After the Allied vanguard pushed open the city gates and poured in, not a single person could be seen on the main street.
The soldiers searched house to house. The shops were ajar, their shelves piled high with jewels, silks, and spices, but the counters were empty.
In the royal palace's sleeping quarters, the bed was neatly made, and the teapot on the table was still steaming slightly, as if its owner had just left.
"Report! Search of the East District complete. No living people found!"
Report! It's not in the West District either!
"No ships are entering or leaving the port area, and the mooring lines on the dock are still there!"
Scouts returned wave after wave with their reports, and each report made Roy's expression grow even more somber.
Thousands of Celestial Dragons, along with their servants, guards, officials, and the entire population of Pangaea Castle, seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Roy walked to the square in the center of the city.
There is a huge fountain here, with crystal-clear water and gold coins scattered on the bottom.
All the shops around the square were open, sunlight streamed in, and everything looked perfectly normal.
Roy activated his Observation Haki and probed downwards.
His senses traveled through the stone slabs of the plaza, through the ground, through underground rivers and caves, probing ever downwards.
The deeper you go, the higher the concentration of the black fog becomes.
The mist was cold and rotten, carrying a fishy, sweet smell that sent chills down your spine.
The senses continued to penetrate deeper, passing through a thick slab of rock, revealing a vast space below.
Roy's Observation Haki detected the last traces of life in that space.
There were many, many scents, but they were all dissipating rapidly.
Roy's expression changed.
Before he could even speak, the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to tremble violently.
"Buzz--!"
A deep humming sound came from underground, like the low growl of an ancient behemoth awakening from its slumber.
The stone slabs on the ground began to crack, and the cracks spread from the center of the square in all directions, from which a dark, eerie light seeped out.
The entire Pangaea Castle was trembling; the reliefs on the exterior walls of the buildings were peeling off, the spires on the towers were breaking, and rubble was falling like raindrops.
"An earthquake?!" Usopp clung to a nearby pillar, his face pale.
"Wrong."
Robin crouched down, placing his palms on the ground, feeling the frequency and direction of the vibrations.
"The vibrations are rhythmic. Something underground is starting up."
Deep underground.
Hundreds of meters below Pangaea Castle lies a massive underground palace hidden in the rock strata.
The palace's dome was so high that it seemed to reach the top, and its walls were inlaid with black stone coffins, each one covered with dense, ancient patterns.
In the center of the palace was an open space several hundred meters in diameter, and in the very center of that space, a huge pentagram magic circle was awakening.
Shamrock stood in the very center of the magic circle.
His eyes were pitch black, and he wore a sickly smile. His body, hidden beneath his black robe, had swelled up, and dark veins could be faintly seen pulsating beneath his skin.
He raised his hands high, chanting ancient and distorted incantations.
Within the enormous magic circle, all the Celestial Dragons who had vanished were now present.
People of all ages, men and women, gathered there, their faces ashen.
Their bodies had been mostly swallowed up by the magic array, leaving only their upper bodies exposed. Their skin was dry and cracked, their hair had fallen out, and their eye sockets were sunken.
Every time Shamrock utters a syllable, the light of the magic circle brightens a little, and a wisp of the Black Turn energy in the Celestial Dragons's body is drawn away.
"For the Holy Land... for eternal life..."
Shamrock's voice echoed through the empty palace, filled with an almost frenzied devotion.
Your sacrifice will forge an eternal bulwark!
An elderly Celestial Dragons struggled to lift his head, his chapped lips moving slightly:
" Shamrock... you madman... we... are your people..."
"Clan members?"
Shamrock glanced down at him, his smile devoid of any warmth.
"After enjoying eight hundred years of glory, it's now your turn to pay the price for the World Government. You should feel honored."
The light of the magic circle grew brighter and brighter, and one by one the Celestial Dragons ' bodies turned to ashes. Pure Black Turn energy rose from the ashes and poured into the light sphere at the center of the magic circle.
The sphere of light expanded to its maximum size, then exploded with a deafening roar.
The black and red light pierced through the earth's layers, shooting up from the ground to the surface and exploding into a black curtain of light above Pangaea Castle.
Black mist began to seep from the cracks in the ground.
The black mist condensed into twisted claws that emerged from the cracks, gripping the ground and tearing the fissures even wider.
A deformed, twisted Black Turn monster crawled out of the crack, its faceless head split open into a gaping maw full of sharp teeth, its limbs as thin as withered branches, and its nails as sharp as knives.
They have no mind, only the instinct to kill; they pounce on anyone they see.
"Enemy attack--!"
The soldier in the front row had barely uttered a shout when a Black Turn monster lunged at him.
The claws slashed down, and the soldier raised his sword to parry, but the blade was snapped in two by the claws. The monster's other claw plunged into his chest.
The soldier screamed and fell to the ground.
More monsters poured out of the cracks, crawled out of the alleys, and emerged from the palace ruins, densely packed and overwhelming.
They pounced on the allied soldiers, their claws tearing through armor and their teeth Bone Crusher.
Caught off guard, the Allied vanguard was instantly routed.
"Form ranks! Form ranks now!"
The captains shouted at the top of their lungs, but there were too many monsters to stop them.
The soldiers retreated step by step, and the pile of corpses beneath their feet grew ever larger.
Shamrock's voice came from underground, spreading through the black mist throughout the entire Pangaea Castle:
"Those who desecrate this sacred land will become sacrifices for the Black Turn! This city will be your graves!"
Tesoro was the first to react, and he unleashed his Golden Domain at full power, with liquid gold gushing from the ground and condensing into a massive golden barrier in front of the allied forces.
The Black Turn monster slammed into the barrier, its claws scratching at the golden surface, producing a piercing scraping sound.
The barrier visibly caved in, revealing fine cracks.
"Damn it!" Tesoro gritted his teeth and shouted, "What kind of monsters are these!?"
Bullet transformed into an orc and charged forward, using his body to block the barrier. Sparks flew from the monster's claws across his hard surface.
Hawk Eyes transformed into a flash of light, unleashing a series of slashes that annihilated a group of monsters, but even more surged out from the cracks.
Brook's frost sword energy froze an area, but the ice was torn apart by the monster's claws a few seconds later.
Luffy Gear Fifth full power, unleashing Giant Pistol that sent a burst of Conqueror's Haki Inazuma flying, shattering monsters within a radius of tens of meters into black mist.
But the black mist quickly reformed, and the monster took shape again.
"Unkillable?!" Luffy's eyes widened.
"Use Conqueror's Haki!"
Roy's voice came from behind. He hovered in mid-air, his Observation Haki scanning the entire battlefield.
" The Conqueror's Haki can hurt them, but ordinary cadres can't withstand it for long."
Everyone, listen to my command!
He looked down at the cadres below, his voice steady and powerful:
"Form ranks and cover the retreat of ordinary soldiers to the edge of the Red Line."
Do not linger in battle, do not engage in direct combat, provide alternating cover, and retreat in an orderly manner.