socalfunplaces Chapter 691: The King of the World Falls
Chapter 691: The King of the World Falls
Luffy's final blow shattered the first barrier, and the entire ice field instantly lit up. That wasn't light; it was pure power tearing through the spatial rift.
The black barrier's surface had barely revealed its texture when lightning struck, faster than it could, golden arcs of electricity shooting into it along the lines. Countless fine cracks erupted inside the barrier.
White flames followed closely behind, pouring back wildly along the cracks, and scalding magma crashed into the ice cave. The barrier didn't even make a sound before it melted away.
The black substance was twisted and curled up by the white flames, its edges peeling away inch by inch, sending countless black fragments flying everywhere. Before they even hit the ground, they were crushed into powder by the aftershocks and dissipated in the airflow.
The first layer of defense took less than two breaths to form and then collapse.
Im's pupils contracted sharply. The platinum torrent showed no signs of slowing down.
A second layer of dark gold shield rose, a defensive barrier woven by Im himself, its corrosive power seeping into every inch of the surface. Anything that touched it would be decomposed; neither matter nor energy would escape unscathed.
The shield met the torrent of platinum, and the corrosion took effect immediately, causing the white flames at the tip of the sword light to melt away.
Luffy's Conqueror's Haki pressed firmly against the tip of the sword, black and red lightning transforming into armor that enveloped the white flames. The corrosive power was forcibly blocked.
The two laws collided violently, a piercing shriek tearing at eardrums, as two pieces of iron crushed each other relentlessly. The dark gold color on the surface of the shield cracked.
The cracks spread rapidly from the center outwards, becoming denser and denser until they reached the edges. The protective shield shattered on the spot.
Dark gold dust scattered across the sky, while a torrent of platinum pierced through the dust, its momentum surging. Luffy pressed the second wave of rubber rebound force into the sword.
The greatsword bent in mid-air, then suddenly straightened, its speed increasing dramatically. Trailing an extremely long platinum tail, it charged straight towards the last line of defense.
The third layer is the Sword of the Codex. Im himself wielded the sword to block it.
The muscles in his arms tensed, dark gold patterns creeping from the back of his hands up his forearms, and dense spatial cutting lines appeared on the sword's blade. The space directly in front of him was sliced into dozens of fragmented areas, and any intruder would be torn apart and shredded.
The platinum torrent shattered the spatial slicing zone, its power forcibly dispersed, and the sword light split into several fragments. Bypassing the central slicing zone, the sharp spatial fissures continuously weakened the sword's momentum.
Luffy's eyes flashed with golden light. The arc of the giant sword suddenly changed.
The rubber's rebound force pressed into the sword again, forcefully pushing it to the side, causing the blade to twist at an angle that defies physics. It bypassed the central cutting zone and sliced into the Sword of the Codex from its weakest flank.
Im's pupils dilated. There wasn't even time to adjust the sword's angle.
The platinum torrent struck the flank. The weak point shattered instantly.
Im was forced to retreat for the first time. His feet stomped on the void, creating large black cracks that spread wildly in all directions like shattered glass.
The void, unable to withstand this power, let out a mournful cry. A genuine pain flashed in Im's crimson eyes.
The white flames burned through His outer shell, the heat surging wildly into His body along the wound. It directly scorched through the demonic darkness within Him that had not yet been activated.
The ancient power buried deep within him contracted violently as it was burned by the white flames, emitting a hissing sound as if a living creature had been scalded. Im's muscles instantly locked, and dark gold patterns emerged from beneath his skin, frantically slithering across his body like startled venomous snakes.
The platinum torrent completely pierced through the triple defenses. The greatsword struck Im squarely in the chest.
The dark red robe burned to ashes in the white flames, revealing ancient dark gold markings covering its entire body. The sealing patterns crawled from the collarbone up to the abdomen, covering the entire torso.
The white flames, attached to the mark, burned wildly, twisting and deforming the dark gold patterns, and molten metal flowed onto the skin.
The mark is distorted, the origin is damaged. Im has wounded the foundation.
He screamed in agony.
The sound exploded simultaneously from every dimension of His existence, piercing and shrill, pure and unadulterated pain. For eight hundred years, the King of the World had never shown weakness before living beings.
He sits enthroned in the void, looking down upon all living beings. No one has ever heard His voice, let alone such a scream.
The screams drowned out everything on the icy plains; the artillery fire ceased, and the tremors subsided. The blackwater monster's roar was cut short, and even the wind seemed to fall silent for a moment.
The remnants of the Knights of God gripped their weapons tightly, their expressions shifting from tense to blank, and finally consumed by fear. Even the beings they revered as gods could scream.
Luffy didn't stop at all. Using the last bit of rebound force from the giant sword, he cleaved Im from the sky.
Im plummeted wildly, trailing a platinum tail of flame, his speed soaring as he crashed into the icy plain like a burning meteor. Upon impact, the ice shattered in all directions from the point of impact, sending fragments of ice and soil hundreds of meters into the air by the shockwave.
The ravine stretched hundreds of meters from the point of impact, charred marks burning through the ice to expose dark brown permafrost. The ice walls on both sides were violently overturned by the shockwave, and huge fragments rolled across the battlefield.
