Although the Fleet Admiral was the first to recognize the significance of the black pentagram that appeared at the center of Marineford, his own dread, and guilt delayed the actions that should have immediately followed this recognition.
Admiral Akainu was about two-thirds dead at the moment from the beating he received from Whitebeard, but being closer to death strengthened the senses and he realized that Sengoku was not giving the order that he should be giving. Therefore, he gave it himself. As pillars of black smoke started pouring out of the pentagram, Akainu shouted to the whole of Marineford, "Any Marine below the rank of Commodore is hereby ordered to avert their gaze! Any who disobey will be executed!"
Seeing that most didn't understand the order, Akainu shouted with an authority that would not allow being questioned, "TURN AROUND NOW AND DON'T LOOK YOU BASTARDS OR I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!"
The rank-and-file Marines that had been previously ordered to scour the battlefield and take the injured survivors to the newly set up medical tents had to drop whomever they were carrying and turn away from the center of Marineford, facing the walls.
The Marines around Rayleigh had also turned away, but Rayleigh was not a Marine and did not follow the given order. Some of the Marines around Rayleigh noticed this, but were too nervous to say anything. Rayleigh ended up not fighting the Marines and even killed Blackbeard, so from the Marine's perspective, he was on their side. He was being treated very differently than the Players who were surrounded by hostile glares and raised weapons.
Since he couldn't walk over to them and ask, Rayleigh just posed his query in the Pirate Chat Room, assuming that the Players were keeping an eye on it as well.
[Swordsman: So what's the plan?]
[Titan: Huh? Isn't it obvious? We're gonna piss them off enough to send the final boss.]
[Captain Jack: Obviously that's obvious. I think he's asking, how are you gonna beat the final boss and the Fleet Admiral and the Admirals?]
[Invisible Man: Yeah, Swordsman can't see the plan. Cause it's invisible.]
[Mimic: Don't worry. The actual final boss isn't someone you can beat yet, but some End Game Mini Bosses are gonna show up. Good luck with them. And Swordsman, if you want to make the fight harder, ask them about Saint Imu of House Nerona, the loser who simped for the first Queen Nefertari.]
[Swordsman: Is he the final boss?]
Mimic didn't answer, but several other Players who weren't even in Marineford started making fun of Imu, despite likely not knowing who he was.
The black smoke erupted and the silhouette of a giant figure with a monstrous form could be seen for a moment, but when the black smoke blew away, it revealed the figure of an old man in a high-class suit that carried a walking cane.
He scanned the area and momentarily met the eyes of the Admirals, the Players, Mihawk, Doflamingo, and Rayleigh. But when he saw a low-ranking Marine try to turn around and sneak a peak at him, a flash of light appeared in the old man's eyes and the head of the Marine who looked at him exploded.
[Swordsman: Dufuq?]
[Captain Jack: Saint Jaygarcia Saturn. Warrior God of Science and Defense. One of the Five Elders who run the World Government. Looking at him is a crime punishable by execution for any low-rank Marine. Saint Saturn usually executes the punishment personally.]
[Wild King: What did he do?]
[Stoner: Made a dude's head explode by looking at him.]
According to Rayleigh's senses, Fire Queen, Wonder Woman, All Seeing Prophet, Lightning Lord, Glitter, Dyna Might, and Wild King had left Marineford. Both halves of Crystal's body were also gone, but Rayleigh didn't care about what happened to her.
The only Players present were himself, Titan, Stoner, Crow, Justice, and Goddess of Ice. Captain Jack was also around somewhere and though Rayleigh could not sense his Force presence, Rayleigh suspected that Invisible Man was also skulking about unseen.
Saint Saturn only took a moment to assess the situation with his own Observation Haki before another Black Pentagram appeared around him. Rayleigh sensed this one was a bit different from the previous one. The previous one was tied to the center of Marineford while this one was tied to Saint Saturn himself.
Three figures arose from the shadows around Saint Saturn. One was another old man while the other two were clearly swordsmen with strange hairstyles.
Titan looked upset when the smoke cleared and shouted to the old man, "What, only two of you came?"
The newly arrived old man was very bald, quite tall, and had glasses. He sneered a bit in Titan's direction before stating, "The other Elders have much more important things to do than deal with you insects."
[Swordsman: And that guy is?]
[Captain Jack: Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro. Warrior God of Finance]
When said old man finished speaking, he seemed to use Observation Haki before looking in the direction that Captain Jack was hiding.
