novelhk Chapter 101, Night 1 ends; magma blossoms from death into new life.
Chapter 101, Night 1 ends; magma blossoms from death into new life.
Chapter 101: The First Night Ends, Magma Blossoms from Death into New Life
Yuba was in its most dilapidated ruins.
The rainbow's light slowly dimmed, and the deafening roar and triumphant spirit gradually subsided.
Under the terrifying heat and power, the group of marines led by Akainu were reduced to ashes, leaving only a pungent smell in the air.
Napoleon slowly lowered the cannon he had been holding high and exhaled a long breath.
"Hoo~, do you see that? The Navy. This is the roar of the people, this is the fury of rebellion!"
Exhausted, Sabo lay back in a spread-eagle position, but the expected pain did not come. The rebels raised their hands and lifted him above their heads.
The cheers, brimming with high morale, resounded.
"Great! The enemy's general has been eliminated by Mr. Artillery!"
Upon hearing this, Napoleon proclaimed it in an even louder voice.
"Hahaha, all the credit goes to you!!!"
"Akainu's absolute justice is nothing but a paper tiger that crumbles at the slightest touch before the roar and will of the people!"
"Remember tonight! Remember Yuba! Remember those warriors who shielded me from arrows with their own flesh and blood! The Holy Grail War is not merely a stage for Heroic Spirits, but also a contest of hearts and minds!"
"How about it? Navy? Do you still want to continue fighting?! Can you withstand the people's anger?!"
The tattered naval flag fluttered helplessly in the wind.
Arjuna's voice trembled as he gripped his divine bow tightly. It was only thanks to the archer's solo-action ability that it didn't disappear immediately after Akainu's death.
Although Akainu is too extreme, he still largely follows the laws of the world and is the Master who summoned him.
In the end, I still failed to protect him. "Master"
"Akainu—Is the Admiral dead?"
"Then we should—"
The once elite troops are now like stray dogs, their morale at rock bottom.
Onigumo hesitated for a moment before ordering the attack to continue.
However, at that moment, the final straw that broke the navy's back fell from the sky.
The enormous dark sun ship slowly descended, and the chains binding the pharaoh on the ship had disappeared.
"Well done, gunner. I acknowledge that the brilliance just now served as a foil to my abilities!"
He regained his majesty as a pharaoh, and upon seeing the rainbow bow, Gilgamesh laughed heartily, removed the Chains of Heaven, and flew away contentedly.
The consequence of doing so is that they now have to face two of each other's heroic spirits!
In the tense atmosphere between the two sides, Garp, the most prestigious figure in the Navy, slowly spoke.
"Tonight is enough, let's call a ceasefire!!!!!"
After the navy laid down their weapons first, the revolutionary army sang triumphant songs and slowly withdrew.
Smoker sighed deeply; the events of the night had left him utterly exhausted.
The older sister patted his shoulder and slowly looked up at the sky, where the plume of smoke had disappeared.
The darkness of the night has finally come to an end.
Alabasta rainforest border, village
The faint light of dawn struggled to penetrate the lingering smoke of battle, casting a somber gray hue over the border villages.
The air was filled with the stench of blood emanating from afar.
The atmosphere inside the simple house was heavy and busy.
Chopper's small figure moved swiftly in front of the operating table, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.
With the precious medicines you all brought and Chopper's superb medical skills, Kuma's body is being carefully treated.
Although the machine was damaged and the bear remained unconscious, its vital signs finally returned to normal, and the numbers on the instrument panel gradually stabilized.
Bonnie, who had been holding her father's hand tightly, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and a faint hope appeared on her tired little face.
Outside, people sat or stood, silently tending to their injuries.
Looking towards Yuba City, the sky was illuminated by the color of fire.
Even the usually oblivious Luffy was unusually quiet at this moment.
His rubber arm was wrapped in bandages as he stared at the ruins, his eyes filled with lingering fear and anger.
Sabo Sanji and Usopp arrived with a portion of the resistance, all of them wounded, but their spirits were filled with a tragic and exhilarating excitement.
Napoleon walked beside Saab, the enormous cannon now hidden, his voice, more stirring than ever before, echoing in everyone's ears.
"Comrades, let us sing praises to the victory won with the lives of those who sacrificed themselves!"
