Elsewhere.
Rock led the eight of them up the steps of a long avenue, the roar of the battle with the Five Elders fading behind them.
The deeper they went, the quieter it became.
The towering buildings on either side shut out the distant sounds of cannon fire. Even the wind carried a stifling, deathly stillness.
Sakazuki suddenly looked up.
"They're here."
Before he had finished speaking, figures emerged one by one from the shadows of the buildings ahead.
At their center stood Saint Garling, draped in the black cloak of God's Knights. His fingers gripped his sword hilt so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
Beside him, Saint Shamrock wore a blank expression, his blade hidden beneath his robe.
Behind them, Gunko, Maffey, and several other senior members of God's Knights stood shoulder to shoulder, sealing off the entire avenue.
Rock did not stop. He kept walking at an unhurried pace.
Garling's face had darkened the moment he saw him. Now it looked uglier than ever.
At God Valley, Rock had driven him into the depths of the sea. After Garling returned, Rock had cut him into little cubes on the spot.
And today, the Navy's warships had sailed right up to the foot of Mary Geoise.
Every last humiliation was the fault of this lowborn wretch standing before him!
Garling clenched his teeth, his voice steeped in venomous hatred. "Rock!!!"
"You lowborn—"
Boom!
Before the words had left his mouth, crimson light flooded the entire avenue.
Sakazuki's right arm turned into surging magma. A colossal molten fist hurtled toward Garling with a shriek that tore through the air.
"Who the hell are you to shout at him, you bastard?!"
"Great Eruption!"
The enormous magma fist nearly swallowed Garling whole.
Shamrock's eyes narrowed. He drew his sword with