Saint Saturn looked over at his fellow Elder and stated, "This is an unprecedented incident. How do you think we should proceed?"
After looking in Captain Jack's direction for a moment, Saint Nusjuro answered, "The pair of Den Den Mushis used to transmit the forbidden secrets were really just for frequencies Zero and Twenty-Three and there are no other Den Den Mushis active on the island. This incident can be contained."
Not only had Saint Nusjuro's Observation Haki spotted Captain Jack, but he even saw the pair of Radio Snails that the Player used to transmit that story and confirmed that he had not lied about only transmitting it to their office and through the base speakers.
Hearing this, Saint Saturn erupted with a wave of Conqueror's Haki. The weight of the world smacked into the consciousness of every person in Marineford, knocking a majority of the Marines below the rank of Rear-Admiral unconscious.
Saint Nusjuro then nodded and stated, "All Den Den Mushies have been rendered unconscious and will not work for the next few hours. During this period, I suggest that a cleansing is in order."
The Elder in charge of the Marines asked the Elder in charge of the money, "Can we afford this?" The question lacked any kind of emotion one might expect from such a notion. It was as bland as if he had asked about the weather.
Saint Nusjuro answered, "Killing Whitebeard, Blackbeard, and the son of Roger will cause many to join the Marines. We can afford to give further incentives to raise the number of recruits and make up for any losses sustained during the cleansing."
Saint Saturn nodded before turning to Sengoku. Neither Elder had lowered their voice, so their conversation and meaning was clear to everyone. Saint Saturn addressed the leader of the Marines. "This will be the final Order you will carry out as Fleet Admiral. Execute every Marine below the rank of Vice Admiral in Marineford."
Sengoku shouted in protest, "But they've done nothing wrong! They survived this war and will become the backbone of the Marines!"
Saint Saturn shook his head, "Knowing too much is a sin in itself and only those who have reached the rank of Vice Admiral are authorized to be trusted with such knowledge. You know this. Do not question my orders Sengoku."
Seeing an opportunity, Akainu stepped forward and said, "I will carry out your orders Elder Saturn."
Saint Saturn glanced at the dog in front of him, fully aware of his intentions. He then saw the reluctance to follow this order from Aokiji and even Kizaru before turning back to Akainu, giving a small nod.
Akainu grinned widely. That small nod had just confirmed his future position as Fleet Admiral.
Saint Saturn then turned to the Warlord called Doflamingo and said, "Release the Birdcage."
This caused the Admirals and even the Fleet Admiral to look over and Doflamingo in confusion, likely not understanding what the Elder was referring to. Doflamingo himself lost his smile and now looked somewhat constipated. The observing Rayleigh did not know if this was because the Warlord did not like being ordered or that he did not like that the Elder knew of this Birdcage thing.
The Flamboyant Warlord only resisted for a moment before nodding and raising his hand into the air. He understood that this was not an order he could refuse.
A beam of white shot from Doflamingo's hand into the sky. From the way that it reflected light, Rayleigh could tell that this beam was composed of thousands of strings. After reaching a height greater than the tallest building in Marineford, the white beam spread out, turning into a dome of vertical lines.
A black light formed in Saint Saturn's hand and a moment later, he threw it into the beam of string being shot from Doflamingo. The white strings blackened and expanded, turning the massive cage of vertical strings into a massive black spiderweb that covered the whole of Marineford and reached the sea floor around the base. Unless you could break the cage or shrink yourself, no one would be able to escape the spider cage.
Saint Saturn then shouted, "All Admirals and Vice Admirals are to execute everyone below the rank of Vice Admiral and every Pirate. Those who do not comply are to be executed as well. Pacifistas, execute all Marines below the rank of Vice Admiral and the Warlords other than Doflamingo."
Goddess of Ice was the first Player to protest. She and Justice were promoted to Vice Admiral due to their contributions during the war, so they were not targets, but that didn't mean they were okay with killing Marines. Especially when they knew that it was pointless. The Players could not be silenced. Even if you killed them, they would not lose the knowledge they gained when they made a new character. They could spread this knowledge whenever they wanted to and make this act of killing Marines to silence them pointless.
Goddess of Ice shouted to her mentor, Aokiji, "You can't let them do this! Those assholes definitely left the information outside of Marineford! Even if every Marine and Pirate here dies, it will get out eventually!"
Justice looked over at Kizaru and shouted, "She's right! There is no way that they got that information here, so they got it outside Marineford and it's still there, so there is no point in silencing everyone here!"
