Chapter 197 Anomaly
With a bang, Lox grabbed Satan Saint's wrist and slammed his body into the ground, then stomped hard on Satan Saint's severed head left in place.
Despite this humiliating posture, Saint Satan did not say anything to Lox about being a lowly person as he had before. He simply closed his eyes and breathed heavily with great difficulty.
Satan, who was still in human form, was not without using his Devil Fruit ability. Rather, a minute earlier, his Devil Fruit ability had been completely rendered unusable by Rocks and the red-haired guy's combined attack.
Where are Alice and Teach?
As Lox asked the question, he pressed down hard on Satan Saint's head, making a cracking sound.
Shanks stood behind Griffin, supporting him as he took small, even breaths, while glancing around to try and find Val.
No, was it blocked by something?
"Heh..." Even with only a head remaining, Saint Satan still uttered a mocking sound, "You cannot win. I will execute the David clan in the cruelest way in the world. I'll make it twelve hours, let them endure twelve hours of agonizing torture before they die, let them walk into hell before your very eyes..."
Bang!
Rocks kicked the head away, and watched as Satan Saint's head and the headless body searched for each other in a strange posture and tried to merge back into one. Even the usually cold-blooded Rocks couldn't help but show a look of anxiety.
Alice, Teach...
The thought of his wife and son disappearing on this island amidst the chaos of the three-way war made Locke extremely anxious.
Fortunately, Shanks told Rocks when he came to help that Val had already prepared for the possible disaster in God Valley. At that moment, the two monsters she brought were evacuating the captured slaves and civilians of God Valley from the ground and the sky respectively. This allowed Rocks to remain rational and join forces with Shanks to besiege Satan Saint.
whoosh—whoosh—
The sound of some enormous creature flapping its wings rang out from above, and Shanks' previously serious expression immediately broke into a smile. He looked up and, as expected, met the silly, big eyes of the elk goose.
"Mmm—"
The elk and goose landed heavily on the ground, raising their necks and letting out a high-pitched cry.
...It really is as awful as ever.
"Rocks?!"
The elk-goose lowered its wings, and a figure slid down from them. Upon seeing the figure, Rocks was first shocked and his eyes widened. Then he ran towards her.
"Alice!"
Lox scooped Alice up in his arms. Looking at the dried tear tracks on her face, his brow furrowed in anger: "You cried! And who did these injuries to you?!"
The King of the World's unbridled rage startled the dragon, who was carefully descending the elk-goose wings while carrying Teach, causing it to slip and tumble down.
"navy?"
Lox looked at the dragon, and even though he made no threatening move, the dragon, who was just a lowly soldier at the time, still trembled in fear.
"Wait, Rocks, calm down, he saved us."
Alice didn't reveal that Dragon had finally used a tranquilizer gun to take down the Celestial Dragon. Since her identity already destined her to be an enemy of the World Government, there was no need to drag this somewhat kind and promising Marine recruit into the mire because of her affair with Teach.
He might as well just pin the blame for killing another Celestial Dragon on himself.
Shanks watched as the dragon released Teach and let him pounce into Rocks' arms, then thought for a moment and beckoned to him.
Dragon hesitated for a moment, but still walked towards Shanks.
Snap!
Shanks delivered a swift chop to the dragon, sending him to a peaceful sleep, then grabbed him by the collar and tossed him onto the reindeer and goose.
Rocks: "..."
Alice: "..."
Shanks smiled: "This kid is Garp's son, he might come in handy later."
The two understood. It was suspicious that Dragon, as a Marine, was mixed up with pirates, but it wouldn't be a problem if he was captured as a prisoner. After all, as a new recruit, it wasn't shameful for Dragon to be captured by Rocks.
Shanks revealed the dragon's identity to inform Rocks in advance that he planned to return the dragon to Garp when the opportunity arose.
"Tsk."
Rocks clicked his tongue in displeasure, feeling that Shanks thought he was a madman who would kill any Marine he saw.
Alice patted Lox's head reassuringly.
"Fine, considering that kid saved Alice," Lockes nodded. "Whatever you say."
Rocks bent down and picked up Teach with one arm and Alice with the other: "Let's get out of here quickly."
“Then…uncles and aunts…” Alice thought of the other members of the David tribe who had also been captured, “No, Rocks, I can leave on my own. That, that elk goose is enough to protect us.”
Alice cupped Lox's face in her hands and looked at him: "Go and rescue the others, Lox."
"Alice..."
"I can protect myself and Teach. Don't forget Rocks, I used to be a pirate too."
