"3, 2, 1!"
Buggy hovered high in the sky, his grin widening as he looked down at the Marines below.
"Ahem... 0.5... 0.4..."
He was dragging it out, giving them every last second he could justify.
"Alright, time's up!" Buggy announced, shrugging his detached shoulders. "The water is released; the rest is up to fate! It's raining, Marines!"
SNAP!
With a sharp snap of his fingers, the invisible hold on the water vanished.
With several thunderous roars that shook the skies, four massive, million-ton colossal water spheres crashed down from the sky.
They fell like hammers of God, slamming onto the sea surface below with catastrophic force.
BOOM!
In that instant, the Marines aboard the thirty small warships experienced what a true natural disaster felt like.
The impact created a tsunami that swallowed the horizon.
Enormous volumes of seawater churned and surged, tossing the steel warships around like paper toys in a bathtub.
The sky went dark as the water displaced everything.
Ships capsized instantly. Hulls groaned and snapped.
Three thousand soldiers vanished into the white foam of the ocean along with their vessels.
High above, Buggy watched the carnage, floating with his arms crossed.
He scratched his cheek, utterly speechless.
'What exactly were these Marines plotting?' Buggy thought, bewildered.
'I gave them a countdown! They just sat there! Had I been slightly more ruthless and aimed for a direct hit instead of a near-miss splash, at least 1,000 people would have been crushed to paste in that single strike. Are they suicidal?'
Meanwhile, further back in the fleet, the ten Rear Admirals commanding the medium ships were also utterly bewildered.
They gripped the railings of their ships, staring at the disaster with wide eyes, unable to comprehend Vice Admiral Momonga's inaction.
"Why didn't we stop it?" one Rear Admiral whispered, horrified.
Further away on the flagship, Vice Admiral Momonga watched the chaos with a stoic expression.
He could only shake his head with a heavy sigh, silently grumbling to himself.
'Fleet Admiral Sengoku...' Momonga thought, closing his eyes for a moment.
'You dare to take such risks with these men's lives... Just to test the waters? Or is there something else at play?'
After a moment of silence to honor the fallen, Momonga picked up his Den Den Mushi and began issuing orders, his voice cutting through the panic.
"All units, listen up! The vanguard has served its purpose. Large warships, open fire on the coastline! Suppression barrage!"
"Medium warships," Momonga commanded, pointing his sword forward.
"Beach landing! Deploy the elites!"
As for Luffy, Buggy, and the others watching from the shore, though they couldn't understand the Marines' suicidal intentions, they shifted into combat stances.
They were fully prepared for war.
...
Ten kilometers away from the main battlefield, the world was a frozen wasteland.
Two powerful figures moved like blurs across the ice, their auras clashing with enough force to warp the air around them.
Admiral Aokiji was surrounded by raging cold energy.
With every casual wave of his hand, he froze large swathes of surging seawater, creating jagged mountains of ice instantly.
Opposite him, Ray was like a demon incarnate.
His demonic energy surged skyward like a beacon.
Red lightning flashed madly around his fists and sword.
Each blow he landed shattered vast expanses of the frozen sea, sending shards of ice flying like shrapnel.
The ocean held no intimidation for these two monsters.
They treated the shifting ice like solid ground.
BOOM!
Another thunderous punch collided.
The impact created a shockwave that cleared the fog for a mile.
Ray and Aokiji were pushed back dozens of meters by the powerful reaction force, sliding across the ice.
Ray spin once in the air, elegantly dissipating the force before landing lightly on a spike of ice.
Aokiji continuously froze the sea surface under his boots, coming to a stop with a spinning ice-skating brake, his hands in his pockets.
Just when it seemed the battle would continue into another round of violence, unexpectedly, both of them halted their movements simultaneously.
They turned their heads to the east.
Aokiji exhaled a cold breath of mist and he scratched his head lazily.
"Arara... Ray," Aokiji drawled, his voice low. "You sense it too, right?"
Ray's expression remained cold, but he gave a slight nod.
"I do."
Both he and Aokiji possessed high-level Observation Haki.
They had detected something massive—numerous monster lurking beneath the sea several kilometers away, moving in a coordinated pack.
Seemingly having accepted Ray's temperament, Aokiji continued, sounding almost bored.
"Let me clarify first," the Admiral said, raising a hand. "These things... they don't belong to the Marines. We didn't bring them."
"I figured," Ray replied coolly. "But they resemble an army."
After pondering Aokiji's words for a moment, Ray expressed his understanding.
If hundreds of giant sea beasts began causing destruction, even if they were slightly smaller than true Sea Kings, it would be a terrifying situation.
A wild card of that magnitude could sink both the pirate alliance and the Marine fleet.
Moreover, it was unclear which force controlled these giant sea beasts.
Who had the power to command an army of monsters?
With the appearance of a third party, they knew they should pause to observe the overall battlefield dynamics.
After all, they were locked in a stalemate.
Without going all out and risking mutual destruction, it would be difficult for either to achieve a decisive victory.
If both were wounded and this mysterious third party took advantage, the loss would be immense for everyone.
"A truce, then?" Ray asked, sheathing his sword slightly.
"Just for a moment," Aokiji agreed. "It's better to leave the main outcome to the others for now. We should check this out."
Thus, they nodded to each other.
Pretending to still be fighting for any distant observers, they moved swiftly toward the direction of Enies Lobby, which was closest to the source of the sea beasts.
...
