bookbashuk Chapter 216 The Hunting Tournament officially enters its climax, with the Celestial Dragons displayi
Chapter 216 The Hunting Tournament officially enters its climax, with the Celestial Dragons displayi
Chapter 216 The Hunting Tournament officially enters its climax, with the Celestial Dragons displaying an extremely perverse pursuit of bloodshed.
Behind Lox was an endless torrent of war.
Brian clenched his fists slightly, his expression calm; Whitebeard gripped the Murakumogiri tightly, his expression solemn; Lingling was frantically swallowing saliva, her eyes filled with greed; and Golden Lion was manipulating the spaceship while laughing wildly.
As for Lox, he simply stared ahead without saying a word.
The overwhelming power of Conqueror's Haki, capable of shattering an island, had already coalesced into a dark purple pillar of death light around his body, shooting straight into the sky.
The Valley of Gods, once considered an absolute forbidden zone by the World Government and a sacred place by the Celestial Dragons, was now clearly visible, shrouded in overwhelming resentment. Rocks could hear the cries of the slaves and the arrogant laughter of those so-called "gods."
"Figarando — Garin Saint —"
Locke spat out those words through gritted teeth, each syllable carrying a chilling cold that could freeze the sea: "I hope that when I tear open your chest, your noble blood will withstand the heat more fiercely than that of mortals!"
As the sun sets, the afterglow is like blood.
At the edge of that cursed sea, the outline of God Valley finally appeared faintly in the blood-red mist, like a prisoner awaiting final judgment. And before it stood the Rocks Pirates, who had all gone mad and whose only goal was to "kill".
Meanwhile, the Valley of the Gods, a mysterious island deep in the western sea that Rocks "longed for," was now presenting an extremely absurd and divisive eerie atmosphere.
The atmosphere was like a painting that had been torn apart, one half depicting a bloody, hellish preparation for war, and the other half a nauseating feast of ecstasy.
At the outermost edge of the island, at the entrance to the dark red beach and primeval forest shrouded in mist year-round, the atmosphere was so tense that even the gentle breeze seemed frozen.
Thousands upon thousands of world government agents, clad in jet-black suits, swarmed in the shadows like a dense colony of ants. These killing machines, who normally manipulate the fate of nations and control the lives of people around the world, were now deathly pale.
The top-tier agents belonging to CP0 to CP9 were patrolling every hidden sentry post like ghosts. Their eyes, hidden behind masks, were bloodshot, and the Den Den Mushi in their hands never stopped beating. The rapid "pop pop pop" sound was particularly jarring in the dead silence of the dense forest.
"Report! Blood Moon Fortress has lost contact! Admiral Black Arm Zephyr's fate is unknown!"
"Rocks' flagship has entered Paradise (the first half of the Grand Line) and is rushing towards God Valley at three times the normal speed!"
"All outposts along the route—completely wiped out! No survivors!"
Every intelligence report sent back was like a heavy hammer blow to the hearts of these ruthless agents. Even the elite CP0 agents, who had spent their entire lives walking in the shadows, felt a chill run down their spines and their breathing become unusually heavy when they sensed the increasingly approaching, materializable, and magnetically altering pressure of the demon god in the distance.
Meanwhile, in the waters further out of God Valley, dozens of specially made warships from the Navy Headquarters formed an impenetrable ring. On the decks of these warships, the smell of gunpowder smoke mingled with the salty stench of the sea.
Even the veteran naval commanders who had fought on the battlefield for decades were now gripping their swords tightly, their knuckles pale from the excessive force. They were trembling, the instinctive physiological fear that creatures feel when facing predators at the top of the food chain.
However, if you cross that strict, solemn, and death-filled blockade and step into the core area of the Valley of the Gods, you will experience a hallucination of time and space distortion.
The atmosphere there abruptly changed, shifting from extreme cold and bleakness to extreme relaxation, extravagance, and a nauseatingly lewd atmosphere.
At the heart of this island, known as the "Land of the Gods," stands a colossal open-air arena constructed entirely of pure gold and white marble. Surrounding the arena are not fortifications, but rather fountains spouting champagne, mountains of rare fruits, and countless slaves kneeling on the ground, serving as human footstools.
In the surrounding stands, hundreds of Celestial Dragons, dressed in bulky spacesuits and wearing transparent bubble covers, sat in a staggered arrangement.
