November 30, Kaiyuan Year 7.
Fruit Star.
The former world of One Piece.
The midday sunlight poured down, turning the boundless sea a blinding white.
Amid the rolling waves, the murderous tension between the two opposing armies seemed to freeze the air itself.
A massive steel warship cleaved through the waves at the head of the fleet.
At its bow stood Water Governor Karatachi Yagura, his cold gaze crossing the surging sea to settle on the army of Celestial Dragons opposite him.
More than two years of conquest had turned this sea upside down.
The former Four Emperors, Seven Warlords of the Sea, and Navy Headquarters had either submitted or been destroyed, all brought beneath the Empire's order.
The ingenious methods of the Imperial Academy of Sciences had even extracted an entirely new power system from this world's source of strength—Devil Fruit bloodlines.
Their effects differed little from the Kekkei Genkai of the Shinobi World. What was astonishing was that fruit bloodlines could coexist with ninjutsu bloodlines.
The most outstanding among them were naturally the "Immortal Peaches" personally refined by the emperor.
Eating a single one could create an earth-tier powerhouse.
The "Blood Peaches," made from slightly inferior "raw materials," were also awarded for meritorious service, flowing steadily to every major front.
As a result, the Water Province's army had gained dozens of high-tier cultivators.
The fourth tier and the third tier were separated by a clear divide. Apart from members of the Imperial Family, no one had yet broken through by ordinary means.
Karatachi Yagura himself had received an Immortal Peach for his contribution of the Human–Tailed Beast Fusion Technique.
Now, even in his normal state, he had undergone a complete transformation. Combining all three forms of Haki, the Ice-Ice Fruit, and the Ice Release bloodline, he had become