To be honest.
In Loki's eyes, the strike Star Lord casually landed on Uma's body upon his sudden appearance was completely unremarkable.
It couldn't even be considered an attack — that slow and leisurely pat had no trace of Haki, nor did Loki perceive any ability attached to it.
But—
"No!"
Teach let out an unprecedentedly panicked sound.
He retreated in a flurry, seemingly wanting to mobilize Uma's ability to evade.
However, just as mentioned before, he had no chance whatsoever.
Without the Fruit Encyclopedia, Uma's body was almost identical to a normal person's for Teach.
Thus, Star Lord's hand easily touched Uma's body.
The changes began in the next moment.
VMMM!
Invisible power began to spread from where Star Lord's hand touched.
That was the power belonging to the Slice-Slice Fruit.
[Slice-Slice Fruit LV5 — The ability user can refresh the slice's state through touch, making its state perfectly consistent with the main body's current state]
This ability — Roy had used it who knows how many times over the long past.
So he had a considerable understanding of its essential principles.
The state refresh of the Slice-Slice Fruit was somewhat similar to an initialization effect.
Whether it was the fruit awakening cooldown of the Egg-Egg Fruit or the lifespan consumption of the Nika Fruit's awakening — any consumption and damage occurring on the slice clone could be recovered through refreshing the state, returning it to the main body's perfect state.
So factually speaking, after discovering that Teach was lurking in Elbaf and knowing that the other party's fruit was the Parasite-Parasite Fruit, Roy had already rushed to Elbaf at top speed by swapping positions with other clones.
Everything before his eyes proved his judgment was not wrong.
When Teach fought desperately, he indeed chose to use Eternal Parasitism, sending his soul into Uma's body.
And just as Teach had said — if The Zodiac was a truly existing organization, and Uma was a truly existing powerhouse, then he would be unable to resist the powerful parasitic effect of the Parasite-Parasite Fruit, which could only be used once.
But the fact was — the so-called Uma was never a truly existing person from the very beginning.
Within his body was only Roy's consciousness, not a truly existing independent soul.
So as early as the moment Teach's soul entered Uma's body, Roy's soul had already successfully withdrawn, merely communicating with Teach through the connection between the main body and the slice clone — creating the illusion that Uma's soul was still in the body.
And the purpose of this was for this exact moment.
"Farewell, Teach."
Accompanied by Roy's words, the changes on Uma's body became increasingly violent.
That pitch-black soul belonging to Teach was continuously dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye — the soul possessed by Roy's main body naturally did not include this 'anomaly', Teach.
Therefore, he was being purged by the power of the fruit.
"No, don't kill me! Star Lord, you are my father's comrade, you can't—"
"Actually, I think that based on the personality of Rocks as I know it, after learning of your situation, he would instead approve of what I am doing."
Roy spoke calmly.
According to the personality and spirit of Rocks that he had learned through his investigations, Rocks was undoubtedly a true hero on the sea.
If such a figure knew his son was a guy like Teach, he absolutely wouldn't be happy.
"No... No! Ahhhhhhh!"
After Star Lord's words fell, accompanied by a scream of terror and agony, Teach's soul completely vanished into nothingness.
This Blackbeard, who should have been infamous in the original story, ultimately failed to leave a name on the sea.
Simultaneously—
VMMM!
Beneath Uma's mask, the gaze belonging to Roy returned once again.
"Leader."
Uma bowed to Star Lord. "Thank you."
Star Lord didn't reply, merely nodding.
Then he turned his gaze and looked at Loki beside him.
"Star Lord..."
Loki was similarly looking at Star Lord, his eyes flickering with complexity.
Before Rocks went to Mary Geoise to die, his final stop had been Elbaf.
It was on that day that he formally agreed for Loki to become the final member of the Rocks Pirates, and issued his final captain's order — telling him to pass a certain message to Star Lord.
For Loki, over these past years, he had actually always been skeptical in his heart.
He worshipped Rocks, viewing him as the one and only man on the sea.
He naturally couldn't completely agree with the future Rocks chose to bet his life on.
