Chapter 63: Probing From The Holy Land
Holy Land, Marie Geoise.
Eight hundred years ago, twenty kings united to establish the World Government, occupying the world’s only continent, using Marie Geoise as the World Government’s headquarters, with nineteen of the kingly families moving their entire clans to Marie Geoise.
From that moment on, Marie Geoise was bestowed the honorable title of “Holy Land,” and the descendants of those nineteen kings began to call themselves “descendants of the creators,” thus the Celestial Dragons descended upon this world.
After eight hundred years of time.
The current World Government is undoubtedly the lord of the world, and the Celestial Dragons have become the world’s well-known nobles.
No matter how overwhelmingly powerful the four Pirate Emperors of the New World are, no matter how grand and turbulent the scenes of a thousand sails competing in the Pirate Era, it must still be acknowledged that the true ruler of this world remains the World Government perched high atop the Red Line.
“Is this the view the rulers see every day?”
The Bubble Elevator was rising at extreme speed.
Prince Elus stood inside, and through this transparent bubble, he could see the changing scenery outside. The vast white sea of clouds had obscured the endless blue waves below, and a massive eagle pierced through the sea of clouds, flapping its wings desperately, yet unable to fly toward the higher sky.
“If Prince Elus wishes, you can naturally see such a view every day.”
Vasco said respectfully.
“Nah, I’ll pass! I still have a throne to inherit at home! Besides, the World Government is the Five Elders’ and Celestial Dragons’ World Government. I’m afraid I won’t find a suitable chair here to accommodate my butt.” Prince Elus said with a smile, revealing his dazzlingly white teeth.
Vasco bowed his head deeply.
Pretending not to have heard.
“No problem?”
Jinbe stood diagonally behind Prince Elus.
The plump Whale Shark Fish-Man alone occupied nearly one-fifth of the extremely spacious Bubble Elevator’s space. He lowered his head to look at Prince Elus and asked, “Prince Elus, are you confident? Although I’ve never seen them, the Five Elders probably aren’t easy to talk to.”
“What’s there to fear? The worst outcome is just that my wish falls through, you continue being your race harmony mascot, and I go home to inherit my throne······ So, there won’t be any losses. And that’s just the worst case; the Five Elders probably won’t refuse my little hobby, right?”
At the end, Prince Elus’s gaze fell on Vasco.
However, this little old man sent by the Five Elders to greet him continued to play deaf and dumb, standing motionless like a Wooden Man, completely ignoring the two’s discussion about the Five Elders.
“······As long as you’re confident.”
Jinbe took a deep breath, rallying his spirits.
At this point, for the tranquility of Fish-Man Island, for the future of the Ryugu Kingdom, he must fully cooperate with Prince Elus’s actions.
This was not because of Prince Elus’s promise to provide protection to the future Fish-Man Island, but because if they truly waited until Whitebeard the Old Man passed away, with no protective umbrella standing in front, Fish-Man Island probably wouldn’t even be able to refuse Prince Elus’s protection, unless they introduced another strong person who could rival Prince Elus.
Fish-Man Island,
No, the mermaids and Fish-Men were too weak.
Yet the mermaids’ astonishing beauty always attracted countless evil gazes. Without protection from a strong person standing at the peak of this world, Fish-Man Island and the Ryugu Kingdom would end up in what miserable state······ There was no need to think about it; the records in the history books compiled by the Ryugu Kingdom’s scholars were vivid and clear.
Jinbe, who had long since left the Fish-Man District streets, had persisted in reading and writing all these years, having gone through about half of the Ryugu Kingdom’s collection, so he clearly understood how difficult it was for Fish-Man Island to survive to this day in a world dominated by humans.
“Prince Elus, Mister Jinbe.”
Vasco, who had been pretending to be a Wooden Man for so long without speaking, spoke up again.
“We have left the floating air bubble area. Next, we need to transfer to the reinforced bubble. Please follow me.”
The Bubble Elevator had stopped, and Vasco led the two out of the Bubble Elevator, transferring to a larger, sturdier new Bubble Elevator parked on the platform. Not far away, Fran was escorting the little prince and little princess, leading over a hundred maids and attendants also transferring to a new Bubble Elevator here—of course, on a different line; their destination was not the same as where Prince Elus and Jinbe were heading.
Riding in the Bubble Elevator.
Prince Elus deeply experienced the first of the two most apt descriptors for the Red Line: the most towering.
Worthy of being the most towering.
Not the slightest exaggeration.
This height······ perhaps not as high as Skypiea at seven thousand meters in the sky, but it had already ascended over three thousand meters so far.
