Chapter 122: Gods, Monsters, and Backup

[General POV]

The sky above Skypiea no longer belonged to the angels or the pirates. It belonged to the monsters.

The detonation of the incomplete Raigo inside Dr. Indigo’s primary chemical reserves had supercharged the pathogen. Millions of volts of electricity and thousands of gallons of the unrefined IQ pathogen had pushed the hyper-accelerating chemical into mutating something dangerous.

The three gargantuan Kaijus rising from the free-floating wreckage of the western fortress had no loyalties and were agents of chaos and destruction.

The first was a colossal, winged chimera, its forearms protruding with massive, jagged blades of fused bone and iron. The second was a hulking, armored behemoth, its massive maw dripping with highly concentrated, neon-green acid that hissed as it melted the floating debris. The third was a terrifying, multi-headed serpentine hydra, its scales formed from fused bedrock, crackling violently with the residual lightning it had absorbed from the blast.

With three distinct, world-shattering roars, the bio-weapons fractured. They were instinctively drawn to the three largest concentrations of energy remaining on the island.

The Winged Chimera screeched, locking onto the intense thermal signatures of Ace and BetelGammamon, diving straight back into the ruined western airspace.

The Armored Acid Behemoth plummeted straight down like a fleshy meteor. It ignored the floating islands entirely, drawn to the massive, pulsing life force of the thousands of refugees and fighters gathered at the base of the Giant Jack.

And the Lightning Hydra, feeding off the ambient electrical storm churning above the island, slithered through the open sky with terrifying speed, heading directly eastward toward the Ark Maxim.

[Ace POV]

My lungs burned with every breath, my shattered ribs protesting violently as I forced myself to stand.

Golden Lion Shiki floated twenty feet away, his golden coat singed and his face contorted into a mask of absolute, unhinged fury. All those years of planning, research, fleet building, and hiding in the clouds, all completely vaporized in a single lightning strike from a false god.

“My…” Shiki whispered, his voice trembling with so much rage that it made the air heavy. He locked his furious gaze on me and the towering crimson dragon standing at my side. “I will crush you all!”

Shiki raised his legendary sword-legs, preparing to invert the gravity of the entire remaining debris field to crush us.

Before he could swing, a deafening screech tore through the sky.

The Winged Chimera descended like a nightmare. It cared less that Shiki was a legend of a bygone era. The massive beast swung its bone-bladed forearm in a devastating arc, aiming to cleave the Golden Lion in half.

Shiki snarled, forced to abandon his attack on us. He violently shifted his center of gravity, launching himself upward while simultaneously bringing Kogarashi down in a heavy, Haki-laced slash that deflected the bone blade with a shower of sparks.

“Now’s our chance!” BetelGammamon roared, his draconic voice booming.

The crimson Digimon didn’t hesitate. He launched himself off the molten glass, his massive legs propelling him forward with explosive speed. He intercepted the Chimera’s second strike, catching the beast’s other bone blade with his bare, crimson claws. The sheer physical strength of the red dragon halted the Kaiju’s momentum entirely.

I pushed through the agonizing pain in my chest. I couldn’t let BetelGammamon fight alone.

I extended both hands, condensing my flames until they burned a blinding, piercing blue-white. I didn’t fire a massive wave; I fired concentrated, highly pressurized lances of plasma.

“Shinka: Shiranui!”

The lances tore through the air, but I didn’t aim at the Chimera. I aimed directly at Shiki’s blind spots while he was engaged with the beast.

Shiki was forced into a chaotic, three-way deathmatch. He deflected my plasma lances with a floating debris, only to immediately parry a snapping jaw from the Chimera. The veteran pirate was splitting his focus, using his Float-Float powers to violently hurl massive chunks of bedrock at both the mutant monster and the blazing dragon.

We were fighting a Yanko-level legend and a bio-weapon at the exact same time. It was absolute madness, and as I ignited my fists for another barrage, I couldn’t help but smile.

[Law POV]

The ground war was supposed to be over.

I stood on the massive wooden roots of the Giant Jack, my breathing heavy, my stamina drastically depleted. Maintaining a Room large enough to dismantle a large group of people had drained my Haki reserves to dangerous levels. Around me, the Skypiean and Shandian militia were tending to their wounded, by using the Breath Cards, celebrating their impossible survival against Dr. Indigo’s horde.

Then, the sky above the canopy went completely dark.

The air pressure plummeted. The Armored Acid Kaiju crashed into the area near the Giant Jacks’ roots.

The Kaiju slammed into the dense jungle just thirty yards outside our barricades with the force of a catastrophic earthquake. The impact sent a massive shockwave of dirt and splintered ancient trees washing over the refugee camp. Militiamen were thrown off their feet, screaming in panic as the towering, hulking mass of bone plating and bulging muscle rose from the crater.

“What is that thing?!” Jacob yelled, dropping back into his Longarm boxing stance, his magical gauntlets sparking.

The Kajiu unhinged its massive jaw, revealing rows of jagged teeth and a glowing, bubbling throat. A terrifying, sickly sweet smell of corrosive acid flooded the clearing.