"This is the power of the people! When oppression reaches its limit, when lies are exposed, even the most humble people, when united, can overthrow the self-righteous behemoth!"
His words straightened the weary resistance fighters' backs, and their eyes shone with hope.
Ace patted Sabo on the shoulder silently, everything understood without words.
Roger looked at Napoleon, then at the distance, a deep sense of emotion lingering in his otherwise magnanimous smile.
"However," Sabo said in a low voice, with a hint of seriousness.
"This victory came at a terrible cost. Yuba is almost ruined. And this is only the first night."
His words were like a bucket of cold water poured on everyone's hearts.
Looking at the distant flames and thick smoke that resembled the entrance to hell, everyone felt a heavy chill.
This is the Holy Grail War, far more cruel and destructive than they could have imagined.
On the edge of the ruins of Yuba.
The soldiers numbly carried the bodies of their comrades and helped the wounded, their eyes vacant, many of them stained with the blood of innocent civilians.
Ghost Spider and Fire Mountain were both deathly pale. The former had several broken ribs, while the latter was charred black and his eyes were filled with deep humiliation.
"Lord Arjuna, how much longer can you hold out after Admiral Akainu's death?"
Arjuna replied softly, "Three days—"
Onigumo nodded to himself, secretly calculating how to squeeze the last drop of value out of him.
Look towards another heroic spirit in the distance.
Garp and Quetzalcoatl stood on a relatively intact broken wall, looking at the city ruins before them, which looked as if they had been gnawed by a giant beast.
The cardholder's face, which was always filled with hearty laughter, was now shrouded in an unprecedented gloom and heaviness.
His clenched fist trembled slightly, and his knuckles turned white.
The images of Akainu and his crew being blasted to pieces by Napoleon's Noble Phantasm, and the countless civilians suffering amidst the gunfire, were deeply imprinted in his mind like a red-hot branding iron.
"Lieutenant General Kakapo!" A lieutenant colonel covered in blood ran up on his knees, his voice hoarse.
"Preliminary casualty statistics are in. We—we have lost more than a third of our troops—civilian casualties are incalculable—"
He couldn't continue.
Garp remained silent for a long time, and finally just waved his hand heavily, his voice hoarse.
"Gather the wounded—take what you can and evacuate."
He didn't mention justice, nor did he mention pursuit; only deep exhaustion and a sense of bewilderment after his beliefs had been shaken.
Kuzan silently directed the remaining troops, while Smoker, watching the flames burning in the ruins, fiercely stubbed out his cigar.
Under Garp's leadership, this heavily damaged and demoralized remnant of the Navy, burdened with a heavy sense of guilt, receded like the tide.
They disappeared below the horizon, bathed in the morning sun that offered no warmth.
They took not victory with them, but the curse of tens of thousands of souls from Yuba.
Just as the navy was retreating in an orderly fashion, in the midst of the chaos, Akainu slowly opened his eyes.
This is neither the material world nor a pure dream.
The space was viscous and fluid, as if it were a strange ocean made of darkness.
Broken laws floated within, emitting a silent lament.
Time loses its meaning here.
The consciousness of Akainu Sakazuki, or rather, the fragments of his final form of existence, floated and sank in this chaotic sea.
His body had long since been completely annihilated by Napoleon's Noble Phantasm, which ignored defenses and pierced through concepts.
Even the elementalized magma was shattered, leaving only his obsessive belief in "absolute justice."
And the intense resentment and anger when it was shattered.
These thoughts, like candles flickering in the wind, could be completely swallowed up by this chaos at any moment.
Just then, a dim light appeared in the center of the chaotic sea.
In the light, Tescatlipoca's figure slowly emerged. He still wore that mysterious feather headdress, and the paint on his face looked even more eerie in the darkness.
He toyed with the bone staff in his hand, which was now covered with fine cracks and had an ominous dark red light flickering inside.
Smoke Mirror's gaze fell on Akainu's dissipating consciousness, and his voice seemed to resound directly from the chaos.
That voice carried a sense of both temptation and judgment.
"Admiral Sakazuki, the embodiment of absolute justice"
"Your body has turned to dust, your power has vanished into nothingness—"
"However, your unwavering belief that burned until the very last moment, your will to burn away evil even at the cost of bearing the name of a butcher, and your obsession that was tempered by betrayal and failure into something even purer, are truly fascinating kindling."
