The moment they made contact, Jiuying's nine heads spewed forth a torrent of highly corrosive fluid and terrifyingly hot flames, engulfing and consuming Zhulong in an instant.
Shanks could only desperately channel waves of crimson energy from within his body to counter the assault. Any less, and Jiuying's attack would have immediately annihilated Zhulong's form. A violent collision of water, fire, and crimson energy erupted, sending shockwaves blasting out in every direction.
Asura watched the scene unfold with a playful smirk. Though he had known Zhulong for ages, there was no friendship between them. He was more than happy to see Jiuying attack Shanks.
"This is getting nowhere! Let's just end this all at once!"
The escalating chaos on the battlefield frayed Ryuuto's patience. With a furious roar directed at Asura and Jinmao, he unleashed a cataclysmic burst of violet lightning. In moments, the sky above the entire island was saturated with an apocalyptic electrical glow.
Asura and Jinmao felt a terrifying, destructive aura wash over them. A profound sense of crisis gripped their hearts. They didn't know what was about to happen, but an unshakable feeling of dread coiled in their minds.
"We need to do something."
"You're the source of all this, aren't you?"
"In that case, getting rid of you should solve the problem!"
Asura and Jinmao exchanged a look. In the next instant, they stomped on the ground, launching themselves toward Ryuuto like arrows loosed from a bow. Two sonic booms ripped through the air as they closed the distance.
Aboard the Red Force, Benn Beckman and the others felt their hearts clench in panic. The sea of lightning crackling just above their heads was so intense it made their skin tingle painfully.
This time, Ryuuto's attack was exceptionally powerful; he intended to wipe out all these demons from the Nine Hells in a single blow. To do that, he had to use his ultimate technique. It was a skill he had never used before, one that still existed only in theory. He had no idea what the consequences of unleashing it would be. All he knew was that the immensely powerful Saint Gomu of the Kirin had been obliterated by a single glance from it. Ryuuto's goal was to recreate that very gaze.
A gaze belonging to the Thunder God, one that transcended space and time, suppressing all of creation.
"Eye of the Thunder God!"
As Ryuuto roared, the violet lightning flooding the sky seemed to find its purpose, rapidly converging. Within moments, a colossal, ethereal figure thousands of meters tall began to materialize before them. This entity was formed entirely of purple lightning. Its majestic eyes gazed down upon the mortal world as countless ancient runes flickered into existence around it. Its mere presence caused the world to freeze and time itself to stand still. An incomparably tyrannical aura surged forth.
This was the might of the Thunder God.
But it wasn't over. The boundless lightning began to gather within the Thunder God's eyes, condensing until the violet energy was almost a solid substance. Then, as thunder boomed across the heavens, the eyes of the great being were fully formed.
BOOM!
A shockwave swept out in an instant, shattering the clouds and silencing the world.
By now, Asura and Jinmao had reached Ryuuto. Their fists, carrying terrifying force, were already descending upon him. Yet Ryuuto remained perfectly calm, a look of pure mockery in his eyes.
"You're too late," Ryuuto thought.
Shanks, however, wore an expression of sheer terror. He could feel the horrifying power contained within that ethereal figure—a power that had reached the realm of a true god. The realization sent sweat pouring freely down his forehead. Fear gripped him, and a desperate urge to flee took hold.
He glanced back at Benn Beckman and his crew, only to be stunned. They had only managed to sail a few kilometers away.
"Benn, get out of here! Retreat now!" Shanks screamed, his voice filled with desperation. In his mind, the only option was to run, as far and as fast as possible. They were far too weak to withstand such a terrifying attack from Ryuuto.
"Ah! Full speed! Retreat! Get as far away from here as possible!" Benn Beckman yelled, shaking off his stupor. He, too, had sensed the imminent danger. A single glance at that colossal figure had been enough to make the power within him collapse.
"Move, move, move!"
Lucky Roux, Yasopp, and the others scrambled into action. Some adjusted the sails, others spun the helm, while the rest worked to push the ship's propulsion to its absolute limit. A single thought dominated their minds: retreat!
Jiuying lost all interest in fighting Shanks. Its nine heads shifted colors rapidly, a clear sign of its indecision. It glanced back at the spatial rift it had emerged from. Under the suppressive pressure of the Thunder God's avatar, even the rift itself was beginning to tremble violently. Panic seized the creature. Even if it tried to escape back through the rift, there was no guarantee of success. The unstable fissure was now the greatest threat of all; one wrong move, and it could be torn to pieces.
Meanwhile, in Mary Geoise, Imu also sensed the appearance of Ryuuto's Thunder God avatar and felt an immense threat.
"What has Ryuuto stirred up this time? This figure gives off an aura of invincibility. But since he's the one who created it, I might as well join the fun."
As Imu spoke, they toyed with a vial of fire in their hand. It was the Mother Flame, recently acquired from Vegapunk. This endlessly replicable energy source had made Imu feel as though the world was truly on their side. Not only had their own power increased, but now, the Ancient Weapon Uranus could be strengthened as well. All they had to do was lock Vegapunk away and have him synthesize the Mother Flame day and night, and they would possess a truly infinite source of energy.
With a flicker, Imu vanished, reappearing directly before Uranus.
They stood in an ancient chamber. The four walls were covered in murals depicting scenes from antiquity, and the floor was stained with dark red patches of dried blood. In the center of the room stood a massive stone pillar hundreds of meters high. At its apex was a firing mechanism composed of five unknown metal rods, which pulsed with a constant thrum of energy. This was the National Treasure hidden in Mary Geoise—the Ancient Weapon Uranus.
