Chapter 194 The Valley of Gods, Where Stars Gather (1...)
"Please, please spare my child... I'm willing to get down myself, just let him go, he's only five years old."
"Mommy, Mommy, I'm so scared!"
"Haha, another point! This modified weapon is really useful."
"Huh? Why can you still scream after I stabbed you in the chest... Ah? So it has to be stabbed into the chest."
...
Hell, an absolutely hellish scene.
With the protection of the Knights of God and the tacit approval of the Navy, this bloody and brutal "match" that takes place every three years has officially begun.
The local residents of God Valley and the slaves who were brought there were considered "Escapees." They were given different points based on their status. The more special their status and the better they preserved their strength, the more points they would contribute after being killed. Those who accumulated the most points were considered the elite and strong among the Celestial Dragons.
Therefore, those special types of "escapees" became the main targets of the powerful Celestial Dragons.
To make this "competition" even more exciting, and to motivate the "escapees" to run away, before the "competition" began, the Celestial Dragons granted amnesty to all slaves and the residents of God Valley who saw their faces—as long as they survived until the end of the "competition," they would not only receive a substantial reward, but also gain their freedom.
These are all lies, of course.
The warships and World Government vessels surrounding God Valley served another important purpose besides preventing the "escapees" from escaping the "competition" arena and protecting the Celestial Dragons within. That was to issue a Buster Call against God Valley after everything was over, ensuring that no one would escape alive after the Celestial Dragons left.
This is why, even though this "competition" is held every three years, no one has ever discovered it.
"Big Bear, watch out!"
Ginny pounced on the bear and pinned it to the ground, while a stray bullet, seemingly out of nowhere, grazed the bear's scalp.
"Hiss..." Big Bear could even feel the intense heat from the bullet cutting through the air. He helped Ginny up in fear. "This place is really too dangerous."
It was incredibly difficult for those children to survive this dangerous "competition" without any help or weapons.
"Don't give up, Big Bear," Ginny encouraged him. "Listen, that sound in the distance."
Busy escaping, the bear and Ivankov finally managed to spare some attention to listen to the sounds in the distance.
"They're talking about... the Rocks Pirates?!"
Ivankov looked in surprise toward the direction from which the sound came, but unfortunately he saw nothing but a dense forest.
“I heard that too!” Big Bear nodded firmly. “Besides the Rocks Pirates, it seems the Roger Pirates are here as well.”
Even as slaves, they had heard of the Rocks Pirates. In Kuma's mind, the Rocks Pirates were the natural enemies of the World Government and the Celestial Dragons.
"Great! Shakky didn't lie to me after all! The Rocks Pirates are here, and the Roger Pirates are here too!" Ginny prayed in her heart that the Rocks Pirates and the Roger Pirates could stop those terrifying Celestial Dragon guards and Marines, so that they wouldn't have the energy to deal with these insignificant little guys.
Ginny: "Moreover, the number of guards around our target will be much smaller."
Having witnessed the Celestial Dragons' cruelty, Ginny and the others refused to believe the Celestial Dragons' promise before the "match" that they would gain their freedom if they survived these few days.
They only trust their companions who share joys and sorrows, and the strength that belongs to them.
For them, the Devil Fruits that were prizes in this "competition" were the most likely way to become stronger in a short period of time.
Ginny swallowed hard to suppress her unease, and as she had done countless times before, she encouraged everyone: "Our goal is the Azure Dragon Fruit. I've already drawn a picture of it for you. If just one of us eats this fruit, it will be enough to help us escape from here."
That's a fruit that can grant users the ability to fly!
"So whoever finds that fruit first should not hesitate at all and eat it!"
Big Bear and Ivankov exchanged a glance and nodded vigorously: "Yes, we understand, Ginny."
After the mobilization was completed, Ginny and the others ran towards the place where the "competition" prizes were kept like a few dusty little mice. Just as Ginny had guessed, after the pirates broke through the Navy's defenses and rushed up to God Valley, all the forces scattered in God Valley were called away to protect the Celestial Dragons. The place where the prizes were kept was empty, and Ginny and the others slipped in almost effortlessly.
"Very good!"
Ivankov looked excitedly at the glittering golden boxes in the room; they had finally gotten lucky!
Just then, Ivankov suddenly heard a quarrel outside.
"Hey, Lingling! You cheated by flying!"
