One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

"What is this?!" Kizaru was horrified as his body was shattered by the sudden and terrifying beam of light.

Once he regained his balance and looked down, all he saw was a huge, bottomless pit with a diameter of over ten kilometers.

The inland sea in the center of Wanbo Island, the place where Barrett and Rorschach fought, vanished completely amidst a deafening roar that silenced the world.

Kizaru felt a chill run through him.

Rorschach!

Chapter 830 Sorrow and Anger

three days later.

The country of peace.

Holding a bamboo tube filled with water, Ayu carefully walked across the charred ruins, avoiding the ash that was still emitting black smoke, and approached a tall, thin figure ahead.

The man was wearing a military uniform that had been scorched black, his cloak was tattered and covered in dark red bloodstains, and he was holding a double-edged longsword as he dug into the ground.

He was so engrossed in digging that he didn't hear footsteps behind him.

Ayu was a little nervous, but she still mustered up her courage, raised the bamboo tube filled with water in her hand, and said softly, "Uncle... Uncle, please... please have some water."

The man who was digging paused and turned around.

"what!"

Upon seeing the other person's face, Ayu trembled in fright, and the bamboo tube she was holding fell to the ground with a soft thud. The somewhat murky water inside spilled out, splashing onto the scalding ground and immediately releasing white steam.

"Sorry, did I scare you? My face can be quite frightening. Thank you for your kindness, young lady; you're a kind person. It's a bit dangerous here. The geological turbulence after the volcanic eruption could easily cause landslides. You should hurry back to the center."

The man's voice was extremely hoarse, like rusty iron grinding together. On his skeletal, gaunt face, he forced an even more terrifying smile. Then he turned around and, with his only remaining right hand, took the longsword covered in mud and ash and continued digging.

He was tall, but his back was hunched, and his body was covered in dirt. Even Ayu could feel the exhaustion emanating from him. With each dig, heavy breathing would escape from his mouth and nose, like an old bellows struggling to keep up with its workload.

But he never stopped. With his only remaining arm, he gripped the longsword tightly, inserted it into the dry, cracked soil covered in black ash, pried the soil apart, and then used his hands to push the soil aside, gradually digging a pit about a foot deep in front of him.

After digging one hole, he sat quietly by the edge of it for a moment, rested, and then grabbed his longsword and began digging a second hole in the ground next to him.

Having no longer seen that terrifying, skeletal face, Ayu's heart gradually calmed down.

She stood behind the man, quietly watching him dig one pit after another. After a long time, she finally couldn't help but muster her courage and asked in a low voice.

"Uncle, what...what are you doing? Digging holes to plant trees?"

"Plant trees?" Peng En, who was engrossed in digging a hole, paused. Without turning around, he forced a stiff smile and shook his head slightly with his back to Ayu. "I'm sorry to disappoint you. I know this poor country has been ravaged by wildfires, burning down many forests, but I don't intend to dig holes to plant trees. I just want to dig some holes to bury the innocent people who died in the disaster and the comrades who tragically sacrificed their lives in battle. Of course, your suggestion is very good. If I can find some surviving saplings around here later, I will consider planting some trees as well. I think those who died won't mind, and might even be happy to be buried under a tree."

When Peng En said these words, his tone was relaxed, and his voice even carried a hint of laughter, but A Yu heard the dripping sound of water droplets falling to the ground.

"Go back, young lady, it's dangerous here. Go back to your family."

Peng En stood there for a long time, then bent down and continued digging the hole.

Ayu stared at his retreating figure for a long time, then pursed her lips, picked up the overturned bamboo tube from the ground, and turned to leave.

She walked through the bamboo forest of Bianli Village, which had been destroyed by lava fire, bypassed the forest path riddled with huge cracks, crossed a depression where dark red lava flowed, and arrived at the ruins of Bianli Village.

On the open ground in front of these ruins, all the citizens of Wano Country who survived the disaster gathered together and were cooking over a fire.

Among the crowd, G5 marines in white uniforms were maintaining order.

Ayu walked with her head down through the numb and lifeless crowd, listening to the occasional cries of children beside her. As she walked, her lips gradually pursed, and tears streamed down her reddened eyes.

Her master, Tenguyama Hitetsu, did not die in the volcanic eruption, but in his sleep. As for herself, if she hadn't been saved by the skeletal-looking marine, she would have perished in the raging wildfire.

Although Ayu was extremely sad at this moment, she still remembered her master's teachings: one should be grateful and repay kindness.

Ten minutes later, at the edge of the cliff in Jiuli.

"Uncle, please have some water."

The little girl's voice rang in Peng En's ears again, making him almost think that there was something wrong with his ears and that he was hallucinating.