Was there truly a guy in this world more outstanding than Rocks — even worthy of him betting everything on?
Before today, what Loki had always been thinking was that when he saw that Star Lord, he would personally weigh whether the other party's strength and spirit were truly worthy of Rocks doing that.
Mm — he thought even if Rocks knew his thoughts, he wouldn't stop him. After all, there were plenty of guys like him in the Rocks Pirates.
It wasn't until today that Loki finally seemed to get a glimpse of the power possessed by Star Lord and The Zodiac.
Uma liberated him from Teach's parasitism, and even cured his mother who had been severely ill for years — and this was just the power possessed by one of The Zodiac.
Such power... Loki silently dismissed his original plan.
"Star Lord, I—"
He looked at Star Lord, intending to fully disclose the message Rocks had instructed him to pass on.
But—
Rumble!
Exactly at this moment, violent tremors abruptly boomed.
From the sky above, an enormous petrified tree trunk — far larger than any branch before it — plummeted down like a mountain.
"Primordial World · Flame Burn!"
Amidst the intense earthquake, Loki raised Lightning. Flames burst forth on the hammer, instantly incinerating that petrified tree trunk into ash.
His dragon-and-snake-like eyes looked surprised and solemn at the scattered ash.
"Is the main trunk of the World Tree... this fast?"
He had already recognized it.
The section of the tree trunk that fell just now was a part of the World Tree's main trunk — that most ancient petrified characteristic and exaggerated size were enough to prove this point.
This was enough to show that the collapse of the World Tree was far faster than he had anticipated.
Treasure Tree Adam — this giant tree that bore Elbaf — didn't have much time left before it sank into the sea.
"With this little time... the evacuation of the Sun Realm probably hasn't finished yet."
Loki's expression abruptly sank — he had already tried his best to use the power of Uranus to ensure the stability of the natural disasters around Elbaf, but he didn't expect it to still reach this situation.
"Star Lord, Uma — I must immediately return to the Sun Realm to help. Regarding Rocks' matter..."
Loki made a prompt decision.
But—
"Wait."
Star Lord shook his head. "Even with your ability, you cannot evacuate all the Giants together in a short period of time."
He calmly pointed this out.
Loki's ability allowed him to fly, and combined with his body size and ability to control astronomical phenomena, he could indeed transport quite a few Giants at high speed.
But judging from the current situation, Treasure Tree Adam could collapse and sink into the sea at any moment — even with Loki's ability, it was impossible to ensure the transfer of all the Giants in the Sun Realm.
"...You have a way?"
Loki naturally also knew Star Lord was right.
At the same time, he also judged from Star Lord's attitude — the other party seemed to have a method.
Hearing Loki's inquiry, Star Lord nodded.
"Uma will help you."
"But it requires some... things in your hands."
Elbaf, Sun Realm, West Village.
Rumble!
Even sturdy buildings specially prepared for warriors were as fragile as gravel under the trembling and collapsing of the entire Treasure Tree Adam.
Bottomless ravines spread and expanded in West Village, accompanied by massive cracks.
"What about the children of the Walrus School!?"
"They have already been brought out, but the disaster is spreading too fast — there's no time to move to higher ground!"
"The roads to the east and north have completely collapsed! Take the injured to the high ground in the south... that's the most stable place nearby."
"The Owl Library in the west has also collapsed. Director Biblo only managed to save a portion of the precious books — the birds it knows are trying their best to rescue people."
"Prince Regent Hajrudin, you should retreat first!"
"Bullshit. I am the Prince Regent, but also a warrior — if we must retreat, I should be the last one!"
The warriors of West Village were working hard to carry out rescue operations.
Even Hajrudin had walked out of the castle and come to West Village — this young Giant was currently using brute force along with other Giants to pick up giant logs one by one, building a temporary bridge in front of them.
And walking on the bridge was a group of Giant children.
That's right.
At the same time as the battle between Teach and Uma occurred, Hajrudin had already received the news of the upheaval in the Underworld in advance and made arrangements.
He dispatched Jarul to lead a large number of Giants to the Underworld, originally to confirm what was happening there.