"MAMAMA!" Lingling laughed, "Of course, whoever grabs the treasure first gets to keep it!"
"No, Lingling, even if you manage to snatch Xia Qi, it won't make any difference, right?!"
"Who said I was going to steal Shakky? Besides Shakky, the treasures on Beehive Island also include the Devil Fruit that the World Government stole from Rocks!"
She has several children who haven't eaten Devil Fruits yet, so even if it's not the food-type Devil Fruit that she's most interested in, it's still worth trying to steal it.
As for the claim that these fruits originally belonged to Lox?
Putting aside the fact that Rocks himself stole them from someone else, the "owner" himself disappeared as soon as he arrived on the island. So, according to the rules of the pirates, these Devil Fruits should naturally be kept by whoever gets them first.
"Damn it!"
Kaido glared at Linlin and sped up, rushing towards the house in the distance. He had long envied Newgate and Shiki's Devil Fruit abilities, but unfortunately, the Devil Fruits he had encountered in the past were not very good. The only one that made Kaido's heart flutter was the Azure Dragon Fruit, which was in Rocks' collection.
Kaido had originally planned to set his sights on other Devil Fruits, but unexpectedly, the World Government launched an attack on Beehive Island. The Azure Dragon Fruit was taken away by the World Government as a trophy and became the prize for the tournament held by the Celestial Dragons.
As Kaido ran, he looked around and, listening to the distant sounds of fighting and gunfire, couldn't help but sigh, "These so-called nobles really haven't changed at all."
"MAMAMA! Those guys are even more bastards than us pirates!"
call--
Suddenly a gust of wind blew by, and at the same time a shadow quickly swept past Linlin and Kaido. Kaido looked up warily and saw the chest of some kind of grayish-white furry animal.
Lingling manipulated the thundercloud to launch a tentative attack, but before the silvery-white lightning could touch the strange creature's fluffy feathers, a rather unpleasant and noisy braying of a donkey echoed throughout the sky.
"Vell!"
Kaido was deeply impressed by that cry, as Violet had descended from the sky onto that strange bird with its awful cry.
Upon hearing Kaido's voice, Violet poked her head out from behind the reindeer-goose: "Yo, Linlin, Kaido!"
Damn it, how come they can all fly?!
Kaido glared at Violet resentfully, then his gaze fell on Linlin not far away, and a good idea suddenly popped into his head.
Kaido leaped up, climbed to the highest point by stepping on the branches of the giant tree next to him, and then jumped down at the right moment!
"ah!"
Kaido grabbed Linlin's leg and flew up as well.
"Kaido!"
Lei Yun swayed and almost threw both of them off. Lingling glared angrily at Kaido, wanting to kick him off, but Kaido's grip was too tight, and Lingling couldn't pull her leg away.
Kaido looked at Linlin and laughed triumphantly: "You won't get rid of my Linlin!"
"You bastard!"
Violet shook her head, no longer caring about these two maritime veterans whose ages seemed to be halved when they got together. Relying on the flying ability of the elk goose, she commanded it to fly to the highest point and take in the entire Beehive Island.
Although the arrival of the Rocks Pirates and the Roger Pirates effectively stopped the killing contest, it was far from enough to truly prevent the Beehive Island disaster.
With so many "precious" Celestial Dragons appearing in the lower realm at the same time, the security forces responsible for protecting them should not be underestimated. The Navy's ambiguous attitude is not trustworthy, and the World Government and even the Celestial Dragons have definitely sent someone with considerable strength to oversee things.
The World Government also knows that no matter how much they emphasize that the Celestial Dragons are of noble status and far superior to ordinary people, it is still too much to allow an entire island's innocent residents to be slaughtered like pigs and dogs without any dignity just for their amusement.
The mysterious, powerful figure in charge of this place had another important task: to ensure the success of the subsequent elimination of witnesses and to prevent the events that occurred in God Valley, which could shake the World Government's rule, from being exposed.
In this situation, even if Violet manages to move all these people away by taking the [Desert Ant Lion] and the [Deer Goose] to the ends of the earth, they still risk being wanted and hunted down by the World Government, just like Robin.
Since she had decided to take the stage and rewrite the ending of the God Valley disaster to her liking, she might as well do it thoroughly, so that even if these people escaped from God Valley, they would not have to worry about being hunted down by the World Government and could live a relatively peaceful life.