After a not-short time passed, the Bubble Elevator stopped once more.
“Alright, Prince Elus, Mister Jinbe, next just walk up this staircase, and you will see the most solemn and sacred residence in the world, the home of the descendants of the creators, known as—”
“Holy Land Marie Geoise.”
Standing at the bottom of the massive staircase, Vasco introduced to Prince Elus and Jinbe in a voice nearly pious.
The staircase was nestled in a valley, with equally sized caves carved into the rock walls on both sides, each containing huge humanoid statues of varying appearances and poses, holding guns and swords. Looking up along the staircase, one could glimpse the towering majestic palace.
“Whoosh—”
This was the sound of wings unfolding.
Vasco stunnedly raised his head, looking at Prince Elus who now had a pair of pitch-black wings behind him, a bad premonition rising in his heart. He opened his mouth to say something, but Prince Elus had no intention of giving this slippery little old man a chance to speak.
Twin wings,
Flapped.
Stirring up a surging fierce wind.
The little old man with no apparent martial power was blown over like a ball, tumbling rollingly down the steps.
“I hate climbing stairs.”
Tossing down this utterly perfunctory remark, he flapped his wings and flew into the high sky, appearing at the top of the staircase in the blink of an eye, then completely vanishing from Jinbe’s sight.
“Prince Elus!”
“Prince Elus!”
“Holy Land, Holy Land, flying in the Holy Land without permission is not allowed!!!”
Somewhat disheveled but with no actual damage, Vasco climbed up, just in time to see Prince Elus’s back disappearing at the top of the staircase. Ignoring his disheveled whiskers, he patted the dust off himself and shouted anxiously.
But,
This shouting was of no use; the disappearing back was not called back by his words.
“We’re done for, done for.”
“This time we’re dead.”
The little old man’s hands and feet trembled, his eyes full of despair. Instead of bringing Prince Elus before the Five Elders as ordered, he had let this prince barge into the skies over the Holy Land from above. No matter Prince Elus’s final fate, he, having failed the mission, would absolutely not have a pleasant end.
Suddenly,
A Big Hand came down, scooping up the little old man like a chick.
“Let’s go! Maybe we can still catch up!”
Jinbe sighed.
A bit of a headache!
He gripped Vasco tightly and began sprinting up the long staircase. With Observation Haki fully activated, he hadn’t lost track of Prince Elus’s whereabouts yet. Run faster, and there was still hope to catch up.
————
The sky was blue, clear winds brushing the face.
Holy Land Marie Geoise finally entered Prince Elus’s view clearly. He flapped his wings, flying at a leisurely pace through the sky, bird’s-eye viewing the vast city and forest below that stretched endlessly.
“Really nice!”
Prince Elus exclaimed.
From the sky, overlooking the whole.
One could see that Marie Geoise’s scenery was worthy of the Holy Land’s name. From appearance alone, it was an extremely beautiful city.
Pure white spires pierced toward the sky, exquisite and cute fountains scattered throughout, lush artificially planted forests nearly perfectly accentuating the Holy Land’s pure white, solemn and majestic statues adding full solemnity, with maids walking the corridors, their faces stunningly beautiful.
But,
“The rotten stench from the bones is truly stifling!”
With Neuro-Scan released, he clearly captured beneath this glamorous, heavenly Holy Land, the countless wailing, lamenting souls. Every moment, dying souls floated up to the high sky, instinctively heading to the distant underworld.
Of course, since Prince Elus was in this sky, he naturally wouldn’t let the souls at hand be handed over to the underworld.
The Hogyoku on his chest swirled with blue-black glow, devouring all the drifting souls around.
In just under three minutes, the Hogyoku had already devoured over a hundred souls, and among them was one exceptionally high-quality soul. From the direction it came, it was probably some powerful slave abused to death by a Celestial Dragon noble.
At that moment,
Wind pressure came from ahead.
“Intruder, die!”
Amid a cold rebuke like ice, a vast, majestic Sword Qi light filled Prince Elus’s entire view. It cleaved the atmosphere, split the flowing winds, and arrived before Prince Elus with intent to annihilate utterly.
Cyan-white light,
Gathered in Prince Elus’s palm.
This was—
Moonlight Sword.
Vast boundless Spiritual Pressure was compressed, shaped, and honed. What seemed a complex process was completed in less than the blink of an eye. Prince Elus gripped the Moonlight Sword and boldly met the killing-intent-filled Sword Qi light.
In that instant, a shrill howl rang out.
The atmosphere trembled.
