Time froze. Everything stood still.
Only the finger reaching out from the depths of the starry sky, covered in a silver gauntlet, remained in "motion" within this frozen world. Slowly, steadily, with unquestionable, absolute authority, it pointed toward the golden orb, most of which was wrapped in purple-black runic chains.
Imu's voice seeped into everyone's souls like the cold cosmic background radiation. "Those who steal fire will ultimately burn in its flames. Joy Boy's legacy has wandered for eight hundred years. It is time it returned to its true master."
Before the finger arrived, a terrifying will that froze souls and denied existence descended ahead of it. As though receiving the highest command, the purple-black runic chains around the golden orb suddenly blazed brighter and tightened further. They even began eating away at the orb's own warm radiance, trying to stain it a cold silver.
Lin Yan's body was locked in place by an invisible force of spacetime. Even his thoughts seemed to slow. Yet under this ultimate pressure, the Nika Core inside him instead let out a furious roar of defiance! The will of liberation, awakened to 62%, thrashed like a trapped beast, frantically battering the restraints around him!
Move... damn it, move!! Lin Yan roared inwardly, his very soul burning. The anxious faces of Ace, Luffy, and Sabo were frozen before his eyes. The data Robin had risked her life to protect, the hopeful looks of Rayleigh and the others, Shirahoshi's call across the ocean... countless images flashed through his mind.
It couldn't end here! He absolutely couldn't stand by and watch Imu take this legacy that carried so many people's hopes!
Perhaps it was the fierce resistance of Nika's will. Perhaps it was the blazing heat the brothers' Vivre Cards released in this desperate moment. Perhaps it