Akainu's fragmented thoughts fluctuated violently, as if roaring silently.
Justice! Uphold justice! At all costs!
A pleased smile curved the corners of Yan Yanjing's lips.
"Oh? Even if—the price is heavier than death? Even if—it becomes my shame?"
"Are you willing to make an equal exchange? To gain the power to burn away all obstacles? To gain power comparable to Heroic Spirits?"
Akainu's will did not hesitate for a moment, and it erupted with an even more intense wave.
Willing! To uphold justice! I am willing to give everything! To burn away all obstacles! Even if it means becoming an Asura and falling into the deepest abyss!
"Hahaha, wow~ very good." Smoke Mirror let out a low laugh, and the scepter in his hand burst out with a dazzling dark red light!
"Then—the contract is established. In the name of struggle and darkness—"
"Return, you world-burning fiery rain! Sakazuki!"
Boom! ...
The chaotic sea was boiling violently!
Endless darkness, and Akainu's pure and extreme destructive will, are frantically reshaping it.
The magma began to solidify and take shape, and a brand new Akainu appeared on the ruins.
The magma emitted a scorching light in the early morning, and the body slowly stood up!
Two flames ignited in the space between his eyes, giving him a completely divine aura.
Now, we must thoroughly and without any leniency eradicate all evil!
Rainy Ground, Rain Banquet Top Floor.
Crocodile stood alone in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, the golden hooks reflecting the newly grown branches and leaves outside.
In the distance, the dark red flames of Yuba City had not yet died out. He had a cigar in his mouth, and his eyes were filled with an unfathomable sinister intent amidst the swirling smoke.
"Hmph, what an unexpected first night," he muttered to himself, a hint of barely perceptible apprehension in his voice.
"Akainu was actually killed, and by a bunch of rabble. Those rebels actually teamed up with the Red Team."
Behind him, the air rippled like water, and Tescatlipoca's figure appeared silently.
He patted his very modern trench coat and put on his sunglasses. He exuded a lazy, languid aura.
"How was the opening performance, King of the Desert?"
The voice from the smoke-mirror carried its usual mockery.
Old Sha didn't turn around, he just exhaled a smoke ring.
"The result is barely acceptable. At least the navy is severely weakened, and that bastard Blackbeard has retreated. Although the Red Team won this battle, they also exposed many of their trump cards and earned the infamy of destroying the city."
He paused, a glint of light flashing in his golden pupils.
"Most importantly, how well have you observed them? Especially those Heroic Spirits, particularly those with ties to the sun."
"Powerful, extremely powerful." Smoke Mirror nodded in agreement, but there was no trace of seriousness in his tone.
"The nature of their power—is quite interesting. The sun—creation—opening up—are all forces powerful enough to shake the very rules. However—"
He changed the subject, his tone slightly playful.
"These powers will shine brightly in this world."
"Hmph, stop saying things that are hard to understand. That's your problem."
Old Sha turned around and looked directly at the smoke goggles.
"I only care about how much you can be of use to me. Don't forget our contract."
The smile on Smoke Mirror's face remained unchanged, but a hint of barely perceptible amusement flashed deep in his eyes.
"The contract—of course I remember."
He held up two fingers, his voice carrying a strange rhythm.
"My master, Crocodile, King of the Desert, you still have two more opportunities to forcefully command my power."
Every command comes with a price; every use brings you one step closer to the abyss of darkness.
"Use with caution, you absolutely must use with caution."
After speaking, the figure in the smoke mirror faded and disappeared slowly, like smoke blown away by the wind.
Only the words carrying a warning echoed in the empty room, and the last eerie afterimage of the sunglasses lens remained.
Old Sha stood alone by the window, gazing at the continuous rain outside and the embers of Yuba in the distance.
The golden hook gleamed coldly in the dim light.
He took a deep drag on his cigar, and amidst the swirling smoke, his eyes grew even colder, filled with calculation and ambition.
Two chances at the cost of the dark abyss.
He pondered the words of the man in the smoke-filled mirror, a cold smile slowly curving his lips.
"I don't care..."