The destroyed lair was utterly silent.
The [ Heart of Destruction ], riddled with cracks, continued to beat slowly, but each beat was exceptionally difficult and sluggish, like the heartbeat of a dying old man. Dark red light continuously dissipated from the cracks, and the terrifying pressure that had filled the space receded like a tide, leaving only weakness and... bewilderment? It seemed unable to comprehend how that insignificant controller of spacetime could unleash such power that shook its very essence.
Allen's figure had completely vanished, leaving not a trace of his presence, as if he had never existed.
Below, Sanji's body was silently plummeting into the endless crimson Abyss. The piercing wound in his chest was still gruesome. Having lost all protection, the remaining destructive energy around him began to instinctively erode his defenseless body, and his ashen face was gradually turning a deathly bluish-black. Law's ROOM had vanished, and the spacetime crystal had shattered; no power could now slow the passage of his life.
It seemed that everything was already destined. Heroes sacrificed themselves, comrades were on the verge of death, and although the core of destruction was severely damaged, it was not completely annihilated.
However, amidst this absolute despair, a barely perceptible change is taking place.
In that area, temporarily plunged into a "vacuum of laws" due to the ultimate collision, a tiny, almost indistinguishable speck of silver-purple light, like embers in the wind, drifted slowly down. It was so small that even the [ Heart of Destruction ] failed to notice it.
This sliver of light was not Allen's remaining energy, but rather a miraculous remnant of the purest "spacetime imprint" that survived after his final self-immolation and activation of the ultimate ritual, a violent collision with the Destruction Origin of the [ Heart of Destruction ]. It contained Allen's final understanding of the Laws of Space and Time, as well as fragments of his indomitable will to protect everything.
As if it possessed a spirit, it floated aimlessly in the Void, and finally, as if drawn by some invisible force, it slowly and gently landed on Sanji's forehead as he was falling downwards.
There was no dazzling light, no burst of energy.
Those specks of silvery-purple light, like water droplets merging into the ocean, silently seeped into the depths of Sanji's consciousness.
The next moment--
A faint yet incredibly resilient fluctuation in spacetime suddenly emanated from Sanji's body!
This fluctuation was so subtle, yet so extraordinary. It did not forcibly dispel the will to destroy, nor did it heal physical wounds; rather, it acted on a more fundamental level—time!
Under the influence of this spacetime fluctuation, the flow of time near the wound on Sanji's chest, eroded by the will to destroy, underwent an extremely subtle change. It wasn't a reversal, nor an acceleration, but rather a kind of... "cycle."
At the wound, the corrosive process of the Will of Destruction, the tenacious Resistance of Sanji's own life force, and the spacetime imprint containing Allen's protective will that had merged into his body formed an extremely brief and fragile dynamic balance. The erosion of the Will of Destruction was slowed down infinitely, and even fell into a tiny cycle of "erosion" and "being offset by life force and spacetime power" within a certain range!
This is not a cure, but rather... a "freeze"! It forcibly "froze" Sanji's near-death state in this final moment!
His descent stopped; his body was supported by a faint, almost invisible, silvery-purple halo, suspending him in the Void. The contaminated blood no longer seeped from his chest, and although his breathing was still so weak as to be almost undetectable, it no longer worsened. His tightly closed eyes seemed to tremble slightly, as if he had seen a glimmer of light from an extremely distant place in an endless, dark nightmare.
This sudden change finally caught the attention of [ Heart of Destruction ].
The cracked core jolted, its pulse halting for a moment. Its remaining will was filled with unbelievable shock and rage! That ant... wasn't completely dead yet? And the power he left behind was still hindering destruction?!
"No... unforgivable!!"
Fragments of will, broken and filled with extreme resentment, echoed in this space like the roar of a dying beast.
[ Heart of Destruction ] began frantically drawing on the remaining energy within the lair, attempting to repair its own cracks and gather its last strength to utterly crush and annihilate Sanji, along with that hateful spacetime imprint!
The dark red energy began to gather again, though it was far less powerful than before, but the condensed destructive intent was still enough to obliterate Sanji, who was currently powerless to resist.
