Next Bonus, 100!!
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Vergo crashed into the sand, sending a massive cloud flying.
His eyes narrowed.
Nami's increase in strength and speed was unnatural, far beyond that of a normal Zoan user.
Could it be... a Mythical Zoan?
A Devil Fruit even rarer than a Logia, each one the embodiment of a powerful creature from legend and myth.
Nami, in her werewolf form, moved with incredible speed.
In an instant, she was in front of Vergo, her claws a blur of silver light.
Vergo pushed himself up, blocking the attack with his bamboo staff, which was coated in Armament Haki for added defense.
CLANG!
The two weapons collided. Vergo was sent stumbling back.
Nami's eyes narrowed. Vergo's entire body was now hardened with Armament Haki, his skin turning black.
She hadn't awakened her Armament Haki yet, but she knew a technique for breaking through it—a "piercing" strike that focused all her power on a single point, creating a devastatingly penetrative attack.
"Die!" a soldier yelled, leaping into the air and trying to stab Nami from behind.
As if she had eyes in the back of her head, she spun and kicked, sending the soldier flying.
She had awakened her Observation Haki last year.
Nami and Vergo were locked in a fierce battle.
Nearby—recruits from the Conomi Islands and the kingdom's own forces—were fighting Vergo's men.
Their time in the labor camp had forged them into capable fighters. In the East Blue, they would have been a force to be reckoned with.
But Vergo's men—aside from the conscripted servants from the various merchant caravans—were either slaves of the Celestial Dragons, elite soldiers hand-picked from the Marines, or specially recruited mercenaries.
They were, on the whole, stronger than Nami's forces. If they hadn't been hit by the "dimensional-leveling" technological attack before and during their landing, Vergo's advantage would have been even greater.
The area descended into chaos.
Agonized screams.
Gunshots.
The clash of steel.
The sound of collapsing buildings and the crackle of flames all blended together. Half the island was bathed in the bloody glow of the smoke-filled sky.
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Out on the sea, a warship approached, its fearsome silhouette growing larger. Its sails, emblazoned with the "CIU" logo, billowed in the wind.
"Hey! What the hell? The enemy's reinforcements are here first!" Kuro said, looking up at the ship, his brow furrowed.
At the prow stood a muscular old man.
He had a bulbous nose, a wrinkled face, and long hair tied back in a braid. His beard was trimmed into the shape of a cross.
He wore a dark, belted tunic, a rose pinned to the left breast of his lapel. The right breast was simpler, adorned only with a single medal, symmetrical to the rose. He wore long gloves and a long coat. On his left arm was a brassard with the emblem of the God's Knights.
He was one of them, the true commander of the CIU forces in this battle.
Vergo was just a pawn.
His arms were crossed, and his aged face held the characteristic arrogance and coldness of a Celestial Dragon.
"Were they abandoned?" he sneered. "I thought that king of theirs would come to their aid. I wanted to see what he was made of. But I suppose no matter how tough he acts, he wouldn't dare to go to war with the World Government, with the descendants of the gods. There have been others like him in the past... Rocks, Roger... they all died."
A contemptuous smile played on Saint Sommers's lips.
If it weren't for Jin's strength, and his status as the king of a member nation and one of the Seven Warlords, if they didn't have to follow "due process," why would they have bothered with all this roundabout nonsense?
They would have just dealt with him.
Yes, the Five Elders and the members of the God's Knights, for the most part, adhered to the "procedures" they had established.
Because maintaining the "procedure" itself was a way of maintaining the justice and legitimacy of their rule.
Even if it was all a frame-up, a conspiracy... as long as it wasn't exposed, it was all part of the "procedure."
To put it bluntly, they were just putting on a show.
Whether it was a pirate crew preaching "democracy" and "freedom," or the World Government and the Marines, who prided themselves on their justice... they all needed a mask to hide behind.
But that line was easily crossed. If you pushed them too far, they would flip the table in an instant.
"Those fighter jets and new weapons... they have some value," Saint Sommers said. "We can have Vegapunk study them. As for the rest... there's no need to leave any survivors. Kill them all. A warning to that king."
"Yes, my lord!"
Behind him stood a group of people, all wearing slave collars. Among them were pirates with bounties of seventy or eighty million.
Some of them had a fanatical look in their eyes, eager to serve the Celestial Dragons. Others were completely numb, their eyes filled with a deep, hollow fear.
As they were approaching the shore, an invisible pressure and an intense heat descended from the sky.
"Hm?"
Saint Sommers sensed it and looked up.
Outside the planet's atmosphere, a meteor had entered without warning.
It was moving at an incredible speed, breaking through the sky, its impact force unimaginable.
"EH??"
"WHAT IS THAT??"
"A METEOR!!!"
"Why is there a meteor at a time like this??"
"Wait... is it... is it coming for us...?"
The meteor streaked across the sky, a ball of fire descending from the sky, trailing a long tail, an unstoppable force hurtling toward the warship.
"Lord Sommers!"
"Look out!"
"Stop it!"
The burning meteor screamed down from the sky, its destructive power vibrating the very air.
The powerful fighters on the warship all sprang into action, some swinging their swords, sending out flying slashes, others firing their hand cannons at the meteor.
Saint Sommers frowned. He swung his thorn-whip, wrapping it around the massive meteor, and it exploded into a thousand pieces.
He was the user of the Paramecia Thorn-Thorn Fruit.
The shattered fragments of the meteor, now smaller but no less deadly, rained down into the sea, sending up massive waves. The ship rocked violently in the shockwave.
While Saint Sommers and the others were dealing with the meteor, three warships shot out from the side.
Issho stood on the deck, slowly sheathing his sword.
You had to admit, the move had a certain flair.
"It's the Winter Blossom Kingdom's navy!" someone shouted.
Saint Sommers heard the shout and looked up.
"Let's leave it to fate..."
"Open fire," Van Augur said. "Sink that ship."
Cannonballs screamed through the air, hurtling toward the warship.
Saint Sommers was stunned. His eyes turned cold, his face ashen. "They dare to attack the CIU? To attack a Celestial Dragon? They have some nerve!"
He was furious.
As a Celestial Dragon, a descendant of the gods, the ruler of the world... he was used to being treated with reverence, to being the center of attention wherever he went.
Mere peasants didn't even have the right to look at him. What king would dare not to flatter him, to defy him?
And now, this Winter Blossom Kingdom... they had actually dared to open fire on him? To fight him directly?
It was unimaginable.
No one had ever dared to show such disrespect.
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