The Devil Fruit power of God Knight Michael actually shattered Rocks' supreme blade, the Sword of Xebec, even though it was wrapped in both Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki.
That was the true terror of the Word Spirit Fruit.
If not for the Dark Dark Fruit, which greatly weakened the effect of word spirit power on Rocks' body, Michael would have aimed those words at Rocks himself instead of his weapon.
Right now, he could only take advantage of that gap. Rocks had not covered the blade with that devouring darkness, and so the Sword of Xebec paid the price.
And it still was not over.
"Ahhhh!"
"Awakening, Word Spirit, Earth Turns to Steel, Imprisonment!"
Michael spewed blood, his face turning ghostly pale as he squeezed out the last scraps of his stamina.
The ground beneath Rocks' feet turned to dense steel, which instantly melted and surged upward, swallowing his legs and torso and sealing him into a seamless steel monolith.
"Run!"
With that final shout to Kong, the God Knight collapsed and lost consciousness.
The heavily wounded Kong grabbed Michael's limp body and fled at full speed.
He understood very clearly.
Today was his defeat.
He had never imagined Rocks could become this monstrous. The man's power had multiplied several times in just a few years.
Under the pressure of the Hell Pirates, Rocks had pushed himself to the absolute limit, refusing to be erased by Brook.
Darkness seeped from within the steel block, bubbling and distorting in all directions.
With a burst of black light, the prison exploded from the inside.
Rocks stepped out.
His eyes were full of killing intent as he flung aside the cracked Sword of Xebec. The supreme blade hit the shattered ground and broke into several pieces.
A famed sword of an era vanished on the spot.
"Hahaha! The Word Spirit Fruit really is the power of a god."
Rocks coughed up blood, but his laughter only grew louder.
That brief taste of its power filled him with greed. A Devil Fruit that made words into reality was too terrifying not to covet.
He drew in a few deep breaths. The burden on his body had already exceeded his limits. Every movement made his bones scream in protest.
Even so, victory was right in front of him.
Kong and Michael were already prey running for their lives.
They could not escape.
Dragging his exhausted, ruined body, Rocks charged after the retreating pair. Today, he would slaughter every last one of these marines.
After that, he would still be the rightful ruler of the New World.
Behind him, God Knight Mintaro was still locked down by Wang Zhi's chains. The great swordsman's Binding Fruit and the supreme blade Emperor Codex had him pinned in place, unable to move to reinforce anyone.
Black Arm Zephyr, on the other hand, chose to burn everything.
With a roar, his fist, blacker than ink, smashed the Karnz brothers out of their fused Chaos Fruit form in a single blow. Their gigantic figure split apart and crashed down in two separate bodies.
A second punch shattered Eric Dane's iron body, denting him and sending him flying.
But the moment his old strength drained and his new strength had not yet recovered, a massive hammer descended from above.
The giantess Jennifer brought her weapon down with full force.
Zephyr gritted his teeth, blood spilling from his mouth as he crossed his arms and took the hit head on.
He did not retreat.
Using the recoil from that impact, he let his battered body rocket out of the melee, breaking away from the giants.
Then he hurled himself between Rocks and Kong, buying a few precious seconds for the retreating Fleet Admiral and God Knight.
"Ahhhh!"
Even with his mouth and nose bleeding, ribs cracked, and muscles torn, Black Arm Zephyr refused to fall.
He would protect their retreat.
That was the justice he believed in.
"Get out of my way!"
Rocks looked at Zephyr with utter disinterest. A pure physical fighter like this meant nothing to him now.
He simply raised a fist wrapped in terrifying Haki and drove it forward.
The blow crashed into Zephyr's blackened arms and chest, blasting him away like a broken cannonball. He vanished into the rubble, his life or death unknown.
Every marine must die.
"Kong! Hand that God Knight over to me!"
Rocks resumed his charge, eyes like a feral beast, closing in on Kong's back.
He could almost taste it now.
Soon, the power of the Word Spirit Fruit would be his. He would pass it on to his successor, arming the next generation of Rocks' monsters for the war to come.
Kong felt Rocks' presence drawing closer and closer.
His teeth clenched.
Regret flashed across his eyes.
Was the navy truly going to be defeated here?
God Knight Mahon was dead.
Admiral candidates Sengoku and Zephyr were both gravely injured.
He and Michael would likely die at Rocks' hands.
Would the headquarters of the navy fall into darkness and stagger into a difficult era of decline?
"Rocks!"
A furious roar cut through the battlefield.
A massive figure shot in from the flanks like a fired shell, fist cocked.
The iron fist smashed into Rocks' jaw and sent him tumbling.
"Vice Admiral Garp!"
The marines who had been on the verge of despair stared, then erupted into shouts.
To them, he looked like a warrior god descending from the sky.
Time and time again, he appeared at the brink of disaster and pulled them back from the edge.