In the subsequent collapse of Treasure Tree Adam, these Giants who went to the Underworld were actually safe — the Underworld is the lowest level of Elbaf, and they only needed to use the Sun Stone to easily reach the sea surface.
But quickly, Hajrudin discovered a problem. That problem was the Giant children of the Walrus School.
They naturally weren't dispatched to the Underworld by Hajrudin, but had stayed in the Sun Realm.
Hajrudin decisively led several Giants back to the Sun Realm, rescuing the children together with the teachers of the Walrus School.
But clearly, the current situation was even worse than he had expected.
The speed of Treasure Tree Adam's collapse far exceeded Hajrudin's original estimation, so much so that even though they were doing their utmost to rescue, the passage from West Village to the outside still hadn't been opened up.
They could only try their best to flee towards higher and more stable ground — because they had children with them, they didn't even have the courage to fight desperately.
"My elder brother and that Zodiac member Uma will definitely rush over very soon — everyone hold on!"
Hajrudin roared loudly.
"Prince Regent Hajrudin is right!"
"That guy called Teach absolutely cannot win against Prince Loki and Lord Uma!"
"With their abilities, they can definitely save everyone!"
Dorry and Brogy, who had already returned from the Underworld, were currently swinging their giant axe and giant sword respectively to clear the way in front, while Saul and Jarul provided support from behind, struggling to advance towards the Giant Tree High Ground in the south.
Ida walked at the very back, loudly comforting the panicked children and maintaining the order of the group.
It was exactly at this moment that a sudden change occurred.
Crack!
On the surface of the high ground, accompanied by mournful cries of being overwhelmed, the entire ground instantly collapsed downward.
"The Giant Tree High Ground..."
Hajrudin's eyes instantly widened.
Because at this moment, Dorry and Brogy — who were walking at the very front of the group clearing the way — almost immediately plunged into the bottomless abyss below.
Following that, the children who should have stepped into the safe zone earliest were also dragged down along with them.
"Grab them!"
Hajrudin's eyes nearly split open. Disregarding Dorry and Brogy plummeting below, his massive body immediately lunged forward. One hand abruptly reached out, perilously grabbing the arms of two falling children.
In an instant, almost half of his body was dragged over the cliff, relying entirely on his other hand digging tightly into the rock to barely stabilize himself.
"Save the people!"
"Dorry and Brogy..."
"They are very strong! They won't die! Believe in them!"
Several other Giant warriors with extremely fast reactions also lunged forward, each grabbing a falling child.
Saul shouted from the side, but tears couldn't help but well up in his eyes — he knew very well that falling into the Underworld below under such circumstances, even Dorry and Brogy absolutely could not survive.
Even if they luckily didn't fall to their deaths, they would definitely be heavily injured, and ultimately inevitably dragged into the sea along with Elbaf.
But clearly, he couldn't care about that much now.
"Pull the children up!"
Saul shouted.
Rumble!
No spark of hope was given time to ignite.
Because just a moment later, the collapse erupted again without any warning. And what cracked this time was exactly the earth beneath their feet.
"!!!"
Amidst the widened gazes of Hajrudin, Saul, Ida, and the others, the ground beneath their feet instantly collapsed and disintegrated.
Even steadfast warriors like Saul and Hajrudin couldn't help but show despair in their eyes.
Then they began to plummet.
An extreme sensation of weightlessness instantly struck, and the surrounding light began to turn pitch-black.
They didn't have time to make any superfluous movements, only able to try their best to abruptly pull the children they had each grabbed upwards, striving to protect them in their embraces — this way, at least their bodies could serve as a final cushion.
But exactly at this moment—
VMMM!
They saw light.
It was a vast, gentle, boundless starlight.
That light didn't come from the collapsing and crumbling zenith above, but originated from the deeper Underworld below.
"That is..."
Their eyes widened.
Because right now, accompanied by their continuous plummeting, that starlight was still continuously expanding and converging, ultimately—
They saw the true outline constructed by that starlight.
It was not scattered, fragmented light.
But a giant ship — massive beyond imagination, emitting starlight.
(End of Chapter)
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