Right now, Nereus was like the confluence of countless streams.
The area affected by his power was not limited only to where Whitebeard and Kaido were fighting.
The entire God Valley, and even the surrounding seas, were being influenced by Nereus’s ability at this moment.
Marines, pirates, Celestial Dragons, and slaves alike could all see the blood from wounded corpses begin to flow once more—while those still alive remained completely unaffected.
The blood drawn from across the entire island converged around Nereus, forming a bizarre crimson sphere above his right hand.
Blood gathered from every direction flowed into this area, and once it entered the sphere in his hand, it was absorbed as if it had vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of where it went.
This was the reason Nereus was currently in an awakened state.
For Devil Fruit users, “awakening” is a special stage.
Those who successfully awaken their powers see a dramatic increase in their fruit’s overall strength.
Zoan-type users gain extraordinary regenerative abilities, while Paramecia users can assimilate and transform their surrounding environment.
Logia users can even permanently alter the geography of an area, and that is only the general rule—Mythical Zoan awakenings often come with even more peculiar abilities.
Of course, awakening also carries the risk of failure.
The Jailer Beasts of Impel Down are a clear example.
Although their regeneration is still incredibly strong—practically making them incapable of dying—their human rationality has been completely lost, leaving them only as beasts that obey commands.
For an awakened user like Nereus, one who has successfully reached this stage, not only does his power increase, but his effective range expands as well.
“Marines, pirates… Celestial Dragons… all of them are the same thing.”
Although his power had increased significantly in his awakened state, Nereus’s Observation Haki was still nowhere near strong enough to cover an entire island.
Enel had once achieved something on that scale, but that was due not only to his natural talent for Observation Haki, but also the assistance of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Still, Nereus could at least perceive what was happening within close range.
These pirates hadn’t come here to save ordinary people anyway—each of them had their own goals: treasure, Shakky, or simply a chance to make a name for themselves.
Yet their arrival had, to some extent, put a stop to the Celestial Dragons’ killing game.
The ordinary Celestial Dragons had begun emergency evacuations, while the members of the God Knights were busy dealing with powerful pirates from all sides.
This, in turn, gave the others a slightly better chance of survival.
But that didn’t mean everyone would live.
After all, God Valley had become a lone island in the sea, surrounded on all sides by the flames of war.
There was no normal route of escape.
And while the ordinary Celestial Dragons had abandoned their “game” and fled, the God Knights had not.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
A God Knight—a Celestial Dragon with light cyan hair, a large round hat, and a cloak marked with the symbol of the “God”—was firing a specially modified rifle indiscriminately at anything within her line of sight.
“You think you can use this chance to escape?!
Whether it’s natives or pirates, no one is getting away!”
Men, women, the elderly, children—whether they were fleeing or begging—none of it caused even the slightest pause in her shooting.
In a sense, the Celestial Dragons were the “most equal” people on the sea: they treated everyone who wasn’t a Celestial Dragon as equally non-human.
Even when targets hid behind cover, her bullets—reinforced with Haki—would pierce straight through.
Ordinary rock or wood offered no real resistance to her firepower.
But just as she prepared to continue firing, someone suddenly grabbed and crushed the barrel of her gun.
“When did you—?!”
What shocked her wasn’t that her gun had been crushed, but that she hadn’t sensed the enemy approaching at all.
However, the members of the God Knights were still quite different from ordinary Celestial Dragons.
Those useless ones would only scream and seek protection from others, or even try to use their status to threaten their way out of danger.
But the God Knights had far more combat experience.
Even when they clearly recognized an opponent’s overwhelming strength, they wouldn’t immediately collapse into fear.
Seeing that her opponent was still gripping the barrel—even though it was already badly deformed—she continued pulling the trigger repeatedly.
With each pull, more bullets were forced and jammed inside the chamber.
As pressure built up to a critical point, the entire rifle exploded in her hand like a grenade.
“The infamous vampire actually saved a few strangers he didn’t even know.”
“What I do isn’t for you to lecture me about.”
“Heh, doesn’t matter.
Those people won’t escape this island anyway.
Still, taking your head wouldn’t be a bad bonus.
Someone like you is qualified to become a collection piece for the Manmayer family.”
Manmayer is one of the Celestial Dragon families.
After Nereus arrived here, the Manmayer Celestial Dragons shifted their objective.
As for why Nereus stepped in to stop her, there wasn’t any particular reason.
Although he never shows mercy to his enemies, he also isn’t cold enough to stand by if someone can be saved with minimal effort.
The Devil Fruits on the island were indeed what Nereus was after, but he wasn’t in a hurry.
They weren’t going anywhere, and not many people would simply eat an unknown fruit without knowing its ability.
The fruits were still on the island.
Even if they ended up in someone else’s hands, Nereus was confident he could take them back.
Besides, the members of the God Knights could still hold out for a while longer.
“Collection pieces?
Fine by me.
You’ll make a decent test subject as well.”
The gun exploding in their hands had no effect on either of them.
The arms that had been holding the weapons had already regenerated completely.
Depending on the source of one’s immortality, even bothering to defend oneself could sometimes be unnecessary.
The Celestial Dragon of the Manmayer family lashed out with a kick at Nereus, while Nereus gathered Armament Haki into his palm and reached up to crush his opponent’s head.
Crack…
The difference between them was obvious.
Nereus crushed the young woman’s skull in a single grip.
Blood sprayed in every direction, and his hand came away smeared with bits of unidentifiable matter.
Yet the kick failed to break through Nereus’s Armament Haki armor.
For a member of the God’s Knights, losing one’s head was hardly a serious matter.
The headless body immediately retreated, while the skull Nereus had crushed began regenerating at once.
But the moment the eyes finished reforming, the Celestial Dragon of the Manmayer family realized he had never managed to widen the gap.
Nereus was still standing right in front of him, repeating the exact same motion as before.
“Three seconds for the head to regenerate after an Armament Haki attack…
Then what would happen if I used Conqueror’s Haki instead?”
That was what Nereus was thinking now.
Sooner or later, anyone who opposed the World Government would have to face the God’s Knights.
Every full-fledged member of the order had been granted the same kind of immortality as the Five Elders.
Which was precisely why Nereus wanted to find out how to kill them for good.