"Where do you think you're running?" Marco shouted as he immediately chased after Imu.
Below them, the remaining Gorosei and the God's Knights watched in disbelief as Imu retreated.
"Lord Imu..."
The sight alone shook their confidence.
What they had witnessed moments ago felt impossible. Imu, the supreme ruler of the world, had actually been injured by Marco.
To them, Imu was a god.
How could a mere human wound her?
For a moment, doubt spread through the battlefield.
However, Saint Peter quickly transmitted his voice through telepathy.
"Lord Imu naturally has her own plans. Focus on the enemies before you."
Hearing this, the God's Knights immediately suppressed their thoughts. The battle around them was far from over.
"Where do you think you're going?" Kaido roared furiously.
Swinging Hassaikai with overwhelming force, he smashed it directly toward Saint Warcury.
Boom!
The kanabo struck Saint Warcury heavily once again, forcing blood from his mouth.
Before Saint Warcury could even stabilize himself, Big Mom attacked from the side with Napoleon in hand.
Facing two Yonko at the same time, Saint Warcury was pushed completely onto the defensive.
Meanwhile, high above the battlefield, Imu suddenly collided with something invisible.
Dong!
Her body bounced backward as though she had struck a massive wall.
Imu's pupils contracted.
This is bad...
Marco was equally stunned.
He clearly saw Imu crash into something despite there being nothing visible in front of her.
Although confused, Marco had no intention of wasting the opportunity.
In an instant, his Ki Blades pierced straight through Imu's chest.
The blades emerged from her back.
Blood spilled from Imu's lips as despair, anger, and faint relief flashed through her eyes.
Her clawed hand gripped Marco's shoulder tightly.
"It seems..." Imu said weakly, "the story of the hero defeating the demon king was true after all."
Marco frowned.
He did not understand what she meant.
More importantly, what had just happened?
Imu's demonic form gradually disappeared, revealing her original appearance once again.
Even covered in blood, she still possessed an eerie beauty.
She pushed Marco away lightly.
Behind her, a black and crimson portal suddenly opened.
Without hesitation, Imu stepped backward into it.
Seeing this, Marco immediately rushed after her.
Just before the portal closed completely, he successfully entered as well.
The surroundings changed instantly.
Marco looked around and immediately recognized the place.
"The Empty Throne..."
After crossing through the portal, he had arrived inside Pangea Castle once again.
Imu slowly walked up the massive staircase leading to the throne.
Blood dripped from her injuries with every step.
Marco quietly watched her back.
Surprisingly, he could no longer sense any killing intent or desire to continue fighting from her.
That alone made him wary.
"What happened earlier?" Marco asked coldly. "I saw some kind of force stop you."
Imu returned to the throne and sat down quietly before looking at Marco from above.
Marco disliked the feeling immediately.
He stepped forward and jumped directly onto the elevated platform, stopping only a few meters away from her.
Looking at the wounds covering her body, he frowned.
"You've given up?"
"Those injuries should heal quickly with your abilities."
"There is no need anymore," Imu replied indifferently.
"You are stronger than me. I lost."
Her tone was unusually quiet.
"In the end, I simply wanted to die on my throne."
Marco narrowed his eyes.
He still did not trust her words completely.
"What was that barrier earlier?" he asked again. "Why could it stop you but not me?"
Hearing that question, Imu laughed bitterly.
"That barrier exists only for me."
"Or perhaps..." she murmured softly, "it is more accurate to call it a cage."
Her eyes carried a rare trace of exhaustion.
"What does it matter if I am called the ruler of the world? I still cannot escape this prison."
"A cage?" Marco repeated.
The answer only made him more confused.
Then something else came to mind.
"You mentioned before that you once traveled to another world."
"Does this barrier have something to do with that?"
Marco genuinely wanted answers now.
A force capable of trapping someone like Imu could not possibly be ordinary.
And if other worlds truly existed, then the implications were terrifying.
Imu leaned back against the throne and slowly began speaking.
"Eight hundred years ago, after Joy Boy was defeated, I became the ruler of the world."
"My strength eventually reached the limit of this world. No matter how much time passed, I could no longer improve."
"Then one day, by accident, I entered a spacetime storm."
"It brought me to another world."
Marco listened silently.
"In that world," Imu continued, "there were no Devil Fruits and no Haki."
"Only magic existed there."
"My talent allowed me to learn their magic quickly. In a short time, I mastered many powerful spells."
A faint self mocking smile appeared on her face.
"But my actions attracted the attention of the god of that world."
"And I was erased."
Marco's expression became serious.
Originally, he assumed Imu was simply exaggerating.
But now, her words sounded frighteningly sincere.
"I thought I had died completely," Imu continued softly.
"But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself back inside the Flower Room."
"The magic I learned had followed me back to this world."
"I became the first magician in this world."
"Over the following years, I completely mastered those spells."
"However, this world lacks magical energy."
"No matter how much I trained, my magic could never advance further."
Imu slowly raised her hand while staring at it silently.
"That was not enough for me."
"I wanted more power."
"So I tried opening another spacetime storm to return to that magical world."
"I believed that with my talent, I could eventually conquer that world as well."
"I wanted to uncover the secrets of existence itself."
Her expression gradually darkened.
"If I could undo one thing in my life..."
"That would be it."
For the first time since Marco met her, genuine regret appeared in Imu's eyes.
"The Celestial Dragons called themselves creators of the world."
"I called myself the ruler of all existence."
"But after meeting the true creator..."
Imu laughed bitterly.
"I realized how insignificant I truly was."
Marco remained silent.
Then Imu continued speaking.
"At that time, my consciousness entered a strange place."
"It was endless, vast beyond imagination."
"I called it the Painting Studio."
"Everywhere I looked, there were paintings."
"Within that place, I saw the truth of our world."
Marco's expression changed slightly.
"The truth...?"
Imu nodded slowly.
"There were texts and images everywhere."
"They contained terrifying information."
"But no matter how hard I tried to read them, they appeared like incomprehensible nonsense."
"I could not understand anything."
"The more I struggled to comprehend them, the greater my pain became."
"Eventually, my consciousness returned to the Flower Room."
Imu closed her eyes briefly.
"The strange part was that I forgot almost everything afterward."
"It felt like a dream."
"But at the same time, the contents of those paintings remained engraved somewhere inside my mind."
"I knew they existed."
"I could vaguely remember them."
"But whenever I tried to examine them closely, they became blurry and impossible to understand."
"It was as though something prevented me from seeing the truth clearly."