Every decision could determine whether the Revolutionary Army lived or died. Dragon could not afford the slightest carelessness.
His fist tightened until his knuckles turned white, while his eyes remained sharp and vigilant, prepared for whatever might come next.
Then, in a moment when everything seemed calm and the voyage was proceeding exactly as planned—
disaster struck.
There was no warning.
No sign that anything was wrong.
The clear blue sky suddenly seemed to split apart as though torn open by an invisible pair of colossal hands.
And from that opening—
a gigantic golden pillar of light more than ten meters across descended from the highest reaches of the clouds.
It resembled a divine Rod of God, a weapon of judgment falling directly from the heavens with enough power to erase everything in its path.
The beam came down in a perfectly straight line.
Its target was unmistakable.
The Dawn.
The attack was so fast that there was almost no time to react.
Its destructive power surpassed any artillery weapon they knew. Even the mightiest naval cannon seemed insignificant compared with the terrifying force contained within that descending pillar.
The air was compressed violently in its wake, producing a deafening roar as though the surrounding space itself were trembling.
"FULL DEFENSE!"
Dragon's eyes sharpened instantly.
His pupils contracted as he roared the command.
His body moved almost entirely on instinct.
In the next instant, terrifying hurricane-force winds erupted around him.
The air screamed as it surged outward like a raging beast, attempting to shove the entire vessel sideways and carry it out of the beam's path.
At the same time, Dragon's powerful Armament Haki spread rapidly across the ship, coating the hull in a dense protective layer.
The Revolutionary Army fighters aboard were no ordinary soldiers either.
At this life-or-death moment, everyone used whatever they had.
A soldier possessing the Barrier-Barrier Fruit rushed forward and raised both hands.
A massive glowing barrier formed before the ship like an enormous fortress wall.
Other officers attacked the descending beam directly.
Some unleashed powerful flying slashes.
Others fired concentrated elemental attacks and energy blasts, desperately trying to intercept the pillar or at least weaken it before impact.
But they quickly discovered that the attack existed on an entirely different level.
It carried a power that seemed to transcend common sense.
Something almost divine.
Every attempt to stop it only emphasized how powerless their defenses truly were.
Then—
BOOOOOOM—!!!!
The impact shook heaven and sea.
The explosion erupted with such violence that the clouds above were torn apart, revealing the dark expanse beyond them.
Blinding golden light exploded outward from the point of collision and swallowed everything around it.
Every layer of defense the Revolutionary Army had desperately assembled shattered one after another.
The massive barrier cracked.
Flying slashes vanished.
Energy attacks were consumed.
Even Dragon's Haki-covered defense began breaking apart beneath the overwhelming force.
Nothing seemed capable of stopping it.
Then, at the final possible moment—
Dragon moved.
His body dissolved into roaring wind.
In an instant, he transformed into a gigantic tornado and surged directly toward the descending pillar.
Logia-Type: Hurricane-Hurricane Fruit.
The hurricane screamed around him, carrying enough power to tear apart the sea and sky.
Dragon charged straight into the golden light.
There was only one thought in his mind.
Even if he had to pay with his life—
he would buy the Dawn one more second to escape.
BOOM—!!!
Wind and light collided.
Two extreme forces tore violently against one another, immediately producing an enormous storm of energy.
Hurricane winds howled in every direction, twisting the surrounding air into chaos, while golden light flashed within the vortex like countless blades cutting through the sky.
The collision seemed capable of dragging the entire battlefield into its center and grinding everything to pieces.
But the balance lasted only for an instant.
"PFFT—!"
Blood sprayed through the air.
Dragon's imposing form suddenly shuddered violently.
The hurricane around him lost its stability as a huge mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
A crimson mist spread through the air.
And mixed among the blood were tiny fragments of internal tissue.
The injury was devastating.
The hurricane power Dragon had always relied upon could summon violent storms capable of turning entire regions upside down.
Yet against this strange attack containing some kind of sacred, rule-like power—
even his storm seemed painfully inadequate.
That invisible force bore down upon him like an insurmountable mountain.
