The dream stage!
Flames climbed the sacred pillars of Mary Geoise, and thick, black smoke choked the holy halls, staining them a dirty grey. Monkey D. Dragon and his two companions stepped onto the hallowed ground, the sight before them making them pause. This wasn't the untouchable, heavily guarded home of the gods; it was a burning hell.
"Vee-haw!" Emporio Ivankov's massive head swayed back and forth, his face alight with pure excitement. "Dragon! We haven't even done anything, and this place is already on fire! Did the World Government's luck finally run out? Are the flames of revolution spreading on their own?"
"No," Dragon said, his voice low as his green cloak flickered in the firelight. "These aren't our flames."
His gaze swept over the panicked Celestial Dragons and their guards. They were scattering in every direction, completely unable to form any kind of organized defense. They just ran wildly through the chaos, screaming in terror. Something was wrong.
A sharp sense of alert grew inside Dragon. He quickly put a stop to Ivankov's misplaced optimism. "Don't get careless," he warned. "The Revolutionary Army isn't ready for this. The real monsters of this world haven't even shown their true power yet."
Bartholomew Kuma followed silently, his towering frame a shadow behind them. He said nothing, but his entire focus was on finding Ginny.
"Over there," Kuma suddenly said, his deep voice cutting through the noise. He pointed toward a courtyard surrounded by guards.
The three of them didn't hesitate. In a flash, they vanished from where they stood.
Inside the courtyard, several CP agents had Ginny cornered. They were following a Celestial Dragon's order to take his "toy" away, and their faces showed no mercy. Before they could act, a massive figure landed between them and Ginny.
"Pressure Cannon!"
Kuma thrust his palm forward, unleashing an invisible shockwave of air shaped like a paw. The agents in front of him had no time to react. They were sent flying into a distant wall with the sickening crack of breaking bones.
"Death Wink!"
Ivankov winked at the enemies on the other side. A sharp shockwave shot from his eye, neatly knocking the remaining agents to the ground. The entire fight lasted less than ten seconds.
Dragon's figure appeared beside Ginny. He didn't even need to make a move; his mere presence made the air feel heavy, and the few guards still standing didn't dare to take another step.
"Mr. Dragon! Kuma! Ivankov!" Ginny cried out, the tension finally leaving her body now that her friends were here.
One of the CP agents, who had somehow survived, struggled to pick up a Transponder Snail. "Revolutionary Army spotted!" he reported in a hoarse voice. "Repeat, Revolutionary Army cadres spotted…"
His words were cut short.
Suddenly, an overwhelming and irresistible pressure descended upon all of Mary Geoise. A giant hand made of pure darkness and despair reached down from the sky. Its shape was impossible to describe, and the lines on its palm looked like the screaming souls of the damned.
Dragon's head snapped up, and for the first time, a truly serious expression appeared on his calm face. This power…
Under the shadow of this hand, time and space seemed to lose all meaning. Ginny and Ivankov froze completely, their minds almost swallowed by the suffocating darkness.
There was only one person in the entire world who would dare to do something so reckless in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise and who possessed this kind of immense power.
The Wave Guiding King, Aaron Kyle.
Dragon made his choice in an instant. "Kuma!" he ordered. "Take Ginny and Ivankov and get out of here! Now!"
He knew the Revolutionary Army wasn't nearly strong enough to challenge the World Government directly. Not yet.
"What about you, Dragon?" Kuma's voice was calm, as always.
Dragon's eyes looked past the sea of fire. He saw the giant black hand being cut apart by a flash of cold light, and he could just make out two figures facing each other on a distant tower. "I'm staying," he said, pulling his hood down to cover his face. "This fire… it could be the spark that sets the whole world ablaze. I need to see which way the wind blows."
Kuma didn't say another word. He placed his large hands on Ginny and Ivankov.
"Poof!"
With a soft sound, all three of them—Kuma, Ginny, and Ivankov—shot into the sky as streaks of light and disappeared. Dragon was left alone in the burning courtyard, his figure soon lost in the chaos, smoke, and shadows.
…
At the other end of Mary Geoise, inside a luxurious palace, Doflamingo stood in the shadows. His ten fingers moved gracefully, as if he were playing an invisible harp. In the plaza below him, a ridiculous and bloody scene was playing out.
"Protect me! You useless trash! Kill him now!" a Celestial Dragon shrieked, pointing at his guards.
But the guards' bodies wouldn't obey their own minds. They stiffly turned their weapons and aimed at the guards protecting another Celestial Dragon.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots echoed as blood sprayed across the plaza.
"You… How dare you attack my men!" the other Celestial Dragon screamed in fury, ordering his own guards to fight back.
These elite CP agents, the sworn protectors of the "gods," were now being used as puppets for the gods to kill each other. Their faces were twisted in agony and struggle, but their bodies faithfully followed the commands of the invisible strings. The slaughter grew worse.
Soon, nearly all the guards were dead or dying. The two Celestial Dragons stood panting, pointing at each other with faces twisted by rage and fear. In the next moment, one of them lunged forward against his will, sinking his teeth into the other's throat like a wild animal. The second one grabbed a fallen guard's sword and began stabbing the other man over and over.
Blood, screams, and curses mixed into a symphony of hell.
"Fufufufu!"
Doflamingo's body shook with uncontrollable laughter. So these are the gods? he thought. The same people I once looked up to, the ones who threw me away? They were ugly. Pathetic. And so easy to break.
That's when the giant black hand appeared in the sky. A terrifying pressure washed over him, so heavy it felt like a mountain was crushing his body. His laughter paused for a moment, but the insane grin on his face only grew wider.
Now that's power! he thought, his excitement building. That is real power! The power to crush the entire world!
Doflamingo looked up, his eyes wide behind his sunglasses. He watched with a fanatic's gaze as the hand was sliced apart, feeling the incredible energy released from its clash with Saint Nasujuro. He spread his arms wide, welcoming the chaos and destruction. This burning hell, created by Kyle, was perfect.
This was the stage he had always dreamed of.
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