Under normal circumstances, if a pirate with a bounty of several hundred million were to die in the West Blue, it would definitely be considered a major event.
Even after the Berry had undergone a period of inflation, a bounty exceeding a hundred million was still, in a roundabout way, proof of their strength.
Pirates like that were not mere cannon fodder even in the New World; at the very least, they were NPCs with names people recognized.
But in the current God Valley region, such a thing seemed utterly insignificant. Pirates stronger than Valentine were everywhere, and all of them were advancing toward God Valley as their target.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amid the deafening sound of artillery fire, on the eastern sea area of God Valley, a warship sank into the ocean in a cloud of smoke, drawing the attention of the Marines stationed on the island.
"It's the Rocks Pirates!!!"
"No! Not just them! Many other notorious pirates are rushing over as well!!"
One fluttering pirate flag after another marked the identities of these pirates. Forget ordinary soldiers, even Rear Admiral–level officers felt a bad premonition rising in their hearts.
"Fire! Fire! Stop them! Don't let them land!!"
Boom! Boom!
The other warships adjusted their angles and poured their firepower onto the Rocks Pirates' ship charging at the front.
However, this accomplished almost nothing. The Rocks Pirates' ship was several times larger than those large warships and was built with the finest materials.
The people aboard didn't even bother to intervene. Relying solely on its sheer size and sturdiness, the Rocks Pirates' ship charged forward through the Marines' artillery fire, directly ramming, overturning, and crushing the warships in its path.
Then it slammed straight onto the shore.
"It's useless, Marines! Rocks Pirates, follow me!"
Rocks took the lead and rushed onto the island first, and the pirates' landing immediately caused an uproar among the Celestial Dragons.
"This is terrible!! Pirates are here! What are you Marines even good for?!"
"If we so much as get a scratch, all of you will be hanged!!"
However, this was only the beginning. Before the Marine commander responsible for receiving intelligence could issue any orders, one piece of bad news after another came flooding in from all sides.
"Report! Pirates sighted on the west coast—it's the Roger Pirates! They have already landed!"
"Report, north coast—"
"Report! The Celestial Dragons demand—"
Message after message left the Marines on the island utterly overwhelmed. Let alone him, his entire fleet combined might not even be able to handle a single senior officer from any one of the pirate crews mentioned in the reports.
And now, such pirate crews were appearing in clusters, as if the end of the world had arrived.
Not to mention, they were responsible for the safety of the Celestial Dragons, people who would never give them a moment's peace.
One moment they demanded the slaves be escorted away, the next they demanded the prizes be protected.
For these Marines, the only piece of good news was that there were still a few elites among the Celestial Dragons.
Garling, the current Supreme Commander of the Knights of God, was well aware that the Marines could not handle the incoming pirates. He therefore took over the fighting himself, leaving the Marines to focus solely on evacuating the other Celestial Dragons.
The Marine reinforcements led by Garp also landed soon after, reigniting a bit of hope among the Marines on the island.
But no matter what, the island had already been completely engulfed in flames of war. With multiple forces scheming against one another and their fates intertwining, God Valley had become a nightmare battlefield with nowhere to escape.
And the source of the attacks was not necessarily the enemy.
"Newgate! You b*stard, was that attack aimed at me?!"
"Who slashed you? Wasn't I slashing the enemy?"
Facing Charlotte Linlin's questioning, Whitebeard gave his justification and pointed to the Knights of God member to the side who had been cut in half at the waist by his blade, indicating that he hadn't struck the wrong target.
But such a reason was far from enough to convince Charlotte Linlin.
"Who are you trying to fool?! I almost died from that! You want to settle things right here and now?"
"I'm not interested in that. Just how many Marines are on this island? How many pirates have landed?!"
A group of pirates eager to make a name for themselves launched attacks on the members of the Rocks Pirates in unison. The members of the Rocks Pirates, in turn, gradually split into several groups and temporarily joined forces with one another at different locations.
Even though crewmates from the same ship weren't exactly trustworthy, they could at least lend a bit of help.
"Rocks has vanished without a trace. And why is that Nereus gone too?! Barbell! Where did he go?! Don't tell me he ran off ahead to snatch Shakuyaku?!"
Golden Lion swung Kogarashi and Oto, leaving behind afterimages; each strike of his was accompanied by a slashing wave, yet the enemies before him seemed endless.
No sooner had he cut down one group than another would pop up the moment he turned around.
As for where the others were, Golden Lion had a rough idea, but Nereus, who had broken off midway, remained a mystery.
Golden Lion couldn't help but ask Barbell, a fellow Fish-Man.
"How would I know that? Boss doesn't need to notify me about where he's going! And don't try to speculate about the Boss with that head of yours full of dirty thoughts! He must be handling important business!"
Barbell smashed a nearby enemy flying with a single punch, but it seemed Golden Lion had latched onto the wrong point.
"You're calling my Shakuyaku 'dirty thoughts'? Is your sense of aesthetics messed up too!!"
"Enough arguing! Isn't Nereus in that direction?!"
Kaido pointed toward one side of the island. Although nothing could be seen there, everyone present instinctively looked down at their feet.
The corpses of the pirates who had just been killed while attacking them were undergoing strange changes. The blood within those bodies seemed to be drawn by some mysterious force, flowing out from their wounds.
The blood gathered into streams, eerily flowing toward a single direction, as if something were pulling it along.
"Nereus has started using his ability again."
The ability to draw in blood over a certain area. Within Kaido's understanding, only Nereus could do that, and only he would.
"I remember him saying this ability only works on the dead, right? That said, why does he absorb so much blood every time? To fill his stomach?"
"Who knows? Blood is the currency of the soul… I think that's what he said. Always so mysterious."
The others aboard the ship had more or less interacted with Nereus before and had some understanding of him. But now wasn't the time to discuss his abilities. Compared to that, the treasures ahead were far more important.
Meanwhile, on the other side of God Valley, Nereus had already landed on the island. At this moment, he was in the Human-Beast form of a Devil Fruit user.
Broad bat wings spread out behind him, and his pupils were tinged with a shade of crimson.
However, compared to when he had previously clashed with Rocks, there was a slight difference. Behind him now floated a section of a blood-red flaming cloud.
This flaming cloud was not just decoration. It was the special symbol of awakened Zoan Users after the version update!
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