In the Holy Land, Mary Geoise…
Imu's true body shot out into the open, hovering in the sky with an exceptionally grave expression. Through their senses, they detected a terrifying beam of energy tearing through space itself, heading straight for them.
"Come forth!"
With a soft cry, Imu flicked their right hand, and a massive purple pentagram materialized out of thin air.
After completing the incantation, Imu seemed to show a hint of fatigue. It was clear that summoning a pentagram of this magnitude consumed a considerable amount of stamina.
The five-pointed star was colossal, its area wider than Mary Geoise itself. A dreadful aura emanated from within, punctuated by countless arcs of black-and-red lightning. The sight alone was enough to stun the Celestial Dragons residing in Pangea Castle.
"What in the world is that?"
"Such a powerful energy fluctuation!"
Sensing the disturbance, countless Celestial Dragons walked out of Pangea Castle and onto the main square. They stared up at the sky in shock, muttering in disbelief.
Vwomm!
The pentagram pulsed violently as a pillar of roaring flame erupted from its center. From within the fire, a figure cloaked in utter blackness slowly emerged.
If Ryuuto were here, he would have recognized this entity.
It was the same dragon-like demon he had previously seen on Pluton, only this one was far larger, and its aura was infinitely more terrifying. The only discernible difference was that this demon seemed to lack a will of its own, like an inanimate object.
Boom!
At that very moment, a brilliant beam of yellow-green energy finally appeared in Imu's line of sight.
"It's here!" Imu hissed, then turned to the towering dragon demon. Their expression hardened as they commanded in a stern voice, "Block it!"
Following Imu's order, it was as if a soul had been injected into the demon. Its eyes snapped open, and with a deafening roar, it opened its maw and unleashed a torrent of fire hundreds of meters wide.
BOOM!
The force of the flames was immense, causing the very space around them to buckle and the entirety of Mary Geoise to tremble.
"This creature can't possibly be from this world!"
"How can something so horrifying exist?!"
Below, the fat and pampered Celestial Dragons collapsed to the ground in terror, their already unintelligent eyes wide with fright as they struggled to speak.
Then, the torrent of fire viciously slammed into the energy beam descending from the heavens.
BANG!
The two forces collided in an instant, and a cataclysmic explosion echoed across the world. The sound wave caused the eardrums of the Celestial Dragons below to ring painfully, forcing them to clap their hands over their ears.
A shockwave erupted from the point of impact, sweeping outward in all directions.
Its power was so great that it instantly vaporized every cloud in the sky and made space itself freeze. As the shockwave traveled to the far reaches of the horizon, it was as if time in this part of the world had stopped.
In the silent world, only the figure of the dragon demon seemed to exist.
The two immense energies continued to grind against one another, each trying to consume the other.
One second!
Two seconds!
Three seconds!
BOOM!
After a full three seconds, the massive energy beam fired by Pluton finally exhausted its power. Its light dimmed abruptly before it shattered with a final pop, vanishing from the world as if it had never existed.
The dragon demon, however, was in no better state. After sustaining such a prolonged blast of fire, it too seemed to have depleted all its energy.
*Cough…*
It coughed out a puff of hot gas, and its eyes slowly closed. Then, its body went rigid and fell back into the pentagram from which it had emerged.
The crackling black-and-red lightning vanished.
The dragon demon had fulfilled its purpose.
Imu let out a soft sigh of relief, their tense expression finally relaxing.
Consumed by the flames, the dragon demon sank back into the pentagram and disappeared from sight.
Meanwhile, back aboard the warship Pluton, the giant salamander demon that was Imu's avatar had already slammed into the energy shield three times. The shield was now flickering erratically, on the verge of collapse.
The reason it hadn't shattered after three hits was that Imu's main body had expended a vast amount of energy, significantly reducing the power of the salamander's attacks.
Seeing this, Saint Garling's eyes narrowed. He brandished his saber and charged straight for the energy shield.
This was his moment to prove his worth!
