Chapter 257: God Valley 35

Chapter 257: Chapter 257: God Valley 35

But those were ripples for later.

At this moment, Charlotte Linlin, on the coast, watched the World Government ships that had already sailed some distance away from God Valley.

Her Observation Haki sensed that strange, powerful aura on the ship!

"Finally... heading back, are you?"

Her massive frame, which had been sitting cross-legged, slowly rose, and she lifted the "Wu" between her legs with one hand.

She stepped forward, not onto the rocks or sand, but directly onto the void!

Hum— A circle of visible, night-deep black shockwaves suddenly expanded from beneath her feet, as if she were stepping on the calm surface of space. She did not use her Dragon Wings, yet she stood suspended in the air.

Her left hand raised the long nodachi "Wu," holding it horizontally across her chest. Her right hand slowly gripped the dark hilt. The moment her fingertips touched the hilt—

Rustle, rustle, rustle... Around her pristine hand, petals as crimson as blood drifted down out of thin air.

These petals were not physical; they carried a beauty of illusion and Decay, and contained a certain heart-stopping sense of finality.

At the same time, the skin on her right hand was rapidly covered in a vivid, scarlet red. Her wild pink-purple hair, starting from the roots, shed all its color and turned into a glowing white.

A shocking red mark slowly slid down from her closed right eye.

Simultaneously, complex and eerie red patterns, like living things, quietly emerged and extended across her exposed skin.

She opened her eyes abruptly!

In her current vision, the entire vibrant world suddenly faded, turning into a dead, black-and-white landscape. Blood-colored serpents of electricity silently roamed and flickered around her, tearing through the monotony of the black-and-white world.

Her cherry lips parted slightly, chanting not in the language of this world, but in a ballad that seemed to come from the distant other shore, pointing directly to the destination of the soul:

"May I mourn... for the departed."

The voice was ethereal, carrying a divine compassion, yet it was bone-chillingly cold.

"Tears fall like rain, filling the crossing river..."

With every syllable she uttered, the blood-colored electricity around her grew more intense, and the falling petals became denser.

"Surging like a tide—"

Her right hand, gripping the sword, was scarlet as blood, forming an extreme contrast with the glowing white hilt. The scabbard trembled slightly, emitting a soft chime.

"Lead you... home!!!"

"Clang—!!!!!"

Draw!

The moment the nodachi "Wu" left its scabbard, there was no earth-shattering roar, only a crisp, ultimate sound—as if cutting through some kind of restraint, or opening a gate to the other shore!

A sword aura, impossible to describe in its "vastness," was unleashed from the blade!

It was not pure slashing energy, but more like a materialized concept of "Finality" itself! It presented a viscous, deep blood-red that devoured all light and color!

As soon as this sword aura appeared, it expanded and extended rapidly between the sea and the sky!

In an instant, it turned into a blood-red curtain that connected the sky and the earth, seemingly slicing through the entire field of vision, overwhelming the heavens and the earth!

It was silent, yet carried an absolute will that brought all things to silence, "covering" down toward those World Government ships!

On the World Government ship.

"Satan Saint," who had been staring with empty, ringed eyes, suddenly turned toward the coast!

His indifferent pupils, upon "seeing" that rising blood-red curtain and the aura of "Finality" and "Void" contained within it—which made his very soul tremble—suddenly contracted to the size of needle points!

A long-forgotten emotion called "horror," like a cold viper, instantly gripped this attached will of Imu!

What kind of power was that?! It didn’t belong to a Devil Fruit, nor did it belong to any system he knew! That was... something capable of threatening his very "existence"!

In the center of the island, the three people locked in a fierce, life-or-death battle—Roger, Garp, and Demon Rocks—all froze simultaneously!

It wasn’t because of exhaustion, but because of a bone-chilling, soul-piercing "feeling" coming from the direction of the coast!

"Haa... haa..." Garp panted, looking toward the coast in horror, where it seemed a "black hole" that devoured everything was forming.

"Over there! Something... even more terrifying than this monster in front of me... has appeared?!"

Roger knelt on one knee, using Ace to support his body. He tried to use Observation Haki to perceive it, but felt only a blank, a suffocating "void" feeding back.

"I can’t... feel anything..." For the first time, an expression bordering on horror appeared on his face. "Only..."

Both men, along with the black-swirled Demon Rocks, seemed to be pulled by some innate instinct for survival. Their pale gazes were cast simultaneously in the same direction, and they "shouted" that intuitive feeling at the same time:

"Void—!!!"

...The sky-covering blood-red sword aura touched the World Government fleet.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no intense clash of energy.

What was felt first was the wind. No, that wasn’t wind; it was the prelude to "Finality," triggered by the mere existence of the sword aura before it even arrived, turning into silent ripples that swept across the sea and the ships’ rails.