After a long, deep look at the weapon, Imu shoved the Mother Flame into its core.
The earth trembled violently, and dust rained down from the chamber's shaking walls. Uranus began to accumulate energy. The five rods at its peak glowed with increasing intensity as the power within them swelled, and the aura they emitted grew stronger and stronger.
The firing sequence for Uranus had begun.
Back on the island, Asura and Jinmao had no time to consider any of this. Their only goal was to eliminate the man before them. They hoped that if Ryuuto died, the attack gathering in the sky might dissipate. Forcing themselves to endure the oppressive aura, they pushed forward, driven by the single-minded desire to kill him. Seeing the mocking look on Ryuuto's face, they failed to understand its meaning.
And then—
The colossal figure in the sky turned its head.
A light of blinding purple erupted from the Thunder God's eyes.
In that instant, the world bleached of color, and time itself seemed to stop. The nameless island shook violently as its surface fractured and buckled, groaning as if the gaze from the heavens carried an impossible weight that was smashing down upon it.
But that was not all. Asura, Jinmao, Ryuuto, Shanks, and Jiuying, who stood at the very center of the attack, bore the brunt of its power.
In a single moment, they were all slammed deep into the earth, creating a massive crater. The sound of their bones grinding under unbearable pressure filled the air as geysers of blood erupted from their bodies, dyeing them crimson.
The force did not relent.
Their bodies were compressed inch by inch, flattened against the ground. Their massive forms, some dozens of meters tall, shrank as more and more of their bones shattered.
"Ahhh!"
"Argh..."
Agonized cries tore from their throats.
That was only the physical torment. Their minds suffered an even more terrifying assault. The instant the Eye of the Thunder God struck, they felt a bolt of lightning shatter their very consciousness. It was like facing the apocalypse itself, and any will to resist was instantly extinguished as their minds went completely blank. Trapped under this terrifying pressure, Asura, Jinmao, and Shanks were experiencing a two-pronged attack on both body and soul.
Of course, none of this applied to Ryuuto.
The Eye of the Thunder God had no effect on him whatsoever. He had inherited the power of the Thunder God; their energies stemmed from the same source. He was, however, far from fine. Maintaining the Domain of Thunder for so long, followed by unleashing such a devastating attack, had taken a massive toll on him.
Ryuuto now found himself in a state of extreme exhaustion.
He stood weakly in place, looking at the grievously wounded Asura and Jinmao before him. One could switch between a demonic form and a human form, making him immune to most physical attacks. The other possessed a body tougher than any Armament Haki. But it was all useless. Against the Eye of the Thunder God, their proudest abilities meant nothing.
This was the power of the Thunder God, the arbiter of heavenly punishment, the master of all laws. The fundamental principles he commanded were simply too powerful.
"It worked perfectly," Ryuuto thought with a faint smile, his prediction confirmed. "Just as I planned."
"Ryuuto, spare me!" A broken voice suddenly came from a heap of mangled flesh on the ground. It was Shanks, pleading for his life. "We can talk! We can negotiate anything! If you save me, I'll do whatever you ask!"
"Shanks, do you really think there's anything left to talk about?" Ryuuto said dismissively, glancing at the bloody mess.
"I can tell you where the One Piece is! I'll give you all of Roger's treasure!" Shanks was being flattened further and further, his voice growing weaker. He didn't have much time left. Desperate, he offered what he believed to be the most tempting prize in the world.
"The One Piece?" Ryuuto mused, pacing slowly. "It's not Shakky's panties, is it? I know all about Roger's era. They called it the Great Age of Repression, when everyone was chasing after Shakky."
"Shanks, why are you looking at me like that? Don't tell me I was right?"
Ryuuto's mocking tone made Shanks's eyes bulge as if they were about to pop out of his head—literally. Under the immense pressure, his eyeballs could no longer hold their place.
"Ryuuto, someone will come for you!"
Hearing Ryuuto's words, Shanks knew there was no hope of being spared. Rage consumed him, and he used his last ounce of strength to roar at his killer. But it was futile. As he uttered his final word, there was a sickening wet pop. His body was flattened into a thin paste against the ground.
He was deader than dead.
The Emperor of the Sea, the former Yonko who had plotted for over a decade, had fallen on a nameless island.
Beside him, Asura, Jinmao, and Jiuying had all met the same fate. Three unrecognizable masses of flesh now stained the cratered ground.
Not only were they dead, but the entire island had sunk several dozen meters, its surface now a web of deep fissures. As for any structures that had been on it, they were completely gone.
Such was the power of the Eye of the Thunder God. It suppressed all existence with the force of cosmic law, leaving Shanks and the others no chance to even resist.
After its work was done, the ethereal figure in the sky rapidly crumbled and dissipated. Of the world-ending lightning that had filled the heavens, ninety percent was gone. The remainder flowed back into Ryuuto.
He then turned his gaze toward the sea.
Out on the water, the Red Force had been capsized. The cataclysmic sinking of the island had created a monstrous tidal wave, throwing everyone into the ocean.
Despite his exhaustion, Ryuuto leaped into the air and flew out over the waves. This had to be handled cleanly. It wasn't just about finishing off the remaining members of the Red Hair Pirates; Monkey D. Luffy had to die as well.
"Thundering Lancefall!"
Seeing the soaking figures struggling in the water below, Ryuuto roared. Countless bolts of lightning transformed into an arsenal of thunderous spears, raining down upon the sea in a final, devastating barrage.