Violet pulled a Den Den Mushi from her pocket: "Trying to block the news... I hope this Den Den Mushi Morgans gave you is as strong as he boasted."
While transferring the civilians and slaves on the island, Violet plans to film all the ugly acts and crimes of the World Government, the Celestial Dragons, and the Navy, print them out, and distribute them all over the world!
Patting the deer and goose beneath her, Violet leaped down from the sky with her Den Den Mushi!
The domineering Conqueror's Haki was activated, bursting out from Violet's body and rapidly expanding in all directions!
This is!
For a moment, within the range covered by Violet's Conqueror's Haki, Kaido, who had just swallowed the Azure Dragon Fruit, was stunned; Linlin, who was grabbing Ivankov by the collar and making him summon the stolen Devil Fruit, was stunned; John, who was robbing treasure, was stunned; and Rayleigh and Roger, who were going to find Shakky, were also stunned.
Green Saint raised his head in disbelief, his expression momentarily filled with disgust and anger.
“How dare a mere commoner…”
call--
A whoosh of wind, the sound of a sharp blade slicing through the air, rang out. Grimm Saint stared in shock, looking down at his body, which had been almost cut in two.
How could that be? In that instant, he didn't have time to make any effective defense.
That guy who just passed by was Rocks. He's that strong?!
That was an absolute crushing defeat in terms of strength. Killing him was no more troublesome than killing an unarmed Celestial Dragon. If he hadn't been a member of the Knights of God and possessed the immortality bestowed upon him by that lord, he wouldn't even know who attacked him until he died!
For the first time in his life, Grimm experienced fear from a commoner.
"snort."
A cold snort rang out from the largest World Government ship on the shore. Seeing that Rocks had finally entered their encirclement, Saint Satan and Saint Nassuro, who had been watching the show with indifference, stood up at the same time and leaped off the deck to rush towards Rocks.
A dark arc of light flashed past him, and Nasujiro felt a strong sense of discomfort emanating from the depths of his soul and his genetic instincts.
Nasujiro drew his weapon to block the black light, and with a slight lowering of his eyes, he saw a young face with black hair and black eyes.
"Isn't it a bit too underhanded to have two people fight one against one?"
Wielding the Shadow Sword, Violet met Nassshurou Saint's gaze without backing down. This old man, who had been immersed in the pinnacle of power for hundreds of years, was unable to suppress Violet's aura.
Nasujiro frowned.
Saint Satan glanced back at Saint Nasshoulang: "Needs..."
“No, leave this to me for now.” Nassuro nodded slightly, glancing at Vera with disdain. “She’s just a lowly person. I’ll be there soon.”
Satan Saint had no doubts. Someone with such superhuman strength as Rocks only appears once every few centuries. And even though Rocks seemed to be just a lowly pirate, he still had the name of the D. clan and the bloodline of the David clan.
This woman named Violet doesn't even have a bloodline worth boasting about, so Saint Satan and Saint Nasshou naturally look down on her.
"Tsk, I've been underestimated."
Vera shook her head helplessly: "Looks like I should teach you what it means to not judge a book by its cover, what it means to..."
"modesty!"
With both hands gripping the hilt of the Shadow Sword, Vera skillfully flipped her wrists, and the sword that had been blocked by Nassshuro Saint suddenly turned into black mist, lost its physical form, and passed right through his weapon.
Immediately afterwards, the strange weapon solidified again, and to Nasujiro Sei's astonishment, it cut a wound half a palm deep on his side of the neck!
At the hilt of the sword, the beautiful cat's-eye stone tassel swayed and shimmered.
Nasujiro released his hand from his neck and looked at Vera with a gloomy expression as the wound rapidly healed.
Who exactly are you?
If at the beginning, Nasujuro Sei completely disregarded Vera, who neither introduced herself nor had any famous deeds, and boasted that he could quickly defeat her, then it was only after being hit by Vera that Nasujuro Sei truly took Vera seriously.
Nasshoulang now suspects that Violet is very likely a member of the David clan, and may even be a relative of Rocks! She may be some kind of trump card that the David clan has been keeping in the clan, and she chose to be born because of their attack on Rocks and the David clan, and to attack Beehive Island with Rocks.
Nassou Sei thought about it more and more and felt that this guess was true. And looking at it with this guess in mind, the way Violet used her sword looked familiar. It was clearly the same style as Rocks!
