Lily said nothing, merely continuing to fire her black arrows at Joy Boy, while simultaneously creating amplification paths for Carl's own attacks.
Under the combined assault from Lily and Carl, Joy Boy was clearly struggling to keep up. He was quickly forced into a desperate and chaotic situation.
It reminded him of that battle eight hundred years ago—when he fought against those twenty rulers. The scene now was eerily similar.
Only now, instead of twenty opponents, there were two. And yet, nothing had changed—he was still the one at a disadvantage.
If this continued, the ending from eight hundred years ago would surely repeat itself.
That thought sparked a feeling in Joy Boy's heart—a feeling he hadn't known in ages: panic. And panic was the one thing he could never accept.
He was a warrior of freedom, the hope to liberate the world. Retreat was not an option!
Joy Boy raised his head and roared to the heavens:
"Damn it! Even if I die today, I won't allow the two of you to keep existing! I have to leave behind hope for the future!!"
Carl was long used to Joy Boy's manic proclamations. Hearing this, he only curled his lip in disdain, his hands never stopping their relentless assault.
Lily snorted coldly and said:
"Your so-called hope… is it just leading more fools to die for your naive ideals? Or are you looking for another puppet to carry your madness forward—someone like Monkey D. Luffy?"
As she spoke, Lily raised her hand and unleashed an invisible shockwave. Joy Boy, in a frenzy, channeled the power of Nika and his Haki. Countless white flame clouds surged through the air, taking on Joy Boy's shape and diving toward Carl.
Carl scoffed. A shadow clone emerged behind him, then split into ten, then a hundred… until a tide of shadow clones surged upward to clash with the flame avatars.
Meanwhile, Joy Boy charged straight at Lily. Between the two, it was clear—he hated her the most.
Seeing him approach, Lily dismissed her ability altogether. Her flawless white hands crackled with black-and-red Haki, arcs of electricity snapping around her. The intensity was on par with the former Emperors—perhaps even greater.
A heartbeat later, Joy Boy and Lily clashed in the air. Thunderous explosions echoed across the skies. The shockwaves of their collision tore across the land, leaving deep cracks in the surface of Mary Geoise below.
Lily didn't care in the slightest about the Celestial Dragons beneath her. In fact, many of them were flattened by the aftershocks, turned into pulp in an instant.
That was enough to shatter the nerves of the already panicking Celestial Dragons. They had never seen such destruction. A single dead Celestial Dragon was enough to shake the world. Now they were dying in droves.
They scattered like headless flies, scrambling behind groups of men in black suits. Only the Figarland family stood firm, unmoved by the chaos unfolding around them.
After all, each of them possessed impressive strength. In a scene like this, protecting themselves was easy enough.
Even so, neither they nor the other fleeing Celestial Dragons had any idea who Lily truly was.
Even Nusjuro and the other three couldn't recognize her. The woman they had called "Saint Imu" for centuries now looked completely different. Just the change was enough to make their minds freeze.
...
Above them, Lily and Joy Boy were now locked in close combat. Though she fought fiercely, Lily's body couldn't match Joy Boy's brute power—especially now that he'd broken past his limits using the Nika Fruit.
Blow after blow, they exchanged dozens of strikes. Lily knew she couldn't win in a brawl like this. The only reason she kept going was to vent centuries' worth of seething hatred.
As she looked at Joy Boy's furious face, Lily felt that bitterness finally begin to fade. In the next instant, her body shimmered—and she vanished from Joy Boy's sight.
He paused, confused by her sudden disappearance. But then he spun around.
There she was—just a few meters away, smirking at him with mockery in her eyes.
Joy Boy said coldly, "What? Is this all you've got after eight hundred years of hiding?"
Lily chuckled. Her laugh was crisp and pleasant, but to Joy Boy, it was the sound of pure insult.
It was like the way Carl felt whenever Joy Boy burst into his maniacal laughter.
Lily laughed for a moment before her expression turned icy once again. She gazed down at Joy Boy, contempt burning in her eyes.
"Isn't your arrogance a bit much? Do you still think it would take all twenty ancient kings to take you down again?"
As she spoke, a black, fluid-like substance surged from Lily's body, wrapping around her form and tracing out a seductive silhouette that could drive men wild.
But Joy Boy was no ordinary man. He assumed Lily was about to launch another bizarre ability, so he surrounded himself with Nika's power, forming a defensive barrier. He watched her every move.
But Lily didn't attack. Instead, a wicked smile slowly curved across her lips.
...
All across the world, Devil Fruit users suddenly felt their powers go haywire. Abilities that usually responded like a limb now went silent, inert—as if something terrifying had scared the very demon inside them into retreat.
Back above Mary Geoise, Lily's transformation continued.
The black substance around her had reshaped into a tight, open-back dress that hugged her curves. Six enormous black wings unfurled from her back.
On her pale white arms, the same spiral Devil Fruit markings began to appear—curling from her wrists all the way to her chest.
Dark flame clouds swirled around her, encircling her like stars around the moon. Black eyeshadow appeared at the corners of her eyes, her lips darkened to black. Her entire aura shifted—now she radiated the presence of a demon queen.
Lily raised a hand and gently brushed her cheek with an obsidian fingertip. Beneath her pale skin, faint black patterns pulsed like dark veins of power.
"How is it?" she asked, her voice like silk and venom. "This is my true power—Zoan-type Devil Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Form of the Primal Demon."
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+150 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg