Chapter 116: The Hunter and the Siege

[Jasmine POV]

The Den Den Mushi in my hand suddenly felt very heavy. The receiver was quiet, save for the faint crackle of static.

Victor was not a man who worried. He treated Admirals like sparring partners and Warlords like minor inconveniences. So, when he said he had “incredibly concerning news,” a chilling silence fell over the refugee camp at the base of the Giant Jack. Law, Peter, Jacob, and Maria gathered closely around the snail.

“What happened?” I asked, my grip tightening on the receiver.

“I just received an intelligence from my Underworld contacts,” Victor’s voice echoed through the shell, tight and pragmatic. “A few days ago, a massive three-way war broke out in the Alabasta desert. Warlord Crocodile, Eustass Kid, and Basil Hawkins. It leveled miles of the country.”

Law frowned, pulling his spotted hat down. “Three top-tier bounties colliding in Paradise? That’s a bloodbath. Who won?”

“None of them,” Victor replied flatly. “According to the report, right at the climax of the battle, an unknown third party intervened. And as of right now… Crocodile, Kid, and Hawkins are all missing. Vanished without a trace.”

A heavy, suffocating tension settled over us.

“Missing?” Peter repeated, his brow furrowing. “You mean someone abducted a Warlord and two of the Captains with over a 100 million berries at the exact same time?”

“Looks like someone is actively hunting the biggest players on the board,” Victor confirmed. “We don’t know who they are but I do know this: a flashy war up in the sky involving a new Warlord, Golden Lion Shiki, and a self-proclaimed God is a massive beacon. If we drag this out, we might draw the attention of whatever monster just cleared out Alabasta.”

I looked out at the terrified Skypiean and Shandian refugees, huddled behind the massive wooden roots of the beanstalk.

“You are right we don’t have the luxury of dragging this out” Law spoke up, leaning into the Den Den Mushi. “Peter and I just got back from the strongholds. And we are sitting on two separate doomsday clocks.”

There was a brief pause on the line. I could almost hear Victor doing the tactical math in his head.

“Then we don’t let them pull the triggers,” Victor finally said, his voice shedding its tension, replaced by the freezing, absolute authority of a captain going to war. “The time for distractions and stalling is over. We dismantle both empires right now, from the inside out. Jasmine, Koala and Law can take command over their head towards Enel position, your ability will be useful in taking down the God.”

[Victor POV]

High above the ruins of Upper Yard, I hung up the receiver. I stood up from the railing of the Titan’s Glory, the wind whipping my coat around my legs.

Ace was already standing, a fierce, reckless grin spreading across his face as flames began to lick across his shoulders. Laura flexed her hands, the adamantium claws sliding out with a sharp, deadly snikt, while Gammamon let out an eager, rumbling growl.

“Alright,” I said, looking at my crew. “We split the team. We hit both strongholds before they can launch their attacks.”

“I call the Lion,” Ace claimed immediately, punching a fiery fist into his open palm.

“Sounds good,” I nodded. “Ace, Laura, Gammamon. You are Team Lion. Board Shiki’s floating fortress. I don’t care how many mutants or mercenaries are in your way. You destroy those artillery bays before Indigo can fire that pathogen. Once the gas is contained, take Shiki’s head.”

“You got it, Captain,” Laura said. As Ace’s lower body ignited into a roaring pillar of plasma. He grabbed Laura by the back of her vest and scooped Gammamon under his other arm. With a concussive blast of fire, Ace launched off the deck of the galleon like a living meteor, rocketing westward toward the floating islands.

I turned to Robin. She was standing calmly by the mast, crossing her arms.

“That leaves, the God to us,” I said, tapping into my core. The familiar, thrumming hum of arcane energy pooled in my veins.

“The Ark Maxim is already ascending,” Robin noted, looking eastward. Above the Golden Shrine, a colossal flying ship made of solid gold had breached the cloud cover. Above its massive rotors, the sky was beginning to violently churn, swirling into a pitch-black, crackling thundercloud. The Raigo was forming.

“Then we’d better catch our flight, If we reach after Jasmine does she wont let me hear the end of it afterwards.” I said.

I commanded the Sky-Rock to change direction and head towards the Ark Maxim it was time to find out how strong was this God in reality

[General POV]

Deep in the overgrown ruins of the jungle, the chaotic remnants of the two armies were licking their wounds.

Priest Ohm pushed himself up from the rubble, clutching his bruised chest where Peter had struck him. Nearby, Priest Satori was whimpering in agony, his shoulder completely shattered when Peter attacked him with his tail.

From the tree line, Dr. Indigo emerged, his clothes torn and his face covered in soot. Behind him limped Scarlet, the massive mutant gorilla. Law’s attack had completely removed Scarlet’s right arm, replacing it with a jagged, useless chunk of concrete rubble grafted directly to his shoulder.

The elite commanders of Enel’s divine guard and Shiki’s pirate armada stared at each other across the clearing. Just an hour ago, they had been slaughtering each other in a bitter civil war.

“Your ‘God’ seems to be struggling with a few Blue Sea rats,” Indigo squeaked maliciously, eyeing Ohm’s injuries.

“Silence, heretic,” Ohm spat, leaning heavily on his iron whip-sword. “Those rats defile the sacred grounds of the Giant Jack. They possess strange, demonic magic.”

Indigo frowned, adjusting his colorful scarf. “They also ruined my laboratory and destroyed my machine. And unfortunately for both of us, it looks like they’ve fortified the center of the island. If we try to push past them individually, they’ll pick us off.”

Ohm looked at the massive horde of White Berets gathering behind him. Indigo looked at the hundreds of heavily armed pirate mercenaries and chemically enhanced beasts snarling in the brush.

They hated each other. But they both understood the terrifying reality of the situation. The Warlord’s crew had armed the native refugees with weapons that defied reality. If they didn’t crush the camp at the Giant Jack, neither of their empires would survive the day.

“A temporary truce,” Ohm declared coldly, his pale dog growling in agreement. “We combine our forces. We march on the Giant Jack. We slaughter the Blue Sea dwellers, and we execute every last Skypiean and Shandian hiding behind their walls.”

“Agreed,” Indigo grinned, drawing his chemical daggers. “Let’s go squash some bugs.”

[Jacob POV]

The ground beneath my boots began to vibrate.

It started as a low, rhythmic thrumming, like a distant heartbeat. But within seconds, it escalated into a deafening, shaking the very ground. The massive wooden roots of the Giant Jack trembled, shedding leaves and ancient dust.

I stood at the front of the barricades alongside Koala, Law, Peter, Maria, and Gwen. We peered into the dense, foggy canopy of the jungle.

“Looks like both sides have reached a truce in order to take us down,” Peter said, his eyes narrowing as his Observation haki senses extended into the trees. “And now they’re moving together.”

The tree line violently parted.

It was like a mismatched ocean of chaos. Thousands of Enel’s White Berets marched in perfect, terrifying synchronization, flanked by Shiki’s hulking, neon-veined mutant gorillas and giant avian horrors. Pirate mercenaries wielding heavy cannons and swords poured through the brush, screaming for blood.

Leading the charge were the bruised but furious commanders: Priest Ohm, Dr. Indigo, and the one-armed gorilla, Scarlet.

“That is… a lot of bodies,” Gwen muttered, her Symbiote suit rippling over her skin as she took a low stance.

Law drew Kikoku, the long blade sliding out of its scabbard with a sharp hiss. “I’ll carve up the front line. Jacob, use your speed to break their archers.”

I cracked my knuckles, feeling the explosive power pooling in my calves. “Got it.”

But before Law could cast his Room, a hand clamped down firmly on my shoulder.

I looked back. Koala stood there. She wasn’t looking at the massive army charging toward us. She was looking at the terrified, trembling faces of the Shandian and Skypiean refugees clustered behind the barricades.

“No,” Koala said, her voice cutting through the roar of the approaching army. “We step back.”

“Koala, are you crazy?” I asked, pointing at the horde. “There are thousands of them!”

“And if we fight them, we are just another set of saviors doing the heavy lifting,” Koala said fiercely. She turned to face the refugees. “This is their home. They don’t need us to protect it. They just needed the tools to take it back.”

Koala looked directly at Wyper, who was gripping his duplicated Flame Gun, his eyes wide as he stared at the approaching forces of the men who had ruined his life.

“Wyper!” Koala shouted, her voice echoing with the authority of a Revolutionary Commander. “This is your land! Defend it!”

Wyper blinked. He looked at the massive army. He looked at the heavy gun in his hands. Then, he looked at Isa and little Aisa, who were watching him with absolute, unwavering faith.

The fierce, tribal fire reignited in Wyper’s eyes.

“Shandians!” Wyper roared, stepping past us and vaulting to the very top of the stone barricade. “Skypieans! Form the line!”

To my absolute shock, the refugees listened to Wyper. The generational hatred, the decades of fear, it all evaporated. Over two hundred men and women, wings pointing up and wings pointing down, rushed forward. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder along the massive roots of the Giant Jack, forming a unified, unbreakable wall of bodies.

“Kill them all!” Dr. Indigo shrieked from the front of the charge.

The combined army of pirates and priests unleashed hell. A tidal wave of cannon fire, explosive spheres, and concentrated lightning bolts tore through the air, hurtling directly toward the barricades.

“Hold the line!” Wyper screamed, raising his hand. “NOW!”

Two hundred refugees simultaneously thrust their hands forward, pulsing their willpower into the copied Reflect cards.

The air itself seemed to shatter. A colossal, blindingly bright hexagonal grid flared to life, curving into a massive, impenetrable dome that covered the entire base of the Giant Jack.

The cannonballs, the explosions, and the lightning slammed into the barrier.

And then, the sky burned as every single attack was violently bounced back.