The soldiers of both armies were shaken and staggered backward. Garin Saint was thrown more than ten meters by the impact of Lockes's foot, tumbling several times in the broken ice, his face covered in blood.
Smoke and dust rose, a gray-white column of smoke carrying the smell of burning, swirling wildly upwards from the end of the ravine, obscuring its path.
Im lay lifeless at the edge of the ravine, fragments of his dark red robes scattered across the ground. The Sword of the Codex was embedded diagonally in the frozen earth beside him, its dark golden light dimmed to a point where it seemed about to be extinguished at any moment.
Luffy hovered in mid-air. Large patches of Nika's golden light peeled off his body, falling off his skin like golden scales.
His white hair faded back to black, and the golden lines on his shoulders and arms gradually disappeared. He began to fall, his muscles having completely lost their support.
This attack completely drained him of everything. Nika's power, Conqueror's Haki, the white flames of the sun god, even the life force that maintained his form was almost burned away.
Their bodies lost weight and began to fall. Marco was the first to move.
Blue phoenix flames exploded beneath his feet, and he transformed into a blue streak of light, hurtling towards Luffy. His speed was incredibly fast.
But the first generation of divine weapons was faster.
The giant sword suddenly moved in mid-air, detaching from Luffy's hand. Instead of falling, it moved horizontally to Luffy's feet. The sword's blade lay horizontally like a bridge, steadily supporting his falling body.
Luffy's boots stepped onto the sword, his knees buckling and he almost collapsed. The sword rose slightly, pressing firmly against his body.
It landed steadily back on the ice. It didn't fall; it was put down.
Marco stopped his momentum and landed. The original divine weapon flew to his side, its ancient patterns flashing a final glimmer of light as it confirmed its master was safe before going completely dark.
Marco shut his mouth and reached out to support Luffy's shoulder. Luffy's body was burning hot, but at least he was still standing.
The silence lasted for three seconds.
The ice field exploded.
The roar shook the heavens. The Allied soldiers cheered wildly.
Thousands of mouths roared simultaneously, crashing in from all directions like a tsunami. Giant warriors shattered the ice with their fists, their broken weapon handles pounding the ground, the thunderous rhythm echoing across the battlefield.
Loki knelt in the shattered ice, slamming half of his giant hammer against the surface, then roared furiously. His eyes were bloodshot; he had waited too long for this moment.
Tie Lei leaned against the ice wall behind him, his old body trembling violently, his lips quivering so much he couldn't utter a single word.
Sabo raised his fiery fist high above his head. The flames were blindingly bright against the gray sky, and the orange-red flag fluttered wildly in the wind.
The revolutionary soldiers raised their weapons in unison, laughter mingling with tears. Beckman lowered his gun, signaling for a halt, his cigarette butt trembling violently, but he outwardly feigned composure.
The white-bearded man burst into wild laughter. The laughter, mixed with a vibrating force, roared out of his chest, causing the nearby ice shards to hum.
He hoisted Murakumogiri onto his shoulder, looked up at Luffy, and his eyes crinkled with wrinkles. Rocks stood to the side, staring intently at the end of the ravine.
Unusually, he didn't utter a sarcastic remark, but simply watched coldly. His eyes, devoid of contempt, held only a profound stillness.
He had witnessed countless powerful figures fall and personally buried far too many monsters. He could distinguish between true death and feigned death, but the smoke and dust at the end of the ravine were too thick to see through.
Shanks forced Shamrock back with a single sword strike. He abandoned the pursuit and turned to look at Luffy.
His face showed no trace of elation, only a deathly solemnity. He sensed something was wrong; his vital energy was incomplete.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex emitted a faint warning from within its body. The beast's pre-dawn restlessness and unease were palpable.
Chen Ye did not join in the cheering.
He hovered high in the air, his right arm hanging low, a faint, dark golden light shimmering beneath his sleeve. His Observation Haki transformed into an invisible net, piercing through the smoke and dust, tearing through the cracks in the scorched, frozen earth, and plunging straight into the deepest ravines.
He could hear a heartbeat.
It's not Luffy's. Luffy's heartbeat is weak but the frequency is normal.
He heard another, rising from the bottom of the abyss. Heavy, slow, each beat like a giant hammer smashing a drum.
thump.
The darkness deep within the smoke and dust expanded by a ring.
thump.
It expanded another size.
Chen Ye's pupils contracted sharply. With each heartbeat, the darkness surrounding Im grew outwards by a fraction.
It wasn't spreading, it was growing. Several times more concentrated than before it collapsed, and the moment one touched it with Observation Haki, a sharp, stinging pain shot through them.
A living person would never have such a heartbeat.
Chen Ye clenched his fist tightly.
Im is not dead.
Luffy's sword strike did indeed pierce through three layers of defense, burn away the ancient mark, and force out the first scream from the King of the World in eight hundred years. But it failed to kill Im.
That sword strike was even more terrifying. It burned a hole in the demonized darkness suppressed within Im's body, and that ancient darkness was now surging out wildly.
Luffy clung to the ice, barely holding on. The golden light faded, and Nikka's form was completely dispelled.
Barely able to stand by the support of the first-generation divine weapon, his legs trembled uncontrollably, and his breathing was heavy and labored, like a broken bellows. His body had fallen from godhood back to that of a mortal, and he could no longer muster any strength.
The most fatal window.
opened.