Chapter 155: Theomachy (2)

"...Where have they gone to?"

In Momoiro island, as the war resumed between the Revolutionary Army and the World Government, Dragon whispered.

"Smoker, he... seemed to have interacted with something on Five Elders. Though their disappearance was sudden, it seemed as if he was 'pulled' by an unknown force. This—"

"Bwahaha, you think too much, Dragon."

In exhaustion, uncaring of the surrounding situation, Garp fell to the ground.

"Smoker mentioned the Elders being 'summons'. Then, he was pulled toward where the owner of those summons was. Isn't the answer obvious then?"

"...Mariejois."

Dragon grimaced.

"So you're telling me, that Smoker now has to face those Five Elders and the owner by himself?"

"..."

Garp, not listening to Dragon any longer, was busy picking on his ears as he looked around the ongoing battle.

"FATHER!!!"

"Bwahaha, that's for that brat to figure it out by himself."

Garp grinned,

"But it's going to be fine. My gut tells me so."

Standing back up, Garp then re-entered the battlefield, sending terrors to the World Government soldiers and marines.

Without the presence of the Five Elders, they knew that the war had now tilted in their favour.

Arlong, who bit on an approaching sword and shattered it with his sharp teeth, shouted as he swung his blade.

"DIE!!!"

Together with fish men, it didn't seem far away for the Revolutionary Army to grasp a victory.

__________

One step.

Two steps.

One by one, Smoker walked up the stairs, walking toward Imu who remained sitting without a response.

Imu watched Smoker without a hint of emotion.

The atmosphere was escalating. Though the echoes generated by Smoker's steps were the only sounds that were present in the room, the beats of a drum, the bizarre and ominous melody of an unknown ritual—it continued to get louder and louder.

As Smoker walked up, the eyes peering upon him increased. Opening one by one, they stared at him from the darkness, as if gazing at their prey.

"..."

Imu, with his eyes kept on Smoker, thought to himself,

'How long has it been since Mu was last challenged?'

Closing his eyes, he thought of the past.

"Zahahaha... do you think this is the end?! Nay, be it decades or centuries after, I will return and seize that rightful throne of mine!! Human's dream... never ends!!!"

Rocks D. Zachs.

"Placing the entire world in misery for the sake of order? What's the point of peace then?! That isn't what Lili wished for!!"

JB. Remembered as 'Joy Boy' among people, but his full name, in reality, was,

'...Jaguar D. Binks.'

The image of a giant, grinning with a straw hat on his head, appeared in front of Imu.

'The will of D, one which originated from Rocks D. Zachs's will to defy the world. D for devil.'

D. It was the character shared among the ones who contended against him.

'Jaguar D. Binks instead defied Rocks D. Zachs. He believed in that mere dawn, the rise of a new age where freedom belongs to everyone.'

Imu re-opened his eyes and saw that Smoker was now near him, seconds away from reaching where he sat.

'However, you aren't a D. You share nothing with them. Yet, here you stand.'

In Imu's eyes, Smoker was the greatest mystery whom he encountered.

"What are you, White Hunter?"

Then, there was the incredible burst of Conqueror's Haki from Imu, which instantly dominated the entire area in an instant.

The pieces of ceiling crumbled, causing a ray of light to enter the room. The pillars cracked, which weakened their support on the ceiling. The ground rumbled, about to quake from the sheer might of Imu's Conqueror's Haki.

It was the Conqueror's Haki from the king of the world, blasted at Smoker in its full might.

However, within these chaotic surroundings, Smoker withstood it. With his eyes shadowed, he continued his walk as the black lightning crackled around him.

Smoker's Conqueror's Haki too, then surfaced. Though its magnitude wasn't as extreme as Imu's, it didn't yield either.

The will from a man who didn't even live 30 years of life, was going on par with the will of the world's emperor, one who lived for centuries.

And this was because Smoker wasn't alone.

"Are you ready... to bear the weight of the world?"

Together with Smoker were those who so strongly yearned for peace.

Therefore, he couldn't go down, no matter what.

The stairs underneath his feet cracked from sheer pressure. As he applied pressure on it to take another step forth and moved up, the part of it crumbled down.

However, Smoker now stood in front of Imu. His eyes, blazing brilliantly, were staring down at the seated man.

"Since when did I allow you to look at me from above?"

Imu spoke softly,

"Kneel."

The pressure on Smoker intensified by several folds more. Smoker's body became even heavier and the air screeched from the intense force that manifested from Imu's Conqueror's Haki.

But once again, such a terrifying will wasn't sufficient enough to bend Smoker's will.

"I don't bow to a scum, you see."

Smoker then growled, before,

White Blow.

his fist, crackling dangerously in Conqueror's Haki: Infusion, landed straight onto Imu's wooden face.

Along with Imu, the entire throne crumbled down. From the sheer force behind Smoker's punch, the ceiling of the throne room then broke and dropped straight into the room.

BOOOOM!

The dust arose, and out into the Mariejois with blue sky, Smoker revealed himself with a serious expression. Standing on top of the ruined section of the Pangaea Castle, he cautiously gazed underneath him.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then, there was a monstrous scream that rang underneath Smoker.

Smoker, having foreseen the future with Observation Haki: Future Sight, jumped up to the sky.

The quake then resumed, except that this time around, the entire Mariejois was quaking.

