Raleigh's words enraged Imu, who called themself a god.
The coldness in Imu's eyes gradually gave way to fury.
They could not understand it.
The man before them carried no ancient presence. He was neither a powerhouse who had survived from the distant past nor the reincarnation of Joy Boy.
So how had he managed to ruin their plans so completely?
He had even forced Imu into the open before they had fully mastered the power of the Empty Throne.
Yet Imu had to admit that this enemy was even more troublesome than their ancient nemesis, Joy Boy.
Whether in strength or intelligence, Raleigh had displayed far more than the newly awakened Joy Boy.
"Your strength and methods are impressive. If you submit to me, I will grant you authority above everyone else."
"From this day forward, your position will be second only to mine. Even the World Government and the Five Elders will obey your commands."
"What do you say?"
Imu suppressed their anger and spoke slowly.
They still did not want to fight Raleigh here.
For one thing, Imu was not powerful enough to crush him with certainty, which made a battle unappealing.
If they were wounded, the time needed to fully control the Empty Throne would be greatly extended.
More importantly, Joy Boy had already awakened.
If Imu and Raleigh injured each other badly, there was no guarantee Joy Boy would not take advantage of the opportunity.
With those risks in mind, Imu hoped power and status would persuade Raleigh.
Instead, Raleigh laughed.
"Heh. So even a god has things to fear."
"Even a god will compromise with the mortals they look down upon when circumstances demand it."
"Unfortunately, your offer doesn't interest me."
Imu's gaze filled completely with rage.
With a casual wave of their hand, a translucent shock wave appeared in front of Raleigh and tore his body apart.
A moment later, Raleigh's voice came from another direction.
"Look at you, losing your temper already."
Anger and confusion mixed in Imu's voice.
"What do you want?"
"Do you truly intend to hunt me down so you can become this world's new god?"
The shredded figure dissolved into several currents of wind.
Raleigh slowly emerged elsewhere.
The mockery vanished from his face, replaced by an unusually solemn expression as he stared firmly at Imu.
"I have never wanted to become a god."
"But I also refuse to live beneath one. Do you understand?"
"What matters to me is a world without you in it."
Rumble!
Imu and Raleigh attacked simultaneously.
Their blows collided in midair and erupted into a massive mushroom cloud.
...
A wide variety of Marine personnel had gathered on the moon's surface.
All of them had reached it aboard Enel's Ark Maxim.
In an open area of the lunar base stood a cannon with an unimaginably enormous barrel.
It was the product of nearly ten years of joint research between Vegapunk and Raleigh.
The weapon had completely abandoned the firing methods of conventional artillery.
The moment Vegapunk first met Enel, the concept of an electromagnetic cannon had appeared in his mind.
From that day onward, he gradually set aside his other research and devoted himself entirely to developing the weapon.
After years of trial and error, he finally completed it shortly before the decisive battle and successfully transported it to the moon.
Aside from Enel, another figure stood at the lunar base—Miles, who had quietly disappeared from public view long ago.
Miles was no longer the inexperienced young man he had once been.
Through constant battle, he had completely mastered the More-More Fruit.
He could now use its power to increase the electromagnetic cannon's destructive force sixtyfold.
"Doctor, how much longer do we have to wait?"
Lightning danced across Enel's hand as he asked with obvious boredom.
Vegapunk raised his head and looked toward the blue planet, wisdom flickering in his eyes.
Then he seemed to remember something.
"I don't know either."
"Raleigh arranged everything. We only need to wait here."
Vegapunk did not know the exact details of Raleigh's plan, but after so many years together, he had long since learned to trust him unconditionally.
Still, a lingering sense of unease remained deep in his heart.
...
Imu and Raleigh had already exchanged dozens of attacks.
The once-peaceful Room of Flowers had been reduced to ruins.
The tremendous noise from beneath Pangaea Castle horrified the Five Elders and God's Knights, who had been pursuing Joy Boy on the main battlefield.
Fearing for Imu's safety, they immediately abandoned Joy Boy, whom they had nearly killed, and rushed toward the Room of Flowers.
Dragon did not know what had happened, but he understood one thing clearly.
Whatever the enemy desperately wanted to do had to be stopped.