In the previous God Valley incident, Garp had already been given the title of "Hero of the Marines," but that honor had been quietly smothered by the World Government and the Knights of God. It was never formally recognized.
Yet thanks to Kong and Sengoku's efforts, that title still spread among the ranks.
Now, seeing Garp send Rocks flying with one blow, the soldiers believed it even more.
The navy hero was real.
"It's you again, Garp!"
Rocks slowly straightened, blood at the corner of his mouth, eyes burning.
"You traitor of the D clan! You are even more disgusting than that bastard Roger, you unfilial wretch who forgot your roots!"
He was one step away from victory again, and once more a D clan traitor stood in his way.
For a child of D to serve as a dog of the Celestial Dragons, to wear the uniform of the navy…
It was unforgivable.
"I am a marine who protects the people!"
Garp clenched his fists, shoulders squared.
He had his own will, his own justice.
He would protect civilians with his fists.
As for "natural enemies of the gods" or "overthrowing the Celestial Dragons," he had discarded all those tangled destinies long ago.
He was simply a marine.
"Go to hell, traitor!"
Rocks snarled and launched a barrage with what remained of his D clan secret art.
At this last peak, he gave Garp no opening to counterattack, forcing him onto full defense.
As the secret technique ran out, the backlash hit him.
Rocks' aura dipped.
Garp's right eye was swollen and torn, blood seeping from cuts across his face. Even with his Armament Haki hardened to the extreme, he could not emerge unscathed from Rocks' overwhelming blows.
Rocks' Conqueror's Haki was simply too ferocious.
"Haha! Rocks, you're running on fumes now!"
Garp laughed through his labored breathing, chest rising and falling heavily.
He looked like he had been beaten senseless, yet he still stood firm, like an iron pillar planted in the center of the battlefield.
And now, he could truly fight Rocks.
"Why do you keep stopping me!"
Rocks roared.
The scene was agonizingly familiar.
He knew, deep down, that today was likely another failed war.
Unless the Hell Pirates were annihilated by the World Government on the other front, what chance did he really have to rise again in the New World?
"You are too violent."
Garp stared at him, fists tightening.
Today, while Rocks was spent and his strength ebbing away, Garp would seize this chance.
He would bring this blood soaked overlord down.
Too many civilians had died under the butchery of the Rocks Pirates.
This tyrant deserved only one ending.
----------
Hearing Garp's words, Rocks' rage spiked, his eyes boiling with killing intent.
"Vohahahaha! Why? Why? Why does the world block my path at every turn?!"
His stamina was almost gone. In that moment of exhaustion, Rocks saw it all clearly.
Ever since Brook and Roger appeared, nothing had gone smoothly. The brilliance of the first half of his life had been followed by one failure after another in the second.
His strength was clearly above Brook's, so why were all those monstrous cadres gathered under Brook instead of him?
If he had a few top monsters like the Four Hell Kings beneath his flag, he could have crushed the entire Marine Headquarters today.
"Rocks! Go back to prison and reflect on your sins!"
Seeing the pirate overlord's mental state beginning to crack, Garp stepped in, seizing the opening. His fist turned pitch black with Armament Haki as he raised it to deliver a killing blow.
"Get lost!! I know it's those two bastards, Imu and Brook, using some Devil Fruit to steal my luck!"
Rocks roared hysterically, his voice breaking with madness.
"Vohahaha! Even if I die, I'll drag you all down with me!"
He pulled a small pouch of ES drugs from his clothes. He hated those pills, feared them even… but right now, with his body spent, he wanted one last glorious rampage before death.
"Vohahaha! Brook! You're a despicable bastard, but I have to admit you're a hero!"
Rocks' laughter twisted between hatred and admiration.
"I'll leave this world to you to turn upside down! Today I'll clear these navy pests out of your way! You had better kill Imu!!"
He screamed like a madman.
As much as it burned to lose to Brook, watching the Hell Pirates grow strong enough to make the World Government tremble still stirred a twisted respect in him.
If Brook really could topple the World Government, then Rocks could die without regret.
Veins bulged in his scarlet eyes. He threw his head back and swallowed the entire bag of ES drugs in one go.
Before the watching marines and pirates, his hair turned white at a speed visible to the naked eye, his eyes burned demonic red, and the aura pouring off him skyrocketed. Cracks split the ground beneath his feet.
In that instant, Rocks' strength actually surpassed even his former peak.
"I'll kill you first, traitor of the D clan!"
Rocks grinned like a beast, his figure vanishing and reappearing as a shadow.
The next moment, Garp was smashed deep into the ruins by a single punch.
"Vohahahahaha! What a power!"
Even someone as proud as Rocks could not deny the intoxicating might the drug had unleashed. At the same time, he knew that his remaining lifespan had been cut down to only a few years… maybe even less.
He no longer cared.
