Chapter 514 - 354

Chapter 355: Battle of the birdcage (Part 5)The streets of Dressrosa were no different from hell.A stone giant hundreds of meters tall was rampaging through the city with an unstoppable force.Pica's shrill, piercing laughter echoed through every corner via the resonance of the rocks, like the death knell of the Grim Reaper.BOOM!!!With a swing of the giant's arm, entire rows of houses were leveled like building blocks, instantly reduced to ruins.Dust and screams intermingled."Run! Run!!!"A man pulled his wife along, running desperately through the chaotic streets, but the next second, a massive stone foot descended from the sky, and its shadow swallowed them whole.Despair.Overhead, the birdcage of death was slowly shrinking, slicing through everything.Before them was a stone demon god destroying at will and slaughtering the innocent.They had nowhere left to run.The resistance of ordinary people seemed so pale and powerless in the face of absolute strength.Some warriors who had just turned back from toys charged at the stone giant with courage, but their swords struck the rock and did nothing but kick up a few sparks; instead, they were crushed into meat paste by the giant's foot."It's over... everything is over..."An old lady sat slumped on the ground, looking at her collapsed home nearby, her cloudy eyes filled with nothing but dead silence. o(╥﹏╥)oHope—this thing had been completely crushed.However, in the midst of this apocalyptic scene...*Sizzle... crackle...*A burst of static noise rang out.In the city, those large screens that hadn't been destroyed yet, the den den mushi projections in shop windows, and those portable communicators dropped in the ruins... at this moment, they all lit up simultaneously.An aged face, yet written with determination and compassion, appeared on all the screens.It was King Riku!He held a den den mushi in his hand, the background appearing to be a shelter; behind him stood Princess Violet and countless citizens with panicked expressions."Citizens of Dressrosa!"King Riku's voice spread throughout the city via the amplification equipment, drowning out the giant's footsteps and the people's cries."I am Riku Dold III!""I know you are experiencing immense pain and despair. That demon wants to drag us, along with this country we love so dearly, into hell together!"His voice was trembling, but every word was full of power."But! Please do not give up!!!"King Riku's voice suddenly rose, and in his eyes, which were not usually sharp, a light erupted like never before!"Look around you! Look at this island! There are still people fighting for us!""Straw Hat Luffy and his crew are fighting the world's most powerful enemy for our sake!""The hero of the Revolutionary Army is challenging that evil king for our sake!""The heroes of the Colosseum are willing to give their lives to protect us!""We are not fighting alone!!!"King Riku's roar exploded in everyone's ears like thunder!"Lift your heads! Grip the weapons in your hands! Do not cry! Do not retreat!""For our families, for our homes, for the future of Dressrosa—""Please, join me and fight until the very last moment!!!"His words fell.The entire city fell into a dead silence that lasted for three seconds.Then—"OOOOOOHHHHH!!!"A roar like a mountain landslide or a tsunami erupted from every corner of the city!The old lady who had been slumped on the ground picked up a brick beside her and stood up tremblingly.The man who had lost his home pulled a piece of rebar from the ruins, rage reigniting in his eyes.The crowds that were originally fleeing for their lives stopped in their tracks.The haze of despair on their faces was dissipating, replaced by the determination of those who have burned their bridges!And at the moment this will converged at its peak...A figure, like a bolt of black lightning, appeared above the stone giant.Sabo.He didn't even spare a second glance at the massive rocky body below, merely looking down from above with a gaze as if he were looking at an insect he could crush at will."Seriously... you're so noisy."Sabo muttered softly to himself.Then, he raised his right fist.A circle of crystal-clear white halo condensed on his fist.Space distorted at this moment."Hehehehe... another one coming to die! Take this—"Pica's shrill voice came from within the stone giant, and a massive stone arm carrying the force of ten thousand tons swept toward Sabo in mid-air!Sabo didn't even look.He simply threw a punch toward the massive body below, casually."Seaquake Punch."BOOM!!!!!The moment Sabo's fist swung out, the entire world seemed to have its mute button pressed.Immediately after, a visible, pure white shockwave erupted outward in a sphere, centered on Sabo's fist!The stone giant hundreds of meters tall didn't even let out a scream the moment it touched the shockwave.The countless rocks, bricks, and steel that made up its body were directly shattered and decomposed from their basic