The Whitebeard Pirates' flagship, the Moby Dick, cut through the waves toward Marineford, but their advance was halted by a seemingly impossible barrier.
"Only five giants?" A pirate laughed from the deck. "Even the entire Giant Warrior Pirates couldn't stop us. What are five men?"
Before them stood only Vice Admirals John Giant, Lacroix, Ronse, and two others. Behind them waited Admiral Rosen. The pirate fleet stretched across the horizon—fifty thousand pirates, all armed with Armament Haki.
Every pirate here could harden their bullets. The sheer volume of Haki-imbued fire would be overwhelming.
But the five giants didn't flinch.
"Make way!" A thunderous roar shook the sea itself.
Oars Jr., the mountain-sized ancient giant, stomped through the waves, his footsteps sending tsunamis rippling outward. He carried a blade larger than most ships and charged straight at the Marine line.
"We chose the Marines. You chose piracy," John Giant declared, his voice cutting through the wind. "Honor demands we stop you here."
"Honor?" Oars Jr.'s eyes blazed. "Then die with honor!"
He swung his blade—a mountain-cleaving strike that could bisect a warship. John Giant didn't dodge. He leaped.
Mid-air, his body exploded with transformation.
ROAR!
A dragon's cry shattered the sky. Where John Giant had stood, now a forty-meter Azure Dragon hovered on flaming clouds. Blue scales gleamed like armor, each one larger than a shield.
"W-what?!" The pirates froze. "That's... Kaido's power!"
The dragon caught the descending blade with bare claws. The impact sent shockwaves through the sea, but the dragon held firm. Oars Jr.'s eyes widened in disbelief—he'd been stopped by a creature half his size.
"Marine justice knows no species," the Azure Dragon rumbled. "We giants serve the same cause."
But then—behind him—the other four vice admirals moved as one.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Four more Azure Dragons ascended, each exceeding two hundred meters in length. Their wingspans blackened the sky, their flaming clouds merging into a storm of fire.
Five dragons. All giants. All Marine Vice Admirals.
"Impossible..." On the Moby Dick, Marco the Phoenix stared, his flames flickering in shock. "Mythical Zoans... mass-produced?"
Edward Newgate's face darkened. "Rosen... what have you done?"
Marshall D. Teach, hidden among the crew, felt sweat freeze on his brow. If the Marines could replicate Kaido's power—the power of a Yonko—then his own ambitions seemed laughably small. The Dark-Dark Fruit alone wouldn't be enough anymore.
"Formation!" The four colossal dragons bellowed in unison.
They spun like cyclones, their massive bodies creating a vortex of wind and flame. Tornadoes rose from the sea, swallowing every cannonball, every Haki bullet, every shockwave the pirates launched. The Whitebeard Pirates' entire opening barrage was consumed, redirected into the sky.
Rosen stood calmly behind the dragon wall, his white Marine coat unfluttered. His gaze remained cold, calculating.
"The era of the pirates ends now," he said, his voice carrying across the water. "And the era of the Marines begins."
John Giant—the Azure Dragon—reared back, flames gathering in his maw. "Dragon's Roar!"
A torrent of blue fire, hotter than magma, blasted forth. It struck Oars Jr.'s chest, sending the ancient giant crashing backward into the sea. Water erupted like a geyser.
The Whitebeard Pirates' morale shattered. They weren't facing men anymore. They were facing dragons—the mythological beasts of legend, now weapons of Marine justice.
The five dragons formed an unbreakable wall of scale and flame. Behind them, Rosen drew his blade—the Zanpakutō Senbonzakura. Cherry blossom petals began to swirl around him, waiting for his command.
The New World had never seen such power before. And Rosen had only just begun.#
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