Chapter 123
At the same time.
Inner Bay Square.
Aokiji was being watched by Samael and didn't have time to help Akainu escape.
Akainu's body was bitten by Kuranos's Devouring Head, preventing him from using his Devil Fruit powers. His entire body was also tightly bound by the Bone Head, leaving him only able to fight back with Armament Haki.
Amidst this stalemate, the clatter of hooves approached rapidly from afar.
Aokiji, distracted, glanced over and was momentarily stunned:
"The Five Elders..."
Kuranos also spotted the arrival of reinforcements. Mars moved with incredible speed; from spotting the enemy in his field of vision to their imminent arrival, it was only a breath.
Saint Nusjuro drew his sword and severed the three heads Devouring Head, Bone Head, and Poison Head. His strike was imbued with freezing power, and the cut was instantly frozen.
Freed from his restraints, Akainu immediately broke free, and his Magma-Magma Fruit, which had been suppressed, was restored.
"Hell Hound!"
With a roar, Akainu threw a punch at his Main Head.
Kuranos was caught off guard by the sudden change, and his lava-formed right arm instantly pierced through his Main Head.
With a thud, Kuranos collapsed to the ground and couldn't get up.
"You've disappointed me greatly, Sakazuki!"
Saint Nusjuro and drew his sword to continue slashing at the remaining Water Head, Flame Head, Calamity Head, and Thunder Head.
Upon seeing this, Samael immediately conjured the left hand of the god of Fire God and lunged at Saint Nusjuro.
"Alright, now it's my turn to say that."
Aokiji raised the corners of his mouth slightly, waved his arm, and a wave of cold air swept out, erecting an ice wall in front of the hand of fire.
Boom!
The collision of ice and fire immediately generated endless steam.
"... Your opponent is me."
Only then did Aokiji utter the second half of his sentence.
Samael scoffed. "You think I'm saving him?"
"Isn't that right?" Aokiji raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Has the relationship between you officials reached the point where you'd rather stand by and watch someone die than help them?"
"Don't make me laugh!"
Samael's body expanded rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, a fire giant a hundred meters tall stood tall and imposing.
The giant was composed of pure fire element, and streaks of black lightning flickered in and out of the burning flames.
"Amaterasu!"
Samael raised his arms and prayed to the heavens.
Above the sky, pitch-black rain fell, instantly incinerating everything around it upon landing.
That was not rain, but an inextinguishable flame.
The entire headquarters fortress presented a scene of purgatory before Amaterasu.
Stop him!
Just then, a howl came from the sky.
Aokiji looked up and saw a huge, strange bird with a bird's head, wings, claws, and a snake's body. It was enormous, entwined with black Flame Clouds, and hovered high in the sky.
Another one of the Five Elders... Aokiji was astonished. Could it be that all Five Elders had come?
Just then, the earth shook violently, and a huge sandworm suddenly burst out from the ground, its enormous mouth opening wide as it lunged at the fire giant.
"What a huge earthworm!"
Samael was stunned for a moment, then felt a powerful suction force.
Not only him, but the rain of black flames falling from the sky was also constantly changing its trajectory, heading towards the sand worm's enormous mouthparts.
"Roar!"
Just then, a huge warthog rose up from the ground in the distance, its height swelling to be comparable to half a fortress.
He opened his mouth and let out a roar.
Conqueror's Haki roar!
Accompanied by black and red Inazuma, the roar struck Samael from a great distance, instantly shattering Samael fiery body.
The towering fire giant crumbled, and Samael transformed back into a ball of will-o'-the-wisp with a human face.
He was like a candle flickering in the wind, blown overseas by this Conqueror's Haki roar.
"What kind of move is that...?"
Samael felt a buzzing in his head as he flew backwards over the sea, keeping an eye on the situation in the inner bay.
On the ground lay a Mars, a giant sandworm, and in the distance, warthogs; strange birds circled overhead.
In addition, there are Marine Admiral Aokiji and Marine Admiral Akainu.
"Tsk tsk, as expected of the Marine Headquarters, this welcoming ceremony is quite a spectacle."
With a soft "poof, "Samael suddenly transformed into wisps of flame and vanished in all directions.
"Don't let him get away, Mars!" the warthog shouted in human language.
Without needing to be reminded, Saint Mars, hovering in the sky, immediately began tracking Samael's movements.
However, after the flames dispersed, the surroundings were filled with Samael's aura, making it impossible for him to pinpoint the location of Samael's true form.
On the ground.
Mars swung his sword and severed eight of Kuranos's heads.
"Zoan Snake-Snake Fruit user, Mythical Zoan, Yamata no Orochi Form... Only by severing all eight heads can he be truly defeated, that should be the case, but... why didn't he revert to human form?"