They are descendants of the "creator" of this world, and key members of the various Celestial Dragon families who consider themselves gods. Sunlight shines on their magnificent robes studded with jewels, refracting a dazzling, distorted light.
This sense of disconnect reached its peak at this moment.
While the navy outside was risking its life to protect these people, and Rocks in the distance was dumping oceans to destroy this place, these Celestial Dragons were lazily reclining on soft silk cushions, swirling expensive wines in their hands. They didn't even show the slightest fear at the distant, thunderous roar; instead, their greasy faces radiated an almost morbid excitement.
In the eyes of these self-proclaimed gods, the so-called "world's most vicious pirate," Rocks, was nothing more than a slightly stronger, incessantly barking "wild dog." The Navy and the CP organization were merely their guard dogs.
In their logic, it's perfectly natural for a dog to kill a stray dog; it's not something that these supposedly noble people should be concerned with.
"God" stopped eating with his fork.
"Hey, Garin! That so-called God Hunting Tournament is moving way too slowly!" A portly, snotty-nosed Celestial Dragon slammed his fist on the table, his nauseating voice echoing through the arena. "I want to see that mother and child dance in despair, just like you promised!"
"Hehehe, don't rush, Saint Charmaco." From the highest seat in the center of the stands, Saint Figarando Garin elegantly set down his golden cup, his smile revealing a chilling arrogance that penetrated to the bone. "That lowly savage Rox is almost here. I've prepared the best seats for him. He can't die out there before he witnesses his most prized possession crumble bit by bit in our hands."
In the center of the arena, the grand hunting competition held every three years is about to reach its climax. It is an extreme trampling of humanity, a bloody slaughter known as the "Game of Gods".
The Celestial Dragons screamed wildly at the sight of their bloody entertainment, some betting on how many seconds the slaves could last, others mocking the dying struggles of the victims. They were completely out of touch with this ravaged world on the verge of collapse, living in a self-constructed fantasy paradise built on cruelty and arrogance.
This sense of disconnect made the air feel incredibly polluted.
In the shadows below the stands, several members of the Divine Knights stood as still as statues, but their eyes couldn't help but drift towards the distant west. There, the sky had turned a scorching dark red, and they could feel a fury powerful enough to end this eight-hundred-year-old absurd rule, carrying a curse of destruction, piercing straight towards this hypocritical paradise.
"Is this what they call God?"
At this moment, Lox's cold will seemed to transcend space, echoing in the ears of every conscious person: "If there really are gods in this world, then they must be the most disgusting excrement in the universe."
On one side were the fearless navy, on the other were the utterly brutal pirates, and right in the center was this group of oblivious...
Even bloated dolls awaiting death amidst revelry.
This absurd contrast turns God Valley into a giant satirical theater.
In the center of the arena, what was once an ordinary death row inmate fight had become a naked and bloody hunting game that trampled humanity to the dust. The prey for this game were "defective products" meticulously calculated and selected by the World Government. They were priced according to their grade and thrown into this slaughterhouse called Paradise.
On the stands, the CP0 chief was holding a gold-rimmed list, his voice, amplified by a megaphone, coolly and steadily introducing today's consumables to the "creators".
"My lords, I shall now present the official list of prey for today's hunting competition!"
"This year's top prey" totals 360. They all come from the three kingdoms in the North Sea that recently attempted to rebel against the "Heavenly Gold" policy. In accordance with the "collective punishment law" signed by Saint Vocuri, we have arrested all members of the royal families of these three kingdoms. My lords, look upon those dressed in tattered finery, attempting to maintain their dignity even in sea-stone shackles—these are the lowly nobles."
"As for the second-class prey," it consists of two thousand scholars and thinkers who have been judged to have antisocial tendencies.
Following the adults' past aesthetic preferences, we stripped them of all sensory aids before even introducing them. Look, those blind and deaf people crawling in the mud, groping around—they are fools attempting to challenge divine authority with knowledge.
"Besides that, there are the thousands of basic prey," all of whom are hardened criminals from Impel Down, wearing collars that could explode at any moment. As for the lowest level of environmental obstacles, these are civilians collected from the surrounding islands; they don't count towards the score, they're merely live targets for your warm-up exercises.
With the introduction concluded, this horrific hunt officially began.
