Chapter 265: The Broken Ark of Promise!
"An… swer… me!!"
Luffy's words were as cold and sharp as a blade of judgment.
Each syllable carved mercilessly into Neptune's soul, tearing through his heart with unbearable pain.
His mind buzzed blankly.
His grip on the golden trident tightened and loosened repeatedly, his knuckles turning pale as his heart was violently torn between the eight-hundred-year oath of guardianship… and the despair written across the faces of his people.
After a long silence, the weary king finally exhaled deeply, as though releasing centuries of burden from his chest.
When he opened his eyes again—
the hesitation and agony within them had vanished.
Only determination remained.
"I… understand now, Lord Luffy."
Facing Luffy directly, Neptune lowered his massive body and bowed deeply with complete sincerity.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.
"Lord Luffy… I, Neptune, as the king of Fish-Man Island…"
"…on behalf of all my people…"
He raised his head and roared with every ounce of strength he had left:
"I beg you… destroy Noah!! Save Fish-Man Island!!"
That shocking plea instantly drowned out the whispers of fear spreading through the crowd.
All across the plaza, countless desperate eyes turned toward the lone figure wearing a straw hat.
Hope.
Prayer.
Trust.
All of it was focused on him alone.
"KUHAHAHAHA!! Neptune, have you gone senile?! Begging a human for help?!"
Above them, Vander Decken IX's manic laughter echoed wildly through the sea.
"Look at it!! Look upon the Ark of Promise!! This is power capable of destroying the world itself!! No one can stop it!! No one can oppose it!!"
"Even if he's one of these so-called Emperors of the Sea… in the face of this absolute force, he's nothing but an insect!!"
"Accept reality!! The destruction of Fish-Man Island is the price for betraying my LOVE!!"
"This beautiful apocalypse shall become my eternal masterpiece! KUHAHAHAHA—!!"
And yet—
at the very peak of his hysterical laughter—
HUMMMMM—!!!
An indescribable sensation suddenly seized the entire world.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
The wind stopped.
Sound vanished.
Even the light appeared to stand still.
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!
Without warning—
endless silver-white lightning exploded across the entirety of Fish-Man Island's sky!
In an instant, the heavens became a sea of roaring thunder.
Its radiance was so overwhelming that even the light of the Sunlight Tree Eve dimmed in comparison.
Space itself trembled violently beneath the terrifying pressure.
The very air distorted.
CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
One after another—
people across Fish-Man Island collapsed unconscious.
Ordinary citizens.
Ryugu Kingdom guards.
Even Vander Decken IX himself.
The ministers.
The three princes.
No one was spared.
They rolled back their eyes and dropped to the ground without resistance beneath the overwhelming pressure of supreme Conqueror's Haki.
Vander Decken's crazed grin froze on his face.
Before he could even react, his consciousness vanished completely, and his body collapsed limply.
Neptune managed to endure for a single moment longer through sheer willpower.
As his enormous body trembled on the verge of collapse, he heard one final voice beside him.
Calm.
Steady.
"Don't worry."
"Leave Fish-Man Island to me."
Before darkness consumed him entirely, Neptune forced his eyes open one last time.
And vaguely saw—
the figure standing atop the platform now completely enveloped in blazing white flames.
Within those flames, Luffy's silhouette appeared almost divine.
Sacred.
Overwhelming.
An existence that made even souls tremble instinctively.
Then—
Neptune's consciousness faded.
His gigantic body crashed to the ground.
Silence descended.
The bustling Fish-Man Island, home to millions, transformed into a sleeping kingdom.
Only five people remained barely conscious.
Yamato, gripping Hassaikai tightly, amber eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
Roronoa Zoro, muscles tense as he resisted the crushing pressure with gritted teeth.
Sanji, cigarette long extinguished, sweat dripping from his forehead as he stared upward.
Trafalgar Law, pale as death, barely supporting himself with Kikoku while shock filled his eyes.
And—
Princess Shirahoshi, surrounded by a gentle pale-blue glow.
Though terrified and confused, she somehow remained awake.
"Oi… this level of Haki…"
Sanji's face looked awful as he forced the words out through clenched teeth.
"Isn't this… way too insane?!"