Kizaru looked over to Saint Saturn and said, "Oh ho ho, did you hear that? What do you think?"
Saint Saturn rose his walking stick and knocked it back onto the ground. He firmly answered, "This has already been considered. But if the forbidden secrets are given out in the future, we shall deal with it in the future. Containment is the number one priority. No matter how many lives, islands, or nations must be burned to the ground. This has been the way of the World Government for the last eight centuries." He then looked at Goddess of Ice and said, "As a Marine, you answer to the World Government. Refusing an order is punishable by execution. Now do your duty."
Saint Saturn emitted a heavy pressure that should have forced anyone else to yield and bow down, but this only infuriated Goddess of Ice. Just about every Player who chose Pirate for their Primary Class had the Talent for Conqueror's Haki, they just hid it since it drew the wrong kind of attention. Goddess of Ice also had the Jedi Class that strengthened her mind, further weakening the oppressive effect of the Elder's Haki on the eighteen-year-old girl.
Before Goddess of Ice could say anything, Rayleigh stepped forward. Five of the ten Pacifistas jumped Mihawk at the same time when the Elder gave the order. Two others went for Geko Moria. Boa Hancock had already left Marineford, so she was not in the scope of the execution, leaving only Mihawk and the unlucky Geko Moria to be within the order's effect.
But Rayleigh was not a Marine, Pirate, or Warlord. None of the given orders had affected him. He could have gone off to the side and ignored everything, but his Red Sword of Babylon was out and he really wanted a reason to use it, so he wasn't going to let these guys forget about him.
Rayleigh asked, "What about me? I'm not a Marine or a Pirate. I was invited here and have no criminal record and I killed Blackbeard. Am I to be executed too?"
Saint Saturn replied, "Of course." He then looked over to the two swordsmen with strange hairstyles who vanished from view before reappearing with their swords going for Rayleigh's neck, one from the front and one from the back.
Rayleigh slashed in an arc overhead, knocking both swords back before driving toward the heart of one of them. Said swordsman used shave to get some distance but Rayleigh outsped him and went for the killing blow, though he had to veer to the side to avoid the flying slashes that came at him from behind.
Their Haki and sword skills were almost on par with Mihawk's and they worked together quite seamlessly. But while using the Red Sword of Babylon Rayleigh was more than a match for the pair of them together. He even had a few Wills to spare and use the Chat Room.
[Swordsman: So who are the swordsmen with the mentally deficient hairstyles?]
[Mimic: If you mean retarded hairdos, those are God's Knights. They are the protectors of Mary Geoise and considered the best swordsmen in the world.]
[Captain Jack: Swordsman is kicking their butts.]
[Swordsman: They are weaker than Mihawk, but their style is quite mature.]
If either of the God's Knights heard Rayleigh's compliment, they would likely fly into a rage. Simplifying the elegance and centuries of refinement of their sword style into a word as mundane as mature was punishable by death. Although not as old as some of the sword styles that originated in the Samurai land of Wano, the style used by the God's Knights could be said to be the most tested style in the world. There were only ever nine members of the God's Knights and old members were replaced in death duels. Eight centuries of death duels evolved their style into what they believed was the strongest style in the world.
Of course, that style did not take into account a talent for Conqueror's Haki. The method they used to channel their Armament Haki and use their Observation Haki was certainly exquisite, but they did not use Conqueror's Haki, so in Rayleigh's opinion, it lost out to Mihawk's Style that fused Strong and Gentle.
Rayleigh didn't mind this and fully intended to steal their style. Before using Sword of Babylon, Rayleigh stole the styles of the Pirates by using their swords and using psychometry. Now that he was using the Sword of Babylon, he had another way to steal styles.
During combat, one of his Wills actively maintained Psychometry using his sword. Since he could use Psychometry through his sword, Rayleigh could obtain some of the swordsmanship insights of the styles others used every time his sword made contact with theirs. Rayleigh didn't particularly care about winning or losing. He just wanted to make himself stronger, so he would take everything from these God's Knights before moving on. He already had another target in mind when he was done.
After sicking the God's Knights on Rayleigh, Saint Saturn went to personally deal with Titan and the other Players.
At the same time, Saint Nusjuro also had to keep busy. Mihawk destroyed three of the Pacifistas that were sent after him, forcing the Warrior God of Finance to draw his sword and face the number one Swordsman of the World.
Justice and Goddess of Ice both started fighting Aokiji and Kizaru, stopping them from executing any Marines. Fleet Admiral Sengoku also pressed down on Vice Admiral Garp to stop Garp from stopping the Marines. It looked like they were not trying very hard, obviously just putting on an act so that they could give an excuse later.
