The bottom hatch of Pluton slowly opened, revealing turbulent energy currents and constantly crumbling spatial fragments outside. Luffy, Ace, and Law stood at the edge of the exit, their clothes fluttering in the strong wind.
"ROOM - The Tact!"
Law made the first move, and a hemispherical transparent space unfolded around him, enveloping the three of them. Compared to before, this ROOM was smaller in size but more solid, with subtle spacetime ripples flowing across its surface—a new application that Law had comprehended during the previous battle, combining his own increased luck with his observation of Allen's spacetime power, allowing him to better maintain stability in chaotic environments.
"Walk!"
The three of them shot into the colorful yet deadly energy storm like arrows released from a bow.
Upon entering the rift region, a devastating sense of oppression surged from all directions. Thick, dark red energy, like a living thing, attempted to erode the ROOM space, while chaotic spacetime currents tore at their bodies. Their vision was filled with shattered scenes, as if the corpses of the entire world were piled up here.
" Gum-Gum Giant Thunder Axe!"
Luffy immediately entered Gear Fourth: Giant form. His massive fist, crackling with black and red Inazuma, acted as a trailblazer, forcefully blasting away the energy clumps and spatial fragments blocking his path! The impact of Conqueror's Haki coating temporarily carved out an unstable passage through the chaotic torrent.
" The World-Purifying Flame: City Ablaze!"
Ace transformed into a wall of flames, protecting Law's flank. The platinum-gold World-Purifying Flame formed a rotating wall of fire, scorching and purifying the destructive energy tentacles that attempted to attack from the side and rear. Each collision between the flames and the dark red energy erupted with blinding light and a sizzling sound of erosion.
Luo was completely focused, his hands pressing down to maintain the stability of ROOM while constantly making minor adjustments to guide the path. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead; maintaining his abilities here consumed several times more energy per second than outside. He pushed his Observation Haki to its limit, sensing the faint yet crucial "coordinates" ahead—the wisp of spacetime power within Sanji's body, resonating with Allen's Dragon Soul Imprint, acted like a lighthouse in the darkness, guiding them towards the core of destruction.
The deeper one goes, the harsher the environment becomes. Occasionally, enormous, dark red phantoms formed from pure destructive will rush in, emitting silent howls; spatial rifts cut through like hidden blades; there are even time traps that cause the flow of time in a small area to suddenly accelerate or reverse.
"Left side! Time turbulence!" Luo warned urgently.
Luffy's massive arm swept sharply to the left, forcefully distorting the abnormal time region with his Haki and power. Ace instantly contracted his flames, forming a dense protective layer to block a destructive beam of light that suddenly shot out from the Void.
The three worked together seamlessly, struggling forward in dire straits. Luffy and Ace were like the strongest spear and shield, while Law was the helmsman controlling the direction. They could feel that with each step forward, their resonance with the "lighthouse" grew stronger, while the Resistance from the remnants of the [ Heart of Destruction ]'s will became increasingly frantic.
Finally, after breaking through the last layer of thick, flesh-and-blood-like dark red energy, the scene before them suddenly opened up—they had reached the deepest part of the Destroyer's Lair!
The place was even more dilapidated than before, the space riddled with unhealable black cracks, the dark red energy ocean nearly dried up, leaving only a thin, blood-red mist. In the center, the once enormous [ Heart of Destruction ] had shrunk considerably, now only about the size of a house, its surface covered in spiderweb-like cracks, its light dim, its pulse so weak it had almost ceased. Yet it still emanated an unsettling aura of destruction, like the final gasp of a dying beast.
Above the broken core, tiny, faint specks of silver-purple light, like iron filings attracted by a magnet, slowly seeped out from the Void, swirling around the core, seemingly drawing something in, or perhaps suppressing something. These were Allen's remaining Dragon Soul Imprint, yet to be drawn away!
"That's it!" Law's eyes flashed with a sharp light. " Luffy, Ace, buy me some time! We absolutely cannot be disturbed!"
"Leave it to us!" Luffy and Ace stood guard on either side of Law without hesitation, unleashing their full power and locking onto the broken core.
Luo took a deep breath, clasped his hands together in front of his chest, and the power of the Op-Op Fruit condensed with unprecedented intensity.
