Marineford War: I Will Stand in the Sky

“As I just said, I’m here to invite you, Mr. Brook, and I hope you will join the ‘Hueco Mundo’ organization,” Yone said again.

This time, Brook was no longer the playful man he had been before, and asked seriously, "May I ask, what is your purpose in inviting me to join the 'Hueco Mundo' organization?"

"The sea is about to undergo a dramatic change, and the times are on the verge of transformation..."

"The Hueco Mundo organization has only one goal: to completely erase the old era and prepare for the birth of a new one," Yann stated calmly.

"Wh...what?" Brooke was stunned when he heard Yann's astonishing words.

After all, even more than fifty years ago, Brook was not a top pirate on the sea; he was a loser who had not even reached the "new era" seas.

Brooke said with a hint of helplessness.

"This... Your Excellency, although I feel my blood is boiling, I clearly understand that my strength is far from enough to help in this matter."

"The power will be granted to you by me. All you need to do is use my power, bear my will, and begin to overturn the world..."

As soon as Yann finished speaking, a ball of light appeared in Yann's palm.

Brook hesitated for a moment, then slowly extended his skeletal fingers and touched the ball of light.

The next moment, a large amount of white substance seeped out of Brook's body, completely enveloping him.

[Chapter 732. The Underworld]

As for Yann, he returned to the room arranged by Moria, then closed his eyes and his consciousness quickly entered Brook's mental space.

Even though Arn has already thoroughly investigated Brook's life through the Revolutionary Army's intelligence network, in order to ensure everything goes smoothly, Arn needs to secretly use the connection established by the Hollow Soul-Slaying Blade to examine Brook's memories.

Moreover, Yann felt it was necessary to understand one of Brook's secrets in detail.

Brook's "Revive-Revive Fruit" activated its power only after his death, and Brook himself stated that his soul had entered the underworld.

So... does the Yellow Springs, the final resting place for souls, still exist in this world?

However, although Yann has witnessed many deaths, he has never actually seen any wandering ghosts or spirits. So where have all the souls gone?

The next moment, Yaen, who had entered Brook's mental space, began to browse Brook's memories. There was nothing particularly outstanding about the first half of Brook's life.

In the era when Brook was born, the seas were not much different from what they are now. The World Government was still corrupt and incompetent, and Brook was just a pirate who set sail with his companions with pure dreams.

The turning point, as for the turning point, began at the moment of Brooke's death.

At that moment, through Brook's memories, Yann clearly saw Brook's soul enter the sea, and after experiencing darkness, arrive at a strange place.

'Those are... tree roots?!'

Yaen only saw it for a moment before noticing the enormous tree roots that were incredibly conspicuous in the extremely cold Yellow Springs space filled with souls, crisscrossing like a spider web.

Immediately, Brook's soul seemed to have triggered the power of the "Yomi-Yomi Fruit," and, imbued with a wisp of the chilling aura of the underworld, it quickly moved away from that place and soon returned to the surface of the sea.

What followed was Brook spending nearly fifty years in solitude in the Devil's Triangle.

"What is that?!"

Arn's consciousness detached from the mental space, his brows furrowing deeply. "The Underworld... it really exists, and somewhere in the ocean? No, it doesn't seem to be a space within the sea, and... what are those crisscrossing tree roots?"

Even with Arn's intelligence network within the Navy and the Revolutionary Army, there was absolutely no mention of this matter.

"Tree roots? Could it be... that's the Devil Fruit tree whose existence has never been confirmed? Is that thing in the Underworld?"

A few guesses popped into Arn's mind, but he had no way to verify them at the moment. Even after Arn had seen Brooke's memories, he still had no way of finding the exact location of the so-called "Yellow Springs".

However, one thing is certain: the soul of a human after death does indeed go to the underworld, and it enters the sea directly, and then enters the underworld through some means.

'No wonder... I've never seen any so-called wandering souls before... Could this be a strange feature of this sea?' Yann became somewhat uncertain.

Subsequently, Yann waited for Brook on Thriller Bark for a full week until Brook awoke in a completely new form.

"Skeleton Emperor Brook!"

