Chapter 154: Theomachy (1)

On the stormy sea of the New World, there was one elephant, more enormous than any other creature that has ever existed in this world. It was impossible to estimate just how long the legs of this elephant were, for it to be capable of walking.

This elephant, named Zunesha, carried an entire island on his back.

This island, named Zou, was the place that housed the Mokomo Dukedom ruled by the Mink tribe—the humans with fur-covered, mammalian animal-like features.

"...So Kaidou is defeated."

Within Zou, the dog mink, Inuarashi, lamented as he sipped a sake poured onto his small vessel.

"And pops, he—"

Inuarashi eyed Marco and Whitey Bay, who didn't say anything in return but simply looked away in painful expressions.

"To think that our years of preparations ended up being unnecessary..."

Sighing, Inuarashi gnashed his teeth. Growling angrily, he turned and ordered one of his henchmen,

"Oi, wake up Nekomamushi."

"H-Huh? But—"

"Haven't you heard the conversation? This isn't the time for some petty feud among us!"

"Y-Yes!"

As the mink who received the order moved out urgently, Inuarashi reverted his gaze to the one whom he'd been speaking with.

"Shanks."

Inuarashi asked weakly,

"Is there no chance for us at all? Is our chance of victory non-existent?"

"I won't say non-existent, but... it is true that our chance of victory is slim."

Shanks, the red-haired man wearing a straw hat, chuckled dryly.

"Whitebeard and Big Mom went down by his hands. His alliance is composed of the past members of Rocks pirates. Blackbeard, the more and more I learn about his feats, he comes to remind me of Rocks D. Xebec himself."

Below Shanks, his crew members were present. Beckman, in particular, was staring at the sky as he smoked a cheap-looking cigarette.

"However,"

Shanks smiled,

"So was it back then, captain Roger told me. When he faced Xebec in God Valley together with Monkey D. Garp, Xebec was, by far, much stronger than them. Yet, they were the victors in the end."

"Well said, Shanks."

Shanks and Inuarashi turned upon hearing a third voice enter the conversation.

"Wits, guts, luck, and many more. There are tons of factors that adds to the unpredictability of a battle, no matter how much gap there is between us and them. The only reason this is possible is because we aim to 'win', not to be stronger than them."

Rayleigh, holding his own bottle of alcohol, smirked before chugging down the entire content.

"It's been a while, kiddos."

"Rayleigh-san."

And he wasn't the only one.

Walking behind Rayleigh were the legends of the past—those who were the members of Roger pirates more than fourteen years ago.

Scopper Gaban. Seagull Guns Nozdon. Sunbell, Taro, Doringo, and many more—here they stood united once again after their disbandment.

"Thank you for coming, everyone."

Shanks grimaced. Then, he kowtowed, much to everyone's surprise.

"And I'm sorry for bringing you into this. The chance is, today, we will..."

"Have we taught you this, Shanks?"

Gaban, adjusting his sunglasses, snorted.

"You aren't some cabin boy anymore. You're a goddamn captain. Don't kneel and embarrass your crew."

"Haha! No need to be so shy, Gaban!"

Rayleigh laughed heartily as he tapped Gaban on the back.

Some other members of past Roger pirates whispered among themselves,

"...Since when did he become like captain Roger?"

"Am I hallucinating? Wasn't he a complete jackass?"

Rayleigh, growing a tickmark, barked at them,

"I can hear you all, you know!!"

Effectively shutting them up.

"...Thank you."

Sitting back up with a relieved expression on him, Shanks took in a deep breath.

With seriousness, he then began speaking.

"While we still have some time left, I would like to inform you what I managed to find regarding Blackbeard."

The lousy past Roger pirates and those of the Mink tribe who were gathering around fell silent, allowing Shanks to speak in peace.

"Prior to our crew's arrival on Zou, we first visited Sphinx, which was the island where Whitebeard and Blackbeard fought."

The Red Hair pirates' faces darkened as Shanks mentioned Sphinx.

