Eight Chains, Imu's Trump Card, and the Devil Fruits' Revolt

Eight chains materialized from Demonic Energy, each as thick as an arm, their surfaces engraved with dense, ancient patterns, from which flowed a dark golden light.

Eight chains intertwined, like a giant hand slowly closing, firmly sealing something within the core of the Demonic Energy.

Madara's Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan narrowed slightly. He clearly saw the direction of the chains.

The eight chains are arranged in eight directions, and each chain is connected to a node in the core of Demonic Energy.

Those nodes are the Origin power that Imu devoured from the remnants of the Twenty Kings ' souls.

She sealed them within her body with chains, releasing only a portion to maintain her physical form.

Then the dark red mist suddenly erupted.

A terrifying shockwave exploded outwards from Imu, instantly tearing apart the surrounding air.

The chain—or rather, two of the eight chains—trembled violently, cracked, and shattered in the shockwave.

The shattered chain fragments turned into dark red debris, drifting, dissolving, and returning to nothingness in the air.

The moment the two chains snapped, the concentration of Imu Demonic Energy around Im visibly increased, and the pair of giant crimson eyes on her back suddenly lit up for a moment, like a beast that had been sleeping for eight hundred years finally opening one eye.

No one below noticed Imu's change.

Because their attention was drawn to something else.

The Devil Fruit User on the sea shuddered at the same instant.

That feeling is indescribable.

It felt like something inside my body was suddenly gripped, tightened, and then pulled back.

Every Devil Fruit User sensed it.

From the Four Blues to the Grand Line, from the most remote fishing village in the East Blue to the most prosperous island in the New World, from Marine Branch to pirate crews, from royal nobles to street vendors, everyone who has eaten Devil Fruits felt that pull from their Origin at the same moment.

In the small town, a pirate captain suddenly arched his back.

He was drinking in the tavern when his glass slipped from his hand and shattered on the wooden floor.

His pupils suddenly dilated, and he tumbled off the chair, his hands clenching tightly against his chest, his knuckles turning white.

He opened his mouth as if to shout, but only a hoarse, intermittent wheeze came out of his throat.

His body began to contort.

The arm is bent backward at an angle exceeding the joint's limit;

The spine has developed an unwanted curvature;

The limbs were twitching, spasming, and twisting uncontrollably.

His skin began to dry out, spreading from his fingertips to his shoulders, from his toes to his thighs, as if something was draining his flesh from the inside.

"Ah--!! What's happening! What's going on?! My body!! No--!!"

His companions stood by, their expressions shifting from bewilderment to horror, and then to utter terror.

They watched helplessly as their arrogant and domineering captain transformed in mere moments into a twisted, shriveled, and almost unrecognizable monster.

No one dared to approach him; no one knew what to do.

He simply lay on the wooden floor of the tavern, his body bending and twisting, making cracking sounds as if his bones were dislocating. The hissing in his throat grew weaker and weaker until it finally disappeared completely into the chaotic tavern.

On an island in the New World, a banquet is underway.

The pirate captain was standing on the table, holding a wine glass, and loudly addressing his crew members below.

His laughter was loud and clear, and he raised his wine glass high, the amber liquid shimmering in the sunlight.

Then his smile froze. His wine glass slipped from his hand, smashed on the deck, and shattered.

His body began to tremble.

The trembling started in the fingers, spread to the wrists, to the arms, to the shoulders, and finally to the whole body.

His Armament Haki suddenly erupted, and dark, hardened lines spread from his arms to his torso, covering his entire body.

Simultaneously, Observation Haki spread out, like an invisible shield, temporarily isolating the pulling sensation originating from within the body.

His crew rushed to help him, but he pushed them away.

He knelt on the deck, his jaw clenched, veins bulging on his forehead, his entire body enveloped in dark Armament Haki.

The strange movement gradually weakened under his suppression, transforming from a fierce tearing sensation into a faint lingering fear, and finally slowly subsided.

He was panting heavily, and when he looked up, his face was covered in cold sweat.

He had no idea what he had almost gone through, only that if he had been a fraction of a second later to use his Haki to suppress it, his body would have started to twist like the pirates in that small town.

On the North Blue, the Whitebeard Pirates had just wiped out the last remaining member of the North Blue Kingdom's royal family who had resisted.

The Moby Dick's deck still bore the marks of battle, Ace was directing his crew to clean up the battlefield.

Sabo stood on the ship's railing, holding a nautical chart, discussing the upcoming route with Marco.

Then Ace suddenly stopped.

His body trembled violently, and flames burst uncontrollably from his shoulder, only to be forcibly suppressed in the next second.

His expression changed slightly, and Armament Haki flashed across his body, suppressing the strange movement within him.

Sabo also stopped.

Although he wasn't a Devil Fruit user, he sensed Ace's changes and the extremely strange fluctuations permeating the air.

"Ace?" Sabo frowned.

"It's nothing." Ace waved his hand, but his expression wasn't good. "For a moment just now, I felt like the fire inside my body was about to ignite on its own."

At the bow of the Moby Dick, Edward Newgate stood beside Murakumogiri, his gaze sweeping across the entire island.

He sensed it. The fluctuation emanating from the deep sea, the power that was tearing apart all the Devil Fruit User.

His lips twitched, but he didn't say anything.

He simply Murakumogiri onto the deck, his Conqueror's Haki suddenly erupting, dark red electricity exploding from his body and instantly engulfing the entire island.

The Conqueror's Haki shockwave swept across every inch of the island.

The dark red shadows that were moving through the air took shape under the impact of Conqueror's Haki —they were fragments of "devil" forcibly torn out from the bodies of Devil Fruit User, twisting and tumbling in the air like dark red threads.

Wherever the Whitebeard Conqueror's Haki swept, the dark red threads were scattered, shattered, and annihilated one after another.

Ace let out a long breath, and the flames on his shoulder finally stabilized.

Marco glanced at Whitebeard, then at Ace, his brows furrowed deeply.