Unlike his previous seemingly quirky demeanor, Brooke was now enveloped in an aura of "aging," as if he had become the nemesis of all things, sending chills down one's spine.

Wherever Brooke went, everything that was touched by that aura of "aging" decayed and fell into ruin.

Not only animals and plants, but even steel, stone, and the earth seemed to have been taken away by hundreds of years in the blink of an eye.

As for Brook himself, it seems that under the effect of the "Yomi-Yomi Fruit", because his soul was rejected by the underworld, he completely lost the concept of "aging", and instead became immune to the invasion of this "aging" aura.

“Very good, Brook, you do indeed possess the potential to control this power,” Yann said with a hint of appreciation.

Brook looked down at his bony hand and muttered, "A terrifying power. If I'm not careful, it can bring terrible consequences to everything."

In addition, Brooke felt a genuine sense of awe and... a sense of closeness and submission that seemed to come from the depths of his soul to the man in front of him who had concealed his face.

“Brook, don’t reject it because of its terrifying power. Just use it with reverence.” Yaon said slowly, his hands behind his back.

“I understand,” Brooke replied respectfully, having already grasped her role.

"It's not just about understanding..."

Yarn continued, “Brook, you need to master and familiarize yourself with this power as soon as possible. You only have one week, at most.”

"Is there some plan going to be implemented soon?" Brooke asked.

"Yes, that's right, but I can't tell you yet..."

"But one thing is for sure, you'll be facing the world's strongest beings," Yaen said.

At this moment, Brook, now just a skeleton, showed no outward expression, but inwardly he was terrified.

"Is it... this exciting right from the start? Should we... try a weaker opponent first?" Brooke asked.

"Can……"

Yone nodded, then snapped his fingers at Perona, who was still in ghost form not far behind him, and said, "Perona, if you blow up Brook, I'll give you a special reward tonight."

"No problem, sir."

Perona blinked her peculiar big eyes, and then with a wave of her hands, a large number of white ghosts were created and floated towards Brook's direction.

"boom!!!"

The next moment, an extremely loud explosion rang out.

Yann sat down on a balcony in the castle next to Moria, took a sip of coffee that Moria had made, and picked up a newspaper on the table. The headline at the top of the page was quite eye-catching.

"Shocking! Shichibukai Enel has been defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates and stripped of his title!"

Under that title was a picture of Enel looking rather pitiful, which made Yan feel a little bit of heartache and sympathy.

"I told you to watch your step, Enel..."

Yann was both angry and amused. He never expected Enel to suffer such a crushing defeat, completely losing consciousness and being captured by Smoker, who had been chasing the Straw Hat Pirates to the "Kingdom of Gods".

[Chapter 733. The Contact Between Shanks and Whitebeard]

Originally, Yann estimated that even if Enel couldn't defeat the current Straw Hat Pirates, he could easily escape with the power of the "Rumble-Rumble Fruit". Unexpectedly, Enel seemed to be driven by pride or some kind of obsession, and actually fought to the death with the Straw Hat Pirates in the "Kingdom of God" until he was defeated and fell into a coma.

"Hey... wait a minute..."

Ahn suddenly realized a possibility: Enel might have acted so recklessly because of his encouragement.

'Hmm, it shouldn't be...'

Yone's expression stiffened slightly, then he murmured, "It's probably purely Enel's pride. But Luffy's growth rate is truly astonishing..."

Immediately, Yann turned his attention back to Luffy.

Unlike the relatively vague reports in the newspapers, which focused more on the outcome, Yann had received detailed intelligence about the entire battle.

Sora and Luminous did not participate in the battle against Enel. Luffy was defeated by Enel twice, and then Sanji, Zoro and Reiju worked together to buy time. Luffy was able to get back up twice with Chopper's emergency treatment. Finally, he defeated Enel's "Billion Volt Thunder God Form" head-on with Gear Third.

Overall, Yann was quite satisfied with Luffy's growth rate. Although Luffy's ability to defeat Enel relied more on the restraining effect of his Devil Fruit ability on Enel, Luffy also completely mastered the application of Armament Haki in this battle, and his Devil Fruit ability had been developed to the level of Gear Third.