"Devoid of life, the island was reduced into nothing but a site of ruination. Be it the harmless women or children, they were mercilessly killed. However, what really took our attention above all... was that upon reassembling the series of events that occurred in Sphinx by tracking the marks on the ground, a bizarre conclusion was drawn."

Shanks stated stoically,

"Blackbeard has the power of Whitebeard's Tremor Tremor fruit."

"What?!"

Gaban cried,

"But how? That shouldn't be possible—Rayleigh?"

However, unlike Gaban, Rayleigh seemed to have frozen, wide-eyed. Everyone turned their eyes on Rayleigh, wondering if he figured something out.

"...In the past, during that day on God Valley,"

Rayleigh spoke slowly, with his eyes gazing into the past,

"Roger and I clearly heard from Rocks D. Xebec himself, that..."

"Dark Dark fruit is known to be the 'most evil' of all Devil Fruits! By 'evil', it means that the very existence of this fruit defies the law of nature!!"

It was when they were in the clutch. Xebec, with an overwhelming strength, opposed Roger and Garp with a ferocity unlike any other.

"Do you understand, Roger?! Being most evil means that it holds the power to transgress the limits that this world set upon us!!"

"The power to transgress the limits is what he said. Roger and I conversed afterward, of what he meant by that. And the conclusion we reached, was that Dark Dark fruit... allows its users to consume more than one Devil Fruit."

Rayleigh's thoughts correlated with the Red Hair pirates' own.

"And recently, the Pirate Alliance also defeated Big Mom..."

One of the past Roger pirates pointed it out.

"Then, the Blackbeard whom we will be facing,"

Shanks clenched his lone hand,

"may be the one who not only possesses the power of Dark Dark fruit, but also the Tremor Tremor fruit and Soul Soul fruit."

"And speaking of the devil..."

Rayleigh's eyes narrowed. He, along with everyone within the site, headed their gazes at the chaotic sea far below, having felt through their Observation Hakis.

"Zehahaha!!!"

The lightning crackled from the dark cloud above. The wind began to pick up and screeched, as if afraid of what was about to come.

Reaching the edge of Zou, Shanks saw—hundreds of pirate ships sailing through the wild sea.

Atop its flagship, there the man stood—the man of enormous size with a dirty-looking black beard on his chin. His eyes, which harboured nothing but joy, widened as he came to sight the gargantuan elephant, Zunasha, ahead of him.

Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach. The literal second coming of Rocks D. Xebec himself.

He has arrived.

"The final Road Poneglyph, at last...!!!"

By his side were two tied-up men, shivering in fear. One was a mink with evidence of having been tortured, barely alive from a glance. Another was the man with a third eye on his forehead, looking down at the deck with a pale expression.

However, that's not what Shanks and the others took note of.

Rather, it was the heads of the past Catastrophes, 'Whitebeard' Edward Newgate and 'Big Mom' Charlotte Linlin, which were stabbed on metal sticks and showcased to the world, that they came to see.

"BLACKBEARD!!!!!!"

Marco roared, having completely lost it. Morphing into a huge phoenix encased within the mystical fire of bluish colour, he soared through the sky and dove straight at the ship where Blackbeard stood before anyone on Zou could prevent him.

"...Hm?"

Blackbeard raised an eyebrow as he sighted Marco's dive toward him.

"Zehahaha... what is this?"

Blackbeard grinned savagely as he held his arms wide open.

"Marco, my past superior! It's been a while, eh?! I see that you've taken a liking to one of my decorations!!"

And of course, Blackbeard wasn't the only one.

"Shihahaha! Look how that bird flaps!"

'Golden Lion' Shiki.

"A nice fight it is... perfect with this rum."

'Captain' John.

"Shurororo, can I have him kept alive? I got a few tests to try!"

The mad scientist, Caesar Clown.

"Marco of the Phoenix, was he?"

Shiryu of the 'Rain'.

"..."

Silver Axe.

"It isn't just him."

'Strategist' Ochoku.

And then, there were hundreds of pirates, laughing in madness as they prepared for yet another war.