"The David Clan, the D Clan... we should have wiped you all out back then." Nasujiro looked at Violet with a hostile expression, then sneered, "This is the price your clan pays for rebelling against the World Government. How does it feel to see your destroyed homeland?"
Violet: ?
What nonsense is he spouting? What David family, what D family, what is all this?
In Violet's mind, the Five Elders were definitely boss-level opponents, and she had approached them with considerable seriousness and tension. But instead, this guy started by saying a bunch of inexplicable things, completely extinguishing Violet's fighting spirit.
Violet looked at Nassou-sei speechlessly and couldn't help but mutter, "Living too long really does make people more prone to Alzheimer's."
Vera thought Nassou was a mentally unstable old man, while Nassou thought Vera was a David clan orphan who was just trying to stay calm after being traumatized.
“We originally planned to kill that woman and the brat in front of Rocks, but we didn’t expect there to be another surprise.” Nasujiro sneered, “Rocks’s expression will be very interesting to see the people around him die one by one in front of him.”
Nassou admitted that he had underestimated Vera because of her unfamiliar and young face. If it weren't for his carelessness, Vera wouldn't have been able to hurt him.
But Nasujou certainly didn't think it was his fault. These guys who rebelled against the World Government's rule were all rats in the gutter. Lord Im had shown mercy and hadn't completely wiped them out, allowing them to survive for hundreds of years. Not only did they not know how to be grateful, they also repeatedly disrupted order and undermined the World Government's rule.
Hmph, these guys only survived by hiding in the gutter like rats, so it's fitting that they're good at using underhanded tricks to launch sneak attacks.
But that's all. Nasujiro Sei has become serious, and without a doubt, Violet's death is just around the corner.
Nasujiro's pure white robe billowed gently behind him as he raised his hand to push up his glasses, a cold light flashing across them.
“In three minutes, I will cut off your hands and feet and throw you in front of Rocks.”
He confidently drew his longsword, without even intending to use his Devil Fruit powers.
If it were Rocks, he might as well loosen up his muscles. A little flea that jumps around like that isn't worthy of seeing his Devil Fruit ability.
Violet: "..."
"I remember now, didn't you just ask me who I was?" Vera laughed in exasperation at Nassou's sudden revelation. "Now I'll tell you the answer: I'm your mother!"
"Today I'm going to teach you a lesson, you unfilial son!"
It's just trash talk, right? When she was acting like a troll online, this game hadn't even been released yet!
Boom! Boom!
Gringu and Junzi, who had been almost cut in two, were shocked to hear a sound from afar that sounded like hundreds of cannons firing simultaneously. They both looked up at that spot.
As Junzi waited for his severed legs to heal, he stared incredulously in the direction from which the sound came. Could such a commotion really be made during human combat?!
Having just recovered, Gringu stood up and glanced unwillingly in that direction. If he could become one of the Five Elders and possess the power bestowed by that lord, he would be stronger than those five incompetent fools!
The fact that Rhodes had killed him like a stray dog filled Grimg with unprecedented humiliation and anger.
"Um?"
A somewhat surprised voice rang out, and Gringu and Junzi looked up warily, only to see a head of fiery red hair, and...
Junzi's eyes widened in shock as he looked at Shanks not far away and then at Green Grimm beside him.
These two look like they were cut from the same mold. Could they be Grimm's brother? No, that's not right. Compared to the elegant and noble Grimm, Shanks, wearing a shirt with the buttons undone and a pair of poorly colored floral pants, looks more like a... pirate than a nobleman.
Grimg frowned as he looked at Shanks and demanded, "Who are you?"
Gringu suspected that the other party was a user of some kind of Devil Fruit that could change appearance, and was deliberately imitating his face to provoke him.
"It doesn't matter. Since you dare to commit such an overstepping act, then go to hell to repent."
Shanks, who was just passing by, was faced with Gringu charging at him with his sword drawn: "..."
He really didn't want to get entangled with this guy. Although doing so might hurt Grimg's pride, Shanks still drew Griffin when he thought about his mother who had been fooled by this guy.
"Gods, beware!"
——
"Roger, why did you suddenly stop?"
Ridley, carrying Shakky, ran towards the Oro Jackson docked at the island's edge. He looked at Roger, who had suddenly stopped, with a puzzled expression: "What happened?"
