BOOM!
With a thunderous roar, the Demon Warder cut across the sky, hurtling directly toward the approaching island.
Within Drake's mindscape, the System stared in wide-eyed bewilderment at the sudden burst of velocity, unable to make sense of the sudden turn of events.
It couldn't fathom why Drake, who had seemed completely drained of hope seconds earlier, suddenly charged forward like a man possessed the moment he heard the name "Goa Kingdom."
Judging by his sheer momentum, he was burning with even greater fervor than when the battle first began!
[Wait a moment...]
The System paused as a realization dawned upon it, comprehension washing over its features.
[If I recall correctly, the homeland of the four sworn brothers is a humble little village nestled right within this very Goa Kingdom...]
Indeed!
The island looming before them was the cradle of their childhood bonds—the homeland shared by Drake, Luffy, and their brothers.
The Goa Kingdom, where Foosha Village lay!
Earlier, Drake had sensed an inexplicable familiarity tugging at his memory when gazing upon the island. Only when the System uttered the kingdom's name did everything click into place.
Knowing what lay below, there was no way he could permit disaster to touch this land.
Drake had never considered himself a saint. He certainly wished to save as many lives as he could; after all, watching innocent people perish before his eyes was a bitter pill he struggled to swallow.
Yet, if someone truly lay beyond his ability to save, he would harbor no lingering psychological burden over it.
He wasn't the one who killed them, so why weigh his conscience down with guilt?
Save those you can when they cross your path, and accept what you cannot—such was Drake's personal creed.
Now, however, the land teetering on the edge of destruction was no gathering of nameless strangers. It was the cherished home of his childhood.
The East Blue—Foosha Village!
He knew with absolute certainty that if Ace and the others were standing in his boots right now, they would do the exact same thing: charge forward without a shred of hesitation.
Since the Demon Warder could no longer sustain combat mode, he would take the field with his own two hands!
Im was already grievously wounded. Even without the amplification of the Demon Warder, she was no longer a match for him.
"Kenshin, I'm leaving the Demon Warder in your hands. Remember, under no circumstances is anyone to step outside the hull."
Leaving behind that firm instruction, Drake engaged his spatial warp, setting off in solitary pursuit.
"Canhong... let us wage one more all-out battle together!"
Watching the coastline draw closer by the second, Im was overcome with frantic delight. So long as she slipped past his perimeter this time, she could rebuild everything from scratch.
Nothing was over yet!
BOOM!
The coastline before her suddenly ruptured in a violent eruption of dirt and stone, kicking up blinding clouds of dust.
A solitary figure strode slowly through the haze.
Grip resting on his blade, standing like an unyielding bastion where one man alone could hold the pass against ten thousand—such was Drake's overbearing presence.
His resolve was set.
If she could not be killed, he would bleed her dry in a war of pure attrition. With the blistering speed of his spatial warps, breaking away from him was pure fantasy.
They would fight until every drop of stamina was exhausted. She claimed to be immortal, didn't she?
Then he would beat her until she couldn't stand, beat her until she was stripped of every last ounce of will to fight!
"You..."
Before Im could finish her sentence, Drake was already bearing down on her with sword drawn.
His initial slash cleaved empty air, but he pivoted seamlessly, planting a devastating kick squarely into Im's torso.
Spatial energy and Armament Haki erupted simultaneously at the point of impact.
KABOOM!
"Ugh... cough, hack..."
Im doubled over in a violent coughing fit, spitting a mouthful of crimson blood onto the earth.
Drake's brow arched slightly.
He had genuinely assumed an entity like Im couldn't bleed. Throughout this grueling ordeal, he had never once seen blood flow from her wounds.
He had even idly wondered what color her blood might be if it truly ran through her veins.
To his surprise, it was crimson like any mortal's.
"Damn you!" Im hissed in fury, discharging a barrage of pitch-black piercing arrows.
CLANG!
Deflecting the strike with a single parry of his blade, Drake compressed his Haki and spatial energy together into a dense, crackling barrier of astral force, closing in to engage Im in brutal close-quarters combat.
Neither combatant traded feints or hollow maneuvers; every strike was traded with lethal, flesh-rending intent. The ambient shockwaves radiating from their clash sent violent tremors rolling through the entire island.
