Rumble...
Thunder roared endlessly through the clouds as fierce winds howled between the sky and earth.
"What's going on!?"
"Something's getting closer!!"
"In the sky…"
"Damn it... what is that…"
Rip!!
A blinding white bolt of lightning tore through the black sky, illuminating the pale, wide-eyed faces of the Marines frozen in fear.
"This feeling... No way..."
Daren's eyes filled with a dread he had never felt before. He gritted his teeth, trying to stand, but his body wavered, drained of strength.
Within his bio-magnetic field perception, deep in the storm-churned sea of clouds, a terrifying, oppressive presence surged forth—an overwhelming aura that radiated the dominance of a higher being.
"A troublesome one has arrived."
Sakazuki's face darkened to its limit.
The crushing pressure blanketing the land made every muscle and nerve in his body tighten to the extreme. He glanced at Daren, who was too weak to rise, then quickly assessed his own injuries. His heart sank.
"Worororo... Didn't expect to stumble into something this interesting."
That raspy, rumbling voice echoed again from afar, like muffled thunder pounding the ears.
Furious winds whipped the sea into monstrous waves.
And then...
From the thick, pitch-black clouds, a massive, ominous shadow—more terrifying than the storm itself—rapidly loomed larger before their frozen gazes.
That colossal silhouette, like something blotting out the sky, slithered through the sea of clouds, dragging bolts of lightning visible to the naked eye.
The wind howled violently, kicking up clouds of dust from the ground.
Under the stunned gazes of the Marines...
A head the size of a mountain slowly emerged from the clouds.
Sharp, curved horns. A dark, coarse beard. Lantern-sized, amber vertical pupils. Enormous claws tipped with four razor-sharp talons. Jade-green scales gleaming like armor under the flickering lightning...
"A dragon!!!"
"The legendary creature!! The Azure Dragon!!"
"Kaidou!! One of the Great Pirates of the New World!!"
"Kaidou of the Beasts!!"
"No way… How could Kaidou be here!?"
A chorus of panicked cries erupted from the Marines as they stared at the monstrous figure rising above the clouds, faces pale with fear, throats dry, cold sweat breaking out across their bodies.
The enormous Azure Dragon narrowed its eyes, scanning the ground. Its gaze paused momentarily on Daren and Douglas Bullet, then fixed on Sakazuki.
It let out a menacing grin.
Boom!!
An overwhelming surge of aura, as deep and vast as the abyss, exploded from the dragon's towering form.
The force was almost tangible. Black and red lightning crackled through the air, flashing down from the sky in an instant.
Bzzz...
The sheer pressure distorted the space itself, causing ripples to shimmer across the void between heaven and earth.
To the Marines, it was as if the very world—the ground, trees, ruins, harbor—was splintering before their eyes.
The spiritual impact and soul-crushing pressure made it hard to even breathe, as if the sky were collapsing.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
One by one, many young Marines rolled their eyes back and collapsed, unconscious.
Daren's breathing caught at the same time, his thoughts turning to chaos. He let out a pained grunt, his near-broken body trembling as he grit his teeth and forced himself to remain upright.
If he were at full strength, no matter how powerful Kaidou's Conqueror's Haki was, it wouldn't have affected him this badly.
But now, his body was in terrible shape—riddled with wounds, completely drained of stamina. He could barely stay conscious, let alone resist.
Not far away, Bullet—gravely wounded and near death—couldn't even groan before collapsing face-first to the ground.
A gale of almost solid force swept across the battlefield, filling the air with smoke and dust.
And amid the flames, Sakazuki stood firm like a reef against a cliffside storm, his snow-white cloak billowing behind him…
"Worororo!! Die, Marines!!"
The dragon let out a deafening roar, slowly opening its massive jaws.
Between the rows of razor-sharp fangs, as Kaidou took a deep breath, a suffocating dark red light began to gather rapidly within the dragon's mouth.
A hellish aura of destruction spread from the sky above.
