The moment the stone door fully opened, the stone chamber was completely filled with an eerie atmosphere.
Roy took a step forward, and Shusui was already unsheathed.
Behind him followed Luffy, Kaido, Hawk Eyes, Loki, Shanks, Ace, Dragon, Yamato Red Count, Zoro, Zoro, Sanji, Hancock, Bullet, King, and Beckman —a total of sixteen people. Their footsteps pounded on the cold stone surface in unison.
The stone chamber was ridiculously large.
The dome was so high that its top was invisible, and the surrounding stone walls were inlaid with faintly glowing minerals, making the entire stone chamber appear to glow intermittently.
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 knelt on one knee in the very center of the circle, and clumps of black energy emerged from his body, as if drained of blood, and slowly melted into the stone coffin.
Clearly, the ceremony had reached its final stage.
Hearing footsteps, Shamrock slowly turned his head.
A near-maniacal laugh hung on that withered face:
"You... you actually dared to come down here."
"Perfect... the ritual is complete... await death!"
"Cough cough!"
As the last few words escaped his lips, his body began to disintegrate from the soles of his feet.
Like weathered limestone, it crumbled into powder inch by inch, merging into the pentagram magic circle beneath its feet.
The light from the magic circle suddenly surged, and a black and red beam of light shot up from the bottom of the stone coffin, piercing through the dome, penetrating the ground, and shooting straight into the clouds above Mary Geoise.
"Click."
The moment Shamrock finished speaking, the lid of the stone coffin in the center of the stone chamber cracked open.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth...
The nineteen stone coffins cracked one after another, like a row of eggshells being smashed simultaneously.
The coffin lid fell to both sides, crashing onto the stone surface with a dull thud that shook the entire stone chamber.
Nineteen people emerged from the stone coffin.
The one in the lead had a pair of golden vertical pupils exactly like Hawk Eyes's.
He was tall and thin, wearing a black robe embroidered with ancient patterns, and his face was expressionless.
But when those eyes swept over everyone, it was like two knives scraping across each person's face.
He is the real Imu.
The one that Luffy and Loki beat up in Elbaf was just a vessel used to hold their power.
The true King of the World has lain here for eight hundred years.
The remaining eighteen kings emerged one by one from the stone coffin, their expressions arrogant.
Some were as burly as small mountains, some were as thin as bamboo poles, some had horns on their heads, and some had black mist floating behind them.
But no matter how their appearance changed, they always looked at Roy and his group with the same condescension as Imu.
Imu's gaze lingered on Roy for two seconds before sweeping over Luffy, Kaido, and Hawk Eyes.
"Good."
"Eight hundred years have passed, and you, this generation of descendants, are the first to push the World Government to this point."
He paused, his golden vertical pupils devoid of any emotion.
"Back in the day Davy Jones and Joy Boy were both better than you."
But in the end, they all fell to us.
Luffy, listening from the side, frowned and swung his arm as if to make a move, but Roy raised his hand and held him down.
Imu seemed completely oblivious to the hostility and continued speaking:
"However, since you've come this far, you're qualified to negotiate with us."
He raised one hand, and the sleeve of his black robe slipped down, revealing fingers that were so pale they didn't look alive.
"Put down your weapons."
Hand over the Array-Array Fruit that was taken from Laugh Tale.
Then they swore allegiance to us.
"As a reward, you can share this ocean with us."
"You can become the new Celestial Dragons."
Enjoy everything we've enjoyed for eight hundred years.
The stone chamber was silent for a few seconds.
Luffy was the first to burst out laughing.
Kaido threw his head back and laughed wildly, while the Hassaikai slammed his fist into the ground, causing the stone surface to crack with spiderweb-like patterns.
"Hahaha!
Old man, are you still half asleep?
Even at a time like this, you're still daydreaming!
Roy smiled too.
He looked at Imu, the slight smile on his lips making him look like he was looking at a clown.
"You're used to being high and mighty, aren't you?"
Roy's voice was flat.
"They've cornered us right in our own backyard, and they're still trying to negotiate with us."
"Have you all really gone mad from sleeping in those stone coffins for the past eight hundred years?"
Before the words were finished,
The indigo light on Shusui Blade surged, and with the help of Telekinesis, a blade of light that swept across the entire stone chamber slashed straight toward Imu.
This strike was devoid of any fancy moves; it was simply fast, ruthless, and precise—clearly—
I'd rather kill you than waste my breath talking to you.
Imu's face suddenly darkened. He raised his hand, and black mist surged in his palm, forming a black shield out of thin air.
The blade struck the black shield with a loud clang, shattering the entire shield into pieces and deflecting most of the attack.
The aftershock grazed Imu's shoulder and sliced a stone coffin behind him in two.
"Stubborn and incorrigible."
Imu's voice turned cold.
He took half a step back, and a hint of killing intent finally surfaced in his golden vertical pupils.
The next second, all eighteen kings simultaneously unleashed their Conqueror's Haki.
Nineteen terrifying, domineering forces erupted simultaneously from nineteen directions, like nineteen volcanoes erupting at the same time in a stone chamber.
The dome of the stone chamber cracked open with a loud crash, and rubble rained down like raindrops.
The entire Pangaea Castle trembled under this oppressive force, and the ground cracked open with countless fissures.
The oppressive force pierced through the rock layers, penetrated the foundation of Pangaea Castle, and soared straight into the sky above Mary Geoise.
Dark red clouds, obscuring the sky, gathered at the top of the Red Line, dimming even the sun under the pressure.
The Allied soldiers who were resting on the ground were pressed down by this overwhelming force from the sky, and they knelt down in droves.
Tesoro stood in the center of Pangaea Castle Square, looking up at the dark clouds pressing down, his body crackling with Lightning.
Roy hovered in mid-air, the tip of his Shusui Blade pointing diagonally at the ground, while the fifteen people behind him also assumed their fighting stances.
Luffy grinned, and white steam rose from his body.
"Go! Beat them to a pulp!"
Kaido let out a dragon roar, and blue dragon scales rose from beneath his skin:
"I've been waiting for this day for twenty years!"
Hawk Eyes gripped the Black Blade Yoru, his golden pupils as calm as a deep pool.
Shanks slowly drew Gryphon half an inch from its sheath, a familiar smile playing on his lips.
Roy's gaze turned cold as he looked at the nineteen old monsters who had emerged from eight hundred years ago.
"Eight hundred years."
"It's time to settle the score."
"Yeah?!"
"Then let's see what gives you the confidence to stand up to the World Government."
As Imu finished speaking, the eighteen kings behind him gathered around him, then soared into the sky, rising up through the shattered dome.