Sanji, suspended in Void, seemed to sense the imminent threat of destruction emanating from the silver-purple light merging between his brows. It began to emit a clearer glow, still faint, yet carrying an unyielding resolve. It couldn't withstand the full force of the [ Heart of Destruction ]'s attack, but it seemed to be using its last strength to convey some kind of message... some kind of... call to the outside world.
On the other side of the Spacetime Crevice.
Luffy and his Luffy, who were anxiously waiting and trying to stabilize the entrance to the passage, and Nami and Franky, who were staring intently at the energy detector on the bridge of the Pluton, all felt their hearts leap at almost the same moment!
A subtle, indescribable sense of resonance, as if coming from an extremely distant place, touched their heartstrings.
" Allen..." Luffy suddenly clutched his chest, a complex expression on his rubber face mixed with pain and a glimmer of hope.
"It's Sanji... He's still alive! I can sense... a very faint breath!" Ace shouted excitedly, his senses of fire and life being most acute.
Law's pupils suddenly contracted. "No... there's another spatial fluctuation... it's left by Allen! He's protecting Sanji!"
Sabo immediately looked at the communications on the Pluton bridge. " Nami! Franky! Can you locate me?!"
On the bridge of Pluton, the energy detector in front of Nami, with its extremely weak signal source almost drowned out by the background noise, was flickering intermittently.
"Found it! A very, very faint signal! Deep within the source of the rift!" Nami's voice trembled with disbelief. "It's... it's Sanji's life signal! And... a familiar spacetime coordinate!"
"SUPER!!!" Franky roared excitedly, "Can we still connect?! Even for just a second!"
Nami's hands flew across the control panel, her forehead beaded with sweat. "No... the signal is too weak, and the spatial structure over there is extremely unstable. Forcing a connection has less than a one percent success rate, and it might cause..."
"Connect!" Luffy's roar came through the communicator, "We must bring them back!!"
Within the nest of destruction, the final beam of destructive energy condensed by the [ Heart of Destruction ] has taken shape and is aimed at the suspended Sanji.
The silver-purple light Sanji's brows also shone to its fullest extent, like the last flicker of a candle.
At this critical moment—
An extremely thin, pure white thread of energy, seemingly about to break at any moment, like a spider silk that has traversed endless time and space, precisely and forcefully pierced through the barrier of the nest and connected to the spacetime mark between Sanji's eyebrows!
It's Pluton! Nami and Franky, gambling with that one percent chance of success, launched a long-range "precision capture"!
"Got you!" Nami gripped the control lever tightly on the bridge, as if she had grasped a lifeline.
The pure white energy threads suddenly contracted!
Sanji's body was drawn by this force, instantly transforming into a streak of light, and he fled out of the lair along the thin thread!
"Roar--!!!"
[ Heart of Destruction ] let out an extremely unwilling roar, and the beam of destruction shot out, but only shattered the afterimage left by Sanji and the pure white thread that was rapidly dissipating.
Sanji is saved.
But Allen...
The destroyed lair returned to deathly silence, with only the cracked and greatly diminished [ Heart of Destruction ] remaining as a testament to the extremely brutal battle that had just taken place, yet one in which a miracle was born at the last moment.
The Spark of hope was retrieved, but the person who ignited Spark seemed to be forever trapped in that Abyss of destruction.
Inside Pluton's rendezvous room, a flash of light appeared, and Sanji's body appeared on the platform, still unconscious. The wound on his chest, "frozen" by the power of time and space, was shocking.
Luffy and the others immediately surrounded him. Looking at Sanji's frozen state of near death, and feeling the faint yet familiar temporal fluctuations that belonged to Allen, everyone fell silent.
Sadness, anger, relief, confusion... a complex mix of emotions welled up inside me.
Sabo slowly removed his hat and said in a deep voice:
" Allen sacrificed himself... to save Sanji's life and severely damaged the Destruction Origin."
"This war... is not over yet."
Yes, it's not over yet. As long as the [ Heart of Destruction ] is not completely destroyed, as long as the cracks remain, the threat will persist.
With the loss of Allen, the strongest time-space controller, the Allied Forces will face even greater challenges. The flames of revenge and the will to protect will burn fiercely in this new chapter.