That left Geko Moria to deal with the remaining Pacifistas and the shadow user had no chance against them, but he was not alone. Every Rear Admiral and a number of Vice Admirals joined him and stood against the Pacifistas and Admiral Akainu.
Geko Moria implanted shadows into the corpses of the fallen Marines and Pirates to fight against Akainu and the Vice Admirals.
Luckily, the Pacifistas and the original Robot Bear were dealt with easily. They were only ordered to kill Geko Moria and the Marines below Vice Admiral. When a Vice Admiral got in their way, the robots would not attack. Using this, they were able to take the weapons of destruction out of the picture by having some Vice Admirals volunteer to keep getting in their way every time they tried to attack.
Titan immediately shifted into the form of a giant golden Buddha and struck out against Saint Saturn. In what seemed to be an instant, the old man changed. He seemed to turn into a blob of shadow before that blob expanded to a form even taller than Titan's giant golden Buddha form. Around Saint Saturn were six spider legs while the Elder's arms retained their human appearance after the massive growth spurt.
What Rayleigh found odd was that the man's walking stick also grew to match his size. How did that work? Then again, the fact that a Logia Fruit's user could elementize their clothes didn't make any sense either, so the pointless questions could be left for later.
One of the Giant Spider Elder's front spider legs lifted to block Titan's attack, but the smirk the Player wore revealed the outcome of the contest before contact was even made.
The defense of the Elder failed to block Titan's Nen-saturated attack and the Giant Spider Elder's face caved in as his massive body was shot into the giant stone wall that bore the word Justice.
This actually stunned the Marines, the God's Knights, and the second Elder.
Nen was one of the trump cards that Players did not use publicly unless it was a life or death situation, so few in the Marines were aware that there were figures of this generation who possessed such abilities. Enhancement Nen was similar to Armament Haki as they both heavily enhanced physical force. Titan was an Enhancer, so he could stack his enhancement Nen on top of his Haki and physical strength.
Rayleigh took the chance to remove the head of the weaker of the two God's Knights he was facing. It was quite rude to look away from your opponent in the middle of a fight.
This enraged the other God's Knight, making him sloppy, but Rayleigh didn't need the man's current skill, he just needed to strike the man's sword over and over, so this worked out just fine for him.
Elder Saturn got up from the rubble and showed off a figure lacking any injury even though his face had clearly sunken in from the earlier attack. His eyes flashed and Titan stepped to the side.
Rayleigh's En saw what happened. The Spider Elder seemed to be able to shoot an invisible web. If you got caught in it, you would be slowed down, but it could not be seen using Observation Haki. En on the other hand basically expanded your sense of touch to the entire area and even if the web was invisible, it was still solid and could not escape the En of the various Players.
Seeing that they were not going to be useful in this fight, Crow assisted Goddess of Ice against Aokiji and Stoner went to help the Marines against Akainu. Justice was going all out using his Nen so even if he could not fully match Kizaru, it looked like he could fully match Kizaru, meaning that the lazy Marine could allow himself to be stalled by this wayward disciple of his.
Ash was actually very useful against ice and thanks to Crow's clever usage of Nen, he was providing excellent backup to Goddess of Ice against her own mentor.
Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro had also transformed into some kind of sword-wielding skeleton centaur thing and was going all out against Mihawk. The former seemed quite upset that the latter was capable of using Conqueror's Haki.
Just like Rayleigh, Mihawk did not miss the chance that his opponent was distracted to chop off the man's head. But the severed head seemed to break apart into black ribbons that dissolved into the air. The same black ribbons then reformed above the man's neck and came together to reform the man's head.
The Giant Spider rushed at Titan while his eyes flashed over and over, shooting more invisible webs that Titan had to use En to sense and dodge. Mihawk tried cutting off the centaur man's legs to reduce him to a torso, but it was obvious that the legs would regenerate in a moment.
Coincidentally, Titan saw this and bent down to their fight, asking, "Do you mind if I borrow this?" while picking up Saint Nusjuro's legless skeleton from the tailbone.
Mihawk replied, "By all means."
Saint Nusjuro shouted in complaint and sent numerous flying slashes at Titan, but the golden aura around his golden Buddha form and his Nen blocked the flying slashes.
Saint Saturn's charging form noticed his fellow Elder's predicament and his charging speed only grew faster as he rushed forward to kill this pirate and get him to unhand Saint Nusjuro.
