Under Bonaba's sharp, commanding gaze, the CP3 branch leader dragged King Louis and fled in haste.
Bonaba immediately split off with his two CP0 subordinates, sprinting in the opposite direction.
"Lord Souta, they've split up!"
Viola reported quickly, her ability unable to track both groups at once.
"I'll go after the CP0 squad. The rest is yours, Hancock."
Souta Kiryuu gave the Pirate Empress a playful slap on the hips before he transformed—his figure lengthening and twisting into the form of a divine dragon, streaking into the sky in the direction Viola indicated.
"Leave that worthless king to me,"
Boa Hancock murmured, cheeks faintly flushed as she stared after Souta with starstruck eyes.
But when she turned to face the others again, her expression shifted instantly into the domineering, icy arrogance she was feared for.
"Full speed ahead! If we fail to capture that insignificant king, I shall turn every one of you to stone!"
Hancock declared, her voice booming with royal fury.
She didn't care one bit whether she embarrassed Lafitte or Viola.
The members of the Aralon Crew, however, were already accustomed to the Empress's mood swings.
"Yes, ma'am!"
As Souta flew away, the Ark of the Omen surged forward again at full velocity, rapidly closing in on King Louis and the fleeing CP3 forces.
On the Ground
Bonaba and his two CP0 subordinates looked back—and froze.
A massive divine dragon was descending from the sky toward them.
"Captain! It's Souta Kiryuu—he's coming himself!!"
Even though they were hardened killers trained by the World Government, the presence bearing down on them filled them with primal fear and despair.
"There is a reconnaissance-type Devil Fruit user in the Aralon Crew…"
Bonaba muttered bitterly.
He felt utterly cornered.
They had only been tasked with escorting an unidentified Devil Fruit—and now, they had gotten caught up in an Aralon Crew assault on the Mars Kingdom.
If he had known, he would have never stopped at the CP3 branch.
He would have fled straight back to Mariejois.
Unless… I eat the Devil Fruit myself?
For the first time, the thought surfaced.
But eating a transport-assigned Devil Fruit was a capital crime for CP agents.
Only those granted by the World Government were permitted to be consumed.
To steal the mission fruit meant death—
even if one survived the battlefield.
But then—Bonaba remembered someone.
Fukuro, once a CP9 elite, had failed his escort mission and was sentenced to death…
yet escaped, joined the Beast Pirates, and now lived freely as one of their Flying Six.
If the Devil Fruit is strong enough, I escape Souta Kiryuu… and I never return to the Government.
And if it's weak… then I surrender and hope the Aralon Crew accepts me.
Slim chances, but a chance nonetheless.
Without warning, Bonaba ripped open the secured fruit container.
His two subordinates stared in horror.
"Captain—NO! You'll get us killed with you!"
The CP0 squads followed a chain-of-responsibility code—if one stole the mission fruit, the others shared the same guilt.
Bonaba didn't even look at them.
"I'm sorry… but I intend to live."
He bit deeply into the Devil Fruit.
In an instant—his arms twisted into black wings, feathered and powerful.
"It's a Zoan—mythical flying type!"
Bonaba's eyes shone with wild hope.
He flapped hard, lifting into the sky.
From above, Souta's expression darkened.
"So you ate it."
His voice was calm—too calm.
Even if Bonaba gained flight—
he would not escape.
The fruit, and Bonaba, would both belong to the Aralon Crew.
"BONABA!!"
His own teammates screamed up at him—no longer respect, only hatred.
Bonaba refused to look down.
None of them had families.
None of them had bonds.
They were tools of the Government, raised for loyalty and utility.
If they had had families, maybe… maybe he would have hesitated.
But they had nothing.
"Don't think wings will save you."
Souta's voice echoed from nowhere—his body vanishing into invisibility, shrinking, accelerating—
beyond human perception.
Bonaba's heart froze.
Then—
Pain.
An unimaginable crushing force slammed into his skull.
The world went white.
His body plummeted, drilling into the ground and leaving a deep crater.
The two remaining CP0 members froze in horror.
Their minds screamed run—
and they bolted in opposite directions.
But a wave of overwhelming Conqueror's Haki crashed over them, freezing their bodies mid-sprint.
In a flash—
Souta reappeared.
He slammed both agents into the earth with effortless brutality.
"If I let you escape,"
Souta said with a cold smile,
"what kind of reputation would the world's most wanted criminal have?"
He picked up the unconscious Bonaba and the two broken CP0 agents.
"These ones will make excellent blood donors… and shadow donors for Moria's new corpses."
He glanced at Bonaba's black wings.
"I wonder what ability this Devil Fruit holds…"
he murmured thoughtfully.
The wings were the only manifested feature—Bonaba had no time to awaken more.
He would find out soon enough.
Souta shifted smoothly back into the form of a divine dragon and soared into the sky, carrying all three with him.
Meanwhile
Enel had finally caught the Royal Guard and CP3 evacuation unit.
One blast of his thunder dragon annihilated their formation.
They offered no resistance.
"You insects dare mock a GOD?!"
Enel roared, unleashing strike after strike of roaring lightning wyrms before surging back into pure electricity, racing back toward the capital.
If the Aralon Crew learned he'd lost the real targets—
They would laugh at him for days.
Such humiliation was unthinkable for a god.
He would kill those vermin—no matter where they ran.