No matter how violently Dragon's hurricane struggled against it, the golden light continued pushing forward.
His resistance was being crushed.
...
The magnificent cloak draped over Dragon's shoulders, once a symbol of his status and authority, was instantly reduced to drifting ash beneath the force of the impact.
With the cloak gone, his battered body was fully exposed.
Wounds of varying depth covered him from head to toe, several still steadily bleeding. His entire body had lost all control as he plummeted from the sky like a kite with its string cut.
He crashed heavily onto the already devastated deck of the Dawn.
The ship had been ravaged by the attack. Flames spread wildly across the shattered deck, licking at the broken planks with a constant crackle as though playing a funeral dirge for the battle.
"Chief!"
The Revolutionary Army officers stared in horror.
Their eyes immediately reddened as fear, anger, and concern overwhelmed everything else. Forgetting their own safety, they rushed toward Dragon as quickly as they could.
Dragon's condition was terrible.
His presence had weakened almost to nothing, and his chest heaved violently with every breath. Bloody foam seeped from the corner of his mouth, each inhale seeming to pull painfully at his damaged organs.
The internal injuries were clearly severe.
He tried to force himself upright.
His arms trembled as he barely managed to raise half his body—
"Cough!"
Another mouthful of blood spilled from his lips and splashed across the burning deck, where the flames immediately consumed it.
At the same time, the aftermath of the tremendous explosion continued to churn across the battlefield, filling the air with clouds of spray, smoke, and fire.
Through that chaos, several figures in magnificent silver armor slowly descended onto the ship.
Their armor gleamed with an eerie, cold light, every plate seeming to bear ancient markings that emphasized their extraordinary status.
The pressure radiating from them was suffocating.
Each knight carried a weapon engulfed in those strange sacred flames, the fire dancing across the blades as though eager to burn everything before them to ash.
Their eyes showed no emotion whatsoever.
They locked onto the gravely wounded Dragon and the Revolutionary Army fighters gathering around him.
The leading God's Knight stood proudly at the front.
His gaze swept contemptuously across the battered revolutionaries before finally settling on Dragon.
Beneath his ornate mask, the corner of his mouth curved into an utterly cold smile.
"Monkey D. Dragon."
His voice was low and hoarse, yet carried unquestionable authority.
"The disease afflicting this world…"
He raised his weapon.
"…ends here."
The burning deck groaned beneath their feet, damaged timbers cracking under the strain.
The God's Knights raised their sacred-flame-covered swords in unison.
The flames along their blades danced violently in the wind, illuminating their merciless expressions.
For a moment, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze.
Then—
A colossal shadow suddenly fell across the ruined command ship.
No one had sensed it coming.
The oppressive darkness swallowed the deck, and an instant later—
Pop!
A sharp, distinctive sound cut through the roar of battle.
A transparent shock wave shaped unmistakably like a bear's paw shot through the air at astonishing speed.
Its target was not the God's Knights.
It struck the critically wounded Dragon directly.
"What—?!"
The instant the paw-shaped force touched him, Dragon's body seemed to be seized by an invisible hand.
His tall frame distorted sharply.
Then it began compressing at a speed visible to the naked eye, his entire body shrinking rapidly beneath the strange force.
Whoosh!
Before anyone could react, Dragon transformed into a tiny streak of light.
He shot away from the Dawn at an unbelievable speed, crossing the sky faster than anyone present could follow.
In the blink of an eye—
he vanished beyond the distant horizon.
Silence.
Everyone froze.
The God's Knights still had their weapons raised, the killing blows they had been about to deliver suspended halfway through their swings.
The Revolutionary Army fighters were equally stunned, the despair on their faces giving way to complete disbelief.
No one spoke.
For several seconds, it was as though even time had stopped.
Then another enormous figure slowly descended from the sky.
He landed steadily on the burning edge of the ship, his arrival carrying an immense natural pressure.
The surrounding flames seemed almost to recoil around him.
The newcomer was enormous, his heavily built frame resembling an immovable mountain.
A distinctive black coat covered his massive body, fluttering gently in the heated wind and lending an even greater air of mystery to his imposing silhouette.