The tremors plunged the entirety of the Goa Kingdom into sweeping panic.
Sensing the commotion, a considerable number of people began gravitating toward the perimeter of the disturbance.
This was an exceptionally perilous variable for Drake.
I need to draw her out to sea, Drake resolved silently.
Dragging innocent civilians into the crossfire was the last thing he wanted.
Im picked up on Drake's tactical intent almost instantly, recognizing his deliberate attempts to steer the battlefield toward the open water.
Why would she ever accommodate him? From the very outset, her singular objective had been the inhabitants of this island!
Wait, that's...
Im's lips curled into a faint, sinister smirk. In the distance, through a mountain valley situated not far from their position, she spotted figures moving toward them.
And not just one or two stragglers.
An entire detachment!
Right then, a crimson flare ignited within Drake's eyes.
Mid-clash, he cast a swift glance toward the dense forest clinging to the foothills behind them. In the immediate future, people would emerge from those woods—and quite a crowd at that!
Damn it!
"AHAHAHA! What are you going to do now, Drake?!"
Vast plumes of black mist erupted from Im's frame, hurtling toward Drake to obstruct his vision. Her silhouette blurred in the same breath, shooting straight toward the treeline.
At this critical juncture, Drake threw caution to the wind. Sweeping his arm wide, his blade flashed with radiant brilliance as a soaring arc of sword aura—potent enough to cleave the heavens and part the seas—came crashing down from above!
The strike cleanly sheared through miles of coastline, cutting off Im's path of advance with an impassable abyss.
Im watched in frozen shock as a streak of blue-crimson luminescence cleaved the world in two, severing the ground right before her feet.
The shelf of land she stood upon sheared off and collapsed into the ocean, sending colossal tidal swells crashing into the sky.
Im: "..."
He's willing to go this far already?
To unleash wanton devastation on this scale?
In her eyes, Drake had always been the sort of soft-hearted fool burdened with a savior complex, desperate to rescue everyone in sight.
For him to strike with such reckless abandon meant he had been backed into an absolute corner.
I see...
A mysterious, mocking smirk crept across Im's lips. The moment an adversary lost their composure and lashed out in desperate panic, their ability to fight with true tactical efficacy was completely compromised.
Vaulting into the air, Im landed once more upon the mainland of the island.
So long as she embedded herself in densely populated sectors, Drake would never dare unleash attacks with such wide destructive radiuses again.
Drake pursued right on her heels, dead-set on terminating her advance.
One in flight and one in pursuit, both figures broke into the dense woodland. Stationed within the forest was an organized armed detachment, dressed in crisp, uniform attire—by all appearances, the royal garrison of the Goa Kingdom.
"AHAHAHA! I've finally caught one!"
Im let out a triumphant cackle, closing the distance to the vanguard of the formation in a flash and resting a single palm firmly upon the lead figure's shoulder.
"Now, what are you going to do, hero?"
Im turned a mocking glare toward Drake with a broad sneer, only to be met by a massive flying slash that whistled past her cheek, grazing her skin by mere inches.
An icy chill shot straight down her spine.
Cold sweat beaded along her forehead.
"Did you honestly believe taking hostages would tie my hands? Don't you think you're being a little too naive?" Drake's lips curled into a faint, predatory smirk as he stepped forward through the trees, blade resting casually in hand.
Im's expression darkened into an ugly scowl.
Seeing her face twist with frustration, Drake chuckled, about to press the advantage with another taunt, when his pupils suddenly shrank to pinpricks. His entire body froze solid on the spot.
"Sa... Sabo?! And Ace?! Luffy?!! What are you guys doing here?!"
"What did you say?"
A terrible, cold premonition seized Im's chest. She tilted her head slightly—and every hair on her body stood on end in pure horror.
The man whose shoulder her hand was resting on... was none other than Sabo!
And casually perched atop a nearby boulder right beside him were Emperor "Flame Emperor" Ace and "Wisdom King" Luffy, lounging as leisurely as could be!
WHOOSH!
Scorching, blinding flames erupted from Sabo's body without warning, the incandescent inferno instantly engulfing Im from head to toe!
"ARGHHH!!"
A blood-curdling shriek tore violently from her throat!