With the addition of ice, everything the storm touched froze instantly before being torn from the ground and hurled high into the air by the violent airflow.
Watching this scene, Lloyd had only one thought.
The budget was burning.
Even when faced with a calamity resembling a natural disaster, Lloyd remained standing calmly in place, his expression unchanged from beginning to end.
The elemental fusion technique created by Dragon and Kuzan merely sparked a faint trace of interest.
As the examiner, Lloyd adhered strictly to his professional standards and offered a brief evaluation.
"Good ability development."
After speaking, Lloyd mirrored Dragon's earlier movement.
He spread his palm, and the darkness surrounding him surged violently, transforming into countless black torrents that spiraled upward and converged above his hand.
In a matter of seconds, a miniature dark tornado took shape.
Lloyd waved his hand casually and spoke in an indifferent tone.
"Dark Storm."
Under the collective gaze of the Marines, two colossal tornadoes, one icy blue and the other pitch black, rose like pillars connecting sea and sky before crashing toward one another.
Several soldiers swallowed instinctively.
Yet when the two disasters collided, there was no thunderous explosion.
Instead, the moment they met, the blue tornado was dragged inward as if caught by an irresistible force. It was swallowed whole by the black storm, its color and power stripped away and assimilated completely.
Dragon and Kuzan stared as their combined technique was erased without resistance, their expressions frozen in disbelief.
They had never imagined that the fusion they had painstakingly developed could be dismantled so effortlessly.
Seeing their reactions, Aramaki's cheeks puffed up before he burst into loud laughter.
"Hahaha! You spent all that time just to come up with this?"
Kuzan's expression stiffened in embarrassment, irritation quickly following.
"Aramaki, this is an exam. Can you take it seriously?"
"Huh?" Aramaki shot back. "Ice pop idiot, are you trying to tell me what to do?"
The two pressed their faces close together, neither willing to yield.
On the high platform, Zephyr rubbed his temples and sighed.
"Two idiots."
As their argument escalated, Dragon suddenly roared.
"Enough! It's coming!"
Their expressions changed simultaneously as a terrifying gravitational pull descended upon them.
It was Lloyd's Dark Storm.
Unlike an ordinary tornado, the Dark Storm did not tear up debris or scatter rubble.
It was eerily silent, leaving the surroundings unnaturally clean, and that silence made it all the more terrifying.
Dragon's expression darkened.
While struggling against the crushing pull, he shouted to the others.
"Get out of here now! Elemental bodies can't resist darkness!"
In darkness, all beings were equal.
Even without Dragon's warning, Kuzan and Aramaki understood this clearly.
What followed left Dragon momentarily speechless.
The two who had been arguing moments earlier suddenly demonstrated astonishing coordination.
Kuzan leapt onto Aramaki's back, his body instantly turning into ice and clinging tightly to him.
Aramaki shuddered violently from the cold and cursed under his breath.
"Damn it. At a time like this, it still falls on me."
After speaking, he shot a mocking glance at the stunned Dragon. The lower half of his body then transformed into thick, tangled tree roots that drilled straight into the ground.
Dragon nearly cursed aloud.
So these two had developed a fusion technique of their own, and it was specifically for running away.
The Dark Storm continued to approach, its gravitational pull growing stronger with each passing second.
With no time left to think, Dragon fully transformed into wind, forcing himself upward and escaping toward the sky.
Since everyone present was an ally, Lloyd had no intention of letting the Dark Storm continue wreaking havoc.
With a simple wave of his hand, the storm dispersed instantly, collapsing into a dense sphere of black mist that flowed back into Lloyd's body.
The arena was left in ruins.
The stone floor had been completely stripped away, exposing the soil beneath, which looked as though it had been brutally plowed.
Moments later, a small sprout emerged from the ground, followed by a humanoid plant bursting forth.
It was Aramaki, who had burrowed underground to escape.
He scowled and snapped irritably.
"How much longer are you going to stay on my back? Get off already. You're freezing me to death."
Thud.
A puddle of shattered ice splashed onto the ground, and Kuzan reformed from it.
Whoosh.
A powerful gust descended from above as Dragon landed heavily, his expression grim.
He did not spare Kuzan or Aramaki a glance.
Coating his arms with Armament Haki, he stepped forward and fixed his gaze firmly on Lloyd.
Kuzan raised his hand, plucked a tender blade of grass from the top of Aramaki's head, and exhaled a breath of cold air. The grass froze instantly, forming a sharp ice blade in his grip.
Before Aramaki could react, Kuzan stepped forward and stood beside Dragon.
"Dragon," he said quietly, "let's go together."
Dragon remained silent.
A fierce current of wind surged from beneath him as he charged forward first.
Kuzan followed closely, tapping the ground lightly with his foot. A patch of frost spread outward, and his figure vanished in an instant.
Aramaki cursed, touched the top of his head, and then transformed into a massive treant, entering the battle as well.
After three years, the strength of the three had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Yet when facing Lloyd, they felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness, even stronger than what they had experienced three years ago.
Against their combined assault, Lloyd appeared utterly relaxed.
With minimal movement, he neutralized every attack they launched.
The young trainees watching from the sidelines were completely stunned.
In their eyes, Dragon, Kuzan, and Aramaki were already monsters of strength.
They could barely track their movements, catching only fleeting afterimages.
As for Lloyd, he seemed almost motionless. His posture never changed, and even his hair remained undisturbed, while the three challengers were already drenched in sweat.
This outcome was only natural.
Even Lloyd himself was uncertain how far his strength had grown after awakening the Lunarian bloodline factor and becoming a Vampire Fruit user.
How could Dragon possibly understand that?
At this moment, Dragon stood on the brink of mental collapse. He let out a roar filled with unwillingness.
"Impossible! The gap can't be this big!"
"Oh?"
Lloyd's lips curved into a cold, sinister smile.
The moment he shifted from defense to offense, the battlefield changed.
He seized Aramaki and Kuzan, one in each hand, and hurled them away effortlessly.
In the next instant, a pair of broad black wings unfurled from Lloyd's back, rapidly reshaping into the unmistakable form of bat wings.
Dragon's eyes widened in shock as he stared at Lloyd.
"What is this?" he shouted. "Aren't you a Logia user?!"
Not only Dragon, but Garp and the others who were witnessing this form for the first time rose to their feet.
Even Fleet Admiral Kong was momentarily stunned.
No matter how he looked at it, Lloyd's wings could not be associated with any known race.
They were unmistakably the traits of a Zoan transformation.