To his horror, he realized even moving a finger inside this overwhelming pressure had become incredibly difficult.
It felt as though his body had been submerged beneath ten thousand tons of seawater.
Law's condition was even worse.
He relied entirely on Kikoku to avoid collapsing.
Even the powers of the Ope Ope no Mi felt nearly impossible to activate beneath this pure domination of willpower.
Cold sweat poured down his face like rain.
Never before had he experienced such suffocating terror.
And this…
was merely the aftershock.
For the first time, they truly understood the despair Admiral Ryokugyu must have felt on Onigashima when facing the overwhelming presence of someone at the absolute summit.
At the center of it all—
that blazing white flame slowly raised its head.
Its gaze locked onto the world-ending shadow descending from above.
At the same moment—
THUMP… THUMP… THUMP…
A strange rhythm suddenly echoed through the sea.
Like ancient war drums.
Like the heartbeat of something primordial.
The ground of Fish-Man Island began rippling violently like ocean waves.
Everything touched by the vibrations—
the earth, the buildings, the surrounding objects—
instantly transformed into elastic rubber.
The entire world had become a rubber domain.
SKREEEEEEEE—!!!
The endless silver-white lightning spread across the heavens suddenly converged toward a single point as though summoned by a king.
Boundless Conqueror's Haki condensed into tangible plasma around Luffy's arm, crackling violently.
Its brilliance became impossible to look at directly.
"Hahaha!! This feeling…"
"This power that makes it feel like anything is possible…"
"…really gets my blood pumping!!!"
BOOM!!
Silver light erupted around him.
The pressure of the ten-thousand-meter deep sea shattered instantly as a massive stable domain formed around his body.
Stepping through empty space—
Luffy shot upward.
In the blink of an eye, he stood directly before Noah itself.
Compared to the ancient ark, Luffy looked no larger than a speck of dust before a mountain.
Yet as he gazed upon the vessel that carried eight hundred years of broken promises and waiting—
there was no hesitation in his eyes.
No reverence.
Only resolve.
"Maybe to others, you carry some special meaning…"
"Maybe you represent some grand destiny…"
His calm voice echoed through the deep sea.
"But I don't care."
He pulled his right fist slightly backward.
Around it gathered not only roaring Haki lightning—
but also a swirling white nebula-like vortex that distorted space itself.
"From the moment Joy Boy failed to keep his promise…"
"…you should never have continued existing in this world."
BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!
Luffy punched forward.
His tiny fist gently touched Noah's ancient hull.
And then—
a white shockwave composed of pure absolute force erupted outward from the point of impact like a nuclear explosion detonating within a calm lake.
Where the wave passed—
Noah's ancient wood, untouched by eight centuries beneath the sea—
disintegrated completely at the molecular level.
From bow to stern.
From keel to mast.
The gigantic ark that had eclipsed half the sky of Fish-Man Island—
could not withstand even a single second against that overwhelming power.
White light swallowed everything.
And when the brilliance finally faded—
the sky once more filled with the gentle light of the Sunlight Tree Eve.
Noah…
along with the unconscious Vander Decken IX aboard it—
had vanished completely.
As though neither had ever existed.
Only lingering ripples of energy in the ocean remained as proof that the apocalyptic scene had truly happened.
But just as the sea began calming—
RUMBLE… RUMBLE…
The surrounding waters suddenly became violently turbulent.
Massive currents erupted from the abyss.
Then—
from the deepest darkness beneath the sea—
enormous shadows slowly rose upward.
Sea Kings.
Each one measured over five thousand meters long.
Living mountain ranges.
Even revealing a small portion of their bodies from the darkness was enough to suffocate the soul with pressure.
They surrounded Fish-Man Island completely.
Their gigantic eyes slowly focused upon the tiny figure floating in the sea—
the man who had destroyed Noah.
A deep ancient sigh echoed through the ocean itself.
"So… we still arrived too late…"
Another massive gaze settled upon Luffy.
Ancient wisdom swirled within those colossal pupils.
Judgment.
Curiosity.
Complexity.
And then—
a solemn voice reverberated through the abyss.
"So… this little one…"
"…is the one who destroyed the Ark of Promise?"
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → /Chakraflow789