The next morning.
The torrential rain over Mary Geoise had not completely stopped.
But footage of the Heaven-Severing Ladder had already crossed the Red Line ahead of it, spreading across the seas through News Coos, Image Shells, and underground routes.
The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon had shattered.
The gates to the Slave District had opened.
The central granary had burned.
God's Knights had appeared.
And finally, there was the figure of the Revolutionary Army's commander-in-chief standing in the downpour.
The Revolutionary Army had not captured Mary Geoise. They had not even truly entered Pangaea Castle.
Yet everyone who saw that footage understood something that almost no one had dared to truly believe for centuries.
The Holy Land could be fought.
The so-called gods could bleed.
West Blue.
Gram Kingdom.
The central plaza of the royal capital had long been packed with people, with a massive Visual Den Den Mushi mounted at the highest point.
On the screen, Sabo stood before Mary Geoise's central avenue.
Three fingers curled as Armament Haki covered his arm.
The next second.
Boom—!
Dragon Claw descended.
The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon, which had stood tall for who knew how many years, exploded from the center, sending chunks of stone flying.
The enormous emblem that had symbolized the Celestial Dragons' rule for centuries shattered into wreckage before countless eyes.
There were no cheers in the plaza, at least not at first.
Everyone simply stared upward, so silent that they could hear the lingering echo of the explosion from the Image Shell.
Then the footage changed.
In Mary Geoise's Slave District, cell doors opened one after another.
At first, no one dared to leave.
Those who had been imprisoned for too long merely huddled in the corners, staring outside in terror.
Until the first woman