Next, he wanted the heads of God Knight Michael and Sengoku the Buddha, so that he could leave behind a child with two top class Devil Fruits.
His gaze swept toward Wang Zhi and Jennifer. With a single glance, he entrusted the child to them and ordered them to take care of the little one and kill the traitor Captain John.
He had just turned to rush over and help Wang Zhi finish off God Knight Mintaro when a familiar silhouette appeared, making Rocks' eyelids twitch violently.
Anger surged again.
"Garp's been beaten half to death. Need a hand?"
Roger's voice rang out, relaxed as ever.
His sudden appearance not only sent Rocks into a fresh fury, it also threw the surrounding marine officers into confusion and alarm.
Hadn't this man been the trigger for all of this?
And yet right now, he sounded like he intended to help Vice Admiral Garp.
Roger's presence stirred the entire battlefield.
Among both the Rocks Pirates and the marines, a wave of unrest rose.
After all, it was the Roger Pirates' desperate flight that had dragged this war into the open.
"Roger, you're going to stand in my way too?!"
White steam puffed from Rocks' mouth as he glared at this fellow D, eyes bloodred and murderous.
"The world can't exist without the navy, Rocks. Stop this."
Roger took in the scene of God Valley.
The twisted terrain, the mountains of corpses, the marines and pirates dying by the dozens.
A sliver of guilt flashed in his eyes. This entire war had started because of him.
He had never imagined it would become this bad.
"Hahaha! Half today's casualties are on you!"
Rocks sneered.
"And you want to play the 'hero' now?"
There was no way back. He would kill everyone here and vent the rage burning inside his chest.
"You're not human anymore, Rocks."
Roger drew the supreme blade Ace, his expression hardening.
On the other side, Garp burst free from the ruins, bruised and battered, aura still undimmed, fighting spirit blazing.
Kong watched the three members of the D clan facing each other and felt an icy dread crawl up his spine.
What even were these creatures?
That Rocks refused to stay down, rising again and again like some monster doing endless sit-ups was insane enough.
But now even Garp looked like a cockroach that refused to die, standing firm with his face swollen and covered in blood.
Was this the "wall climbing" resilience of the D clan, the so called natural enemies of the gods?
"You're all traitors to the D clan! Today I'll wipe out you spineless worms!!"
Rocks spread his arms.
Dark Water, Liberation.
The dark dome overhead vanished, and sunlight once again poured into God Valley.
The marines didn't even have time to feel relieved.
A black hole yawned open in the sky, and everything that had been swallowed by Rocks' darkness earlier began to pour back down.
The buildings of God Valley, the fortresses, the shattered stone.
An avalanche of rubble came crashing down.
Roger and Garp, who had been about to attack, were forced back by the overwhelming torrent. The battlefield was buried under a mountain of debris, turning into a landscape of ruin.
Countless marines were crushed beneath the falling stone. Casualties spiked in an instant.
With the dark sky gone, the surviving marines and pirates alike began to flee God Valley.
The most severely injured, including Fleet Admiral Kong, God Knight Michael, Sengoku the Buddha, and Black Arm Zephyr, had already been evacuated from the island.
The gravely wounded Karnz brothers and Steel Steel Fruit user Eric Dane also pulled back, retreating toward New Beehive Island.
They did not know that Captain John, the traitor, was also racing toward New Beehive Island, intending to loot the entire base before the Rocks Pirates returned.
But someone had moved even faster than John.
Miss Bakin, who had stayed behind at the base, had already transferred away the most important assets from New Beehive Island.
When she tried to take Marshall and his mother hostage as leverage, she discovered that both mother and child had vanished.
Miss Bakin could only curse her miscalculation.
With no other choice, she temporarily evacuated New Beehive Island with the incomplete black tech medicine, planning to return to the Rocks Pirates under the pretext of "protecting their property" if Captain Rocks came back victorious.
Up above, the giantess Jennifer watched the white haired Rocks rampage through the remaining marines and felt a bad premonition rising in her chest.
Even so, she could only grit her teeth and fly over to assist Wang Zhi in suppressing God Knight Mintaro.
Seeing Rocks start slaughtering the marines anew, Garp charged in with blazing fury. His fists turned not only jet black but were now crackling with red lightning.
The supreme blade Ace in Roger's hand was likewise sheathed in black Armament Haki, overlain with flickering Conqueror's Haki.
He and Garp attacked the frenzied Rocks from left and right.
"Originally, we of the D clan could have taken the New World together and seized the entire world!"
Rocks' roar shook the battlefield.
"So why are you doing this?!"
To him, Garp and Roger were monsters on par with himself.
If the three of them had joined forces, they absolutely could have challenged even the Hell Pirates.
Yet today, here they were, locked in a life and death struggle.
The D vs D vs D war erupted once again.
Because of their own wills, the D clan refused to bow to anyone, even each other.
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