The sea had quieted, but tension hung heavier than any storm.
The crew busied themselves on deck,pulling Darius's battered body aboard, binding the ropes, securing the sails.
Yet their eyes kept darting toward the two brothers who stood apart near the prow.
Magnus leaned against the rail, Shusui resting at his side, his gaze locked on the horizon.
His cloak whipped in the wind, his silence a blade sharper than steel.
At last, he spoke.
"You said you cast away your oath… for family." His tone was low, controlled, but beneath it burned something volatile. "Tell me, Darius. What did you mean?"
Darius's grip on his spear tightened.
His jaw clenched as if the words themselves were knives in his throat.
For a long moment he said nothing. Only the waves crashed below, unrelenting.
Then he looked Magnus in the eyes. His voice was hoarse, raw with pain.
"It's Mira."
The name alone was enough to make Magnus's head snap toward him.
His heart lurched in his chest. "Mira?" His voice cracked like lightning, sharper, more dangerous. "What about her?"
Darius's throat worked, but he forced the truth out like poison.
"She was taken… by a Celestial Dragon."
The deck went silent.
Even the waves seemed to freeze.
For Magnus, the world narrowed to a pinpoint.
He heard nothing. Saw nothing. Only that one sentence repeating, clawing inside his skull.
Taken by a Celestial Dragon.
His hands trembled on Shusui's hilt.
Lightning crackled unbidden across the black blade, streaking into the storm-churned air.
His chest rose and fell like a beast struggling to contain its fury.
The world cracked.
Magnus roared, his voice thundering louder than the heavens.
A shockwave of Conqueror's Haki exploded from him, black lightning ripping through the air, the sea itself buckling under the pressure.
Deck planks splintered, sails whipped violently, and hardened warriors like Bullet staggered a step back, eyes wide.
Moria, skulking near the stern, collapsed to his knees, trembling as if the air itself sought to crush him.
Gryphon's roar faltered in his throat, awe and fear mingling in his ancient eyes.
Even Kael's spear shook against his palm as the haki pressed down like a mountain.
Magnus's face twisted into something monstrous eyes glowing with stormlight, lips peeled back into a snarl.
"They dare…" His voice broke into a growl.
"They dare touch her? My sister? A Celestial Dragon…?"
His rage was palpable, a firestorm that threatened to consume ship and sea alike.
"Magnus!" Darius barked, stepping forward, his own voice desperate. "We need focus, not fury. Save it for when we stand before their gates!"
But his words barely reached him. Magnus's entire being trembled, the black lightning shaping itself in the stormy air above him a dragon of pure will, its jaws wide as it roared toward the heavens.
The crew stared in stunned silence as the beast of haki curled and coiled, a living embodiment of Magnus's wrath.
Kael muttered under his breath, voice tight.
"This… this is no longer just ambition. This is war."
Bullet, however, grinned like a beast set loose, his laughter booming.
"YES! That's it, Magnus! Let the rage burn the world! Let's tear their gilded palaces down, piece by piece!"
But Magnus did not hear them.
His gaze was fixed upward, toward the stars beyond the storm, toward the holy land where the so-called gods slept.
His voice was a vow, sharp enough to cut heaven itself.
"I will slaughter them all. Every last one. And when the blood of their false divinity runs down the steps of Mariejois, Mira will be free."
The dragon above him roared again, its cry echoing across the endless sea.