At the very least, this is enough to prove that even without Sora and Sakura, the Straw Hat Pirates are not without the power to fight against enemies at the level of a Marine Admiral.

Next, Sora will likely teach Luffy the "Ryuo" Haki, unique to Wano Country, and then quickly guide him to the New World. So...

"Then the plan can begin."

Yann murmured something.

The only thing that surprised Aan was that Luffy defeated Enel, one of the "Seven Warlords of the Sea," in a head-on battle. Even Aan could no longer secretly manipulate the Straw Hat Pirates' information and bounty amounts.

In an instant, with the most shocking event on the sea recently, "Enel's defeat", the Straw Hat Pirates truly began to become famous all over the world. The bounties of all Straw Hat Pirates members soared dramatically, except for Sora and Luminous... who were the exceptions.

No crimes were disclosed on Sora and Luminosity's bounty posters; only a symbolic reward of one million Berries was offered, and the purpose of the bounty was clearly stated as providing information, not killing or capturing.

It's clear that at least the Navy Headquarters has begun to suspect Sora and Luminosity's identities and has started to verify them.

“Bru bru…”

Just then, Xiao Jin spat out a Navy-specific Den Den Mushi in front of Yann.

Yaon scratched his head, looking at the Vice Admiral Tsuru's emblem on the Den Den Mushi, and felt somewhat helpless.

"They've come after all..."

As soon as the call connected with Arn, Vice Admiral Tsuru got straight to the point. "Vice Admiral Arn, Marine Headquarters has discovered traces of what appears to be Sky and Luminosity. Please return to Marine Headquarters Marineford as soon as possible."

"what?"

Ya'en responded with feigned surprise, and then continued to ask questions as if it were a normal reaction.

However, it is clear that even if Smoker made further contact with Sora and Luminos in the "Kingdom of Gods" and reported all the information to the Navy Headquarters, it would not be enough.

However, doubts remain about Sora and Luminosity's identities, preventing the Marine Headquarters from fully confirming the truth of the matter. That's why they specifically contacted Arn to return to Marine Headquarters Marineford immediately.

As Lieutenant General Tsuru explained in detail, Ahn naturally agreed without hesitation, and his eagerness was quite evident.

"I understand. I will set sail immediately to return to Naval Headquarters."

"Please hurry, as the people who resemble Sora and Hikari are currently among the pirates known as the 'Straw Hat Pirates,' and they may arrive at the Sabaody Archipelago soon."

Lieutenant General Tsuru reiterated this point.

"Given that current intelligence confirms that the person suspected to be Sora and Luminous possesses extremely high danger and potential, the World Government is urging the Marine Headquarters to come up with countermeasures against dangerous individuals as soon as possible. Therefore, Vice Admiral Yann, you must confirm the specific identity of the person suspected to be Sora and Luminous as soon as possible, and whether they were coerced into joining the Straw Hat Pirates, or if there are other reasons."

To this, Yann was not at all surprised, or rather, this was part of Yann's plan. While immediately sending "Yann" back to Marine Headquarters from Wano Country, he also browsed the latest information on the movements of Ace and "Blackbeard" Teach.

It seems that Yann's interference with this sea did not affect the location of the "Dark-Dark Fruit". As early as when Luffy actually set sail, the "Dark-Dark Fruit" fell into the hands of "Blackbeard" Teach, just like in the original trajectory. In his anger, Ace began to hunt down Teach.

It has to be said that the timing was so clever that it seemed to have caused the fates of Luffy and "Blackbeard" Teach to begin to change together.

Throughout the process, Yann kept a close eye on the movements of Blackbeard Teach and Ace. After Enel was defeated and stripped of his title as a Shichibukai, Blackbeard Teach seemed to be brewing some kind of plan, and Ace gradually and subtly caught his trail.

"It seems that Teach's goal is still to capture Ace, hand him over to the Marine Headquarters in exchange for the status of 'Shichibukai' and trigger the 'Marineford War,' so that he can seize the 'Tremor-Tremor Fruit' and become allies with many powerful pirates?"