Peng En turned his head in confusion and saw again the little girl who had been frightened by his appearance, and the bamboo tube she was holding high.

"Uncle, please have some water." Tama repeated, her eyes no longer filled with fear as she looked at Peng En, but with gratitude. "Uncle, thank you for saving Tama, and thank you to the Navy... Navy for saving everyone in Wano Country."

"Aren't you...aren't you afraid of me?" Peng En hesitated, not immediately taking the glass of water. He turned to the side, afraid that his appearance would frighten the kind little girl in front of him again.

Ayu shook her head. "I'm not afraid, because you are my great benefactor, Uncle. My master said that one should repay kindness, but I have nothing now. My master is dead, and my house was burned down. I have nothing of value to repay you, Uncle. But don't worry, Uncle, I will definitely become a powerful ninja in the future and earn money to repay you for saving my life."

Her arms, which were holding the bamboo tube, trembled slightly, and her stomach rumbled with hunger.

Upon seeing this, Peng En felt a pang of sorrow. He quickly planted his longsword in the ground, carefully took the bamboo tube, straightened up, held the tube to his chest, and solemnly asked, "May I know your name?"

Ayu was stunned. Seeing Peng En's formality, she panicked and stammered, "I... my name is Ayu."

"Hello, Ayu, my name is Peng En." Peng En forced a kind smile that was more terrifying than a ghost onto his skull-like face. "I'll accept your water as your repayment."

“But… this is just a glass of water…” Ayu said with some shame.

Peng En shook his head and said seriously, "No, this glass of water is the best gift I have ever received."

With that, he brought the slightly murky water from the bamboo tube to his parched lips and drank it all in one gulp. The sweet water entered his stomach, but scalding tears kept sliding down his cheeks. His shoulders trembled, he coughed violently a few times, and slowly sat down on the edge of the pit he had dug, sobbing.

"Uncle, why are you crying? Is the water not good for Ayu? I'm so sorry..." Ayu was at a loss.

Peng En shook his head vigorously. "No, I'm just very sad. My comrades have suffered heavy casualties, countless innocent people have died, Lieutenant General Luo has gone missing, and even the general is nowhere to be found. With so many disasters, when will it end? I really don't want to see any more people die."

Hearing Peng En's choked, painful voice, A Yu thought of her deceased master and couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with grief, wanting to cry as well. But she held back. Through Peng En's blurry, tearful eyes, the seven or eight-year-old girl stepped forward, reached out and patted his head, comforting him, "If you want to cry, just cry. Don't suppress yourself. Master said that if you're sad, it's okay to cry it out."

Peng En paused for a moment, then could no longer suppress his emotions and burst into a hoarse sob, like a helpless old man.

The Changying Port, which was mostly destroyed.

"What we can confirm now is that Law is not dead, but just temporarily missing. If he were dead, the hearts of Deckard and the others, whose hearts he took with his Op-Op Fruit ability, should have returned to their bodies. I suspect that something must have happened here while we were all trapped in Uta's world, and someone took the opportunity to abduct Law."

Yamato, his body wrapped in bandages, spoke in a deep voice to Hibari, who was standing on the edge of the cliff.

Hibari turned around, nodded slightly, and whispered, "Yamato, your guess is right. Something must have happened while we were asleep, otherwise the Zou giant elephant wouldn't have died here for no reason. I think Brother Rorschach must know something, but..."

At this point, Lark lowered his eyes, looking somewhat saddened.

Yamato looked at her thin figure, which was wrapped in many bandages, sighed in his heart, thought for a moment, and then walked over and patted Hibari on the shoulder.

"Don't worry too much. Rorschach is incredibly lucky; he'll definitely survive. Even... even Kaido couldn't kill him, so how could a mere demon heir possibly harm him? Maybe he'll be waiting for us there when we get back to G5."

"I hope so." Hibari forced a smile as he listened to Yamato's words of comfort.

But she was still worried.

Based on the information from Kizaru, Hibari roughly guessed what the terrifying pillar of light that destroyed Expo Island was.

She turned slightly to look at the vast ocean beyond the border of Wano Country. On the distant sea, there were several warships and wooden boats. Bepo, Kirin, and others were leading some marines to search for and rescue the Mink Tribe members who had fallen into the sea.

Further away, there was a corpse as massive as the Zanpakutna mountain range.

The only thing that could inflict such devastating damage on the epic behemoth Elephant Lord, and cause Wanbo Island to vanish instantly, turning into a massive pillar of light that seemed to represent an abyss, was something that Lorraine had once told her about.

One of the three ancient weapons alongside Pluto, and a national treasure of the Celestial Dragons held by the World Government, Uranus.

