Chapter 444 - Government Movement Initiating.
[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
New Word.
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The fight between Lucy and Zephyr had escalated to a higher level as the battle continued to intensify even further. Lucy was in her Boundman form, while Zephyr fought with all his might. However, he realized he was reaching his limit, using the Dyna Stones in an attempt to balance the fight between the two. It was a battle not just between enemies from opposing sides but also between a teacher and a student. Lucy may have trained with Garp most days in Marineford, but she received direct aid, guidance, and training from Zephyr, forging a sensei bond during the years she was in the Marines.
But Lucy was no longer as she once was. She was using her ultimate transformation. Even without utilizing her full power, she was already stronger than Zephyr in this state, forcing him to retreat with every clash of their haki.
Despite his experience, Zephyr no longer possessed the strength of his youth, while Lucy had reached a level far beyond what he ever imagined in just one year. Her agility and mobility, enhanced by her mastery of the Six Styles—far superior to what is taught in the Marines—and combined with Gear Fourth, made her even faster and more unpredictable to the experienced ex-admiral.
The explosions continued, with Zephyr hurling Dyna Stones one after another, trying to hit Lucy. She, however, managed to evade or shield herself, leaving him frustrated.
When Zephyr finally managed to land a blow on Lucy, he was stunned to realize her body bent like rubber even with haki activated, absorbing the impact with little damage.
In the next moment, Lucy countered with a devastating strike, knocking Zephyr's glasses off. He retreated briefly but quickly resumed the fight while Luffy watched from a distance. Still keeping the Shichibukai tied up beside him, Luffy knew the battle wouldn't last much longer. Zephyr was already heavily damaged, while Lucy was still in good condition.
During one of the explosions, Lucy, enveloped in Haki, charged forward with a giant punch—one of her strongest attacks. Zephyr, in a last-ditch effort, tried to respond with all his strength focused into his mechanical arm. As the two blows collided, the pressure spread, with streams of Armament Haki radiating across the area. But Lucy activated her greatest strength, embedding Conqueror's Haki into her punch at that moment. Her attack became so intense that Zephyr raised his eyebrows in surprise, witnessing his mechanical arm being completely destroyed without Lucy exerting much effort.
The Conqueror's Haki coating was something Luffy had ensured she mastered during her training. And Luffy watched as his sister struck Zephyr, her fist larger than his entire body. The impact was so devastating that Zephyr was sent flying across the island, breaking through rocks and even the base itself, before crashing into the sea, accompanied by a massive water explosion.
In the midst of the devastated area, Lucy landed. She felt that Zephyr was no longer conscious and reverted to her slim form. Without wasting time, she flew back to meet Luffy, who was waiting for her in the air.
"You fought well," Luffy remarked with a smile as Lucy landed beside him, sporting only a few scratches but not showing any signs of fatigue.
"Yeah... I'm much stronger now," she said, clenching her fist as she looked at him, her gaze tinged with concern.
"Don't worry. Let's grab him and tie up the others," Luffy assured her before heading back to the ships. They grabbed one of the unconscious subordinates, waking him abruptly.
"You will go into the sea and retrieve your fallen commander," Luffy ordered the subordinate.
With no choice, the subordinate complied. Moments later, Luffy returned with Zephyr's unconscious, cuffed body. He landed beside Lucy, who observed him curiously.
When Luffy returned, he found his younger sister momentarily off-guard, as Ain had regained consciousness. She caught Lucy by surprise, pointing a gun at her head while glaring at Luffy with gritted teeth, frustration evident on her face.
"Release Z-Sensei! Or she dies, I have a Seastone bullet!" Ain exclaimed.
"Stop this, Ain, I don't want to hurt you!" Lucy said, her tone serious, though her voice sounded like a 12-year-old girl. Ain had used her ability to regress Lucy's age, something similar to what Bonney could do, though far inferior to the distorted future powers of Bartholomew Kuma's daughter.
"You look just like the old days, Lucy. Adorable," Luffy said with a nostalgic tone, recalling their younger days in Goa as he looked at Lucy in this state.
"It's not funny, brother," Lucy complained, pouting as she considered taking Ain down for good.
"This is no joke! Hand over Z-Sensei, quickly!" Ain exclaimed again. Luffy shook his head as he looked at her. In the next moment, he unleashed his haki, overwhelming Ain. Feeling the sheer power—far greater than Lucy's—her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the ground, just as Lucy returned to her adult form.
"You should tie up the bodies more carefully," Luffy scolded, noticing the sloppy bindings Lucy had made, which allowed Ain to catch her off guard.
"I did what I could," Lucy replied with an embarrassed smile as Luffy rolled his eyes.
Despite everything, Luffy couldn't help but feel proud of his sister. Quickly, he activated his Moa Moa no Mi and began moving like a flash among the bodies, securing them one by one in an instant until all were tightly restrained.
"What do we do now?" Lucy asked, looking at Luffy. He paused for a moment before answering.
"Well, I hadn't planned on using this, but it could definitely come in handy. Let's gather all the Dyna Stones the Neo Marines have on their ships and load up all the prisoners, even those two from the sea," Luffy said, as he began organizing the Neo Marines. He grabbed the two who had just been pulled from the water and placed all the prisoners on a single ship along with their leaders and the Shichibukai, all tightly bound. Then, using his abilities, Luffy shrank the ship and put it in his pocket.