Roger was looking in the direction where Shanks and Grindelwald were fighting. As one of his signature sword techniques, even from such a distance, Roger still sensed something when Shanks used Divine Evasion.
Instead of answering Rayleigh's question, Roger stroked his chin with an intrigued expression: "Interesting."
“Rayleigh…”
Shakky, with her arms wrapped around Rayleigh's shoulders, had her eyes closed, and her beautiful features betrayed her exhaustion.
Although Shakky was taken away as bait to lure Rocks, she wasn't in any real danger during the year she was taken away. But being safe didn't mean she was safe. During that year, she not only witnessed the miserable state of various slaves, which put a lot of psychological pressure on Shakky, even as a pirate, but also spent a lot of energy navigating between the World Government and the Celestial Dragons to protect herself.
When the Celestial Dragons announced that she would be one of the prizes in this "contest", Shakky was still able to maintain the dignity of a pirate and the former Queen of Kuja, standing tall and looking down at the Celestial Dragons with a disdainful and arrogant expression. But when she was rescued by her beloved and held in his arms, the torment of a year of lovesickness, coupled with the sudden relief, caused Shakky to fall ill.
Rayleigh touched Shakky's forehead with concern, then looked up at Roger and urged, "Shakky needs to get checked and treated as soon as possible."
This body temperature is already somewhat dangerous.
Roger: "Take Shakky back to the ship first."
Rayleigh: ?
Roger looked excitedly into the distance. His powerful Observation Haki, which allowed him to hear the voices of all things, told him that several interesting fellows had gathered in this small Valley of the Gods.
This is a sign that something big is about to happen. How could Roger possibly miss such a spectacle?
Just as Roger was looking forward to what was to come, Roger and Rayleigh simultaneously heard a dragon's roar echo from the depths of the island. At the same time, a giant azure dragon soared into the sky, circled the island twice, stumbled, and then disappeared back into the dense forest.
"dragon?!"
"It's... Rocks' Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit?"
Rayleigh recalled the Devil Fruits that the Celestial Dragons had given as prizes, and began to speculate about the appearance of the blue dragon.
It's a mystery who was so lucky as to eat that fruit. Even a defenseless child would instantly gain immense power with the enhancement of the Azure Dragon Fruit.
However, that applies to the entire ocean. For God Valley, who could easily throw a brick and hit eight out of ten people with Conqueror's Haki, the power from a mere Azure Dragon Fruit would only allow him to barely get a ticket to the game.
Feeling the increasingly distorted and oppressive air pressure caused by the clash of powerful auras, Rayleigh was still worried about Roger.
“I’ll be back soon.” Ray gave his captain a warning look. “Don’t get too carried away.”
"I can't guarantee that."
With so many interesting characters and so many interesting battles, Roger felt like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar, and it was hard not to be overwhelmed by the abundance of choices before him.
However, to avoid his first mate having to search the entire island for him, Roger finally had a change of heart and informed Roger of his choice.
"I'm going to go check on that brat."
Kid?
It was a vague title, but after Roger finished speaking, Rayleigh automatically pictured a red-haired man with a bright smile in his mind.
The man, whom Rayleigh had just met for the first time, felt strangely familiar to him, as if they had been traveling together for years.
That man with the bright, carefree smile, who, like Roger, gave him an instant headache the moment he looked at him.
Shanks… Rayleigh murmured the name to himself, then recalled the stubble on the other man’s chin, and his expression became somewhat strange.
Given Roger's age at that time, it's hard to imagine him calling Shanks a "kid".
However, Roger himself found the nickname easy to use, and Rayleigh himself surprisingly felt that the title was perfectly appropriate for Shanks.
Sure enough, the guys who could interest Roger all had some strange secrets about them.
Rayleigh supported Shakky's limp arm, knowing they shouldn't waste any more time. He nodded to Roger and then carried her towards the Oro Jackson.
Roger clenched and unclenched his fists, cracking his knuckles.
"It's time to stretch our legs a bit." Roger thought of God Valley's role in the Celestial Dragons' original plan and couldn't help but lower his head and chuckle softly.
In this hunting ground, who can say that the Celestial Dragons aren't a kind of prey?
-----------------------
Author's Note: Since we're nearing the end, my darlings, we'll be adding extra chapters to reach 13,500 words, which means one more extra chapter and then we'll stop. [shy]
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