"K·ROOM!"
He let out a low shout, and a smaller, yet more condensed, and extremely complex colorless space, like Scalpel, precisely enveloped a corner of the [ Heart of Destruction ]! This time, he wasn't cutting matter, but rather... the very essence of the laws!
"The Forbidden Zone of Immaculate Purity: Stripping Away the Origin!"
Luo made a grasping motion with his hands and then slowly pulled out! With his movement, wisps of extremely subtle, yet containing the purest meaning of "end" and " Void," dark red light, were forcibly extracted from the core area enveloped by K·ROOM! These wisps of light seemed to have life, struggling and twisting wildly, emitting a heart-palpitating fluctuation!
"Roar--!!"
[ Heart of Destruction ] let out a final, faint yet extremely venomous wail. Its entire broken body trembled violently, and the cracks widened further, as if it would collapse completely at any moment! Its remaining will transformed into a final impact, mixed with the sparse destructive energy around it, like a poisonous stinger in a death throes, stabbing fiercely at Luo, who was casting the spell!
Don't even think about bothering him!
"Get out of here!"
Luffy's " King Kong Murder of Crows Cannon " and Ace's " Flame Emperor: Purifying Lotus" erupted simultaneously! The black and red Conqueror's Haki fist shadow and the white and gold purifying lotus intertwined to form a destructive barrier, smashing the dying counterattack to pieces!
The aftershocks of the energy explosion made Luo's body sway, but he gritted his teeth, his hands as steady as a rock, and continued the peeling! The wisps of dark red primal light were finally completely extracted by him, and in the center of K·ROOM, they condensed into a dark red crystal no bigger than a fingernail, yet incredibly heavy, seemingly capable of devouring all light—[ Fragment of the Origin of Destruction ]!
It worked!
But just as Law was about to take back K·ROOM, another change occurred!
The core of the [ Heart of Destruction ], which was on the verge of complete collapse, suddenly shone with a blinding, blood-red light, like a final burst of light before death! A resolute will to self-destruct erupted!
"It's going to self-destruct!" Ace's expression changed drastically!
Even the self-destruction of the wreckage would be enough to annihilate the three of them, along with this already fragile space!
"There's no time to evacuate completely!" Luo's pupils constricted.
At the critical moment, Luffy suddenly expanded his rubber body to its limit, attempting to envelop Law and Ace to withstand the attack. Ace also did not hesitate to try to condense his flames into the strongest shield.
At this critical moment, the remaining silver-purple Dragon Soul Imprint that had been swirling around the Allen seemed to sense the fatal crisis of their companion. They suddenly gave up absorbing and suppressing the energy, and all gathered together, transforming into a condensed silver-purple stream of light. It struck the core that was about to self-destruct!
There was no explosion.
The instant the silver-purple light clashed with the blood-red light, a strange "time-space freeze" power spread out! The final self-destruction of [ Heart of Destruction ] was abruptly "paused"! Although it was only for a brief moment, it was enough!
"Now! Let's go!" Luo roared, seizing this precious moment, and activated ROOM with all his might!
Shambles!
The three figures vanished from their original spot in an instant, reappearing hundreds of meters away. Without pausing, they frantically rushed outwards along the path they had come from!
Behind them, the core, frozen in time and space, finally broke free of its constraints, letting out a final, silent roar of resentment. It collapsed violently, then transformed into a tiny black dot, ultimately vanishing completely into Void.
A terrifying shockwave followed, destroying and engulfing everything in its path!
Luffy, Ace, and Law pushed their speed to the limit, and with the help of ROOM's short-distance teleportation and Luffy and Ace's violent clearing of the way, they narrowly escaped the core of the explosion. They were violently pushed out of the crack by the huge shock wave and landed back on Pluton's receiving platform.
The three collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, their bodies covered in wounds and signs of energy erosion, looking utterly wretched.
But in Luo's hand, he tightly gripped the dark red [ Fragment of the Origin of Destruction ], which contained terrifying energy and Allen's hope for rebirth.
The battle to seize the soul has been a success!
Next comes the most crucial step—using destruction as fuel to ignite that undying dragon soul and call for the return of the departed!