The blood-red glow bathed the land, swallowing everything in its path.
An overwhelming sense of despair crept into the hearts of every Marine present, making them tremble uncontrollably. Yet none of them moved, like puppets whose strings had been cut.
There was nowhere to run from the attack of a legendary creature.
"Tch…"
Sakazuki suddenly exhaled a long breath.
He calmly removed his black leather gloves, revealing his bloodied hands, then adjusted the vivid blood-red rose pinned to his chest.
From his pocket, he pulled out a cigar, clenched it between his teeth, and lit it using his own power.
"This never ends…"
He muttered softly.
The sky was pitch black, lightning crackling, wind howling.
Facing the enormous dragon that seemed to blot out the heavens, the future Marine Admiral—who had long since shed the title of "monster"—looked so very small.
At that moment, the searing flame gathering in the dragon's maw reached its peak.
"Bolo Breath!"
Roar!!
A torrent of blazing red dragon breath erupted from its mouth.
The sheer recoil sent its mountain-sized head lurching backward.
The pillar of red fire ripped through the sky and came crashing down.
Light swallowed the land in an instant.
Sakazuki raised his head without expression. His cold, steely eyes reflected the dragon's ferocious and dominating figure.
The corner of his blood-smeared lips curled into a sinister grin.
"Dragon slaying… isn't out of the question."
Then he took a heavy drag on the cigar.
The force of it burned the entire cigar down in one go.
Huff...
Thick smoke poured from his mouth like a dragon's breath, and at the same time, molten magma exploded from beneath his feet. The earth cracked and shook as Sakazuki shot into the sky like a cannonball.
Half his body turned into magma blazing at thousands of degrees, yet that broad, heavy snow-white cloak still billowed behind him, sacred and imposing against the blood-red glow of the lava.
Like a defiant mad dog, he charged straight into the incoming wave of dragon fire—straight toward the apex of the food chain—and threw a heavy punch.
"Great Eruption!!"
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
Volcano-like magma collided violently with the surging breath of the dragon in midair!
But the clash only lasted an instant.
"Magma... is superior to flame!!!"
Sakazuki's voice rang out cold and grim through the sea of fire.
Boom!!
The explosive magma pierced straight through the dragon's breath!
The pillar of fire shattered into a sky full of fireballs, falling like a meteor shower across the land.
As the magma surged toward him, Kaidou—still in his dragon form—narrowed his pupils. That lethal heat made him instinctively twist his body to dodge.
Ssshh!!
The magma grazed past his scales, leaving scorched black marks in its wake.
"Damn Marines!! Then how about this one!?"
Bellowing in rage and pain, the massive dragon shrank in a flash into a demonic humanoid form. Under the force of gravity, he plummeted with terrifying speed.
Gripping a colossal black kanabō in both hands, black and red lightning wrapped around the spiked club as he brought it crashing down toward Sakazuki's head.
"Kosanze Ragnaraku!"
Boom!!
Too drained to react, Sakazuki was slammed into the earth like a meteor, blasting open a massive crater. The ground caved in, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
The entire island trembled as deep cracks split across the land.
It was as if the sky itself were collapsing...
…
The raging wind gradually died down.
Flames still curled across the scorched earth, thick black smoke rising into the sky. From the cracks in the ground, dark red magma surged out and quickly formed the shape of a person.
Covered in blood, his face deathly pale, Sakazuki staggered forward like a man drenched in gore, barely keeping his footing. He roughly shoved aside the Marine soldiers who tried to help him and stared at the desolate land ahead...
His cold eyes were laced with feral, bloodshot veins.
"Inform headquarters. Kaidou of the Beasts appeared. The mission to arrest Douglas Bullet... has failed."
"The target, Douglas Bullet, and..."
Sakazuki growled the words through gritted teeth.
"Commodore Rogers Daren of Marine Headquarters... was taken by Kaidou."
"...His fate is unknown."
...
(70 Chapters Ahead)
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