It was preparing to spew.

A single blast of that highly concentrated, unrefined neon-green acid would melt through the ancient roots of the Giant Jack, completely dissolving the barricades and the hundreds of refugees huddled behind them.

“Get everyone back!” Koala screamed, sprinting to the very front of the barricades.

She sank into a desperate, deeply rooted Fish-Man Karate stance. She gathered every ounce of ambient moisture in the humid jungle air, pulling the water toward her outstretched palms in a swirling, frantic vortex.

I stepped up beside her, biting the inside of my cheek to focus through the exhaustion. I raised my left hand, forcing my Devil Fruit to activate despite the agonizing strain on my stamina.

“Room,” I commanded.

A massive, translucent blue dome violently expanded, covering the entire space between the barricades and the Kaiju.

The Behemoth lunged forward, unleashing a colossal, tidal wave of glowing green acid from its maw. The corrosive tsunami tore through the air, instantly melting the bedrock it touched.

“Hold it!” Koala yelled, thrusting her palms forward to unleash a massive, pressurized wall of water to dilute the incoming acid.

I gripped Kikoku with both hands, my eyes locked on the precise path of the corrosive wave. I just needed to buy us a few seconds to figure out how to kill a mountain of acid.

[Victor POV]

The solid gold deck of the Ark Maxim was a ruined mess of craters and shattered railings.

I stood near the bow, my eyes locked on the eastern horizon. The Lightning Hydra was slithering through the air, its three massive heads snapping at the atmospheric electricity, drawn directly toward the Ark like a moth to a flame.

I gripped the black chain connecting my Jade Wings. I didn’t need to hold back against a mindless monster.

But I had underestimated the sheer, spiteful madness of a broken ego.

Enel hadn’t fallen into the cloud sea. The “God” of Skypiea, bleeding heavily from the blast that had shattered his ribs, had caught himself in mid-air. His grand Raigo had missed and he had been physically manhandled by a Blue Sea captain.

Driven unhinged by the humiliation, Enel bypassed the incoming Hydra. His body sparked violently as he transformed into pure lightning, utilizing his maximum speed.

He didn’t make any announcement of his attack. He directly aimed for my blind spot.

Enel materialized in the air directly behind me, condensing millions of volts into a single, razor-sharp blade of blue lightning extending from his hand. He thrust the lethal blade forward, aiming to pierce straight through my spine while my attention was on the Kaiju.

Before my Advanced Observation Haki could prompt me to shadow-skip, the sound of sequential cannon fire echoed rapidly from below the Ark.

Geppo. Geppo. Geppo.

A blur of motion rocketed up from the cloud sea, moving with the blinding, explosive speed of a Rokushiki master.

Jasmine broke the altitude of the golden deck.

She didn’t hesitate. Utilizing Soru, she vanished from the edge of the ship and reappeared perfectly in the space between my back and Enel’s descending lightning blade.

Enel’s eyes widened in shock, but his momentum was already committed. The concentrated blade of millions of volts stabbed directly into Jasmine’s shoulder.

It should have instantly vaporized her arm and stopped her heart.

Instead, Jasmine’s eyes flared with bright, violent blue electricity.

Thunder Rod.

The lethal voltage started fueling her. Jasmine’s unique ability acted as a perfect, living grounding wire. She absorbed the entirety of Enel’s lightning blade directly into her body. In a fraction of a second, the wound cauterized. Her muscles tensed, bulging slightly as her physical strength, reaction time, and durability violently skyrocketed, supercharged by the God’s own power.

“Thanks for the battery jump,” Jasmine smirked, her voice vibrating with static.

Enel froze, staring in absolute horror as his ultimate assassination strike was literally eaten by another Blue Sea mortal.

Jasmine didn’t give him a moment to retreat. In her right hand, she gripped Coil Mjolnir. She squeezed the trigger on the haft. The mechanical coil screamed to life, spinning rapidly and generating massive arcs of its own electric elemental discharge. Utilizing the weapon’s mechanics, she expanded the sharp hammerhead to a massive, crushing size, instantly coating the dark metal in dense, black Advanced Armament Haki.

She didn’t swing the hammer at Enel.

With her supercharged strength, Jasmine slammed Coil Mjolnir directly into the solid gold deck beneath Enel’s feet.

The shockwave of the blast ended up throwing Enel towards the back of the ship, with enough force to temporarily disorientate him.

I looked over my shoulder at my sister. The Warlord’s stoic composure cracked, replaced by a fierce, feral grin of absolute approval.

“Nice entrance,” I said.

“You looked like you needed someone to watch your back,” Jasmine replied, her eyes locked on the struggling God at her feet.

I turned my full attention back to the eastern horizon. The massive Lightning Hydra was closing the final distance, its three jaws unhinging to unleash a torrent of stolen electricity. Just as Robin Jumped from our ship and landed between us ready to fight a God.

“Keep him pinned,” I ordered, shifting the black chain of my Jade Wings. The twin daggers snapped back into my hands, the green blades humming with letha intent. “I have a monster to butcher.”