"Head this way. We should run into them soon. But… are you really just going to leave your ship here?"

  Jhinny gnced in the general direction and then back at Oran’s vessel. The canyon was remote, sure, but it wasn't completely immune to discovery.

  "Of course I’ve made preparations. You’ll see once we get up there."

  After they left the canyon floor, Jhinny turned back—only to find the ship had vanished.

  "Huh? Where's the ship?"

  "Still there. I just activated the holo-camoufge. You won’t see it unless you walk right into it. Between that and the onboard auto-turrets, it’ll hold up just fine for now."

  Oran vaguely recalled that a cataclysmic battle would soon erupt on this isnd—one so massive that the entire pce would eventually be wiped off the map. Otherwise, hiding the ship like this wouldn’t have been necessary.

  Back when he first docked here, it was just an ordinary pier. No reason to activate stealth systems—hence why Ivankov and the others could see his ship before.

  "But we’ve gotta move fast. Some of my onboard systems are damaged, including parts of the power grid. We're running on backup energy for now. Oh, and take this."

  He handed Jhinny something that looked like a gas mask—standard survival gear in Zaun, but in this case, its purpose was simple: concealment.

  "Cover your face. I’ve got other pns once we're out there. I’m not interested in ending up on the wanted posters right away. And I doubt you want the World Government’s hounds sniffing you out either."

  The World Government wasn’t exactly omniscient. They couldn’t even control public opinion properly—probably because they didn’t consider it worth the effort. In theory, as long as you didn’t dig into that bnk century, they wouldn’t obsessively hunt you down.

  Oran was just pying it safe. Given the general facial-recognition incompetence across the seas, wearing a mask was already more considerate than most.

  "Um… what about mine?"

  Ivankov waited expectantly, but while Jhinny was already tightening her straps, Oran hadn’t made a move.

  "Your face is too big. I don’t have one in your size. Just wrap it in cloth or something."

  It wasn’t discrimination. With Ivankov’s... unique dimensions, standard gear simply wasn’t going to cut it. So in the end, they had to go with the good old low-tech method.

  Elsewhere on the isnd, in a clearing of God's Valley, towering stone pilrs pierced the sky, surrounded by patches of moss and withered shrubs.

  A thin stream trickled down from the mountainside, its gentle babble broken by the sudden thud of footsteps.

  A boy, rger than most grown men but with a face still boyish and soft, was sprinting for his life.

  His shaved head was covered in scrapes, and his tattered rags were barely hanging on. Chains clinked on his wrists, and a painted target on his chest marked his identity—another sve.

  But what chased him wasn't a Celestial Dragon or Marine—it was other sves, dressed just like him.

  "GET BACK HERE!"

  A rock flew through the air and struck the back of his head. His eyes rolled white, and his massive body crashed to the ground.

  The pursuers weren’t done. One of them raised a thick wooden stick and brought it down on the boy, shouting in fury.

  "You idiot! We're held responsible as a unit—if you escape, we all die! Who told you to run, huh?!"

  Only when the stick finally snapped from the beating did the man seem satisfied. He motioned to his companions to drag the boy back.

  But just as he grabbed the boy’s leg, a net shot from afar wrapped him up tightly.

  "Sir! Sir! We’ve caught the runaway! Please don’t punish us—we’ve fixed the problem, see?!"

  Trapped in the net, the man didn’t even try to struggle. He immediately dropped to the ground, begging. The others fell to their knees just as quickly.

  To them, in this forsaken valley, only the Celestial Dragons had the power to pull something like that off. Submission had been burned into their bones.

  "What a bunch of morons. No one’s even watching you, and you're still tripping over yourselves to please the people trying to kill you. You must love being sves."

  A voice rang out from the distance, ced with scorn. It was Oran—he had fired the net uncher himself.

  Jhinny couldn’t handle the recoil, so Oran had taken the weapon for himself.

  Looking at the group of obedient sves, Oran felt only a dull sense of pity.

  The fallen boy stirred, his eyes fluttering open once more.

  By now, Ivankov and Jhinny had caught up.

  "So this is one of the Buccaneer Tribe, huh? Damn, he’s huge. They say you’ve got Giant blood. That true?"