"Ahhh! What’s happening?! The ship is shaking!!" A fat Celestial Dragon gripped the gilded railing tightly, screaming in terror.

"What’s going on?! You useless trash! Hold onto me! Don’t let me fall!!" Another Celestial Dragon kicked and punched the Marine beside him.

However, as those invisible ripples swept past, they seemed to carry a certain power of "stripping away."

Several Celestial Dragons standing by the rail didn’t even have time to scream before their bodies dissipated under the horrified gaze of the surrounding Marines and CP members!

The "ringed eyes" had long since vanished from Satan Saint’s eyes, returning to his own expression of uncertainty, filled with the arrogance of a superior, yet unaware of what was happening.

He only saw that the entire field of vision, the entire sky, and the entire ocean were being stained and devoured by that boundless, hellish blood-red!

"This... is this...?!" Satan Saint’s thoughts stalled.

On the deck, a young Marine soldier stared blankly at the scene, his weapon slipping from his hand as he muttered to himself:

"Is this... divine punishment? As expected... I shouldn’t have... protected these pigs..."

A Celestial Dragon nearby, who had just been helped up by a servant and was still shaken, happened to hear this and flew into a rage, pointing at the soldier:

"You lowly commoner! Who are you calling names?! I will have you..." His roar came to an abrupt end.

Because the blood-red "light" had already brushed over his body.

His roar, his anger, his noble body, along with his luxurious robes, all dissipated into red light dust in the same instant, disappearing into this red glow of finality, indistinguishable from the object of his insults.

Silent, yet magnificent beyond measure.

The ships that symbolized the supreme authority of the World Government, along with the Celestial Dragons, CP guards, and Marines aboard, quietly... annihilated in this slowly covering blood-red.

No wreckage, no ripples, as if they had never existed.

Meanwhile, far away at the peak of the Red Line, in Mary Geoise, in the deepest part of Pangea Castle, the "Flower Chamber."

That dark figure who had been sitting there—Imu’s true form—suddenly stood up!

On that face, which had always been as calm as an ancient well and seemingly in control of everything, for the first time, an unconcealable terror appeared!

"What... what is that thing?!!" Its voice carried a hint of imperceptible trembling,

"That kind of power... ’Finality’... ’Void’... absolutely cannot let... absolutely..."

Its thoughts seemed to experience a momentary disorder and blankness, as if some crucial "cognition" or "memory" had been forcibly erased from a corner.

"...Hm?" The terror on Imu’s face suddenly froze, then turned into pure confusion. It tilted its head slightly, as if carefully perceiving something, or perhaps struggling to recall,

"Just now... what happened? I seem to have... wanted to say something important?"

It raised its hand, brow furrowed: "My ’contract’... why are there two extra empty slots? Did something go wrong? Or... did I forget something?"

...On the coast.

"Clang."

The crisp sound of the sword returning to its scabbard rang out. The nodachi "Wu" was steadily returned to its scabbard, and all phenomena instantly receded.

The glowing white hair, starting from the roots, was rapidly dyed back to its wild pink-purple.

The red mark on the right eye disappeared, the eerie red patterns on the skin faded, and the glaring scarlet on the right hand also receded, returning to its original skin tone.

"Hoo—"

A long stream of white mist was slowly exhaled from Charlotte Linlin’s mouth.

The terrifying aura around her quickly receded.

She looked up, gazing toward the distance between the sea and the sky.

The sea surface there was unusually calm, as if nothing had happened.

It was just that above that sky, a blood-red "sword mark" remained, stretching across the horizon.

"As long as I don’t get close to you, you have no possibility of controlling me." Charlotte Linlin whispered to herself, a sharp light flashing in her eyes.

She didn’t know the characteristics of Imu’s ability to control people, so to be safe, she still refused to have close contact with it.

"However, if it weren’t for the reference of my ’past life’ memories, I would even suspect whether you were a scenario caused by some Ancient Weapon..."

Her gaze fell upon the red sword mark in the sky.

"Is it because of the rules of this world? Or is it because I still cannot fully control this power?"

She looked at the "Wu" in her hand, thoughtful. "You actually contain the concept of devouring ’memories’... It’s somewhat similar to the ability of that Hobi Hobi no Mi in some aspects..."

She finally understood why she had no memory of drawing the sword earlier, even though she felt she had used "Wu."

Having solved the core of the problem, Charlotte Linlin turned around and looked toward the center of the island. There, although the roar of battle had weakened, three powerful auras were still entangled and clashing.

"Was my hypothesis wrong?"

Her figure moved, her Dragon Wings unfurled behind her, and she turned into a streak of light once again, rushing toward the final battlefield on God Valley.

On the sea surface, only that blood-red sword mark remained, seemingly destined to stay in the sky forever.

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