Silence.
The battlefield of Totto Land had fallen into absolute silence.
Across the ruined land, every fighter—whether elite members of the Beasts Pirates or the Charlotte Family officers led by Katakuri—stood frozen like puppets whose souls had been ripped away.
Their expressions were blank, a mixture of shock, terror, and utter collapse.
Instinctively, without control over their own bodies, all of them gazed toward the center of the battlefield—the place where, just moments ago, the two Emperors who had ruled the New World for decades once stood.
There…
Was nothing.
No—
Not nothing.
Two enormous craters remained—so vast and unfathomably deep that the sight alone chilled the heart.
The two Emperors who had dominated the sea for decades… were they really gone?
Just like that… erased?
No one dared believe it.
And no one dared go down to confirm.
Because above those craters, a lone figure floated quietly.
Even though his divine pressure had faded, just the fact that he hovered there was enough to keep all others from approaching.
The remaining strong fighters couldn't even muster the courage to look at him directly.
Time seemed frozen.
No one knew how long had passed—it might've been a minute, or ten.
At last, in that suffocating silence, two figures began to move.
The flaming wings of King trembled slightly as he inhaled deeply, suppressing the terror that threatened to devour his sanity. He stepped forward with the resolve of one prepared to die.
On the other side, Charlotte Katakuri also forced his heavy steps forward.
As the second-in-command of their respective crews, as Emperor's Right Hands, it was their duty not to retreat.
Even if hell awaited, they had to confirm the state of their Emperors with their own eyes.
Their gazes met in midair—no words exchanged, but a silent understanding passed instantly between them.
One on the left, one on the right, they marched toward the massive craters with the resolve of the condemned.
The closer they drew, the more they felt a faint, flickering breath of life—fragile, as if it might extinguish any moment.
Their hearts sank violently.
Hurrying to the edge of the crater, they looked down with trembling eyes.
Their vision zoomed in—slowly descending toward the bottom.
There, at the deepest point of the smooth, mirror-like pit, two charred figures lay motionless, curled up like burnt scraps of wood.
It was Kaido and Charlotte Linlin.
They… were still alive.
A flicker of relief rose within King and Katakuri.
But only for a moment.
Because they could feel it clearly—Kaido and Charlotte Linlin may have still been breathing, but their life force was hanging by a thread, as fragile as a candle in the wind.
This wasn't a simple injury.
It was irreversible devastation.
Their Emperors lived—but the damage would undoubtedly cripple them permanently.
At that moment, a calm, distant voice descended from above.
Lucian Thorn floated high in the sky, his Solar God Armor shedding into countless golden particles that drifted into the air and vanished.
He returned to his original form—black coat fluttering lightly in the rising heat.
Gazing down at the twisted faces of the survivors and the faint, dying forms at the bottom of the crater, his expression was empty.
"Tell them… to live well."
The words weren't loud, yet they pierced the ears of everyone present.
The incomplete sentence stunned them all.
Tell… who?
Live well? Was this pity? The victor's mercy?
But before they could even process the meaning, Lucian's next sentence struck them like divine judgement.
"People of the old era—keep clinging to life in this new age."
More than any attack, these words wounded King, Katakuri, and the others to their core.
This wasn't a simple declaration of victory.
It was the verdict on an era.
From the beginning… his goal hadn't been revenge, nor seizing the throne of Emperor.
King and Katakuri lifted their heads, eyes filled with hatred, fear, and despair, staring at Lucian in the sky.
Lucian didn't bother acknowledging their lifeless expressions.
As if finishing a trivial task, he turned to leave.
But just as he pivoted, he paused—as if recalling something.
He spoke one final sentence.
A sentence that ended the war and planted a seed that would reshape the future of the entire sea.
"In two years, someone will come to end your era completely."
A stepping stone to the new age—experience points waiting to be collected.
These words left King and Katakuri bewildered.
Two years?
Someone?
Experience points?
Who?
Why?
What was he planning?
Countless questions flooded their minds.
But they never got the chance to ask.
Having spoken, Lucian Thorn didn't spare them another glance.
He turned away from the ruined battlefield—from an era that was ending before their eyes.
In the next instant—
His figure transformed into a streak of blazing gold, cutting across the heavens without hesitation, heading toward Fish-Man Island.
Only an unfinished prophecy remained, echoing again and again across the silent battlefield.
And only when that golden light vanished completely from the horizon…
Did the crushing divine pressure finally dissipate.
"Thud!"
"Thud!"
All the survivors collapsed simultaneously, legs giving out, gasping for air like drowning men finally surfacing.
The absurd mix of relief at surviving and despair over their Emperor's downfall created a bleak, surreal atmosphere.
In a shattered corner of the ruins—
A few News Coos hiding between the rocks finally poked their trembling heads out.
Regaining their senses at last, they beat their wings frantically.
Carrying a world-shattering story, they soared eagerly into the endless sky.
The sea would never be the same after today.