Logically, Zoan Fruit users should automatically revert to their beast form after losing consciousness.
But what's happening now overturns this common sense.
Akainu's expression turned grave. "There's only one answer: this guy isn't the real body!"
Doppelganger?
Saint Nusjuro frowned; he had never heard of the Yamata no Orochi Fruit having the ability to create clones.
Just then, the corpse on the ground underwent a strange change.
"Watch out, the Five Elders!" Akainu stared intently at the corpse.
Black mist emanated from the corpse; this mist appeared to be corrosive, disintegrating Kuranos's intact body.
The black mist grew thicker and compressed rapidly, collapsing into a small black sphere in the blink of an eye.
"Oh no, it's going to explode...!"
Mars's expression changed drastically, and he immediately pulled back to create distance.
Before he could utter the word "explode," a massive explosion had already occurred.
Boom!!
Like a pitch-black sun suddenly appearing in the inner bay square, the Shockwave of the explosion swept across the entire island.
The earth shook violently, black fog engulfed everything, cracks appeared in the huge "Justice" characters on the front of the naval fortress, and the entire fortress collapsed in the face of the terrifying Shockwave.
After a long while, the terrifying scene gradually subsided, and the black mist slowly dissipated.
Half of the Mars's body was missing; it was unlikely to survive the explosion at close range.
At this moment, the power of the Contract is regenerating his body.
He stared intently at the epicenter of the explosion, in a crater comparable to a meteorite impact, where the bodies of the Seven Deadly Sins' executives had long since vanished.
"What exactly happened?"
Crackling sounds filled the air as the cold air froze the ground, slowly coalescing into the shape of Aokiji.
He gasped, completely dumbfounded.
"Self-destruction? He had a bomb implanted inside him?"
Lava overflowed from the ground, and Akainu's upper body emerged from it. His face was ashen as he looked back at the main fortress, which was now almost a ruin.
When the Golden Lion attacked the headquarters, it only destroyed half of Marineford. Kuranos's self-destruction reduced the entire fortress to ruins.
"What kind of bomb has that kind of power? Dyna Stone?"
Dyna Stone is a contraband, and its production site is under the control of the Navy, making it impossible for it to be leaked out.
"Madmen! All Seven Deadly Sins are madmen!"
Mars was trembling with rage. He had almost caught him, but then the corpse exploded, obliterating the entire Marine Headquarters.
The Lord of the Seven Deadly Sins ' "indifference" truly means indifference...
The crucial question is, how could these officials, who were accused of the Seven Deadly Sins, be so loyal?
Madmen, madmen! Religious organizations are all a bunch of madmen!!
Mars felt a chill run down his spine; he had never been this loyal to Lord Imu.
Looking up at the sandworm, he realized that, compared to him, the sandworm, due to its enormous size, had suffered more severe injuries from the explosion.
Most of his body was blown to pieces; only the part buried underground remained.
At this moment, flesh and blood are slowly regenerating.
In the sky, Saint Mars the Itsumade was also swept away by the explosion, and his whereabouts are unknown.
"How am I supposed to explain this to Lord Imu...?"
The Mars clenched their teeth.
At the same time.
At the Marine Headquarters, in the former naval mess hall, beneath the ruins, a few fresh fruits survived in a box used for storing fruit.
In the darkness, one of the pineapples suddenly changed shape.
The fruit peel, which was originally covered in a rosy red color like scales, has transformed into a swirling pattern. The stems and leaves at the top begin to branch, becoming triangular.
Zoan Snake-Snake Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Yamata no Orochi Form!
At this moment, an ordinary pineapple, unbeknownst to anyone, has transformed into a Devil Fruit.
Immediately afterwards, inside the fruit, Kuranos's consciousness revived.
"As expected of the Marine Headquarters, I got wiped out without even realizing it... Damn it, my master's opinion of me will probably drop after this, right?"
Kuranos was furious.
He could have found a safer place to be reborn through his own willpower, but he couldn't swallow his pride.
Sizzle, sizzle!
Black Inazuma appeared on the fruit, and in extreme rage, Kuranos Awakening his demonic Haki through sheer willpower.
The Devil Fruit began to change shape in the next instant; its stem and leaves forked, gradually transforming into eight heads.
Boom!
The Yamata no Orochi burst forth from beneath the ruins, its eight proud heads reappearing.
"What?!"
Mars, Aokiji, Akainu all narrowed their pupils and turned around in horror to look at the ruins of headquarters.
On the ruins, an enormous Yamata no Orochi reappeared.
"Impossible...! It really is a clone?!"
Mars couldn't believe it; how could Yamata no Orochi have the ability to create clones?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!