At this moment, everyone below, whether prisoners or guards, looked towards the sky as if witnessing a myth.
Due to the great distance, Naruto himself was invisible to their eyes.
However, the spectacular scene of the giant black funnel and the pouring pillar of light was clearly visible.
Magellan, in his regular clothes, stared blankly at the sky, his mind connecting the earlier events with the attitude of the World Government's agents. He seemed to have drawn some conclusion, though it remained unspoken.
But he remembered his duty and promptly turned to start giving orders.
"...Everyone, prepare for evacuation."
Seeing others still staring dumbfounded at the sky, Magellan roared decisively.
"I said! All of you, head to the underground levels and prepare for evacuation!"
After all, Magellan had been the warden of Impel Down for many years, his authority was well-established. The previously disoriented guards immediately sprang into action.
They abandoned their posts on the high towers aiming at the pirate ship and began gathering towards the underwater sections of Impel Down.
As for Crocodile and Blackbeard's group, they had already boarded the crude pirate ship, which resembled a giant raft, and were charging towards the Gate of Justice.
It had to be said, Blackbeard was excellent at seizing opportunities.
He didn't hesitate at all when giving the order to set sail, regardless of whether they might be hit by the lasers from the sky.
Thanks to the God's Knights opening the Gate of Justice for their own splendid ship to depart, Blackbeard's group managed to slip through the gate as well.
Boom!
A stream of light fell diagonally from high altitude, heading straight for the sea.
Although it was just one beam among millions of energy torrents, by the time it reached the sea surface, it was already thick enough for several people to embrace.
Upon contact with the water, it caused a violent explosion, sending waves soaring and nearly hitting Blackbeard's ship.
"You bastard! You're really reckless!"
On the ship, Crocodile looked at Blackbeard with a livid face, his other hand gripping the huge mast tightly.
Since the ship looked like an oversized raft, it couldn't block the surging waves at all.
Seawater drenched Crocodile, turning him into a soaked rat, stripping him of his usual imposing aura.
"Shut up, Crocodile!"
Even Blackbeard no longer had his initial confident demeanor.
A hysterical ferocity flashed across his face as he glanced coldly at Crocodile.
"This is our only chance to escape."
"Whether Uzumaki Naruto successfully blocks that damn thing or it falls and destroys everything here, staying won't do us any good."
"You have a grudge against him, I don't!"
"Then why did you get on my ship?"
The question left Crocodile speechless.
'Why?'
'What other reason could there be?'
'Because I, an escaped convict, had no ship of my own.'
At that moment, a wall made of wax rose around Crocodile, blocking some of the seawater.
"Well done, Mr. 3!"
Hearing the rare praise from his boss, Galdino, whom Crocodile had rescued from Level 2, showed a flattered expression.
To be honest, he felt his boss had changed quite a bit.
"Aaaahhhh!!!! Go faster, you fat guy!!"
A shrill scream erupted. Following the sound, a prisoner with a red round nose was clinging desperately to the mast, shouting at Blackbeard who was steering.
This was none other than the legendary second apprentice on Pirate King Roger's ship, a contemporary of Shanks and Naruto… Buggy the Clown!
"Shut up! If you keep yelling, I'll throw you into the sea!"
Blackbeard roared impatiently, then turned to Crocodile.
"Why did you bring this guy along?!"
"He latched onto us himself!"
Crocodile's attitude towards his former Baroque Works' employees had softened somewhat, but he held no goodwill towards Buggy the Clown. The moment Buggy approached, he ordered Mr. 1 to cut him down.
However, while Buggy wasn't good for much, his Bara Bara no Mi strongly countered slashing attacks, leaving him completely unharmed.
Pressed for time and thoroughly annoyed by Buggy, Crocodile simply decided to ignore him.
"Uzumaki Naruto... Uzumaki Naruto... you're as detestable as ever!!"
Amidst Buggy's screams, the raft-like ship sailed further away.
Clearly, from Buggy's attitude, although both Shanks and Naruto considered him an old friend, he held no fond memories of either.
Meanwhile, Karin, stopped by Sasuke, was just about to follow Naruto's instructions and temporarily submerge the Gale Breaker.
But a strange palpitation suddenly enveloped her.
In a daze, an illusory white figure drifted around her.
This figure was also familiar to Karin.
It was one of the unlucky ones who died by her hand, Otsutsuki Momoshiki.
"You..."
The illusory figure of Momoshiki stared intently at another being in the sky possessing mature Otsutsuki's power. Only upon hearing Karin's hesitant voice did he turn his head to give her a cold glance before quickly dissipating, as if he had never appeared.
Karin instinctively looked at the Kama on her hand, recalling the 'future' Kousei had previously revealed to her.
'Has that guy already awakened?'
'It seems Naruto-san's power must have stimulated him.'