structures, turning into primitive dust!In just a single breath...The massive stone giant simply vanished into thin air.Even the ground within a hundred-meter radius beneath its feet collapsed downward by a full ten meters!The terrifying shockwave's power didn't diminish, continuing to spread outward, leveling the surrounding architectural ruins and forming an absolute vacuum zone!When the dust settled.A figure wearing a black suit and a Horned Helmetfloated in mid-air with a look of utter bewilderment; it was Pica's true body!He stared blankly at his empty surroundings, then at the unharmed man in the distance, his mind a complete blank.What... happened???The citizens below, after experiencing a brief moment of deafness and daze, erupted into cheers even more fanatical than before!"OOOOOHHHH!!!""So... so strong!!!""One punch! Just one punch and that monster..."The will of the people was completely ignited.Some Marine soldiers, led by a colonel, began to organizedly round up the remnants of the Donquixote Family.More gladiators and citizens gathered spontaneously; they found the thickest building pillars and the hardest metal plates and pushed them with all their might against the shrinking birdcage wires in the sky!"Hold it! Hold it for me!!!"A pirate Captain roared, his Armament Hakicoating his arms as he desperately braced against a wire.Though it wasn't very effective, no one gave up.At this moment, all of Dressrosa was truly of one mind!In mid-air, Pica finally recovered from his shock, followed by endless anger and fear."You bastard... how dare you..."He wanted to use his Devil Fruit ability once more to merge into the ground below.But Sabo had already run out of patience."Noisy."He didn't even move, just flicked his finger.An invisible shockwave, faster than the speed of sound, precisely struck Pica's chest.*Pfft!*Pica's eyes instantly rolled back, his chest hit as if by an invisible giant hammer; his whole body folded inward as he spat out a large mouthful of blood, falling from the sky like a broken kite and smashing heavily into the ruins, never to move again.Insta-kill.Another insta-kill with absolutely no suspense. Pica was straight-up GG.However, just as the entire city was cheering for this overwhelming victory...The sky suddenly darkened.An indescribable, immense pressure emerging from the depths of the soul enveloped the entire island.Sabo looked up abruptly.In the Colosseum ruins, Zoro, Sanji, King, and Katakuri, who were in a standoff, all stopped their movements and looked toward the sky in unison.On the Kings Plateau, Law and Doflamingo, who were in a fierce battle, also sensed this anomaly.Directly above Dressrosa, within the clouds torn apart by the birdcage, a gargantuan fireball with a long trail of flame was falling straight toward the island!It was a... meteor!An extraterrestrial visitor with a diameter of over one kilometer, enough to completely wipe Dressrosa off the map!"Is... is it the end of the world..."The hope the citizens had just ignited was instantly extinguished by this apocalyptic sight, turning into even deeper despair.The meteor's descent grew faster and faster, the flames from atmospheric friction turning the entire sky an eerie orange-red.However—The moment the meteor struck the birdcage.*Screech screech screech screech—!!!!*That web of death made of countless threads erupted with its most terrifying sharpness at this moment!The moment the meteor touched the birdcage, it was like a block of tofu hitting a laser grid.It was sliced into countless fragments of varying sizes by those billions of razor-sharp threads!Large fragments were like small mountains, while small ones were like fists.They passed through the gaps of the birdcage, turning into a shower of meteoric fire covering the whole island, crashing into the ground and kicking up clouds of dust and flames.But the meteor's main body, which was enough to destroy the island, was forcibly dismembered by the birdcage!This heart-stopping scene left everyone on the island speechless.Sabo's gaze had never been more solemn.He slowly uttered a few words:"Marine Admiral... Fujitora!"...Eastern coast of Dressrosa.Waves crashed against the broken reefs.Two figures, stepping on a massive piece of deck stripped from a warship, drifted slowly from the churning sea like ghosts.One wore a purple kimono, held a Cane Sword, eyes closed, with a serious expression.The other was tall with green curly hair, a playful smile on his face.The highest combat power of Marineford.Admiral, Fujitora Issho.Admiral, Ryokugyu Aramaki.The two of them had finally stepped onto this death stage that had spiraled completely out of control.Dear readers:As the pages close and the fireworks rise.Thank you for your companionship in the stories of the past year.2026, may every foreshadowing in your new chapters be a surprise, and every turn be a smooth path. May you not only be a reader, but the protagonist of your own life. Happy New Year!