Boom.

A huge hand ripped out of the ruined section of Pangaea Castle, crumbling down even more of the building. Said hand, clawing the marvel platform of Mariejois, brought itself out of the ruins.

The creature, defined by the shadowy-black colour, gigantic size, demonic arms and legs, large, bat-like wings, a sharp, heart-shaped tail, and a head that wore a long crown made out of shadow, was now revealed at its full glory. Its eyes, white with tinges of crimson, swirled hollowly as they faced Smoker in the sky.

It was a dragon that was revealed on Smoker's sight.

The ruins all around Mariejois began to levitate as a crimson aura surrounded them. Around the entire Mariejois, the circles holding pentagrams appeared all over. The dark light flashed, and from them arose the hundreds of demonic creatures—including that of the Five Elders: Gyuki, Itsumade, Fengxi, Bakotsu, and Sandworm.

They roared simultaneously, amplifying the quake in Mariejois.

"...What Beast pirates?"

Smoker found himself muttering in amazement,

"Here lies the true pandemonium."

His eyes, draped around by aether, saw through hundreds of black lines that connected each and every single one of those creatures with the central one with a long crown.

'Psychokinesis.'

Calmly, Smoker analyzed Imu's ability, looking at the floating pieces of ruination that were encased by the crimson aura. He then gazed at the hundreds of demons that gazed back at him,

'Conjuration.'

Finally, he looked at the central demon, bigger than any other—who was, without a doubt, Nerona Imu himself.

'Metamorphosis.'

All of them had one thing in common, Smoker realized,

'The power to "control", be it the abiotic objects, creatures of imagination, or himself.'

"Such is the power of my sibling,"

Said the voice within Smoker,

"stemmed from the ideology of 'order'. You must be careful."

The creatures then simultaneously began their flight at him.

Even the creatures without wings kicked off the air and ran toward him; Smoker realized that Imu's knowledge was shared among them, for they were using none other than 'Geppo' to reach him.

To them, Smoker held his palm out. He then declared,

"White Out."

There was an expansion of aether from his palm, consuming those monsters at once. Expanding further, the sky was momentarily engulfed by white. Then, said aether immediately faded, and the demons saw,

hundreds of Smoker's clones, shining in bright white, hovering in the sky.

Then, all of them dove toward the monsters at the same time.

Some clones were dissipated by the powerful attacks from the demons. However, those who managed to evade such attacks and reach their targets swiftly broke the black line—the connection between the demons and Imu, the dragon.

A huge stream of fire then escaped from the dragon's agape mouth, aimed at Smoker who was coming straight toward it.

In response to the incoming burst of fire, Smoker held his hand out.

A bright, sharp-looking blade of aether appeared out of thin air and landed on Smoker's hand. Holding it tightly, Smoker swung it horizontally, cutting through the fire as if cutting through the butter.

Without losing any momentum, Smoker reached where the dragon stood. Immediately, the aether blade was stabbed straight into the head of the dragon.

A bright light shone upon the stab, and the dragon roared in pain. From the blow, the form of a dragon crumbled down, and so did the other demons present on Mariejois.

"It is futile."

Imu's voice rang throughout the area. Smoker, who dispelled his clones and the blade, looked around his surroundings in a caution.

"No attack of yours will ever reach me... let us see for how long you can stay delusional."

Countless buildings of Mariejois were ripped out of the land and floated upward, all encased by the crimson aura.

Simultaneously, the top half of a gigantic creature arose from the depths of ruins and roared.

Lifting up its fist, it slammed it down straight onto Smoker, who escaped from the site through the use of Soru.

Immediately after his arrival, one of the buildings fell straight on where he stood. Having expected this as well, Smoker's form blurred out from the area, before appearing on the other section of Mariejois.

BOOOOM!

Another building fell. One by one, they fell like rain. Coupled with the endless pummeling of the giant, what Smoker was witnessing was Imu's might, the reason why he existed as the king of the world for years.

"...Do you think I didn't notice?"

Smoker, coming to a stop, said coldly as he saw numerous buildings and the giant's arm falling toward him, simultaneously.

"As I said to myself before, your ability is to 'control'. Psychokinesis, conjuration, metamorphosis... and there is one more."

The manipulation of the mind.

As soon as Smoker said so, the scene in front of him distorted. Upon a blink, there Smoker stood, back in the throne room, standing right in front of Imu who was sitting on the throne.

"...So you discovered, the ultimatum which Mu seeks for."

Imu slowly stood up front his seat, standing at the same height as Smoker.

"Omnikinesis—the state where Mu is in control of everything that exists in this world... be it your environment, your friends and families, your power, your mind—everything."

Imu held his hand on top of his face. And when he lowered it, Smoker found his eyes widening,

for the face that Imu revealed was none other than that of Cancer, his deceased friend.

"It's been a while, eh, Smoker?"

"...I see that you've read my memories."

Smoker impassively stated,

"But so what? Did you expect me to be shaken by this pitiful acting of yours?"

Pointing his finger out, Smoker, without any hesitation, blasted a concentrated stream of aether straight at Imu with Cancer's visage.

"Cancer is dead, you moron."

Imu, struck by such an impact, was drilled through the wall behind him. The wall crumbled down, and Imu's body landed on a patch of grass.

Smoker found that past the throne room, there was... a garden of all things.