  Ivankov crouched beside him, full of curiosity. According to the intel Jhinny had stolen, the Celestial Dragons were particurly interested in this rare catch.

  "Ivan, questions ter."

  Oran offered the boy a hand. Sensing no hostility, the boy reached out and pulled himself up with Oran’s help.

  "Thank you… Who are you?"

  "Just some folks trying to get off this rock. At least you tried to escape. Want to join us?"

  To Oran, those who didn’t even try to run had already given up. They were dead weight at best. But this boy didn’t hesitate—he had no real choice anyway.

  "Wait! You can’t take him! If he escapes, we’ll have no way to expin ourselves to the Celestial Dragons!"

  "Yeah! Grab them! If we hand them over, maybe we’ll get rewarded!"

  Some sves chose submission — not to survive, but to curry favor with their masters by oppressing those even weaker than themselves.

  But even as they wagged their tails and begged for scraps, in the end, they were still nothing more than prey for their masters’ amusement.

  There were more sves than guards. After a brief exchange of gnces, most of them seemed to agree with the one who had spoken earlier.

  A few of them began approaching in a loose encirclement.

  “You idiots really are hopeless. Even if you catch us, do you actually think the Celestial Dragons will spare you?”

  Ivankov raised his weapon, aiming it at them. But Oran’s earlier move had already revealed the truth — the gun fired only non-lethal netting. That alone wasn’t enough to scare them off.

  “So what? There’s no way out of this pce anyway… they’re Celestial Dragons, for crying out loud…”

  Even as they muttered such weak words, they still advanced.

  Oran said nothing. He merely lifted his arm. The blue cylinders embedded in the exoskeleton of his forearm began to hum softly as they charged.

  Boom!

  With a muffled thud, several razor-sharp icicles shot out from Oran’s gauntlet.

  There was no deafening explosion, but when the ice shards struck the ground, they erupted into a localized froststorm.

  Moments ter, only frozen statues remained.

  Hextech GLP-800 — known on the streets as the Ice Gun. Compared to standard-issue net unchers used by peacekeepers, this Hexcore-powered device was far more lethal.

  After years of living in Valoran — and the vivid “dreams” he carried — Oran had no intention of going easy when it came time to act. He didn’t have time to waste on sves obsessed with pleasing their masters. He chose the most direct solution.

  “Snap out of it. This isn’t just an escape. It’s a special kind of war. And since they’ve chosen to become enemies, then this outcome was inevitable. In war, people die.”

  He motioned to Ginny and the others.

  “Let’s go. We need to find people willing to fight back. Hopefully, there are fewer fools like them.”

  With that, the group continued their journey through the mountain paths of the Valley of the Gods.

  …

  Meanwhile, outside the Valley, the tension was mounting even more.

  Not long ago, in the New World — on Hachinosu, the Hive Isnd.

  Due to the ridiculous number of pirates gathered there, it had become infamously known as the Isnd of Pirates.

  And among them, the strongest crew by far — the Rocks Pirates.

  Now, having received Ginny’s signal, the full force of the Rocks Pirates had begun moving toward the Valley of the Gods.

  “The Rocks Pirates set sail! They beat us to it!”

  “Follow them — this could shake the entire pirate world!”

  Countless pirate ships began streaming out, surging across the Calm Belt toward the West Blue.

  Soon after, the Marines caught wind of the mass departure.

  At Marineford, current Fleet Admiral Kong was irritably fiddling with his Den Den Mushi, clearly troubled by the intelligence reports flooding in.

  “That’s the situation, Garp. It’s not confirmed yet, but if it’s true, we’ve got a big problem. So I’m counting on you.”

  “Hah? Why the hell would the Celestial Dragons all go running off to some backwater isnd? What is this, a school field trip?

  Not going. They should’ve brought plenty of guards. What’s there to worry about?”

  On another isnd, Garp was lounging in a beach chair, completely rexed and showing zero intention of mobilizing.

  “I can’t give details… but word is, Roger’s heading to that isnd too.”

  “What?! Why didn’t you say so earlier?! I’m on my way!”

  And just like that, the strongest forces of both pirates and Marines began converging on the Valley of the Gods.

  It was here — in this moment — that the csh of a new era quietly began.