At the center of the island, Adams, who had kept his eyes closed while using Observation Haki to sense the entire battlefield, slowly opened them.
His senses told him that, aside from his own subordinates, every trace belonging to the World Pirates had completely vanished from the island.
"Is it over...?"
He had just let out a slight breath of relief, intending to ask Lafitte why he had suddenly left the island.
Then, his expression abruptly changed. With utmost gravity, he suddenly turned to look at the top of the towering stone pillar behind him.
In his perception, World's aura, which had been like a candle flickering in the wind, suddenly began blazing madly as if drenched in boiling oil.
"Rumble!"
The stone pillar exploded. World, his entire body covered in jet-black Armament Haki, forcibly shattered the earth and rock restraining him through sheer brute strength.
Using Geppo to remain suspended in midair, he did not even look down at Adams first. Instead, he lunged madly toward the much smaller humanoid shape nearby.
He frantically dug with his bare hands, pulling Byjack from the shattered rocks. Yet what entered his sight was his brother's corpse, bleeding from every orifice, long devoid of breath, his body already turning stiff and cold.
A slightly yellowed sheet of paper drifted from Byjack's cold embrace. World instinctively reached out and caught it. It seemed to be a child's doodle, depicting two crooked little figures holding hands, with a line written beside them in childish handwriting:
"See the whole world with my brother."
Time seemed to freeze at that moment. That thin sheet of paper felt heavier than a thousand tons, crushing World's last remaining nerve.
"Ah... Aaaahhh—!!!"
World let out a heart-rending roar that barely sounded human. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot as endless