Next, he began collecting all the remaining Dyna Stones, as well as the Neo Marines' treasures, storing everything for himself and adding points to the system.
"I have some plans for these guys," he commented. "But for now, let's just keep them stored."
"And now, are we heading to Wano?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Yeah, there's nothing else to do out here on the sea," Luffy replied. "Let's get back to the others," he said. Lucy nodded, and together they flew back into the sky, increasing their speed as Luffy carried his sister.
Far away, the fleet of ships continued traversing the skies, advancing toward Wano. But beneath them, amidst the ocean, unaware that several ships were flying above due to the clouds, lay vessels from the World Government and the Marines.
They were stationed in the water, carefully watching the calm horizon. A sailor approached a Den Den Mushi and reported:
"Commander, there's no sign of the Straw Hat crew. They haven't appeared yet…" he informed.
"How is that possible? They should be following this route. They should be here any moment…" replied the voice on the other end, clearly frustrated.
"We'll stay here for the next few days and report if we spot them. But so far, no sign of them," the sailor continued.
"Very well. Notify us of anything," the commander said before disconnecting. He was in a room at HQ and turned back with a cautious expression to face Akainu, who stood beside him. The Fleet Admiral, however, looked visibly frustrated.
"Where are they now?" Akainu asked, clenching his fists.
"They're in the air, Akainu. You should know that," replied an elderly voice from another Den Den Mushi that echoed in the room.
Akainu turned to glare at the Den Den Mushi connected to the Five Elders, who were present in the room, monitoring the report.
"It's not like there's much we can do about it now, is there, Fleet Admiral?" one of the Elders added mockingly.
"..." Akainu did not respond, his expression hardening even further.
"Well, this is expected from them, after all," another Elder commented calmly. "With the power of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, they can move to any part of the world. Even with Wano being a closed-off country, an invader coming from the sky would have the advantage, entering the country effortlessly and gaining the element of surprise," another Elder added.
"This leads us to the question: what are we going to do now?" the fourth Elder asked, his gaze serious.
Saturn, his voice filled with anger and resentment from his injuries, replied, "For heaven's sake, isn't it obvious? It's time to launch our attack against them. We don't know their full strength, as no one has been able to communicate with us so far, but that's no reason not to act!" He spoke with determination, and the others nodded. The time to strike had come after a year of inactivity.
Akainu remained silent as they discussed until Saturn made a point of addressing him directly, looking at the Den Den Mushi.
"Akainu. Stay alert. Any call from us must be answered immediately, considering we have two Admirals out of action—one injured and another held hostage." Akainu said nothing, only listening as the Den Den Mushi disconnected.
In the Room of Power, the conversation continued, covering matters Akainu was not privy to.
"With the ongoing meeting between the kings, it's also an opportunity to demonstrate the might of the World Government—against those pirates and the countries that have betrayed us. All of them must pay and be exterminated!" Saturn continued with a determined look.
"You're not thinking of using that, are you?" someone murmured from the background.
"Of course not. We don't even have the authority for that—only Im-Sama does. There's no reason to resort to that now. It would draw too much attention, but we have plenty of other weapons at our disposal," Saturn replied, his eyes gleaming with malice. "You know this well."
One of the other Elders nodded and began dialing another number. When the call connected, a nervous and submissive voice responded on the other end: "Yes, sir."
"Prepare everything. We're initiating Project Erebus," Saturn ordered.
The person on the other end, still sounding nervous, replied quickly: "It will be done immediately."
The Den Den Mushi disconnected. In the next moment, the man retrieved a key from a necklace around his neck and inserted it into a lock on a panel. With a firm motion, he turned the key, revealing a button. He pressed it, and all the lights in the room—which appeared to be a command center—began flashing red. Sirens blared, and people began running back and forth, fully aware of what this meant.
"Project Erebus Initiated!" "Project Erebus Initiated!" "Project Erebus Initiated!"
The loudspeakers repeated the name of the operation continuously.
In the same base, members of CP agents from all levels were present.
"It seems something is about to start. Do we need to act?" Kaku asked, now dressed entirely in white.
"I don't know. This isn't part of our protocol. We don't even know what exactly they're planning," another person responded, also dressed in white—none other than Rob Lucci. Around him, other members of CP0 were gathered on higher floors, none of them moving, as the announcement wasn't their concern.
"Who cares about this? We're on a mission in Mary Geoise to protect the Tenryuubito from any threat. Whatever this mission is, it's not ours," Stussy remarked, also dressed in white like the others.
Meanwhile, in a deeper section of the base, there was a room filled with capsules. Inside the capsules, people were submerged in green liquid, breathing through apparatuses. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker, and dozens of devices beneath the capsules lit up and began blinking.
"Initiating awakening. Initiating awakening!"
The sounds echoed throughout the room. Slowly, inside the capsules, the eyelashes of the submerged individuals began to move. One by one, their eyes opened, glowing with vivid, diverse colors unique to each person.
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