After clearing out the monster horde, Roy ordered the entire army to rest and recuperate on the spot.
The medical team ran up from the rear carrying boxes of medicine and began bandaging the wounded.
The logistics troops took over the warehouses in Pangaea Castle and inventoried all the usable weapons, food, and medicine inside.
The soldiers found a patch of undamaged square and sat down in twos and threes to rest, some eating their rations and others cleaning their knives.
A young soldier leaned against the wall, still clutching his knife, staring at the mess on the ground, speechless for a long time.
An old soldier next to him patted him on the shoulder and handed him a pot of water. Neither of them said a word.
The warehouses in Pangaea Castle were filled with many good things.
Tesoro personally led the team to select the goods, and his eyes lit up when they came out.
He leaned close to Roy's ear and whispered:
"Boss, the treasures in this city are enough for us to fight a war for ten years."
The gold artifacts alone filled three warehouses, along with antiques and luxury goods that the Celestial Dragons had plundered from all over the world.
"Register first, don't move," Roy said. "We'll talk after this battle."
Not long after, Ace arrived with the Whitebeard Pirates.
As soon as he stepped ashore, he was stunned for a long time by the sight of the city in ruins and the smooth surfaces left on the streets after the black fog had swept through.
The ground was unbelievably clean; there wasn't even a single monster's corpse, not even a drop of blood.
But he clearly saw the sky-covering black fog from outside the city and heard the teeth-grinding hissing sound coming from underground.
"What... is going on?" Ace pointed to the empty streets.
"Hey! It's Roy!"
Luffy walked up from behind, pointing to the empty street, " Roy did it all by himself."
Ace opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He knew Roy, but to this extent was still beyond his imagination.
He recalled the time he first met Roy; Roy had always seemed so nonchalant.
Looking at the city that had been emptied by one person, I suddenly felt like all my training over the past few years had been for nothing.
Immediately afterwards, Long arrived with the main force of the Revolutionary Army.
The three armies joined forces in the central square of Pangaea Castle.
The Hachinosu Flag, the Whitebeard Pirates Flag, the Revolutionary Army, and the Straw Hat Grand Fleet Flag were planted side by side around the square, fluttering in the wind.
The leaders from all sides met briefly in the square.
Ace recounted the battle situation at Sabaody Archipelago: Akainu was defeated, Aokiji was captured, and Garp retreated with the remaining troops.
Dragon also explained the situation Four Blues: the Revolutionary Army had taken over most of the naval outposts, and a new order was being established.
Sabo added that there was widespread panic within the navy, and many young Vice Admiral had begun to secretly contact the Revolutionary Army.
Everyone knows these are all peripheral matters.
The real final battle has not yet begun.
Robin and her archaeological team were the first to descend underground.
The pentagram array is still there, but most of its energy has dissipated.
She squatted beside the magic circle, her fingers gently tracing the patterns carved into the stone, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
Roy went down underground himself.
He stood in the center of the magic circle, his Observation Haki like a needle, probing deep into the main veins.
He passed through layer after layer of rock, and finally, in the deepest part of the cave, he sensed a vast stone chamber.
The stone chamber was so large that even his Observation Haki couldn't reach its edge in a short time.
The walls of the stone chamber were covered with ancient patterns similar to those in Laugh Tale, which emitted a faint light in his perception, flickering like breath.
Inside the stone chamber were nineteen stone coffins.
Each stone coffin harbors an ancient, cold, and powerful aura.
Those auras were as deep as the ocean and as cold as winter, each one more than ten times stronger than any black-robed man he had ever seen before.
Nineteen auras remained quietly inside the stone coffin, like nineteen hibernating beasts.
Roy slowly withdrew his Observation Haki.
He understood.
The Imu that appeared in Elbaf is a container.
The Five Elders are pawns on the stage.
Those men in black robes are expendable.
Shamrock is an enforcer.
The ones who truly sit at the highest position in the World Government are these nineteen ancient kings who have lived for eight hundred years.
They never left this underground stone chamber from the very beginning, maintaining their broken immortality through the Black Turn System, remotely controlling the entire world from the darkness for eight hundred years.
When Roy emerged from underground, his face was grim.
In the square, all the leaders were waiting for him.
"What's next?" Luffy was the first to jump over and ask, his eyes sparkling.
"Nineteen old monsters."
"A true World Government."
The square fell silent for a moment.
How do we fight?
Kaido asked directly; he never liked beating around the bush.
Roy looked around and began making arrangements.
"All soldiers and officers without top-tier Conqueror's Haki should remain on the ground."
Guard the entrances and exits of Pangaea Castle to prevent any further accidents.
"There's no use having too many people underground; they'll just get wiped out by those old monsters."
He paused, then added:
" Tesoro, you are in charge of ground command."
Kyros guards the ascending path.
If anything comes out from underground, don't ask for permission, just shoot.
Tesoro abandoned his usual carefree demeanor and nodded solemnly:
"Understood, boss."
Roy stretched out his finger and pointed at them one by one.
"I, Luffy, Kaido, King, Bullet, Hawk Eyes, Loki, Shanks, Beckman, Ace, Dragon, Red Count Yamato, Zoro, Sanji, Hancock."
"Fifteen. Follow me down."
Luffy was the first to raise his fist:
"Finally, it's time to beat up the real boss!"
Kaido, carrying the Hassaikai, laughed wildly to the sky:
"No problem!"
"I want to see just how capable this eight-hundred-year-old monster really is!"
Shanks slowly took a sip of his drink and tucked the empty jug to his waist.
He looked up at the sky, then at Roy, and nodded without saying anything.
Having fought alongside Roy for so many years, he knew what this battle meant.
The lie that has lasted for eight hundred years is about to be torn down today.
Let's go.
Loki slammed Iron Thunder to the ground, and the ground shook three times.
"Let's go. I want to see what those nineteen old geezers actually look like."
Sixteen figures walked step by step into the deepest part of the underground passage.
The passage was long and narrow, with the stone walls on both sides carved with the ancient patterns they had seen in Laugh Tale.
The deeper you go, the colder the air becomes, and the stronger the ancient, oppressive feeling that seems to belong to eight hundred years ago grows.
Roy was walking at the front, could feel the patterns on the stone wall glowing faintly, as if welcoming their arrival.
After walking for about half an hour, the passage came to an end.
No one spoke the entire way.
Only the footsteps of sixteen people echoed in the narrow passage, and the deeper they went, the heavier the oppressive feeling became.
Bullet and Zoro could feel their Demonic Aura emanating uncontrollably. Even Luffy usually the most carefree, lost his smile, and his eyes under his Straw Hat became frighteningly serious.
A massive stone gate blocked the way, with nineteen different emblems carved on it.
Roy reached out and pushed, and the stone door slowly opened to both sides. The sound of the hinges turning echoed underground, like the tolling of an ancient bell.
Behind the door was a huge circular stone chamber.
The dome of the stone chamber was so high that its top could not be seen, and the surrounding stone walls were inlaid with faintly glowing minerals.
In the very center of the stone chamber, nineteen stone coffins are arranged in a neat circle, and in front of each coffin stands a human silhouette that is exactly the same as the coffin.
Shamrock, who had been missing since the start of the war, was now kneeling on one knee inside the stone chamber.
Clumps of black energy continuously emerged from his body and merged into the stone coffin.
Roy stood at the door, his Shusui drawn.
"Arrive."