What neither suspected was what Titan intended to do with the skeletal horse spine and rib cage. Instead of keeping it as a hostage or something, he swung it at the incoming Saint Saturn, using the spine and ribcage that ended in Saint Nusjuro's torso as a weapon similar to a flail and chain.
Titan smashed Saint Nusjuro into Saint Saturn and Saint Nusjuro's rib bones broke off and got stuck into Saint Saturn, but they dissolved into black ribbons and regenerated back onto Saint Nusjuro only for it to break off again in the next hit.
Even though both Saint Saturn and Saint Nusjuro were essentially immortal, neither could understand what was happening because such a thing had never happened before. Saint Nusjuro could try to use Armament Haki to prevent his body from getting smashed on each impact but that would only increase the damage that Saint Saturn received from each blow.
One of Rayleigh's Wills using Clairvoyance to watch this scene of an indestructible spine, ribcage, and skull being used as a weapon against another person felt like he heard Nsync's song, Bye Bye Bye, but that feeling quickly vanished.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Saint Saturn shouted out and the black pentagram reformed around him.
Titan seemed happy enough to allow this, but Rayleigh saw a shatterpoint and his danger sense told him not to allow reinforcements. Up to this point, Rayleigh did not feel that the threat to his life from this place was high enough to be of concern, but now that was different.
Rayleigh poured his Nen and Haki into the Red Sword of Babylon and swung it with all his strength before running to the black pentagram. His opponent did not move and a moment later, the top half of the sword in his hand fell to the ground, followed shortly by his head.
The invisible webs of the Giant Spider Elder could not be detected with Observation Haki, but Rayleigh's Sword of Babylon enhanced the effect of Babylon which already enhanced his senses. In this state, he almost had a knockoff Mystic Eyes of Death Perception when he used Shatterpoint to see weaknesses. Using this, he saw the invisible threads of spider silk extending from the black pentagram and slashed at his highest speed.
Elder Saturn had not expected Rayleigh to show up and certainly did not expect him to cut the world web lines that he used to teleport others to his location.
The black pentagram faded out, but the first person to complain was not Elder Saturn, but Titan. The giant golden Player shouted, "What did you do that for?! I've been trying to goad him into inviting the other Elders here this entire time!"
Rayleigh replied, "Because you have no idea what you're doing."
"Hey! I can kill these guys anytime I want to."
"I don't believe you. How about this, if you can actually kill him right now, I'll admit I'm wrong and even join your crew."
"Oh? You'd better keep your word."
Within the Pirate Chat, Titan sent a message.
[Titan: Hey Goddess of Ice, can you freeze the spider with his mouth open?]
[Goddess of Ice: Get his mouth open and I'll freeze it.]
Titan had already thrown Saint Nusjuro back to Mihawk and reeled his fist back to strike.
Saint Saturn took a step back to get out of range for what was obviously going to be a strong punch but was surprised when Titan threw his fist forward without stepping in to close the distance.
That was when they heard the crack.
Cracks larger than Marineford's largest building formed at the impact point of Titan's fist on the empty air.
Every building behind Saint Saturn crumbled to pieces and the Giant Spider Elder himself had cracks appear throughout his entire body as if he was about to explode. The massive damage obviously caused Saint Saturn's mouth to open wide and in that moment, Goddess of Ice flash froze the elder, leaving his open mouth unblocked.
Titan then casually took something out of his pocket and tossed it into Saturn's mouth. Anyone with good vision could tell that it looked like a devil fruit.
After it reached the giant spider's stomach, the entire body of the Giant Spider Elder exploded.
Titan then turned back to Rayleigh and said, "Not everyone can use the power of two devil Fruits like I can. Welcome to my crew. As the new guy, it will be your job to scrub the decks for the next-"
Titan's bragging was interrupted by a woman's scream.
Saint Saturn's giant spider legs had pierced Goddess of Ice's stomach completely through. The pieces of his body dissolved into ribbons and reformed once more, the Elder returning to his uninjured state. This time though, he looked different.
Behind the Elder, around his back, and over his shoulders, was a black banner that seemed to be made of smoke and shadow. The Elder's body also seemed to become a little larger.
Although he did not look very different, the feeling he gave off seemed to be many times more sinister and powerful than before. Previously, he had been treating this encounter as the extermination of pests. Now, he wanted his enemies to suffer.
Rayleigh looked back over to Titan and asked, "You were saying?"
Titan replied, "Oops."