According to Celestial Dragon tradition, hunts of this scale are not limited to the Knights of God. In God Valley, apart from a small number of Knights responsible for final judgment and island security waiting in the stands, most Celestial Dragons, regardless of age or gender, personally participate.
They believed that only by personally pulling the trigger and feeling the vibration of the lead bullet sinking into flesh could one experience the supreme pleasure belonging to "God".
Hundreds of royal prisoners of war from the North Sea, once incomparably noble kings and princesses in their respective territories, were now stripped of their dignified attire, their fair or aged skin covered with bruises from the torture they had endured during transport. Their hands and feet were tightly bound by heavy sea stone shackles, and having been deprived of food for a long time, they could only desperately stumble and stagger towards their so-called "destination" in that artificially simulated primeval forest filled with thorns and poisonous insects.
However, is there any end in this world?
Pursuing their prey were the Celestial Dragons, riding genetically modified, massive, and ferocious horses. These dragons swayed their obese bodies in specially made saddles, wielding long spears or muskets engraved with exquisite gold thread patterns and possessing immense destructive power.
boom!
boom!
boom!
The smell of gunpowder smoke instantly filled the dense forest.
An obese Celestial Dragon was panting heavily, each breath sounding like a bellows due to his extreme obesity. He was a member of the Roswald Saint Family. His greasy face, encased in a transparent bubble mask, was flushed with a sickly ecstasy. Tiny beads of sweat slid down the folds of his almost invisible neck, dripping onto his luxurious silk uniform.
He shook his comical head as he uttered nauseating boasts to his makeup-covered, equally fleshy Celestial Dragon female companion beside him: "Hehe, darling, just you wait! This kind of royal breed from the North Sea has the strongest willpower. She won't show that pleasingly desperate expression unless her body is destroyed first."
His fingers nervously rubbed the edge of the trigger, his mouth constantly mimicking the sound of a gunshot. With each simulation, the cruel glint in his eyes, like a cat toying with a mouse, treating living beings as worthless, intensified. This pleasure was more intoxicating than any delicacy he had ever tasted.
In the sights ahead, the woman who had once been a princess was running wildly through the mud and thorns, her clothes tattered. Her long hair clung haphazardly to her back, which was covered in sweat and mud, and her bare feet were already bloodied and mangled from sharp stones, but she seemed oblivious to the pain. Her arms tightly protected the infant still in her arms, her only support for survival.
"See those lowly eyes? Those eyes filled with maternal glow, that desire to protect something—" The Celestial Dragon grinned maliciously, his voice echoing hollowly and terrifyingly within the bubble canopy. "That's the cheapest thing in the world, the most suitable thing to be trampled on. I'll break her left leg first, make her roll around in that thorny death bush, and see how she protects her treasure." This is much more exciting than listening to those dry hymns from Mary Geoise!
"Bang!"
As Roswald Saint pulled the trigger, the roar of the gunpowder explosion instantly tore through the air.
The specially made lead bullet traced a dark red path through the air, precisely piercing the princess's thigh. This type of lead bullet was extremely insidious in design, filled with countless tiny, irregularly shaped steel balls. Upon contact with human tissue, the immense kinetic energy caused the lead casing to shatter instantly.
"Snap—!"
That was the crisp sound of bones shattering. The lead bullet had ruptured her femoral artery and torn apart her taut nerves. Blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly staining the surrounding lush green grass a shocking dark red.
The princess let out a bloodcurdling scream, so agonizing it was almost inhuman, her body convulsing violently as she crashed heavily onto the muddy ground strewn with withered branches. The force of the fall sent the baby in her arms flying several meters, landing heavily at the edge of the mud pit.
"Ah—ah—my child—"
The princess struggled to stand, but her severed leg was only connected by a layer of skin and flesh, the pale, broken bone clearly visible. The excruciating pain that penetrated to the bone marrow caused her to spasm with every breath, and large mouthfuls of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
Even so, she continued to crawl frantically through the muddy ground full of pebbles and thorns, gripping the soil with her bloodied hands, inching her way toward the crying child.
She didn't even care about her exposed bones or the splinters piercing her palms; all she could see was that tiny figure struggling in the mud.
This scene not only failed to evoke pity from the people in the stands, but instead acted like a drop of cold water being poured into boiling oil, completely igniting the atmosphere in the arena. The Celestial Dragons watching from the stands went completely insane!