Rojen led the group away, intending to explore the ruins and see if they could find anything unusual.
They hadn't gone far when an enraged roar echoed behind them.
"It's that guy! What is he doing?" Chaporos shouted.
Everyone turned around and saw Edno still tied up in vines. The giant ape was roaring furiously, struggling to tear himself free, but the vines were surprisingly tough and refused to break.
"He's calling his companions. Or his underlings," Rojen explained.
Everyone was surprised. They hadn't expected the giant ape to be this intelligent, let alone capable of gathering a pack of followers.
Sure enough, moments after Rojen spoke, rumbling sounds echoed from all directions across the ruins of Shandora. One enormous creature after another came charging out of the dense forest, and in the blink of an eye, more than a dozen giant beasts surrounded them.
There were giant apes, tigers, lions, leopards, brown bears, and all sorts of other ferocious animals. What they all had in common was their massive size, with most standing over six meters tall.
Of course, none of them were nearly as muscular or absurdly powerful as Edno. Still, the sight of over a dozen enormous beasts surrounding them all at once was fairly intimidating.
"Interesting. There are actually creatures like this living in the Upper Yard? No wonder that old man called this place a forbidden zone," Jason laughed.
"These beasts would definitely be a handful for those God Warriors," Crocodile agreed with a nod.
Despite acknowledging their strength, not a single member of the Nether Soul Pirates looked even remotely worried.
"ROAR!"
Seeing his underlings arrive, Edno's lips curled into a smug, cruel grin.
But the next moment, his smile froze.
The beasts that had just arrived suddenly panicked. As if sensing some horrifying presence, they abruptly turned tail and scattered in all directions. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared back into the forest.
"What happened?" The sudden turn of events left the crew completely bewildered.
Rojen narrowed his eyes and looked toward the depths of the forest. The trees were shaking violently as dense undergrowth was shoved aside, as if some gargantuan creature was rapidly approaching.
"Something's coming."
The others noticed the strange disturbance as well.
"ROAR!"
Edno's expression turned frantic. He struggled even harder against his restraints, seemingly knowing exactly what was coming.
"Stay alert," Trens warned in a low voice.
Every member of the crew focused their attention on the depths of the forest.
After a dozen seconds, the violently shaking trees and brush suddenly fell completely still. The enormous creature seemed to have stopped moving.
"Is it here?" Chaporos called out.
The moment the words left his mouth, a giant head rose above the treeline like a multi-story building. Cold, vertical pupils glared out from the forest edge, followed by a blood-red forked tongue flicking into the air.
Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.
"My God! Look at the size of that snake!"
"Has this thing turned into some kind of monster?!"
The crew stared in shock at the creature, which completely defied common sense. Its slit pupils were like two massive lanterns glaring down at them, and sharp fangs glistened whenever its huge jaws opened and closed.
This snake went far beyond normal limits. Its monstrously massive body and emotionless gaze sent a chill down everyone's spine.
"Whoosh!"
With a sudden burst of movement, the giant snake shot forward, its thick body closing the distance in an instant. The sheer length of the creature seemed endless, leaving everyone stunned.
"BOOM!"
Moving with lightning speed, the snake slammed its head straight down into the middle of the group. Shattered stone exploded into the air as the crew scattered, leaping away to surround the massive reptile.
"SSSSSS!"
The snake's thick scales scraped against the stone with a harsh, grating sound. Soon, the hundred-meter-long serpent had coiled itself into a massive wall of muscle, cold eyes glaring down at the crew as its tongue flicked in and out.
Standing atop a pile of rubble, Rojen smiled. "It's this one."
He remembered that in the original story, a giant snake lived in Shandora, and inside its stomach was a massive hoard of gold and treasure. It wasn't even all of Shandora's lost wealth, but it was still a fortune. Back then, Luffy and his crew had only taken a single golden pillar, yet that alone paid for the Thousand Sunny.
Now that Rojen was here, he naturally intended to claim every last bit of it. That damn money-eating system was useless without cash.
'I'm never being broke again. If I'm playing this game, I'm playing to win.'
The smile in Rojen's eyes broadened. In his mind, the giant snake had already turned into a giant mountain of gold.
He turned toward Jason, who was standing nearby, and issued an order. "Jason, beat the treasure out of that giant snake!"
The odd command left Jason visibly stunned for a second, but he quickly caught on and moved to obey.
Using Moonwalk, Jason kicked off the air, instantly appearing right in front of the snake's face.
Just as he was about to strike, the little dragon perched on his shoulder spoke up. "Let me do it!"
"You?" Jason paused.
"Creatures this massive are my favorite prey," the dragon said, its face full of excitement.
"You sure you can handle it?"
Jason's blunt question instantly wounded the dragon's pride.
"Ignorant human! You have no idea how powerful I am!" the dragon snorted.
Spreading its wings, it took off from Jason's shoulder and shot high into the sky.
Three seconds later, an immense shadow fell over the ground, forcing everyone to look up.
"It's a dragon!" Chaporos shouted.
"W-What?! How is there a dragon here?!" Daz Bonez stared in disbelief, his world shattering a little.
A legendary beast from myth and legend had suddenly appeared right above their heads.
Ever since joining the Nether Soul Pirates, Daz Bonez had never seen Jason's little companion reveal its true form. He had assumed the strange creature perched on Jason's shoulder was just some weird bird.
Seeing its true form now left him completely speechless.
Hundreds of meters long. Massive claws. Mighty wings. An intimidating, ferocious gaze.
Its mere presence struck terror into the hearts of anyone looking at it. This was a true dragon!
"Whoosh!"
High in the sky, the dragon opened its jaws and unleashed a massive torrent of fire. Flames spread across a hundred meters of the sky, bringing a suffocating wave of heat down with them.
The dragon's massive body and overwhelming aura left everyone stunned.
Then,
"Gabriels! Hurry up and deal with that snake! If you keep showing off, I'm going to beat you up!" Jason yelled into the sky.
"ROAR!"
Up in the heavens, Gabriels flew into a rage at Jason's threat. He glared down at him, but because of their contract, he couldn't attack Jason directly.
Instead, he turned his furious gaze back onto the giant snake below.
"Annoying human... I'll settle the score with you later!"
His deep, rumbling voice thundered across the ruins as Gabriels let out a roar and dived straight down.
(End Of This Chapter)
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