Lox stared intently into Alice's resolute gaze, and a few seconds later swung his sword, severing the seastone handcuffs on Alice and Teach's hands.
"I will come back to find you, wait for me."
"Um."
No longer affected by the Seastone, Alice easily lifted the unconscious dragon while holding a Teach, and was about to jump onto the back of the reindeer goose. However, as soon as her palm touched the reindeer goose's wing, she sensed that the animal was in a very agitated state.
At the same time, one after another, mindless, beast-like roars echoed from the jungle behind them. They, like everyone else on the island looking up at the sky, saw the strange black sphere and those eerie, shadowy, ghostly hands…
Upon seeing those ghostly hands, Shanks, who had explored the underground world with Val, immediately recognized what it was from that familiar headache and dizziness.
"Oh no, Lox, let's get out of here!"
Even the mighty Rocks, the King of the World, and Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, couldn't defeat those shadow creatures that have no physical form, cannot be attacked, and cause continuous psychological trauma.
They had to find Violet and meet her as soon as possible to hear what her plans were.
This is really troublesome. Although Shanks guessed that the World Government probably had some related technology after seeing those ancient ruins underground, he still felt that they wouldn't use any area-of-effect weapons because God Valley is now inhabited not only by civilians, slaves, marines, and pirates, but also by many Celestial Dragons.
But unexpectedly, the higher-ups among the Celestial Dragons viewed the lower-level Celestial Dragons in much the same way that the Celestial Dragons viewed ordinary people.
"Lox?"
Shanks called out again, but found that Rocks was still standing there without responding.
Alice, who was being held in Lox's arms, sensed something was wrong and struggled to lift her head from his embrace to look in the direction from which the beast-like howls came from.
Figures emerged from behind the trees, and Alice stared in horror, her eyes wide: "W-how could this be?"
"Uncle, Aunt, how could you..."
Countless ghostly hands completely blocked out the last ray of light in the sky, but those terrifying figures did not disappear. Instead, their demonic forms became clearer as they approached.
Those were... those were the David family, his relatives, who had been captured by the World Government!
Lox stared with rage at their lifeless eyes and bizarre, demonic figures, then abruptly turned to look at Saint Satan, who was leaning against the rock wall as he stood up.
"What exactly did you do to them?"
"You'll understand when you become like that."
Satan Saint straightened up, and black smoke reappeared beside him. However, this time, the smoke did not form ribbons around his shoulders and neck as before, but instead continued to emerge from his body and gather beside him, forming a human-shaped phantom.
As the figure solidified, Satan Saint became listless, as if a great deal of energy had been drained from his body.
"Walk!"
Lox had no intention of involving Alice and Satchel in this dangerous battle. Although he was very unwilling, he still grabbed the two of them and ran towards the elk and goose to prepare for retreat.
As for those clansmen whose strange states were being manipulated...
Rocks clenched his fist, thinking that once he got Alice and Teach to safety, he would pry out the way to restore them from Stan Saint's mouth!
Rocks, carrying Alice and Teach, jumped onto the back of the reindeer goose first, followed by Shanks, who was responsible for bringing up the rear. Shanks gently stroked the reindeer goose's thick, hard outer feathers and gave an uncertain command: "Now, uh, take off? Take us to the shore."
Just then, countless black "snowflakes" began to fall from the dark sky.
Those "snowflakes" had no weight and varied shapes, but as soon as they appeared, they made all the powerful people on the island tense up.
Unlike ordinary people who need to wait until they fall into their field of vision before observing them, these powerful beings can see what they look like the moment they appear.
"What kind of monster is that?"
Roger looked at Garp in surprise, only to find that the Marine was also looking up at the black shadow monster falling from the sky with a serious expression.
Sengoku, who was in charge of command and guard duty on the warship, leaned his hands on the window frame and looked out the window with his head out. He stared at the distant God Valley with wide eyes, just like he was watching Rocks helping an old lady cross the street.
"That's the Valley of Gods?!"
What are those black things?
"Damn it, all communications are down!"
"Our people are still inside. We need to find a way to get them out!"
Sengoku took a deep breath as he looked at the God Valley, which was completely enveloped by a black, unidentified object, forming a tightly sealed giant egg.
"Everyone on high alert. Call Marshal Kong's Den Den Mushi and I will personally report the current situation to him."
"yes!"
After the soldier, whose expression still held confusion and panic, left, Sengoku raised his hand to rub his temples, feeling a deep chill of fear.
What exactly are the World Government and the Celestial Dragons planning to do?!
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