Flashback: One Day Earlier
Location: Foodvalten, Gourmet City
The once resplendent auction venue, a jewel of the underworld under Donquixote Doflamingo's jurisdiction, was now in complete disarray.
Smoke rose from the shattered roof. Debris littered the expensive marble floors.
The auction manager lay on the ground, clutching his stump. He howled in pain as he looked at his severed right leg lying nearby in a pool of blood.
"AHHH! Help me!" he screamed. "Where did this monster come from?! Why attack us?!"
The other staff were terrified, fleeing in all directions with all their might, scrambling over broken chairs and velvet ropes.
Because hovering above the auction house was a nightmare.
A nearly 20-meter-long white giant dog floated in the air.
It glared fiercely with glowing red eyes, baring fangs the size of swords, and drooling acid onto the floor.
It was Chouchou, sent by Ray to destroy this auction venue as punishment for the slave trade.
At this moment, Chouchou was silently thinking to himself, ignoring the screams below.
'The supervisor has already been torn apart by me,' Chouchou mused, licking his chops.
'And the person in charge will be dealt with soon. Easy work.'
But... Chouchou paused.
'Even though they're so weak, why do I feel this strange sense of unease?'
Chouchou originally planned to simply kill the two people in charge, scare away the civilians to ruin the business reputation, and finally take back the money had spent on the Adam Tree wood.
It was a simple "refund" mission.
But at this moment, Chouchou felt an intense sense of crisis prickling at his fur.
It was a feeling he hadn't experienced since he was just an ordinary little dog guarding a pet shop against lions.
Ever since being transformed into a dog demon by Ray's blood, Chouchou had become arrogant.
He had almost forgotten this primal survival instinct.
'What exactly is it?'
Growing increasingly restless, Chouchou snapped his jaws, silencing the desperately begging auction house manager forever.
CRUNCH.
He then frantically activated his enhanced sense of smell, sniffing the air, trying to locate the source of this crisis.
'Sniff... Sniff...'
Soon, Chouchou noticed something unusual.
'That dangerous aura wasn't on the ground. It was high in the sky, hovering about two kilometers away from Gourmet Island.'
Chouchou decided to investigate first.
Given his current strength, he figured escaping wouldn't be a problem if things got too dangerous.
Moreover, Chouchou and Ray were connected by bloodline and could communicate at any time.
'I'll just take a peek,' Chouchou decided.
'Exploring the way for Master is my duty.'
...
Five minutes later.
Chouchou arrived at the location of the aura—deep within the clouds about one kilometer above the sea surface.
As soon as he broke through the cloud layer, Chouchou's dog eyes widened in shock.
His jaw dropped.
He couldn't help but start babbling nonsense in his mind.
'An island?! Flying in the sky?!'
'Did the island eat a Devil Fruit? Or is this island some kind of giant rock yokai?'
Suspended in the air was a massive floating landmass, complete with forests, rivers, and mountains. It defied all logic.
Chouchou barked loudly, his voice enhanced by demonic energy.
"Hey! You monster up ahead! Show your true form quickly!"
...
"If you don't reveal yourself, I'm going to mark my territory on you!"
After failing to get a response from the rock, Chouchou could no longer control his instinct.
'Fine! If you're a rock, I own you now!'
In his demonized form, he flew up to the island, planning to find the highest mountain peak to pissed on it and claim dominance.
But just as Chouchou reached the central mountain peak of the floating island, a trap triggered.
POOF!
A pungent, nauseating smell suddenly erupted from the colorful flowers all around him.
A large cloud of yellow powder surrounded the transformed dog.
Curiosity and instinct made him sniff a few times.
Instantly, Chouchou felt his head swelling.
His vision blurred, and his consciousness began to fade.
At the same time, his body grew increasingly restless with a strong, uncontrollable urge to destroy everything in sight.
'Poison? No... stimulant?'
Relying on his remaining awareness, Chouchou immediately flew up and turned to flee the island.
But since he had walked into a trap, how could there be no hunters?
"MAMAMAMA!"
A terrifying laughter echoed through the sky.
A woman, noticeably much taller than an ordinary human, riding a grinning black thundercloud, appeared in front of Chouchou.
She was massive and radiating an aura of pure terror.
Beside her floated an old man in yellow robes with a ships wheel embedded in his head and swords for legs.
Big Mom and Golden Lion Shiki.
Before Chouchou could clearly see their appearances through his blurred vision, a terrifying Conqueror's Haki instantly pressed down upon him.
BOOM!
Under the dual assault of the powder's hallucinogenic effects and the Yonko's oppressive Haki, Chouchou's consciousness completely faded.
He lost the chance to activate his bloodline communication with Ray.
Driven purely by the drug-induced instinct to fight, he snarled and attacked the two monster ahead.
ROAR!
...
Ten seconds later.
WHAM!
The giant dog fell from the sky, knocked unconscious by a single casual slap.
The two figures in the air exchanged pleased smiles.
"Jihahaha! Look at that pelt!" Shiki, said to the enormous woman beside him.
"Linlin, this big dog is incredibly strong! A Zoan user? Or a Mink? Either way, it's mine now! He'll make a great watchdog for my collection!"
But the woman, Charlotte Linlin, showed him no respect.
Her pupils glowed red as she smirked sinisterly at the man.
"Mamamama!" she laughed, drool dripping from her mouth.
"Shiki you old fool! You dare take what I like? That's clearly a rare beast! Don't think i wont kill you for this Shiki!"