One Piece: I am Imu-Chapter 330: One Stone, a Thousand Graves

"Demon..."

Aismayiru, the elven regent, muttered under his breath. He never imagined that a legend passed down for nearly six thousand years would suddenly appear before his very eyes.

"My lord, the front line can't hold much longer!"

A nearby elven councilor hurried over, his voice tinged with panic. "Shouldn't we send reinforcements?"

"How many do you think we'd need to beat those demons?"

Aismayiru shot him a glance. The councilor opened his mouth but fell silent, unable to respond.

"Prepare the Firestone," Aismayiru ordered.

"What?!"

The moment those words left his mouth, the expressions of everyone nearby changed drastically. Was the regent seriously planning to launch that thing toward their own forces?

"But, my lord, there are still many of our people over there! Even Ryder is among them—he's Councilor Tashar's student!"

"So what?"

Aismayiru's voice was icy cold. "If we don't use the Firestone to wipe out those demons in one strike, how many more of our kin are you willing to sacrifice to feed them?"

"Open your eyes. Our warships can't even hold up against those things!"

"I... I understand..."

The councilor who had objected turned deathly pale. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as a knight left to deliver the command.

Everyone knew Aismayiru was right.

And yet, the thought of stabbing their own brethren in the back while they were still fighting up front left a bitter taste in their mouths.

Yes, they were hawkish lawmakers—but their iron will had always been directed at barbarians, not their own kind.

Very soon...

Screams echoed across the battlefield. Every second, more elves were slaughtered, their airships falling like burning leaves into the sea of sand.

A square-shaped redwood box was brought before Aismayiru.

Without hesitation, he opened the lid and drew out a Firestone—its entire surface pulsing with swirling crimson energy. It was the size and shape of a cantaloupe-sized crystal orb.

The Firestone King Joseph of Gallia had once used to block the Albion fleet wasn't even fully formed—barely the size of a baseball.

Yet even that unfinished one had unleashed a blast comparable to 40 to 50 kilotons of TNT—a small-scale nuclear detonation with no radiation.

The resulting shockwave had obliterated the outer districts of Gallia's capital, shattered every window in the city, and completely annihilated Albion's magical airships.

So then... what would this fully matured Firestone do?

"Submit to the judgment of the Great Will, you wicked demons! I will not allow you to breathe the same air as us!"

Aismayiru's body surged with green light and a fierce wind, his golden hair whipping wildly as he raised the Firestone high above his head.

And then—

As though the wind had developed a will of its own, it snatched the Firestone from his hand and hurled it toward the distant battlefield.

At the same time, Aismayiru began chanting the incantation used to detonate the Firestone—a spell known only to the regent himself.

[Woooooooom——]

With the spell spoken aloud, the Firestone began to glow even brighter, its red aura intensifying with each word.

When it reached peak radiance—that was when it would explode in midair.

Many officers in the air force spotted the glowing orb streaking across the sky.

But they hesitated. Should they shoot it down?

Something felt... terribly wrong.

That brief moment of indecision allowed the Firestone, driven by the wind, to get dangerously close. By now, its crimson glow had already begun to bleed into white.

It was about to blow.

And then—at the very last second—a streak of golden light flashed across the sky, appearing directly in front of the Firestone.

Before anyone could even react, the light zipped into the heart of the elven fleet and vanished without a trace.

"..."

As Aismayiru looked at the Firestone that had suddenly appeared beside the warship, his blue pupils shrank sharply into pinpoints. His eyes and mouth instinctively began to open in shock—

But it was already too late.

The Firestone had erupted in a burst of blinding white light!

[BOOM!!!!]

A sphere of white light expanded rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, engulfing nearby elven warships and wave after wave of wind dragon-mounted elven knights.

It kept growing—larger and larger—like a colossal white sun had risen above the Elven Kingdom. Elves in oases big and small across the land instinctively looked up to the northern sky.

Only to be instantly blinded by the searing brilliance.

[RUMMMMBLLLLLE——————]

But that was only the beginning. A terrifying shockwave—impossible to describe in words—swept out in all directions.

Nearby oases were instantly ravaged: trees uprooted, lake water hurled into the sky, and wooden buildings shredded and sent flying in the howling wind.

The blast even reached the distant main battlefield, where both sides were forced to stop fighting. Even high-ranking officers—lieutenants and majors—struggled to maintain their balance while frantically retreating further away.

Perhaps... this was a blessing in disguise for the elves who survived.

If they could endure the aftermath of the Firestone's explosion, they might yet cling to a sliver of life.

"Wow... so that's a Firestone. It really does look terrifying~~"

"General, that's a bit..."

