True Evil

A massive fireball the size of all Loguetown appeared high above their heads, blazing like a dazzling sun, and along with it came a crazed voice.

"Hahaha... How could an era like this not get your blood pumping..."

"Get ready to set sail, everyone! Let me send you on your way!"

"There is no reason in this world that can stop a man from going out to sea on an adventure!"

As his words fell, on the frozen sea, the people aboard every pirate ship all looked up excitedly at the man in the sky, as dazzling as the sun.

"Boys, what are you standing around for? Raise the sails... raise the sails..."

"We can't refuse a grand gift from Ye Mu, captain of the Sky Pirates..."

"That's right... There is no reason that can stop a man from going out to sea..."

Seeing the pirates' suppressed morale soar once more, Sengoku, as an admiral, finally could not sit still.

From the direction of the Loguetown marines, golden light blazed, and a huge golden Buddha appeared in everyone's sight. Its hands clenched, and a fist visible to the naked eye lifted high.

"Damn you, Ye Mu of the Sky Pirates... Do you know what you're doing? If you let these evil pirates go... how many people will lose their homes and families because of it..."

"Hahahaha."

Hearing Sengoku's furious question resound through heaven and earth, Ye Mu kept forcefully feeding flames into the fireball above his head, raising its temperature, while laughing loudly in response.

"You're not wrong, Admiral Sengoku... Pirates may be evil beings, guilty of the worst crimes, but as an admiral, you should understand what the true evil of this world is..."

The words made even Sengoku freeze, but what Ye Mu said next made his expression change drastically. He was so horrified that he even forgot to attack.

"It is the Celestial Dragons who sit high above everyone else... It is the World Government..."

"Evil pirates may destroy countless families, but the Celestial Dragons... the World Government, destroy entire countries one after another..."

"If this world is really as peaceful as you say, then why are there still so many pirates..."

"Where did the evil pirates you speak of come from..."

"Tell me, Sengoku. As marines who serve the World Government and dogs of the Celestial Dragons, how many countries have you destroyed? How many islands? How many families..."

"If you truly insist on that so-called justice of yours, then do as I did. Kill a Celestial Dragon first, then come lecture me..."

Ye Mu's terrifying declaration, practically a provocation against the World Government, left the entire sea, even Loguetown, frozen in terror. Even the marines and pirates who had been fighting stopped at the same time and stared at it all.

"Big news... Big news! You idiots, did you record all of that..."

Morgans was already completely worked up.

"Bastard... He actually dared to provoke the World Government... No, we absolutely cannot let these villains go. I have to tell the Five Elders and have them send CP0..."

Spandine's face had gone deathly pale from fright.

"Fuffuffuffuffu... What a terrifying proclamation... This era is about to boil over completely..."

"Hee hishishishi... Damn it... Isn't this guy shining a little too brightly..."

"Captain Roger... Is this why you took notice of this guy..."

"Looks like I really wasn't wrong. Captain Ye Mu has the same ideal as me. In that case, old man, even if I have to die here, I can't let you get past me now..."

And by then, Ye Mu was ready.

"Enel, come back. Tiger, get ready. We're pulling out."

"Oh... Got it."

Enel, who had been facing off against Kizaru, instantly flickered, turning into a bolt of lightning and vanishing from in front of Kizaru. Kizaru, however, did not give chase, because he smelled an extremely dangerous aura.

Because the instant Ye Mu spoke, the enormous fireball above his head, as large as half of Loguetown, rapidly shrank into a terrifying pitch-black sphere only the size of a fist.

Though it was so far away, his Observation Haki sent him a feeling of extreme danger.

"Whoa, whoa... This move... is way too scary."

Sengoku also sensed how terrifying this move was. The shock in his heart from earlier had already been cast aside. He absolutely could not let this attack be unleashed—that became the only thought in his mind.

In an instant, the golden light around Sengoku flared even brighter, and a shock wave visible to the naked eye condensed in his hand. His entire body became a blur as he flew toward Ye Mu.

"I will absolutely not let you pirates escape and endanger the world... This is my justice!!!!"

Looking at Sengoku flying toward him, Ye Mu's heart remained as calm as ever.

"Too late..."

"Apollo's Wrath..."

As the words fell, the black energy sphere in Ye Mu's hand shot out like a cannonball.

At that moment, Sengoku, who had already reached Ye Mu's side and was just about to strike, had his expression change drastically. His entire body stopped moving, and he turned his head back with difficulty.

The target of that black energy sphere was not him at all, but Loguetown and the marines in the distance.

"Damn it... Ye Mu, you bastard..."

Though Kuzan and Kizaru were there, Sengoku did not dare be careless at all.

He instantly canceled his attack, flashed away, and prepared to use his own shock wave to stop the energy sphere from falling onto Loguetown.

But just then, an anomaly appeared that even his Observation Haki had failed to catch.

The black energy sphere before his eyes was about to collide with his shock wave.

But suddenly, as if someone were controlling it, the energy sphere forcibly changed its course, then swept past him in a parabola and dropped from the sky.

"No... impossible..."

Disbelief was written all over Sengoku's face as he watched the black sphere fall and vanish completely into the ice.

And the place where it fell was precisely the dividing line separating the Marines from the pirates.

"Crack..."

At that moment, the entire world fell silent. Across the vast frozen sea, the only sound was something breaking.

The cracking grew louder and louder.

Cracks began to spread across the ice, visible to the naked eye, and scalding steam blasted out from within them with a piercing shriek.

At that moment, all the powerful figures who had mastered Observation Haki sensed the massive surge beneath the seawater. Even ordinary people could hear the rumbling from the depths below, as if some terrifying thing were about to burst up from the seabed.

"Boom..."

Before long, the piercing shriek ended, replaced by towering jets of scalding water that erupted like volcanoes, blasting straight into the sky from the cracked ice and completely cutting the pirates off from the Marines.

But it did not stop there. As the chain reaction of explosions continued beneath the surface, more and more ice shattered, until finally, everything erupted at once.

"Boom..."

Before everyone's eyes, a wave four or five hundred meters high rose into view, blotting out the sky...