Absolutely brutal.
Dragon watched as the once-invincible Commander of the Knights of God hung in mid-air like a dead dog, body twitching incessantly while four peerless Meito repeatedly skewered him, blood raining down in a crimson shower.
For the first time, Dragon felt genuinely grateful that he and Darren stood on the same side.
If this guy ever turned that cruelty on me, I'd probably never sleep soundly again for the rest of my life.
"His healing speed is slowing down," Darren remarked calmly, exhaling a puff of smoke.
"Hm?" Dragon stiffened, startled. "How can you tell?"
From what he could see, the wounds torn open by the four blades were still knitting together at a frightening pace, showing no obvious sign of weakening.
"Initially, I was inflicting thirty penetrating wounds per minute. His average healing time was about four seconds," Darren said evenly. "I've kept the penetration frequency and wound size as consistent as possible. Now his average healing time has dropped to about three and a half seconds."
"Though the change isn't dramatic, his aura is undeniably weakening."
Dragon stared at him, eyes wide, as if he were looking at some sort of monster.
You really are a freak, huh?
How the hell are you calculating that in your head?
That's the so-called strongest Celestial Dragon up there—the Commander of the Knights of God—and you're treating him like livestock on a lab table.
If Dragon hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed such a grotesque scene could exist in this world.
A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
He forced himself to focus and began observing more carefully.
After a while, he realized Darren was right. The swirling black flames shrouding Saint Michael's body had indeed dimmed, their intensity clearly weaker than at the start.
"His regenerative ability… really is weakening," Dragon murmured.
Darren nodded weakly. "His stamina is nearly exhausted. All Devil Fruit abilities and Haki use stamina as fuel. Once that's gone…"
"…they start overdrawing from life force," Dragon finished grimly.
Their gazes met.
It was a basic principle they had both learned at the Marine Academy. As top graduates, neither of them had ever forgotten that iron law of the body.
"So you think the Gorosei…"
Something clicked in Dragon's mind. His pupils contracted. After a long, tense silence, he slowly turned to Darren.
Darren took a drag from his cigarette and nodded.
"I'm afraid so. Who knows how long those five old undying ones have lived? If we assume they possess virtually limitless lifespans—maybe even true immortality—it all lines up…"
His hoarse voice delivered a conclusion heavy enough to crush hope.
"Precisely because they have limitless lifespans, the Gorosei's regenerative capabilities are also limitless. That may be the true secret behind their 'immortality.'"
Dragon fell silent.
Several seconds crawled by before he spoke again, his voice low and reluctant.
"Then… is there even any point in fighting anymore?"
Even the boldest visionary would feel despair when facing an immortal, indestructible enemy.
Even Dragon, who always carried a stubborn optimism about the future, couldn't fully suppress the doubts rising in his heart after hearing Darren's deduction.
They were facing a colossal power that had ruled the world for eight hundred years.
And at the very peak of that shadow stood five ancient monsters who could neither be killed nor worn down.
"Tch. I'm working on it, aren't I?" Darren snapped, shooting him a sharp look. "I need time to figure it out."
"Speaking of which," Dragon said suddenly, curiosity breaking through his gloom, "how exactly did you restrain him?"
"My Devil Fruit awakened," Darren replied, lips pursed.
"I know, I know, I saw it," Dragon shot back, aggrieved. "Your Dragon Claw Fist is already stronger than mine, and I'm the one who created it. You don't have to rub it in every chance you get."
Darren shook his head. "That's not what I meant."
"What I mean is that I can manipulate his body's magnetic field to a certain extent. And during our fight, I 'infused' metallic elements into him. That lets me apply repulsive and attractive forces directly to his body."
Dragon's eyes widened. "The Magnet-Magnet Fruit can do that?!"
Before Darren, the Magnet-Magnet Fruit had appeared in history. The Devil Fruit compendium recorded it in detail, and the Marines had their own confidential reports on its previous users.
But those users had barely gone beyond simple metal control. A handful had managed to develop electromagnetic railgun attacks—already terrifyingly strong by conventional standards.
Darren, however, had taken the Magnet-Magnet Fruit and twisted it into something entirely new.
You backward idiots really have no idea what you can do with knowledge, huh.
He suppressed the thought with a sigh and raised his gaze again.
Saint Michael still hung there, being mercilessly pierced over and over. The black flames repairing his body continued to flicker… but their pace was visibly slowing. They struggled more and more to keep up with the damage Darren inflicted.
If this continued, Saint Michael's life force would eventually run dry, his regeneration would fail, and he would die in Darren's hands.
"So he's different from the Gorosei," Dragon murmured, rubbing his stubbled chin. "He doesn't have an infinite lifespan."
"This is too time-consuming," Darren said, frowning as he shook his head. "And it wouldn't work on the Gorosei anyway. Besides their nearly immortal regeneration, those five old undying bastards can communicate telepathically and summon each other through those magic arrays. Any confrontation with them will always become a one-versus-five battle."
In a one-on-one, with his Magnetic Field Rotation unleashed, Darren was confident he could shred any one of the Gorosei.
But against all five at once, his chances of outright victory were negligible. As the fight dragged on and his stamina faded, he would inevitably be forced to retreat.
"Is there really no other way?" Dragon muttered, his expression darkening.
"There might be," Darren replied quietly. "All Devil Fruit Users, no matter how strong, share one weakness."
Dragon froze, then his eyes lit up. He turned to stare at Darren as if seeing him anew.
"You really are a genius…"
"..."
Darren lifted his hand and slowly curled his fingers inward, as if clutching Saint Michael's body from afar.
To be continued...