a low growl in his voice. "Don't think you can escape from Mu's grasp, Omen…"
A magic circle glimmered in her hand. From it, dark arms formed from black energy shot out toward Marco. He weaved and twisted through the air, narrowly avoiding them—until one was about to seize him. Marco's hand flashed, and with a sharp chopping motion he sliced the dark arms clean apart.
"This is…" Imu's brows knit as she stared at Marco's palm, where a blade of pure Haki had formed. Her expression turned more serious. "You shouldn't have been able to use this move before. Were you hiding your strength, or…? "
Marco glanced at Imu and the three Gorosei, a wicked grin tugging at his lips. "World King Imu, plus three Gorosei—you really think highly of me."
The Haki blade in his hand was the manifestation of his newly evolved Legendary Armament Haki.
Top-class Armament Haki could destroy from within; legendary Armament Haki allowed that power to take the shape of a blade. Marco called this state "Haki Blade."
The Haki Blade in his hand was a deep purplish-black, very similar in style to the Haki handblades used by Goku Black in Dragon Ball Super.
However, the blade Marco had formed wasn't very long, likely limited by the amount of Armament Haki he could pour into it.
Imu studied him, a trace of unease in his eyes. He could feel it clearly—Marco had grown stronger yet again.
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