"ROOOAR—!!!"
The Dragon King was completely enraged.
It beat its wings wildly, stabilizing its massive body in midair.
Those golden, slit pupils were bloodshot, locked viciously onto the two ants that had dared to wound it.
At the same time, more than a dozen adult Thousand-Year Dragons noticed their leader being besieged.
Some of them immediately abandoned their pursuit of Luffy, letting out piercing cries as they changed direction—
Like a squadron of diving fighter jets, they screamed through the air toward Zoro and Sanji!
The situation flipped in an instant!
Zoro had just landed and hadn't even had time to catch his breath when two enormous dragon claws came crashing in from both sides.
"Tch—this is bad!"
Zoro raised his sword to block, but outnumbered, he was forced back step by step.
Sanji had it even worse.
Three Thousand-Year Dragons surrounded him, sharp beaks and talons weaving into a deadly net that left him dodging desperately, unable to unleash his kicking techniques at all.
"Damn it… at this rate I'll be worn down!" Cold sweat poured from Sanji's forehead.
Just then—
From the massive crater blasted into the ground, the sound of falling rubble suddenly rang out.
"Cough… cough…"
A hand reached up, gripping the edge of the pit.
The next moment, Ronan slowly rose from the dust.
His clothes were torn to shreds, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his chest heaving violently.
Yet the zhangba iron spear in his hand remained rock-steady, and the light in his eyes hadn't dimmed in the slightest—if anything, it burned even brighter!
"Feels good…"
Ronan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and rolled his stiff neck, bones cracking loudly.
[System Notification: Host has endured a heavy blow. Thirteen Taibao Horizontal Training proficiency greatly increased!]
[Physique: 17 → 18]
[System Notification: Host has entered Death Battle Mode. cultivation multiplier ×5!]
Feeling the scorching currents inside his body—triggered by injury and now repairing him at a frantic pace—Ronan grinned.
"So this is the essence of horizontal training… only by taking the hardest hits can you stack the thickest armor."
He took a deep breath, sinking his qi to his dantian. His muscles tensed instantly, and the aura that had briefly weakened surged back—more violent than before.
He looked at the besieged Zoro and Sanji and roared:
"Everyone—get back!!"
"Boom!"
The ground beneath Ronan exploded once more.
He charged forward like an out-of-control heavy tank, crashing straight into the group of Thousand-Year Dragons surrounding Zoro.
"Sweep the Battlefield!!"
"WHOOO—!!"
The hundred-pound iron spear whirled in his hands as lightly as a feather, spinning into a massive black disc.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three Thousand-Year Dragons attempting to ambush Zoro were smashed head-on.
Bones shattered audibly as they screamed and flew backward, slamming into distant rock walls.
"Ronan?!" Zoro stared in shock at Ronan, who looked as if nothing had happened to him.
"Don't lose focus!! Guard your mind!"
Ronan's shout rang out like a temple bell, exploding across the chaotic battlefield.
As time dragged on, the slaughter between humans and dragons reached a fever pitch.
Even with Luffy drawing away most of the Thousand-Year Dragons in the distance,
Ronan, Zoro, and Sanji—facing the Dragon King and several adult dragons head-on—were gradually showing signs of exhaustion.
These were, after all, legendary creatures.
Every adult Thousand-Year Dragon possessed monstrous strength capable of tearing apart small warships. Their claws were harder than steel, their scales impenetrable armor.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Zoro panted heavily, sweat and blood blurring his vision.
Yet the fire in his eyes only burned hotter, every swing driven by the obsession to cut through everything.
The most dangerous situation belonged to Sanji.
He had no weapon, relying solely on his legs to clash directly against dragon claws.
And he was the only one of the three who had yet to awaken Observation Haki.
"Huff… huff…"
Sanji gasped for breath, his white shirt shredded, revealing bruises and blood beneath.
"Damn it… does it ever end?"
He had just kicked away a sneaking Thousand-Year Dragon with a "Mouton Shot," but his old strength was spent, new strength not yet recovered.
At that lightning-fast instant—
"ROOOAR—!!"
A shrill wind tore through the air behind him!
Another Thousand-Year Dragon, lying in wait, seized this single opening.
It dove silently from above, its terrifying claws—capable of crushing rock—aimed straight at Sanji's back, carrying the chill of death!
"SANJI!!"
"Behind you!!"
Ronan and Zoro spotted it almost simultaneously. Their eyes split wide as they tried to rush in—but each was firmly entangled by their own opponents, too far away to help!
The shadow of death swallowed Sanji whole.
In that moment, the world went silent.
The chaos of battle, his comrades' shouts, the dragons' roars—everything vanished.
All Sanji could hear was the thunderous pounding of his own heartbeat.
Am I going to die…
Is this where it ends…
I haven't gone to the Grand Line yet… I haven't found ALL BLUE…
"Buzz—"
At the brink of life and death, something snapped deep within Sanji's mind.
It wasn't sound—it was intent.
A sharp, malicious presence stabbed at his back like a needle.
He saw it—not with his eyes, but with his body—the trajectory of that claw!
"There!!"
Before his mind could react, Sanji's body moved.
Without turning, he twisted sharply to the left in a motion that defied human anatomy.
"RIIIP—!"
The lethal claw scraped past his back, shredding cloth and carving three bloody lines—but only surface wounds!
He dodged it!
"Heh…"
Sanji landed, bracing himself with one hand on the ground. Cold sweat soaked his body, yet he grinned—a grin filled with the arrogance of survival.
"So this is it… life-and-death combat really is the best kind of training."
Ronan blasted away a dragon's head with his spear and caught the scene from the corner of his eye, smiling knowingly.
"Congratulations, Sanji."
"Well done, curly-brow!" Zoro slashed apart a dragon claw. His mouth stayed sharp, but the worry in his eyes turned into approval.
"If you died here, it'd be a real pain for me!"
"Shut up, moss-head!"
Sanji straightened, a red glint flashing in his eyes.
"Because right now… I can see these big birds' moves clearly!"
At the very moment Sanji awakened, the cold mechanical voice echoed in Ronan's mind—bringing shocking news.
[Ding! Host has remained in Death Battle Mode for one hour. Physical limits exceeded.]
[Death Battle Mode—Advanced Stage Unlocked!]
[Current cultivation multiplier: ×10]
[Ding! Under life-and-death pressure, host's spirit has been tempered. Spirit +1.]
[Current Spirit: 11]
[System Notification: When Spirit reaches 30, Conqueror's Haki will automatically awaken.]
"…What?!"
Ronan's mind reeled.
Conqueror's Haki.
That legendary kingly disposition—said to appear in only one in several million, believed in this world to be innate and impossible to train—
Could actually be stacked through attributes in this system?!
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