Bretts.
The fruit stall owner, a middle-aged man who was actually a spy for the CP organization, also walked out of his house, cheering with the crowd.
But when that colossal entity descended from above, he felt no joy, only a chill running through his body, just like everyone else.
"What, what, what is this?"
As a member of the World Government's CP organization, he knew most of the secrets in this world that ordinary people would never learn in their lifetimes.
Yet, he had never seen the thing in the sky.
"No wonder, no wonder, no wonder my superior hasn't given me further orders."
The middle-aged man looked up at the sky, his eyes revealing utter despair.
"They're going to erase this island!"
At this moment, even his iron-hard will felt a deep despair, and a profound sadness.
From the time he could remember, he had trained on an island with many children his age. They were instilled with the ideology of absolute loyalty to the World Government, and his life had been dedicated to that ideal.
Throughout his decades of life.
Due to his mediocre strength, he had only engaged in espionage. He had lived a life of wandering, with no wife, no children, a solitary man.
He had dedicated his entire life to the World Government.
He had believed that this job, though dangerous, would allow him to retire honorably.
Having been part of the World Government's clandestine organizations, he had witnessed all sorts of darkness. Yet, he had never imagined that one day, he would be among the discarded.
At this moment, he harbored no resentment. After all, his entire life had been spent serving the World Government; from childhood, the principle instilled in him was to do anything for the World Government.
Though without resentment, he felt a deep sadness.
Gazing at the luminous mass in the sky, resembling another sun, he closed his eyes. In the instant his eyes shut, he seemed to glimpse a beautiful figure, clad in white, standing in the wind.
That was a girl he had met over a decade ago. She was kind and beautiful, and he had loved her. Yet, in the end, he had easily killed her, for the World Government.
"Karma, I'm coming."
At this moment, a hint of relief, as if a great burden had been lifted, flickered across his lips.
...
On the Going Merry.
Kuina stepped forward, took Sora's hand, fingers intertwined, holding it tightly.
In all her life, she had never seen Sora so somber.
Sora withdrew his gaze, turned to smile faintly at Kuina, then released her hand, signaling her to step back two paces.
Sora was indeed somber.
But in his heart, there was also a sense of relief. Fortunately, he hadn't been idle during this time. In his spatial domain, he had forcibly merged the energy and items from Devil Fruits to create a special necklace that could open doors anywhere.
The World Government couldn't possibly be unaware of this. As for himself, no one in this world could kill him unless they could trap him and prevent him from teleporting.
Yet, the World Government had still come. They must have been certain that he wouldn't abandon his companions and flee alone.
He indeed wouldn't abandon his companions. But what the World Government hadn't anticipated was his ability to intercept the rebirth of Devil Fruits and even forcibly create Devil Fruit weapons.
The spatial dimension opened by the Door-Door Fruit was such that, let alone the behemoth above, unless this world was destroyed, no one within could be harmed, except for him, of course.
Although he could leave now, ignoring the entity in the sky and the countless civilians in Bretts City, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He had to try and intercept the luminous mass from above. Even if he couldn't stop it, he couldn't let it fall on Bretts.
After all, the entity above might be coming for them, and Kokoro Island was merely caught in the crossfire.
With this thought, Sora reached into his spatial bag and pulled out a glass sphere. He then clenched his right fist tightly.
*Crack—!*
The spatial sphere shattered, and a sense of immense danger, emanating no aura but palpable, surged from Sora's hand.
With a hum, Sora opened his palm, and a sword as black as night, capable of devouring light, floated above his hand and gradually grew larger.
This was the Blade of Space that Sora had condensed on Sabaody Archipelago.
With his current stamina, he could only condense one. The second one would leave him collapsing.
Upon its appearance, the Blade of Space seemed alien to this world, causing the space around it to twist to an extreme degree.
Simply by existing, it placed an unbearable strain on space. If not for Sora's control, the Blade of Space, upon falling, could pierce through the fabric of reality.
Kuina's pupils contracted as she gazed at the Blade of Space.
Sora had not hidden his use of black hole energy from her, so she knew what Sora had used to kill Carthes on Light Island.
However, this was the first time she had experienced such immense energy, capable of devouring light, at such close proximity.
No wonder Sora rarely used it; it was simply too dangerous.
Although the Blade of Space emitted no aura, it felt more dangerous to her than the luminous mass in the sky that had usurped the sun.
If the luminous mass in the sky could inflict serious injury upon her, then this obsidian sword, if it struck, would undoubtedly kill her.
Sora raised his head, gazing at the increasingly condensed luminous mass in the sky. With a thought, his spatial domain materialized.
Then, he extended his left hand and grasped the void with force.
From the void, the phantom of a transparent bow gradually solidified.
Sora raised his right hand, gripping the hilt of the Blade of Space, then bent down, placing the Blade of Space onto the ethereal bow condensed by his spatial domain.
He then drew the bow.
At this moment, the space around him twisted to an extreme, making his figure appear as if he had entered another dimension, only a faint silhouette visible.
The violent spatial fluctuations caused Kuina to retreat a few more steps.
She felt that the space before her could now tear apart anything in this world.
The extreme sharpness evoked in her the feeling of an ant facing the sun. If she hadn't known that this distorted space was Sora's doing, she would have been consumed by fear.
Time seemed to stop at this moment.
The energy light cluster in the sky reached its final stage.
Though this period seemed long, from the appearance of the light cluster to Sora drawing the bow, it had only been a few seconds.
Yet, in these few seconds,
the most powerful collision in the world of One Piece would erupt.
Not a false "most powerful," but a true collision at the pinnacle of a planet.
*Bang—!*
The light cluster finally descended, shooting straight down.
"It's here."
Sora's brow furrowed slightly, his eyes fixed on the luminous mass. He released his right hand.
Compared to the earth-shattering spectacle of the light cluster, the arrow formed by the Blade of Space appeared remarkably tranquil.
Silently, amidst the distortion of space, a black line connecting heaven and earth streaked across the sky.
Wherever the Blade of Space passed, space was directly cleaved. If one listened closely, they could even sense an aura that did not belong to this world emanating from that black line.