"Tornado!"
Dragging his heavily wounded body, Dragon swept both hands through the air.
One whirlwind after another appeared from nothing and gradually merged under his control.
An even greater tornado formed directly along the route the Five Elders and God's Knights had to take.
"Dragon!"
The Five Elders burned with fury when they saw him blocking their path, their brows twitching violently.
"Stop throwing your life away and move!"
The bald, sword-wielding Elder gripped his cursed blade with both hands and charged into the tornado first, attempting to kill Dragon.
However, Dragon was still an experienced Admiral-level fighter.
Even while severely injured, he could evade the Elder's attacks.
His figure flashed and vanished into the storm.
The tornado's steadily increasing speed made it clear that Dragon had not been harmed.
"Attack together! We cannot allow Dragon to delay us!"
The long-bearded Elder shouted the moment the first assault failed.
The God's Knights and Five Elders attacked together, sending one shock wave after another crashing into the spinning tornado.
Rumble!
Deafening explosions continued throughout Mary Geoise, reducing what had once been the safest city in the world to complete ruins.
Dragon had already been fighting while burdened by severe wounds. He had never expected the Five Elders to attack with such desperation.
Their combined shock waves overwhelmed his tornado.
The storm sweeping through Mary Geoise was forcibly blown apart, leaving chaotic currents raging everywhere.
Dragon fell from the sky like a wounded eagle.
Had the Five Elders still cared about killing him, this would have been their perfect opportunity.
But they had no interest in Dragon now.
A challenger had reached their king.
No matter the circumstances, that failure belonged to them.
They had to reach Imu as quickly as possible, then kill the invader who had challenged divine authority in the most brutal way imaginable.
Only then could they wash away the shame of failing in their duty.
Dragon remained conscious among the ruins.
He looked up at the blue sky as the Five Elders and God's Knights rushed deeper into Pangaea Castle one after another using Geppo.
Raleigh's image appeared in his mind once again.
"So in the end, you really did win."
Dragon knew only something Raleigh had done could make the Five Elders and God's Knights abandon everything and rush back in such desperation.
Only moments earlier, their desire to kill Luffy had been overwhelming.
They had been willing to ignore everyone else just to eliminate him immediately.
Dragon did not understand Luffy's transformation or know much about the Joy Boy mentioned by the Five Elders.
But that did not affect his judgment.
"Raleigh, whatever you're planning, I've delayed them as long as I can."
Dragon lay quietly among the ruins, waiting for the Revolutionary Army to retrieve him.
...
The battle beneath the Room of Flowers grew increasingly fierce.
Raleigh stopped relying on his Devil Fruit and devoted all his attention to the blade in his hand.
Imu was unquestionably the strongest enemy Raleigh had ever faced.
Even though he had expected them to be powerful, he had never imagined their strength would reach this level.
After another exchange, Imu suddenly retreated a tremendous distance.
A mass of black clouds covered the sky above.
Time seemed to freeze.
Countless streaks of white light descended from above, all converging on Raleigh.
Rumble!
There was no sensation of the earth shaking.
Only an endless roar filled everyone's ears.
The blinding white light gradually faded, and everyone in Mary Geoise waited through the long moments it took for their vision to return.
When the pure whiteness finally cleared enough for them to see, the sight before them left them speechless.
Their minds could not find words capable of describing it.
A crater worthy of divine punishment had appeared before them.
Imu stood less than three meters from its edge, their relaxed expression carrying a trace of lingering fear.
During the fight, none of their ordinary methods had been enough to defeat Raleigh quickly.
So Imu had used the power under their control—the ancient weapon Uranus.
They reduced its attack radius as much as possible and repeatedly calculated Raleigh's coordinates during the battle.
Then, the moment Raleigh's attention slipped, Imu fired Uranus.
The result was the enormous crater before them, a thousand meters wide and piercing straight through the Red Line.
"He should be dead now."
Imu murmured.
Once the Five Elders recovered, they immediately knelt behind Imu.
"Lord Imu, we failed in our duty and allowed the villain Raleigh to reach you. Please punish us."
The God's Knights knelt as well.
Disgust flashed across Imu's face.
They hated useless subordinates.