"...Here we go."

Shanks said coldly as he held his sword, Gryphon, tightly.

Blackbeard raised his hand, imbued with that of a pure darkness.

Marco in his Phoenix form then met Blackbeard's darkness.

The light flashed brightly for a moment before the darkness consumed the area, and thus, the war between the pirates began.

__________

The hallway of Pangaea Castle was bright, receiving the sunlight at its full might as Smoker walked through it.

His footsteps echoed throughout the larger hallway. Except for those footsteps, no other sound was generated—completely silent.

But Smoker knew that this silence wasn't natural. This silence was the proof of oppression; the entire environment, as if afraid of someone, was holding its breath.

At last, Smoker came to a stop.

In front of him lied an enormous door, one which he stared at it in determination.

Though it was silent, Smoker could hear now,

the faint sounds of leaves rustling.

On the walls of the hallway, the shadows, taking the forms of insects, crawled through the gaps of the enormous door.

However, Smoker knew that they weren't real.

The distortion of the space, the rising surge of Conqueror's Haki beyond the door, as well as this ominous atmosphere—

—the sounds of leaves rustling intensified into something more. The drums were beating at a certain rhythm, in a way that resembled a shady ritual.

"..."

Smoker, unfazed by this frightening phenomenon around him, took a step forward once again.

The faint wisps of smoke arose. The smoke, with surprising strength, opened the enormous door and created a gap, where nothing but darkness was found, for Smoker to walk through.

Within the darkness, Smoker felt as if hundreds of eyes were on him. The cranky noises of drums beating seemed to be getting louder and louder as Smoker walked closer to his destination.

And he finally sighted.

In the middle of this room, surrounded by the darkness, there was a long staircase.

In front of such a staircase, there were Five Elders, silently kneeling toward the staircase.

Moving his head along, Smoker, within the darkness, sighted one cloaked man sitting on the throne that stood at the end of the staircase.

"...You witness the king of the world."

Saturn, one of those who were kneeling, then spoke.

"The conqueror of nations. The dominator of ideologies. The pioneer. The revolutionary. The peacebringer. The greatest among all, the one and only god of this world."

Still in their kneeling positions, the bodies of the Five Elders slowly begin to morph.

Eventually, they were in a full might of their Zoan forms, ones that would appear hideous in the eyes of common folks. Regardless, they remained low in front of their king, and Saturn said once more with nothing but pride in him.

"You stand before the ruler of this world, Nerona Imu."

"Who'd have known,"

Smoker, standing before the Five Elders, spoke his thoughts, casually,

"That of all things, I would come to witness hell at the apex of the world?"

"..."

Imu stared down at Smoker, seated on his throne. By his side was a pile of ruins, which used to be a table, chess board, and chess pieces before their destruction.

One by one, the Five Elders begin to fade away.

And eventually, there only stood two individuals within this throne room.

At last, Imu spoke.

"You have reached far. Way too far, far beyond your capacity... your end, that is."

His swirling eyes, though emotionless, seemed to be belittling Smoker.

"From hereon, there only lies your death, death filled with nothing but meaninglessness."

"..."

Directly, Smoker faced Imu. Two pairs of crimson eyes met one another.

Then Smoker's eyes were lit aflame by the bright white spark, one that stood out within this room full of darkness.

"A meaningless death, huh."

Smoker's walk up to this point wasn't a short one. Overcoming countless adversities, giving rise to many miracles, and forming numerous bonds with others...

...throughout this journey, death has been standing by Smoker's side at all times, ready to take his life at any time.

He would always talk to others, that it wasn't the death itself that he was afraid of, but rather, a meaningless death.

At last, he reached Nerona Imu, the core of the World Government. If he were to fail, millions of deaths would become meaningless. Their sacrifices will be remembered as nothing but the World Government's massacre.

"...No way I would let that happen."

Smoker placed a foot on the stairs.

Then, he began his ascension to the throne, toward Nerona Imu.

It was the beginning of theomachy, a war against god.