Given Rorschach's extraordinary strength displayed in the Singing World, Hibari truly didn't believe Barrett could harm him. However, the reputation of the Ancient Weapon was simply too great. Although he had never seen Uranus's appearance, the traces it left in this world were enough to clearly demonstrate its terrifying power.

The vanished Valley of the Gods in the West Sea, the bottomless abyss on Enies Lobby, and now the entire Vanke Island has disappeared.

Enel's Thunderclap could easily destroy a sky island, but it couldn't blast through the earth's strata thousands or tens of thousands of meters to create such a terrifying bottomless pit.

The power of ancient weapons has surpassed the capabilities of ordinary human combat. Even Rorschach would likely be...

Three days have passed since the disaster on Manbo Island.

After three days of unfolding events, this largest, most widespread, and deadliest disaster in history was exposed on Morgans' World News livestream, shocking the world.

The news that the devil's heir, Douglas Barrett, and the songstress Uta had plotted to kill millions of innocent people spread like wildfire, sparking countless condemnations and heated discussions.

A somber atmosphere enveloped the world, leaving countless people heartbroken and grief-stricken after losing family and friends.

Because their warship was destroyed in the previous battle, and due to their own casualties and the subsequent rescue operation in Wano Country, the G5 members were unable to return to G5 immediately.

Hibari and the others are now waiting for G5 and headquarters to send warships to take them back.

However, Hibari knew that G5 and the headquarters' warships probably wouldn't arrive so quickly. Firstly, there was the distance, and secondly, because of the Wanbo Island incident, both G5 and the headquarters had suffered heavy losses and were extremely busy with the aftermath.

Seeing that Hibari was still worried, Yamato suggested, "Since you're so concerned, why don't we take a warship to Wanbo Island, and I'll go with you to find Rorschach?"

Hibari shook his head. "No need. Enel has already gone. His Observation Haki is far stronger than ours. If even he can't find Brother Rorschach, then there's no point in us going. The most important thing now is to stabilize the current situation. We won't go anywhere; we'll stay here and guard the place. We can't let anything else go wrong."

"Well... alright then." Yamato had no choice but to agree.

However, soon after, with the arrival of one person, the G5 members, who were trapped in Wano Country and unable to leave, were immediately rescued.

With an even older appearance and an unyielding weariness in his eyes, Zepha descended from the sky and looked at Hibari.

"Skylark, get ready, I'm here to take you back."

Marineford, Martyrs' Cemetery.

As the last rays of dusk fell, they cast a long, slender shadow of Sengoku. He sat quietly before a newly erected tombstone, a bag of rice crackers and a bottle of old wine on the ground before him. The shadow of the tombstone covered him, obscuring his face.

"The memorial service for the marines has begun, Sengoku."

Footsteps sounded behind me, along with a soft, aged voice.

Zhan Guo kept his head down and did not reply, his hunched back as stiff as the tombstone in front of him.

Lieutenant General Tsuru sighed, his gaze passing over Sengoku's shoulder to see the rice crackers and old sake placed in front of him, and his eyes darkened.

"I know you're very sad, but... there are some things I still need to tell you."

Seeing that Sengoku still did not respond, Tsuru continued, "The news from Hibari's side is that Law is most likely not dead. His disappearance may have been caused by someone. Someone may have infiltrated Wano Country and taken him away during the Song Disaster."

Upon hearing General Tsuru's words, Sengoku, whose body had been hunched over for three days, finally straightened up and stiffly turned his head, revealing an old face with a stubble beard, a haggard appearance, and wrinkles. His cloudy eyes showed some fluctuation.

Lieutenant General Tsuru sighed again and brought up another matter.

"From Boccolao Island, Borsalino and Enel have sent word that they still haven't found Rorschach."

“Rorschach…”

Upon hearing Luo Xia's name, Sengoku's numb expression finally softened, and an undisguised worry surfaced in his eyes.

General Tsuru noticed his worry, shook his head, and then told him something that enraged Sengoku.

"The World Government has sent word that Rorschach has been missing for too long, and G5, as the bridgehead of the New World Navy, cannot be without an Admiral to guard it. Considering the importance of G5, they will appoint Aramaki as the interim governor of G5. If Rorschach is not dead, Aramaki will be recalled. If it has been confirmed that Rorschach is dead, Aramaki will become the new governor of G5, and a new Admiral will be selected."

"What?!" Sengoku could no longer contain his suppressed rage, clenching his fists. "What is the World Government trying to do? Are they going to discard us after we've served our purpose? Rorschach has done so much for our Navy. It's one thing for them not to think about sending more people to search for him, but to say such heartless things at a time like this, aren't they afraid of alienating the entire Navy?"