Karin silently noted this matter, planning to discuss it with Naruto once they reached safety.
High in the sky, the giant funnel formed by the Truth-Seeking Balls began to slowly change shape, the 'outlet' at the bottom gradually enlarging.
Correspondingly, the 'flow rate' of the blocked Mother Flame increased further.
But no matter how powerful or fast the concentrated high-energy beams were, they would abruptly vanish the moment they approached Naruto's original position.
Onogoro was a Dojutsu, or perhaps 'divine technique' was more appropriate, that Naruto had only recently awakened.
After all, this was a power that surpassed Senjutsu and was even more unreasonable.
Techniques like Kaguya's Amenominaka and Infinite Tsukuyomi could also be categorized as such.
The effect of Naruto's Kokugan, Onogoro, was simple: it could briefly transform Naruto into another form.
In this state, Naruto resembled a 'black hole' in the universe, capable of devouring any energy it came into contact with without limit, regardless of the energy type.
Naruto automatically understood its effect upon awakening this ability but wasn't clear about its upper limit.
Bathed in the light beam, Naruto had now completely turned into a 'pitch-black' humanoid form, without even a hint of reflection.
Because not only the Mother Flame itself, but even the light, heat, and impact it generated were all absorbed by Onogoro.
Initially, Naruto, using this divine technique for the first time, was somewhat unaccustomed, but now he could perform other actions while maintaining the absorption.
With a slight movement of his finger, the Truth-Seeking Ball funnel deformed again, doubling the rate at which the Mother Flame was being released.
In the current state, if this attack had hit an ordinary island instead of Naruto, it might have pierced through the continental shelf.
'Not bad...'
Naruto wanted to say he could hold on a bit longer, but found that even his own voice was being absorbed by Onogoro.
'This guy is an even more unreasonable 'glutton' than I am.'
Mother Flame couldn't be sustained for too long originally. Even though Imu chose to release two here, they couldn't be maintained under Naruto's frantic absorption.
The intense light within the clouds began to slowly dim, and the last trace of high-energy beam, guided by the Truth-Seeking Balls, was completely 'eaten' by Naruto below without missing a drop.
Imu, observing this scene, chose not to deploy another Mother Flame.
Firstly, it seemed ineffective against Naruto now. Secondly, Dr. Vegapunk himself hadn't manufactured many Mother Flames, and the two just used had consumed half the stockpile.
"Uzumaki Naruto..."
The tall, slender figure in the Room of Flowers narrowed his eyes, chewing on Naruto's name once more.
For eight hundred years, Imu believed only [Nika] had the capability to threaten him.
Apart from him, no matter how powerful the pirates, or those insignificant revolutionaries, were of no concern.
But after today, that notion seemed to require revision.
'Uzumaki Naruto, you are worthy of being eliminated... by my own hand.'
Imu felt that today's matter probably had to end here. Fortunately, aside from those few pirates, the only witnesses were the guards of Impel Down.
They would have no opportunity to spread what they saw and heard today.
However, Naruto indicated that things weren't over yet.
The figure of Naruto, which is now pure black, suddenly began to emit light, transforming in the blink of an eye into a second sun in the sky.
This was the limitation of Onogoro, it could only devour energy for the duration of the ability's activation.
Once the time limit was reached, the 'black hole' would 'flip'.
Now, he had to release all that energy.
Bzzzt-
Energy overflow resembling electric sparks erupted from his eyes like a god's, and even every strand of hair, every blood vessel, turned into a form of 'radiance' at this moment.
"Ah... thank you for your generous hospitality..."
Merely opening his mouth, Naruto's voice shockwave blasted away the thick clouds for miles around.
Even those ten thousand meters below could clearly hear what Naruto was saying.
Wiping his mouth in a practiced manner, Naruto adjusted his voice and said,
"I know you can see me..."
"Since you've been so enthusiastic, it would be impolite of me not to return the favor."
He suddenly opened a Yomotsu Hirasaka. In this state, Naruto could easily reach from ten thousand meters high into the captain's cabin of the Gale Breaker to retrieve an Eternal Pose.
"Let me see... not this one, not this one either... ah, found it."
After rummaging through several poses, Naruto finally found the target one.
"Apologies, apologies. I can recognize places, but my sense of direction isn't great."
The pose recorded only one word, [Sabaody Archipelago].
And Imu's Pangaea Castle was located ten thousand meters directly above Sabaody Archipelago.
"Should be… roughly right."
Naruto extended one hand, aimed in the direction indicated by the pose, and adjusted the elevation slightly.
Confirming the alignment, the light covering Naruto's body began to frantically converge towards his palm.
A sphere of light, even larger than the Mother Flame, rapidly formed.
In the next instant, a beam carrying Naruto's intention of reciprocation shot straight towards the direction of Mary Geoise.