The two brothers stood side by side, the ground beneath them already fractured from everything that had come before, and yet neither of them hesitated. Luffy's body began to expand again, stretching upward into a towering giant as he laughed, the sound echoing strangely against the chaos around them, his form warping reality itself in that ridiculous way that somehow still worked.
But the moment didn't last.
Saturn moved.
A pulse of that same unnatural power surged through him and then—his eyes flared, red lightning erupting outward in violent bursts that struck Luffy again and again before he could even react, the attacks slamming into him repeatedly, distorting his giant form as it flattened under the force.
In an instant—
He was a pancake.
His body compressed absurdly against the ground, eyes spinning wildly as if the laws of physics had simply given up trying to make sense of him.
Ryo's expression sharpened immediately, lightning crackling violently around him as he surged forward, ready to crash straight into Saturn—
But something else intercepted him.
The Itsumade.
The massive bird-like nightmare appeared out of nowhere, its enormous wings snapping outward with terrifying force as it flapped once, releasing a violent gust that hit Ryo point blank. The air itself turned into a weapon, slamming into him hard enough to tear him off his feet and send him hurtling backward, crashing straight through a building in a spray of debris and splintered stone.
Before the dust could even settle—
Something else moved.
The Bakotsu.
Saint Ethanbaron had already taken off, his skeletal form crackling faintly as he surged across the battlefield at impossible speed, then suddenly shifting, his body glowing faintly with a pinkish hue as his transformation deepened. The upper half of the elder emerged clearly now, while the lower remained that skeletal horse, forming a nightmarish centaur that radiated something cold and precise.
He didn't slow down.
In a single fluid motion, he drew his katana.
And struck.
The blade flashed once.
A Pacifista froze.
A thin line cut across its body as frost spread instantly from the point of impact, the machine letting out a distorted breath of cold before collapsing, completely disabled in less than a second.
Then another.
And another.
Two more fell before anyone could even process what had happened.
His movements were clean, efficient, terrifyingly fast, each strike perfectly placed as he moved through the battlefield like a phantom, cutting down Pacifista after Pacifista as if they were nothing more than practice targets.
Another slash—
Four more fell in an explosive burst of frozen damage.
By the time he finally slowed—
Every Pacifista in sight had been taken out.
And he hadn't even broken a sweat.
High above, the Itsumade took to the sky again, its massive form cutting through the dark clouds as it soared over the island, its presence casting a shadow over everything below.
