Chapter 104: Dragon vs. Human! The Unexpected Truth!
Erza stood frozen in shock. Taking advantage of her stunned state, Dino quickly leaped off the magic airship.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!" His feet struck the empty air, each impact creating explosive shockwaves. The recoil propelled him through the sky at incredible speed.
In a blink, Dino positioned himself directly above the demon dragon. He concentrated the tremor power into his legs, and a white spherical aura—the telltale sign of his Tremor-Tremor abilities—materialized around his feet.
"Get DOWN here!"
"CRACK!" The moment his foot connected with the dragon's back, space itself couldn't handle the pressure. The air fractured like shattered glass, spiderweb cracks spreading from the point of impact.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
The dragon shrieked in pain as its massive body plummeted earthward.
"BOOM!" It crashed into the ground, creating a crater the size of a small building.
Dino smirked mid-air. "Heh. No matter how many times I do this, it never gets old."
"ROAR!" The demon dragon opened its jaws wide, and a massive purple energy beam erupted from its maw.
Dino's eyes widened. "Crap!" If he'd been ready with solid footing, dodging would be simple—but hanging in midair with nothing to brace against? This was bad.
"BANG!" He kicked off the air itself, his body blurring sideways just as the beam scorched past him.
But the dragon wasn't finished. Its head tracked his movement, the purple torrent of magic following him relentlessly.
"Are you KIDDING me?!" Dino shouted as he dodged frantically. "What, you've got unlimited magic reserves or something?! That's just cheating!"
"BANG! BANG! BANG!" His feet hammered the air in rapid succession, his body flickering through the sky like he was teleporting.
Back on the distant airship, everyone watched the battle unfold through magical projection. While Erza observed with analytical focus, the others—Arcadios and the Knights —stared with expressions somewhere between awe and disbelief.
"That magic…" one knight whispered. "A single one of those blasts could level half the capital…"
"And he's just… dodging them," another added, his voice hollow.
Finally, the energy barrage ceased. Dino landed hard on the ground, boots skidding against rock.
He barely had time to catch his breath before the dragon charged, its massive claw glowing with condensed magical power.
"DIE, HUMAN!"
Dino clenched his fist. The white sphere of vibration energy materialized instantly around his knuckles. He thrust his arm up to meet the attack.
"BOOOOOM!"
The collision of their powers sent shockwaves rippling outward. The earth beneath Dino's feet cracked and cratered, fissures spreading like lightning across the landscape.
The dragon swung its other claw in a vicious hook. Dino met it with another tremor-enhanced punch.
"CRASH!"
White auras continued forming and dissipating around Dino's fists and feet as he threw everything he had at the beast. Against a creature that stood at the pinnacle of magical beings, there was no room for holding back. For the first time in ages, Dino was fighting at full power.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
Man and dragon clashed in brutal close combat. Every impact shattered stone and split earth. Mountains crumbled. The ground tore apart like paper.
With each roar from the dragon, another hilltop disappeared from the horizon.
On the airship, Arcadios and his knights had stopped thinking of Dino as human entirely.
"He's not a man," one whispered. "He's a monster in human form."
Arcadios swallowed hard, remembering how he'd tried to manipulate this "monster" during the Eclipse Gate incident. How did I not die?
The demon dragon possessed incredible physical prowess—even among dragonkind, this particular species was renowned for close-quarters combat.
But Dino had experience on his side. Years of battle instincts, technique honed through countless fights, and the devastating power of his Devil Fruit combined into something truly terrifying.
Gradually, Dino began to dominate. He started reading the dragon's patterns, slipping past its defenses. Each vibration-powered blow made the creature scream and stumble.
Dino's fist glowed with concentrated power. "This ends NOW!"
"CRACK!" Space itself shrieked as his punch connected, the vibration traveling straight through the dragon's scales and into its body.
"ROOOAAAARGH!" The dragon flew backward like a cannonball.
"CRASH!" It slammed into a small mountain, obliterating the entire peak. Rock and debris rained down as the dragon's body became lodged in the rubble.
Dino clenched his fist again, this time gathering even more power. The white sphere around his hand intensified, growing denser. This much concentrated vibration energy could pulverize a mountain in one hit—and if it struck the dragon at point-blank range, even its legendary durability wouldn't save it from having its internal organs liquefied.
He rushed forward, ready to deliver the finishing blow.
Suddenly, brilliant purple light erupted from the dragon's position. Dino skidded to a halt, instincts screaming caution.
When the light faded, he heard… crying?
Where the massive dragon had been, a small purple-haired girl—maybe fourteen or fifteen years old—sat in the rubble, bawling her eyes out.
Dino's jaw dropped. "You've gotta be kidding me."
Even he could put two and two together. The dragon… was this crying kid.
He dispersed the tremor energy from his fist. Dragons might view humans as insects, and humans might worship dragons as gods—but Dino was from another world entirely. To him, any intelligent being was the same: friend, enemy, or stranger. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Alright, alright! Stop crying already!" Her wailing was giving him a headache. And maybe… just maybe… he felt a little guilty.
The girl sobbed even louder. "Y-You're a big meanie! A bully! Emily didn't do anything to you! Emily was just minding her own business, and you came and wrecked her house! And you beat Emily up!"
She sniffled, tears streaming. "Emily moved far away and built a new home, but you followed her and wrecked THAT house too! And beat her up AGAIN! You're the worst! It hurts so much! WAAAAAHHH!"
Dino winced. When she put it like that… yeah, okay, he did sound like the villain here. Destroying a little girl's home twice? That was pretty bad.
But she was conveniently leaving out some important context—
"Just stop crying already! I won't hit you anymore!"
"WAAAAAAHHHHH!" She cried even harder.
A vein popped on Dino's forehead. "If you don't stop crying, I WILL hit you again!"
"—Hic!" The crying cut off immediately, replaced by hiccupping sobs.