The force of whatever was coming echoed across the entirety of Egghead.
It rolled through the island like a living thing, pressing down on everything at once, the sky itself seeming to groan under the weight of it as black lightning cracked endlessly overhead. Buildings trembled, the sea churned violently against the coast, and even the Marines scattered throughout the battlefield slowed, instinctively looking toward the source of the disturbance.
Ryo and Luffy both stared forward.
Luffy's reaction was far more exaggerated, his eyes bulging cartoonishly as his jaw dropped open, while Ryo simply narrowed his eye, his expression tightening as instinct screamed at him that this was bad, far worse than anything they'd dealt with so far.
Meanwhile, the broadcast continued completely uninterrupted.
Vegapunk casually sat with a cup of coffee, calmly enjoying himself as though the world wasn't on the verge of collapsing around him, while all across the island those massive black symbols burned into the ground began to pulse.
And then—
Something started crawling out of them.
The air turned sickening.
Heavy.
Wrong.
Dark smoke billowed upward as monstrous forms began to emerge from within the summoning circles, shapes twisting unnaturally as if reality itself rejected their existence.
Luffy's face stretched in disbelief.
Luffy: 5 monsters are you kidding me!!
One after another, the creatures fully manifested, each one radiating the exact same overwhelming presence Saturn carried, that same unnatural aura that made it feel like they shouldn't exist at all.
The first to emerge was Saint Shepherd Ju Peter.
Or rather—
Whatever he had become.
His body had transformed into a grotesque sandworm, massive and pale with an enormous maw lined with rows of jagged teeth, his segmented body writhing endlessly as dark flaming smoke curled around him in thick waves. The thing looked capable of swallowing entire buildings whole, the ground splitting apart beneath him as his body burrowed and twisted through the island itself.
Then came Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro.
His transformation was somehow even more disturbing.
A skeletal horse-like nightmare emerged through the smoke, towering and deathly thin, exposed bone visible beneath ghostly flesh as he took the form of a Bakotsu, his body surrounded by the same dark flames. The thing resembled an undead centaur dragged straight out of hell itself, hollow eyes glowing faintly as it stepped forward with eerie silence.
The next form shook the battlefield simply by existing.
Saint Topman Warcury had transformed into a Fengxi.
A colossal boar monster larger than a giant's ship, his body covered in hide that looked almost indestructible, massive tusks curving outward like gigantic blades capable of tearing through mountains. Black smoke poured from around him endlessly as he snorted, the sheer pressure from his breath alone blasting debris away.
Then the sky darkened further.
Saint Marcus Mars descended overhead in the form of an Itsumade, an enormous bird-like horror with sharp teeth lining a curved beak, his long serpent-like body twisting through the air as dark awakened smoke spiraled around him like storm clouds. His wings spread wide enough to blot out entire sections of the island.
And finally—
Saint Jaygarcia Saturn remained at the center of them all.
Still in the form of a Gyuki.
The towering spider-like yokai loomed over the battlefield with eight massive legs and enormous curved horns, his body radiating poison and corruption as the same black smoke poured endlessly from him like a living curse.
Together—
They looked less like rulers of the world and more like a parade of demons.
Five monsters standing at the absolute top of the world.
Then they roared.
All at once.
The sound alone detonated across Egghead like an explosion, a monstrous shockwave tearing outward and blasting through everything in its path. Buildings collapsed instantly, rubble and debris launching into the air as the force hit the brothers head-on.
Even they had to move.
Luffy and Ryo were blown backward through collapsing structures, both of them dodging instinctively just to avoid being crushed as the battlefield turned into complete destruction around them.
The force separated them immediately.
Ryo twisted mid-air as a gigantic beak slammed down toward him, narrowly dodging as it shattered the ground where he had been standing only a moment before, while elsewhere Luffy barely avoided being swallowed whole as the sandworm burst upward from beneath the island, jaws snapping shut just behind him.
Everything was chaos.
Massive bodies moved across Egghead relentlessly, each one capable of destroying entire sections of the island just by attacking.
Eventually the two brothers skidded back across the battlefield, dirt and rubble tearing beneath their feet before they ended up side by side once again.
Luffy was still in Gear Fifth.
Completely ridiculous.
Even now.
His body bounced slightly as he stood there grinning like an idiot while reality itself seemed to bend around him, but somehow—
It worked.
So Ryo couldn't really complain.
Lightning crackled faintly around him as he stared up at the five towering monsters.
Ryo: Hey bro, these freaks are gonna wreck this whole island,
Luffy's grin widened even further.
Luffy: Yeah, and that's what we're here for!
And just like that—
The two of them planted their feet.
Facing forward.
Ready.
Because they were about to stand against the Five Elders themselves.
And that's a wrap
Cool