The grand, majestic Sword Qi light that nearly filled the entire sky was shattered. Yes, it broke, cleaved in two from the middle by the Moonlight Sword. The Sword Qi fragmented into ten thousand pieces, scattering like violent rain toward the Holy Land below. But before touching the tips of the white spires, a terrifying power surged, erasing all the shattered Sword Qi.
To this,
Prince Elus was not surprised at all.
After swinging his sword to shatter this killing-intent-filled Sword Qi light, he didn’t pause for a moment, flapping his back wings like lightning to charge before the attacker, who also flapped gray wings, wore a white robe, a mask-like thing, and held a gleaming Long Sword.
Continued swinging the sword.
Then,
The clash of steel echoed through the atmosphere.
Dazzling sparks danced on the black blade, flickering like signal lights in the night.
Looking at the weapon not severed by the Moonlight Sword, Prince Elus laughed. Worthy of the World Government’s secret supreme Intelligence Agency, CP0, hailed as the “Celestial Dragons’ strongest shield.” Even a random member had such profound Armament Haki mastery and a blade absolutely of named quality.
“Great! This way······ it won’t be too boring!”
The cyan-white sword swung again,
Like lightning,
Like a meteor,
The fast and heavy sword edge struck successively. This CP0 member swung his sword to meet it but was forced to retreat step by step. Relying on exquisite profound Swordsmanship, he barely kept up with Prince Elus’s sword speed, but beneath that strange mask, his face burned with angry indignation.
Speed barely keeping up.
But power insufficient to rival Prince Elus.
Don’t think that during battles with BIG·MOM, Prince Elus was always sent flying; that was BIG·MOM, the humanoid monster who could snap a giant’s ribs at age five. Truly speaking, as a Mythical Zoan Ability User, his power was not small at all.
“Hah!!!”
The roar thundered, shaking the heavens.
The CP0 member, forced to retreat step by step, flew into a humiliated rage, his pair of gray wings behind flapping fiercely.
He too was a Zoan Devil Fruit User.
Though just a common type, after years of CP0 training, he had long achieved Devil Fruit Awakening and trusted his power greatly. Even temporarily suppressed by Prince Elus, he hadn’t lost confidence. On the contrary, his most fervent emotion now was anger.
Thus,
Under this anger, he erupted with all his power. Armament Haki wrapped his sword edge, then he met the Moonlight Sword barehanded with his left hand also wrapped in Armament Haki, while his right sword slashed diagonally toward Prince Elus’s waist and abdomen.
This was a ruthless trade of injury for life.
“Tch! I thought you could play with me a bit longer! What a disappointment······”
Prince Elus sighed softly.
His emerald eyes full of disappointment.
Trading injury for life, yet using such a boring tactic······ Truly dull!
The swung Moonlight Sword continued forward.
He simultaneously extended his free left hand to meet the black sword edge, fingers lightly clamping down, effortlessly catching the icy blade and halting it. At the same time, the Moonlight Sword descended, breaking through this CP0 member’s Armament Haki, leaving a long wound on his body.
From arm to chest and abdomen.
Crimson blood sprayed from the wound, sprinkling toward the Holy Land below.
But soon the wound began to heal. The vitality and self-healing of an awakened Zoan Devil Fruit User were so superhuman. However, this powerful self-healing couldn’t help him defeat Prince Elus; it only let him endure more pain in Prince Elus’s hands.
“Hundred Step Railing!”
Spiritual Pressure was refined into green Four-sided light rods, which Prince Elus thrust one by one into this CP0 member’s body.
Such a technique,
Was developed based on Spiritual Pressure, this special ability from Mythical Zoan, essentially similar to the Moonlight Sword, just revised in form, granted greater stability, allowing it to persist for a time even detached from direct contact with Prince Elus.
Soon,
This CP0 member was stabbed by Prince Elus into a humanoid porcupine.
The rods piercing his body completely severed his control over it. The wounds couldn’t heal due to the rods’ obstruction, only barely suppressing internal blood loss, avoiding becoming livestock bled on a rack.
But this ultimately couldn’t change his defeat.
Moreover, the defeat was so swift, without displaying the Zoan Devil Fruit User’s enduring stamina at all.
“Intr, intr, intruder~~~, you you won’t have a good end~~~ Holy Land, isn’t······”
Even stabbed like a porcupine, this awakened Zoan Devil Fruit User kept his consciousness clear and struggled to threaten Prince Elus with his injured throat, only to be slapped unconscious by the annoyed Prince Elus.
“Idiot! Just a pawn thrown out to probe the way, acting like a big bad wolf?”
Dragging the unconscious CP0 member, Prince Elus flapped his wings and flew toward the terrace of a palace below.
