My back hit the sea floor—
or what was left of it.
The impact rattled through my bones as the pressure crashed down on me like a collapsing mountain. Cold. Heavy. Endless. The last scraps of oxygen were crushed from my lungs, torn away by the deep. Darkness crept into my vision, slow and seductive, whispering that it was okay to rest now.
To sleep.
My body drifted.
Then—
my left hand brushed against something solid.
Cold. Metallic.
My fingers twitched, instinct clawing through the haze. I forced my eyes open just enough to see it: a massive research crate, half-buried in broken stone, anchored to a jagged ridge by a rusted chain. Warning symbols flickered weakly across its surface.
Inside—nestled in shock-foam like a relic—
was a fruit.
Sapphire-blue. Warty. Pulsing faintly with an artificial glow, as if it were breathing.
I didn't think.
I didn't pray.
I grabbed it.
My fingers locked around the fruit—
—and the world shattered.
A violent force slammed into my side.
Birdy.
The Sovereign Sea King hit me at full speed, creating a cavitation bubble that ripped the water apart. My ribs screamed as his massive snout scooped me up, dragging me into the cavernous darkness of his mouth. For a heartbeat, there was only silence—only the thunder of his blood and the ancient weight of his presence.
Then—
BREACH.
Birdy exploded out of the ocean like a living missile, launching me into the smoke-choked sky. I tumbled through the air, coughing violently as seawater poured from my lungs. My left hand was still clenched around the fruit.
Below me, the ocean had become a boiling grave.
Akainu stood atop a jagged island of cooling obsidian, magma dripping from his body, his face twisted into something feral.
"JUST DIE, YOU BRAT!" he roared.
The sky burned orange.
I looked at the fruit.
I looked at the magma.
"…Bottoms up, Ash," I wheezed.
I bit down.
BOOM.
It wasn't a transformation.
It was an explosion—
of flesh, of bone, of DNA itself.
My spine uncoiled like a cracking whip. My body stretched, twisted, expanded. Skin hardened into overlapping sapphire plates, scales locking together with a sound like grinding steel. A mane of black hair tore free, whipping violently as horns split through my skull.
Pain drowned me.
Then—
power.
Raw. Crushing. Overwhelming.
I felt massive. Heavy. Ancient.
I looked down—and saw my reflection in the dark sea.
Horns.
Whiskers.
A draconic snout that had terrorized the New World for decades.
"…A YONKO?!" I thundered, my voice shattering clouds.
"WHAT IS KAIDO DOING HERE—WAIT—AM I KAIDO?!"
The world froze.
Akainu's magma fist halted mid-swing.
Kizaru's light beam flickered out.
Even the Sea Kings stilled, ancient eyes wide.
Then—
laughter.
Cold. Smug. Sharp.
"Don't be fooled."
Vegapunk's voice echoed across Egghead through the Den Den Mushi, clinical and merciless.
"Attention, Marines. That is Ash. The fruit he consumed is Prototype-2—a failure. It mimics the Azure Dragon's form but lacks elemental synthesis."
My heart skipped.
"No Boro Breath," Vegapunk continued.
"No lightning. No wind manipulation. Even flight is limited—his gravity-cell is unstable."
A pause.
"It is nothing more than a hollow shell. A giant blue lizard."
Silence.
Then Akainu laughed.
A deep, ugly sound.
"A fake dragon?" he sneered, magma rolling down his arm.
"I already killed a real fire-user. You're nothing special."
His eyes burned into mine.
"A lizard with no fire is just trash."
Something inside me cracked.
"…Bruhhhhhh," I muttered, my voice vibrating through my massive jaw.
"Of course. Of course my luck is a glitch."
"EVERYONE—LEAVE!" I roared.
Using the Voice of All Things, I forced my thoughts outward, slamming them into the minds of the Sea Kings and Sea Beasts.
"Don't die for a fake! GO! GET OUT OF HERE!"
Birdy's massive eye locked onto mine. His voice echoed gently through my skull.
"We go to the deep, Guest," he said.
"Find the Sun. We will wait for the true dawn."
Topknot roared, smashing his colossal tail into a Marine cruiser, tearing steel apart like paper.
"Survive, Blue guest?" he thundered.
I didn't hesitate.
I pushed my Lunarian muscles beyond reason, sprinting through the air on flickering, unstable Homuragasu. I wasn't flying—I was running on borrowed seconds.
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
Akainu didn't chase me.
He simply raised his arm, fingers spreading slowly, deliberately—like a god deciding where the world would end.
"Meteor Volcano." His voice roared.
The sky answered.
The clouds split apart with a soundless rupture, and then the magma came down—not in one strike, but in dozens, hundreds—fists of molten hatred screaming through the air like falling meteors, each one heavy enough to erase ships, islands, people.
I ran.
Not flew—ran—Homuragasu flickering beneath my claws, forming and collapsing with every desperate step. A magma fist detonated behind me, the shockwave snapping at my spine. Another crashed where my head had been a heartbeat earlier, vaporizing cloud and sky alike.
There was no rhythm to it.
No pattern.
Only correction.
Wherever I moved, the rain of magma adjusted, narrowing, learning—herding me toward death with terrifying precision.
Then—
the sea exploded upward.
Topknot surged from the depths with a thunderous roar, his colossal tail slamming down and ripping the ocean itself into the sky. A towering wall of seawater crashed into Akainu, drowning the magma storm in a violent hiss of steam and fury.
For one impossible moment, the sky went white.
Akainu emerged from the boiling deluge, his body reforming, magma crawling back into place, his eyes burning hotter than before.
"…A nuisance," he said flatly.
I didn't slow down.
Magma fists screamed past me, heat scorching my mane. I was fast—terrifyingly so—but something inside my chest was draining.
The fruit was hungry.
My body couldn't pay the price.
The clouds beneath my claws thinned, turning from solid steps into useless mist.
"…I made a mistake," I hissed.
"A big… mistake…"
The transformation snapped.
One second—a hundred-meter dragon.
The next—
just a broken man.
I fell.
Cold air tore past me as gravity reclaimed its due.
I'm dead.
This is it.
Then—
a blur of silver-blue cut through the waves.
"Ripple…"
The Sea Cat surged upward at impossible speed. I saw Spruce, still unconscious, tucked safely against Ripple's fur.
FLUMP.
I hit Ripple's back hard, the impact ripping the last breath from my lungs. Pain flared—then faded.
I stared at the sky one last time.
Egghead burned in the distance.
Two frustrated Admirals hovered like fallen stars.
"…Take us," I whispered, my hand sinking into Ripple's fur.
"North-East.."
The world went black.