He was confident that by coordinating with Lord Imu, they would surely kill Dragon this day.
BOOM!
A purple-and-white slash, wreathed in black-and-red lightning, materialized in an instant and struck the energy shield.
In that moment…
Crack!
With a sharp cracking sound, the energy shield could hold no longer.
It shattered into pieces!
"Tempest Meteor Fall!"
Dragon, who was inside, was already prepared. With a great roar, he leaped high into the air as countless hurricanes swirled to life around him. The terrifying winds slammed against the surrounding rock walls, producing a deafening roar. Dragon became the eye of the storm, hurtling downward in a destructive spiral like a falling star wrapped in devastating air currents.
And within the core of this storm, countless black-and-red lightning bolts flashed.
The power of this attack was so immense that it accelerated the collapse of the entire volcano. Under the pressure of the hurricane, the mountain crumbled in seconds, revealing the three towering pillars of magma in Room No. 5.
Seeing that Imu was still alive, Dragon knew he had failed. A resolve to die had taken root in his heart. He no longer knew if he could defeat Imu, nor did he care to consider it anymore.
This "Tempest Meteor Fall" was his most powerful single-target attack. The impact would generate a massive pressure blast, capable of annihilating everything at its epicenter.
And Dragon's target was the giant salamander demon.
"Just what I was waiting for," Imu said softly. Countless shadow-like arms grew from their body, whipping through the air toward Dragon.
Just as Dragon had feared, he had truly underestimated Imu's strength.
The salamander demon met Dragon's powerful charge head-on with its hardened forehead, while simultaneously using its shadow arms to reach into the heart of the storm.
BOOM!
A tremendous collision shook the chamber as arcs of black-and-red lightning slammed into each other. The salamander demon's feet dug deep into a pile of rubble as it successfully blocked Dragon's attack. At the same time, the writhing shadow arms took the opportunity to plunge into the storm's core, scrambling to seize Dragon's body.
"Cough!"
Under the immense pressure of the shadow arms, Dragon was instantly injured, spitting out a large mouthful of blood.
"You're truly overestimating yourself," Saint Garling sneered from the side, full of contempt.
After all, he couldn't fathom it. Dragon was roughly on par with himself in terms of strength, yet he thought he could harm Lord Imu? It was laughable.
But how could he possibly understand?
Believing that Ivankov and the others were all dead, and after pouring everything he had into a blast from Pluton only to fail to kill Imu, Dragon's heart was filled with powerlessness and grim determination.
When Dragon unleashed this attack, he was already prepared to die.
Otherwise…
He could have easily escaped.
Dragon was a user of the Hurricane-Hurricane Fruit, one of the most fearsome Logia-type Devil Fruits, granting him mastery over the wind.
But Dragon had no intention of running.
As the hurricane dissipated, Imu's eyes twisted with malice as they looked upon the suffering Dragon. At this moment, they wanted nothing more than to kill him.
"I've failed you all."
"I'm coming to join you."
Dragon's eyes dimmed. Seeing Imu closing in, he slowly shut his eyes, accepting his fate.
Imu was not an enemy they could ever hope to defeat.
But just at that moment…
CRACKLE!
A clap of thunder echoed, followed by a powerful voice from afar. "Imu, go to hell!"
It was Ryuuto!
Imu's movements froze, their eyes filled with utter disbelief.
Ryuuto hadn't even arrived yet, but his Domain had already swept over the battlefield, enveloping Imu completely. They instantly sensed that something was wrong. The terrifying power of Laws was pressing down on them, suppressing them!
As the voice faded, a colossal purple right hand slammed down on the salamander demon.
The sound was deafening, the speed astonishing!
Hearing that voice, Dragon's eyes snapped open just in time to see Imu get violently smashed into the ground, turning the pile of rubble beneath them into fine dust.
As a result, the shadow arms binding Dragon lost their power and fell limp to the ground.
By a stroke of luck, Dragon fell to the side, freed from his restraints.
