Chapter 385: Twilight of the Gods

When Kizaru arrived at Mary Geoise, the war that had taken place here had long since ended.

Countless guards moved through the sea of fire, searching for possible survivors.

Clack!

Clack!

Clack!

Step by step, Kizaru entered the center of Mary Geoise, only to be met by the sight of a charred corpse.

Until the very last moment before death, that person had maintained the posture of arms crossed over his chest, surrounded by vines that had already been burned to cinders.

These vines retained their original shape, yet would turn to ash and scatter at the slightest breeze.

"Binz..."

Kizaru spoke the name of the person before him.

This was his junior, and one of the two trainee marines who had survived on the ship when Zephyr was attacked by the Seven Warlords.

At Marine Headquarters, Kizaru had not interacted much with him, but still retained some impression of him.

Judging by his posture, he must have stayed behind to cover others' retreat, using his abilities to desperately hold back the pursuers.

For a moment, Kizaru's emotions were complex.

He looked around.

He saw that this holy city, once exceedingly prosperous and truly possessing the air of a dwelling place for gods, had already been swallowed by smoke and fire.

Black smoke billowed everywhere, and flames shot into the sky.

Everywhere were vines that had burst through the ground and stretched toward the sky, along with deep craters left by meteor impacts.

Countless Celestial Dragons clad in diving suits wailed amidst the fierce flames.

To Kizaru's ears, those sounds were no different from the lamentations of commoners weeping in the midst of artillery fire.

"Is there truly anyone..."

"... who can be sacred merely because of their bloodline?!"

"... born inherently above all else, disregarding laws, disregarding morality, treating the entire world as a doll to be manipulated at will?!"

In his low murmurs, Kizaru already had the answer in his heart.

In a daze.

Kizaru realized that the time he came to know this truth was not now, witnessing the destruction of Mary Geoise.

Rather, it was far earlier, the first time he had added the ambiguous prefix before the word "justice."

Hiss—!

Kizaru took a deep breath and stepped into the distant ruins.

Suppressing the complex emotions in his heart, Kizaru focused his attention on the distant ruins.

The strategic failure to execute Portgas D. Ace at Marineford, combined with Whitebeard's final words before death, would make this already turbulent era even more out of control.

And the destruction of most of Mary Geoise would cause this out-of-control era to truly collapse!

The significance represented by Mary Geoise was far too heavy for this world, and for the World Government.

This was the dwelling place of gods, a divine kingdom above all else, an existence that absolutely could not be defiled.

And the fall of the divine kingdom, the demise of the Celestial Dragons who claimed themselves as gods, also represented the collapse of divinity and order.

Adding the final, and most vicious, spark to the chaotic times that were already approaching.

"Teacher Zephyr..."

Kizaru murmured softly.

His sunglasses reflected the firelight, also shielding his eyes.

Only the memories left from when he received instruction from Zephyr at the Officers Academy surfaced in his mind.

Zephyr did not like Kizaru, and Kizaru did not like Zephyr, but precisely because of this, those memories now became even more profound.

No matter what, Kizaru could not connect the teacher in his memories, who was so upright as to be nearly rigid, with the madman who attacked Mary Geoise at all costs.

Attacking Mary Geoise amidst the chaos was a move that precisely struck the World Government's vital point!

It could even be said to be a single strike to kill!

Once mishandled, the divinity that the Celestial Dragons had forged over hundreds of years would shatter completely.

When the awe in people's hearts disappears, facing oppression and resistance, they will have more courage to pick up the butcher's knife!

Those who realized this point were far from just Kizaru alone.

At this very moment.

In the center of Pangong City.

Within the only intact, or even one could say spotless, massive palace amidst a sea of fire.

The Five Elders knelt prostrate before the Wang Zuo, reporting with anxious faces to Imu seated upon the Wang Zuo:

"The Neo Marines who attacked Mary Geoise have been repelled; aside from the leader Zephyr and a few high-ranking members who escaped, everyone else has been annihilated."

"Currently, members of the God's Knights have been dispatched and are pursuing those few individuals."

As the voice landed.

The surroundings immediately fell silent.

Imu's gaze lowered, pressing down on the Five Elders' shoulders with tangible weight.

The air was silent and oppressive, as if Lei Ting would strike at any moment.

The Five Elders pressed their bodies even lower.

Fearing that Imu, on a whim, would erase them on the spot.

The more it was such a time, the more they could feel the pain of having their lives not under their own control.

However.

Having reached this step, they had long since lost any path to turn back.

After a long while.

From above the Wang Zuo, a sigh came.

"Seizing the moment when the entire world's attention was focused on the Navy Headquarters executing Roger's son to attack Mary Geoise—I must say, this is exactly what one would expect from a man who was once a Navy Admiral?!"

"This boldness, this grasp of timing, is truly breathtaking!"

"As for you few..."

Im's voice paused, his tone now laced with several degrees of mockery:

"Impel Down was infiltrated, the plan to execute Portgas D. Ace at Navy Headquarters to intimidate the world failed, and now even Mary Geoise has been infiltrated..."

"If not for the fact that the current situation still requires you few, you would all have to atone with your lives for this single failure!"

The Five Elders immediately prostrated themselves on the ground; subconsciously, they felt a sigh of relief in their hearts, yet in the next instant, their hearts tightened again!

"If you cannot quell this unrest, then you few will have no value left to exist."

"Do you understand?!"

"Yes!"

"First, suppress news of what happened at Impel Down and Mary Geoise!"

"Yes!"

The Five Elders nodded heavily and quickly disseminated Im's orders.

However.

Due to its secrecy, Impel Down could still be sealed off.

But Mary Geoise is located at the highest point in the world; a massive explosion occurring there was as dazzling as the sun to the surrounding seas.

Even hundreds of nautical miles away, one could clearly see that pillar of fire shooting into the sky.

Thus, even though the World Government intended to seal off the news, it was difficult to curb the spread of rumors.

In just a few short days.

News that Mary Geoise had been attacked by a mysterious organization and that countless Celestial Dragons had been killed or injured spread across the entire sea!

"Even the Celestial Dragons, who reside high above in Mary Geoise, can die?!"

"But are they not gods?!"

"How can a god die? If a god can be killed, then... is the blood flowing from him any different from mine?!"

Accompanied by these doubts.

A serf swung the sickle in his hand and severed the head of the noble who had enslaved him.

The moment scalding blood sprayed onto his face, he tasted only the same fishy sweetness as his own blood.

"So... we are the same?!"

"Then why are some people born possessing everything, while others are destined to labor on this land until death!"

"Must sons become slaves to others, and daughters be left at the mercy of humiliation?!"

"I did not understand before, but now I do."