Flames licked at sacred colonnades, and thick smoke stained holy halls a filthy gray-black.
Monkey D. Dragon and his two companions set foot on Mary Geoise, and the sight before them stole their breath.
This was not a heavily guarded home of gods.
It was a collapsing hell.
"Vee haw!" Emporio Ivankov's massive head swayed side to side, excitement written all over his face. "Dragon! We haven't even made a move and the place is already burning on its own! Has the World Government finally run out of luck? Has the flame of revolution already spread like wildfire?"
"No." Dragon's voice was low, his green cloak flickering in the firelight. "This is not our fire."
His gaze swept across the Celestial Dragons and guards fleeing in panic. They were not forming any real resistance, only running aimlessly through the chaos.
It was too abnormal.
A warning bell rang in Dragon's mind.
He crushed Ivankov's unrealistic optimism at once. "Don't let your guard down. The Revolutionary Army still has a long road ahead. The real monsters on this sea haven't bared their fangs yet."
Bartholomew Kuma followed in silence. His towering frame carried pressure by itself, yet his attention was wholly fixed on finding Ginny.
"Over there." Kuma spoke suddenly, pointing toward a courtyard surrounded by guards.
The three did not hesitate. Their figures vanished from where they stood.
In the courtyard, several CP agents were forcing Ginny into a corner. Under the Celestial Dragons' orders, they were preparing to drag the "toy" away, not a trace of pity on their faces.
Before anyone could finish speaking, a massive figure dropped from the sky and planted itself in front of Ginny.
"Ursus Shock!"
Kuma thrust his palm forward. Invisible air pressure exploded outward.
The agents ahead of him had no time to react before they were blasted away, crashing into a distant wall. The crack of shattered bone was clear.
"Death Wink!"
Ivankov winked at the enemies on the other side. A sharp shockwave shot from his eye and knocked them down cleanly.
The chaos lasted less than ten seconds.
Dragon appeared at Ginny's side. He did not even need to strike. Simply standing there made the air thicken, and the remaining guards did not dare step forward.
"Dragon! Kuma dear! Iva-chan!" Seeing her comrades, the tension in Ginny's body finally loosened.
One CP agent who had barely survived struggled to lift a Den Den Mushi, rasping into it, "Revolutionary Army sighted! Repeat, Revolutionary officers sighted…"
He never finished.
An irresistible pressure descended without warning over all of Mary Geoise.
A giant hand made of pure darkness and despair reached down from the sky. Its outline could not be named, and the lines on its palm were the wailing of countless souls.
Dragon snapped his head up. For the first time, a heavy expression appeared on his face that rarely changed.
This power…
Under that palm, time and space themselves seemed to lose meaning.
Ginny and Ivankov froze instantly. It felt as if even their thoughts were being swallowed by the dark.
In the entire world, there was only one man who would act so brazenly in the Holy Land and possess might like this.
The "Aura King," Aaron Kael.
Dragon decided immediately.
"Kuma." His voice dropped like stone. "Take Ginny and Ivankov and leave. Now."
He knew perfectly well that the Revolutionary Army was still far from ready for a direct clash with the World Government. But he could still move with the wind, and strike when the opening appeared.
"And you, Dragon?" Kuma's voice remained as steady as ever.
Dragon's eyes cut through the sea of fire, toward the black hand that had been split by icy light and was now dispersing, toward the distant tower where several figures faced off.
"I stay." He pulled his hood lower, hiding his face. "This fire may become the wind that ignites the world. I need to see the direction it's blowing with my own eyes."
Kuma said nothing more. His massive palm tapped lightly against Ginny and Ivankov.
Puff.
With a few soft sounds, Kuma, Ginny, and Ivankov became three streaks of light and vanished into the night sky.
Dragon stood alone in the burning courtyard, his figure quickly swallowed by chaos and darkness.
…
On the other end of Mary Geoise, inside a lavish palace.
Donquixote Doflamingo stood in the shadows, his ten fingers moving with the elegant rhythm of a harpist.
In the square before him, an absurd slaughter played out.
"Protect me! You useless trash! Kill him!" a Celestial Dragon screamed in terror, commanding the CP guards at his side.
But those guards' bodies no longer belonged to them.
Stiffly, they turned their guns and aimed at another Celestial Dragon's escort.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out. Blood sprayed.
"You… you dare attack my men!" the other Celestial Dragon roared, enraged, and ordered his own guards to retaliate.
CP elites, shields meant to protect "gods," had become weapons for "gods" to butcher each other with.
Their faces were twisted in pain and struggle, but their bodies obeyed the invisible strings without question.
The killing escalated.
Soon, the guards lay dead or dying.
The two Celestial Dragons pointed at each other, faces warped with rage and fear.
The next second, one lunged uncontrollably and sank his teeth into the other's throat.
The other snatched up a fallen guard's blade and stabbed wildly, again and again.
Blood, screams, curses, all mixing into a symphony written for hell.
"Fufufufu!"
Doflamingo's body shook with overwhelming excitement, laughter spilling from his throat.
So this was a god.
So this was the "kind" he had once looked up to, only to be cast aside without mercy.
Ugly.
Filthy.
Fragile.
Then the black hand that blotted out the sky appeared.
A monstrous pressure fell. Doflamingo felt as if a mountain had pinned him down, even his laughter choking for an instant.
Yet the madness on his face did not fade.
It only grew hotter.
This power.
This was real power, power enough to grind the world underfoot.
He lifted his head, staring through the tinted lenses of his sunglasses at that hand as it was cleaved apart, feeling the terrifying energy spilling out from its clash with Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro.
Doflamingo spread his arms wide, drinking in this burning hell Kael Grylls had built for him.
This.
This was the stage he had dreamed of his entire life.
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