On the deck of the aerospace carrier, Run turned at the sudden voice of awe beside him.

Instinctively, he raised his arm to block the roaring wind as his blue cloak flapped violently. He turned to look at Borsalino, who was now condensing into his human form from a mass of light particles.

"That was just... twisted."

"Eh?"

Borsalino—his eyes hidden behind his trademark sunglasses—glanced away from the rising mushroom cloud in the distance and looked down at his deputy with a puzzled expression.

"I just gave them back what they sent us."

"..."

Run was speechless. He had no idea how to respond, but deep down he couldn't help feeling a surge of awe at the speed of the General.

"Oh right—get the surrender video ready. We'll play it for the elves later. If I keep racking up kills, the old farts upstairs will start nagging me again~"

Borsalino said this with an exaggerated sigh, his mouth curving sideways in mock frustration.

"Yes sir. I'll handle it right away."

Run nodded.

The so-called 'surrender video' existed because communication with the Zero Magic World was nearly impossible. So they had Tengen, who could speak the local language, record a simple video.

The content was basic: urging the enemy to surrender, to stop resisting, and assuring them that they wouldn't be slaughtered indiscriminately.

It was followed by an explanation of the World Government's core concepts, along with a professionally made propaganda clip by the Public Relations Division.

They'd conquered so many otherworlds by now—post-war stabilization was almost a routine for them.

Eventually, the roaring aftershocks of the Firestone explosion began to fade.

Borsalino's aerial fleet soon arrived above the capital of the Elven Kingdom: the Adyl Oasis.

"Hurry! Move, move, move!"

One by one, air force soldiers in blue uniforms leapt from the rear hatch of the transport ships, urged on by the loud shouts of their officers.

They descended toward the oasis city below like a torrential downpour.

As the first soldier neared the buildings, he immediately activated his waist-mounted omni-directional mobility gear. Steel cables launched outward, embedding into a distant wall and locking in place.

He shot forward, swinging rapidly between buildings using the tension of the cables—leaving the already-panicked elves on the streets below completely stunned.

This was the Airborne Division of the Air Force Headquarters.

They did carry parachutes, of course—but only for use in open terrain without trees or tall structures.

In the blink of an eye, the city of Adyl was filled with soaring blue-clad soldiers, accompanied by the sharp hiss of jets from their maneuvering gear.

...

Teigu World.

Space of the Fruit of the Door, on the deck of Noah's Ark.

Imu watched Doflamingo engaged in a fierce battle with Brogy.

At that very moment, Doflamingo awakened his Devil Fruit powers.

The wide-open plaza suddenly turned into a sea of white threads, which then transformed under his control into surging, dark purple waves, wrapping tightly around the towering golden giant.

"His Haki has improved quite a bit," Imu remarked casually, showing little interest in the awakening of the String-String Fruit, but giving a nod of approval to Doflamingo's Haki.

[BOOM!]

In the next moment, a deafening explosion shattered the air. A monstrous red beast with eight vicious serpent heads erupted from the sea of threads, tearing through the bindings with a surge of inky black water.

Doflamingo's expression darkened as he watched his threads disintegrate at a visible rate, corroded by the black liquid.

But Brogy—now transformed into the mythical Yamata no Orochi—gave him no time to react. Four of the snake heads unleashed high-pressure jets of black mist-laced water.

Doflamingo threw his arms wide, then slashed them forward. From the ground erupted two massive white pillars, each nearly five meters wide, forming a cross-shaped shield that intercepted the black water. novelbuddy.cσ๓

But within seconds, the pillars had melted into heaps of foul, gray-black sludge.

This was the 'Disaster Water'—an ability Brogy had developed by imitating Black Marlin's black mist. It had corrosive properties rivaling strong acid and was so toxic it left nothing but blight in its wake.

Doflamingo had experienced this 'Disaster Water' firsthand many times by now—each time more terrifying than the last.

And yet, if he wanted to defeat this monster quickly, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep fighting.

A giant who had mastered Life Return and the Six Powers, who had eaten a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit, and who wielded both Armament and Observation Haki...

If that's not a monster, then what is?

"Not bad. At this rate, you'll soon reach general-level strength."

Imu, satisfied by Doflamingo's tenacity, turned and vanished, reappearing back in his study.

Moments later—

Stussy arrived, notebook in hand, and spoke gently as she gave her report.

"Lord Imu, General Borsalino of the Air Force Headquarters has successfully suppressed the Elven Kingdom in the Zero Magic World. He will remain stationed there for the time being."

"Furthermore, the Umigakure shinobi forces are ready to begin reconnaissance of the Shinobi World. They're currently en route to the Titan World and have already reached the Second Special Zone of the Demon Slayer World."

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