"Everyone, be careful! Something seems to be falling from above!"
Molly shouted, raising her trident as she prepared to upheave the ground to block whatever was descending.
However, the falling object was astonishingly fast.
The moment the whistling sound reached their ears, everyone heard a series of thunderous explosions.
The earth beneath the Red Line erupted into multiple massive craters, sending clouds of dust billowing into the air.
"What is that?"
Sabo frowned deeply and strode forward to investigate.
"Watch out, Sabo!" Dragon's expression suddenly changed drastically as he shouted in warning.
Whoosh!
A black sword slash capable of splitting heaven and earth suddenly shot out from the dust cloud.
Under Sabo's horrified gaze, it struck his chest, sending him flying like a meteor!
Like giant beasts trampling the earth, figures of varying sizes—some towering like mountains, others as short as children—emerged from the dust-shrouded craters.
When the dust settled, these figures stood lined up before the Revolutionary Army members. Everyone's faces contorted in shock and horror!
What appeared before them were...
The 15-meter-tall Whitebeard, Edward Newgate, wielding his massive guandao, with wings on his back and demon horns on his head!
The 3-meter-tall Roger, also with wings and flames burning behind his head, gripping his longsword!
The enormous Garp!
The child-sized Sengoku!
The youthful-looking Kaido!
An enlarged version of Charlotte Linlin!
And many more familiar faces—each one a monstrous legend who had once dominated the seas, enough to make anyone's scalp crawl!
There were Marines, pirates, and even... Dragon saw a younger version of himself!
Moreover!
These weren't just limited to heroes of the current era.
Among the crowd were many figures Dragon didn't recognize, yet he instinctively felt they might be legendary figures from previous eras—even from hundreds of years ago!
At the very front stood...
A defiant man with hair dancing wildly like black serpents!
A terrifying 10-meter-tall monster with dragon-like sinews!
A swordsman wearing wooden clogs, with tied-back hair, holding a longsword!
"Rocks! And... Caesar! That swordsman... could he be the legendary great swordmaster?!"
Each radiated a savage aura, like demons from the abyss, locking their brutal intent onto every member of the Revolutionary Army!
These familiar faces almost encompassed every top-tier powerhouse who had dominated the world over the past several centuries!
And the sword slash that had sent Sabo flying earlier came from the swordsman leading the group!
Gulp.
At this moment, the million-strong Revolutionary Army soldiers felt an indescribable fear facing this mere few dozen figures!
Even the high-ranking combatants of the Revolutionary Army couldn't help but show terror and panic!
They dared not imagine—if these individuals possessed combat power matching their legendary counterparts, then even with a million soldiers here, or even several times that number, they wouldn't stand a chance of setting foot on the Holy Land Mary Geoise!
"Ahh, what a marvelous feeling! To think I'd have the chance to battle heroes from two hundred years in the future!"
The swordsman resembling Ryuma stepped before Dragon and the others, his face breaking into a strikingly human-like, hearty smile.
Dragon found his throat growing dry.
There was no helping it—the pressure emanating from this group was simply overwhelming.
Not pressure from their combat power, but from these unbearably familiar faces!
Roger, Newgate, Rocks, Caesar, Kaido, Shiki...
Sengoku, Kong, Garp, Zephyr, Akainu...
If these were real people, any one of them would require his full strength to defeat.
And among them were some existences he had absolutely no confidence in overcoming.
Facing such individuals, even with ten-tenths of his power, he couldn't exert eight-tenths!
This was utterly... chilling!
At this moment, sensing the unease emanating from the soldiers behind him, Dragon felt he needed to say something.
He took a deep breath, stepped forward from the crowd, and stood before this swordsman.
"Might I ask if you are Shimotsuki Ryuma, the dragon-slaying swordmaster of Wano Country from two hundred years ago?"
"It is me, yet not entirely me."
Ryuma first nodded, then shook his head.
"All of us are modified humans created through cloning - the most outstanding warriors selected by the World Government over centuries by collecting blood and genes.
As you can see, we each bear various racial traits that suit us.
Aside from the Lunaria tribe's Fallen Wings and Soul-Burning Flames, which are compatible with all races, other special racial talents only match with a few individuals."
Dragon frowned deeply after hearing this: "Has Vegapunk lived for hundreds of years?"
Ryuma shook his head: "He's not the only one. Throughout history, there have been countless scientists. Vegapunk just happens to be particularly renowned in this era."
Dragon found Ryuma's explanation quite reasonable.
The Ryuma before him appeared no different from a real human.
In contrast, most of the figures behind him wore expressionless faces, devoid of any extra emotion.
Noticing Dragon's gaze, Ryuma seemed to read his thoughts.
"Many of them are clones with severe emotional deficiencies. Rest assured, we're not as formidable as you might think. After all, when they collected our blood from battles or obtained our genes during childhood, we weren't at our peak strength."
"In other words, what you see before you are merely killing machines possessing the shells of powerful warriors - called Seraphim Kings!"
"Then you..." Dragon looked at Ryuma, filled with confusion.
Ryuma laughed heartily: "As for me, I'm somewhat special. My soul truly comes from two hundred years ago. In other words..."
He raised his long sword, pointing it at Dragon and the others.
"I am Shimotsuki Ryuma!"
With these words, Ryuma charged forward. His wooden clogs stamped once, propelling him into the air as the sword resembling the great grade blade Shusui swept down toward Dragon!
"Dragon-Slaying Technique - Swift Blade!"
A tearing sound like rending fabric echoed through the air.
To everyone's horror, a terrifying fissure over ten miles long appeared in the sky above Dragon.
The sky-rending sword light descended like a colossal pillar of heaven!
Dragon's eyes flashed with brilliant light as he formed his right hand into a claw, directly employing his ultimate trump card - the Power of Destruction Rule.
"Obliterating Dragon Claw!"
A hellish, abyssal aura violently surged forth. Dragon's right arm became wreathed in pitch-black Destructive Power as, under the astonished gazes of all Revolutionary Army soldiers, he shattered Ryuma's sky-rending sword light with a single claw and seized Ryuma's long sword!
Crack!
The long sword shattered!Ryuma's eyes flashed with a trace of astonishment.
"Destruction Rule? Truly a fearsome youngster!"
Then, Dragon suddenly erupted with his full power, unleashing the terrifying Conqueror's Haki that had been brewing within him for half a lifetime!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Thunder shook the heavens and earth!
Countless black lightning bolts ran wild as Dragon seemed to transform into a primordial beast, his imposing aura crashing down like a mountain toward the figure opposite him!
Ryuma raised an eyebrow, discarded the broken sword in his hand, and narrowed his eyes!
BOOM!
A powerful Conqueror's Haki surged skyward, clashing with Dragon's!
"Ryuma, your not that strong eh?" Dragon grinned.
"Is that so? Heh." Ryuma chuckled.
Hum!
Hum!
Hum!
...
Under Dragon's stunned gaze, the godlike and demonic figures behind Ryuma erupted with Conqueror's Haki one after another, sprouting up like bamboo shoots after rain!
Energy spheres appeared everywhere, covering the sky and earth as they submerged countless Revolutionary Army soldiers!
"So, you call this not strong?"