"I… you… Lord Imu!"
Seeing this, Saint Garling's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he began to stammer. This was too bizarre. The invincible Lord Imu had just been swatted into the ground.
He instinctively shuffled to the side, putting some distance between himself and Ryuuto.
It was best to stay far away from Ryuuto at a time like this.
Furthermore, Saint Garling was keeping a close watch on the situation. The moment things looked bad, he planned to make a run for it.
After all, as long as there's life, there's hope.
"Hahahahahaha…"
"Imu, allow me to show you my Mastery of Thunder!"
Ryuuto burst into laughter. He rushed to Imu's side, transformed his hand into a giant claw, and grabbed the salamander demon off the ground before starting to swing it around.
CRACKLE!
Countless peals of thunder echoed through the chamber!
Imu was first thoroughly electrocuted, then spun around at high speed. The centrifugal force caused their tongue to loll out uncontrollably as various bodily fluids were flung everywhere.
The pitiful Imu had been reduced to a mere toy.
"Captain Ryuuto!"
At this moment, Yamato and the others who had been following behind rushed over, shouting his name.
"That figure is…? It can't be!" Kaido's eyes narrowed. Looking at the giant salamander demon, a guess formed in his mind, shocking him to his core.
"Not even Rocks, with all his power, could have done something like this back then," Kaido thought to himself.
At that moment, Kaido began to truly appreciate Ryuuto's strength. It turned out that Ryuuto instantly killing Saturn earlier was no accident at all!
Kaido knew that from this day forward, the world had changed.
Above the so-called Four Emperors, a new king of immense power had appeared!
"Whoa! So cool!"
Yamato's reaction was much simpler. She was cheering for what she saw as Ryuuto's incredible hula-hoop attack.
As for Imu, she had no idea who they were.
Meanwhile, that scoundrel Shanks had probably already fled Pluton's range. The moment he saw Ryuuto one-shot Saturn, the thought of escape had taken root in his mind. Later, when the warship began to shake, he found an opportunity to slip away.
Kaido couldn't be bothered to stop him.
So, he had simply followed Yamato as she rushed into Room No. 5.
That was what led to the current scene.
Seeing Kaido appear, Saint Garling grew restless. He wanted to escape too. He had a feeling that if he delayed any longer, he would meet his end here.
The instant Saint Garling moved, Ryuuto noticed.
Without missing a beat, Ryuuto swung Imu's body around and took aim at Garling. With a whoosh that tore through the air, the massive salamander demon grew larger and larger in Garling's widening eyes.
"You, you stay away from me!"
Garling's mind screamed in protest, but Ryuuto was faster.
BANG!
A loud crash echoed as Imu's body slammed into Saint Garling. The two of them were sent flying like a cannonball, crashing violently into the ground.
A cloud of dust rose into the air…
"Cough…"
A sound came from within the dust cloud. Imu violently shook their head. Their body was now covered in blood, clearly injured, but the wounds didn't seem fatal. After all, the Laws governing the salamander demon were those of immortality and regeneration.
Imu reacted quickly.
Vwomm!
With a sharp tap of their tail on the ground, several pentagrams, each dozens of meters high, instantly materialized behind them.
"What's this? Is he trying to escape? Or summon more demons?" Ryuuto wondered aloud, watching the scene with suspicion, unsure of Imu's intentions.
Swoosh!
Then, Imu pushed off the ground with their feet, lunging straight for Ryuuto.
Beneath them, Saint Garling struggled to his feet, a trail of blood at the corner of his mouth. His once crescent-shaped hair was now a disheveled mess. As if granted a sudden burst of strength, the moment Imu was off him, he scrambled toward one of the pentagrams and dove inside.
Vwomm!
With a soft hum, Saint Garling's figure vanished without a trace.
"So, it was an escape plan," Ryuuto noted calmly. Saint Garling's actions had not escaped his notice. He then turned his gaze back to the charging Imu.