Had the Five Elders and God's Knights not still possessed value, Imu would have killed them immediately.
If Imu had not held the superior hand during that desperate exchange, the result might have been very different.
Uranus was extremely difficult to control. Even though Imu had left a considerable margin of safety, they had nearly been caught in the attack themselves.
Whoosh…
A gentle breeze suddenly appeared.
Then it began growing violent.
A figure emerged from layer after layer of raging wind.
Raleigh wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at his right hand, now drenched in blood.
A mocking smile appeared on his face as his low voice reached every person present.
"So this is Uranus?"
...
At the lunar base, Vegapunk and his satellites operated the instruments at frantic speed.
The moment Uranus appeared, Vegapunk had begun capturing every trace of information he could.
Unfortunately, by the time the ancient weapon vanished, the data remained severely limited.
The mysterious shadow and its terrifying energy attack forced even Vegapunk to question everything he knew.
Such a thing should never have existed in this world.
He lowered his hands helplessly and stared blankly at the screen.
Then the Den Den Mushi in his arms began ringing.
Purururu… purururu…
"Doctor, the coordinates have been transmitted."
"Launch the attack in ten seconds."
Momonga's voice came through the receiver.
At the same time, Sakazuki, who had been waiting in the New World, received Cleveland's call.
It contained the same information—a set of coordinates and the exact time to fire.
Sakazuki glanced at the location and said nothing.
He immediately ordered the soldiers under him to prepare the cannon.
On the moon, Enel's expression gradually turned cold.
Tears had already appeared in Miles's eyes.
But this was no time to allow emotion to interfere.
They were soldiers.
Carrying out orders was their highest duty.
Vegapunk sat down before the control panel again and entered the coordinates Momonga had sent.
Then he raised his right hand and slammed it onto the large red button.
...
The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Confusion appeared on Imu's face.
They could not understand how anyone had survived Uranus.
Raleigh's right hand had been badly injured by the ancient weapon, yet there was no pain on his face.
His gaze remained calm and resolute as he stared at Imu.
Then he looked past them.
The Five Elders.
The God's Knights.
Farther away stood Kong, Garp, Sengoku, Dragon, the newly awakened Luffy, and the others.
Almost every powerful fighter in the world who did not belong to the Marines had gathered here.
At last, everything was about to end.
A joyful smile appeared on Raleigh's face.
"Only after every last one of you is dead can this world truly begin moving toward the light."
The bald, sword-wielding Elder stepped forward angrily.
"Christian Raleigh, have you forgotten who made you Fleet Admiral?"
"Is this how you repay us?"
Raleigh glanced at the Elder as though he were nothing more than a clown.
Then he looked back at Imu.
"Your plan has failed."
Rumble!
Rumble!
Everyone in Mary Geoise suddenly felt an overwhelming threat pressing down upon them.
They raised their heads, assuming Imu had activated Uranus again.
Imu stared at Raleigh with unwilling fury.
"So this is your plan?"
"You lunatic. I refuse to believe even you can survive an attack like this."
Another strike resembling divine punishment appeared in the sky.
This time, however, it had not been summoned by Imu.
Vegapunk controlled it.
Enel supplied its power.
Miles amplified it.
It was the lunar electromagnetic cannon.
At the same moment, Pluton's attack arrived from the New World and crossed into the sky above Mary Geoise.
Everyone's scalp went numb as they stared at the two approaching attacks in disbelief.
No one tried to flee.
They all understood that escape was impossible.
Even Imu abandoned all resistance.
The combined force of those two weapons left no possibility of survival, not even for them.
Imu merely stared fixedly at Raleigh.
Raleigh smiled back without saying a word.
One second later, the two attacks collided.
There was no sound.
A blinding white light blossomed above Mary Geoise, shining even brighter than the sun.
Nothing could withstand the resulting shock wave.
Not Imu, who called themself a god.
Not Nika, the Warrior of Liberation.
Not any of the other great figures who possessed Admiral-level strength.
Before that power, they were no different from ants.
Everything vanished like grains of sand scattered into the air, leaving no trace behind.
The Red Line, which had once towered far above the sea, suddenly sank by several hundred meters.
---
The end, thank you for reading.