"Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock!" Koby's face remained calm as he looked directly at the Empress. "With the abolition of the Seven Warlords system, it is our duty as Marines to arrest you since you are a pirate."
"All hands, hear my order! Warships, fall back one hundred meters and prepare to bombard!"
The Marines sprang into action immediately, not daring to hesitate for even a second. Earlier, many had nearly lost their lives to the sea after being bewitched by the Empress's breathtaking beauty.
This thorn-covered rose was far beyond the reach of rank-and-file soldiers like them; the farther away they stayed from her, the safer they would be.
Watching the Marines' movements, Hancock furrowed her delicate brows. These Marines clearly had no intention of leaving peacefully.
"It seems you are insist on sinking to the bottom of the sea!"
Hancock offered a graceful wave of her fair hand, signaling to her two sisters behind her. The pirate ship bearing the Nine Snake emblem suddenly cut through the sea surface, charging toward the Navy warships at top speed.
At the same time, Hancock leaped smoothly onto the deck of the pirate vessel. Tapping her index finger against her lips, a massive, peach-colored, heart-shaped aura materialized within her grip.
"Slave Arrow!" With a swift, backward draw of her hand, Hancock unleashed a torrential rain of pink arrows across the sky.
"Not good!" Koby's pupils contracted sharply. Before setting sail for Maiden Island, he had meticulously studied the properties of the Pirate Empress's Devil Fruit ability.
Getting struck by those Slave Arrows was exceptionally dangerous!
"Hard to port, quickly!" Koby swept his arm out, shouting at the top of his lungs.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Countless arrows rained down upon the Marines aboard the warships. The soldiers, who had been bracing themselves to resist, instantly underwent a complete facial transformation the microsecond their eyes caught a glimpse of Hancock's peerless beauty.
Their eyes turned directly into hearts.
In the very next instant, the rain of arrows arrived.
As the arrows pierced through their bodies, the entire detachment of Marines was transformed into stone statues in a flash.
Meanwhile, at the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, the Marines looked up at the gargantuan mechanical bird soaring into the clouds. Their palms turned involuntarily slick with sweat, and many swallowed nervously.
The Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon!
He was arguably the single most mysterious man in the entire world, his true identity having only been publicly exposed to the world during the Summit War two years ago.
The son of Marine Hero Vice Admiral Garp, and the father of the Emperor, "Sun God" Luffy.
This entire family was composed of absolute monsters!
"Is that man standing at the very front of the giant bird really the Revolutionary Army's Supreme Commander, Dragon..." a Marine whispered, swallowing hard as deep anxiety gnawed at his heart.
Although Dragon's true face was now known worldwide, those who had actually seen him in person were exceptionally few. Even among the high-ranking officials of the World Government, almost none had ever met him face-to-face.
They had only ever glimpsed his photograph in newspapers and on wanted posters.
Dragon's grand name had been known throughout the world for many years. He had even been designated by the World Government as the World's Worst Criminal—a legendary figure in terms of both reputation and strength.
Standing before him brought a sense of shock even greater than when they had first faced the World's Strongest Man, Whitebeard.
Although Whitebeard was also a legendary titan, the Navy was constantly crossing paths with pirates, so Whitebeard held far less mystery in their eyes.
Dragon, however, was fundamentally different. He was an absolute enigma; even though his identity was public knowledge, very few people truly knew what kind of man he was.
Set aside the Marines—even the members of the Revolutionary Army themselves knew remarkably little about their own leader.
In the hearts of the Marines, Dragon was the most terrifying figure of this era. Relying solely on his own vision and strength, he had built a Revolutionary Army capable of directly rivaling the World Government.
A man like that—even if he were to rely purely on his intellect—would unleash a presence that was thoroughly mind-boggling.
And the reality was that Dragon was not only terrifyingly brilliant, but his personal combat prowess was also staggeringly immense.
Rumors circulated that the Navy had repeatedly attempted to locate the Revolutionary Army's bases and trace their personnel across various regions over the years, making it impossible for them to have made zero progress.
And indeed, there had been more than one occasion where they had come dangerously close to touching the core of the Revolutionary Army, only for every single plan to crumble right at the threshold of success!
There were even whispers that this was the mandate of heaven—that the heavens themselves favored the Revolutionary Army, while the Navy was merely aiding the tyrannical Celestial Dragons in their atrocities.
Regarding the Celestial Dragons, every Marine knew the truth: they were, without exception, the absolute scum among scum.
That such wretched beings stood at the absolute zenith of the entire world was a reality no Marine wished to speak of.
Years ago, there had been an incident where the Navy came closest to uncovering the Revolutionary Army. The strongest operative among the CP0 dispatched by the World Government had led several elite CP0 members to successfully locate a Revolutionary Army base.
An intelligence effort that had yielded zero progress for years had suddenly achieved a massive breakthrough. Overjoyed, they immediately used a Transponder Snail to report the situation back to the higher-ups.
Yet right in the middle of their report, a series of bloodcurdling shrieks suddenly erupted through the Transponder Snail.
No matter how frantically the high command called out to them, all they could hear were terrifying screams and desperate cries for help. What left the deepest impression on the high command was the bone-chilling shriek of the team leader.
Yes—a sheer, terror-filled shriek.
That an elite among elites in CP0 could emit such a panic-stricken scream was something the high command found utterly unthinkable at the time.
Those chosen as CP0 members were without exception the absolute pinnacle of elite talent, superhumans who had endured grueling, ruthless training since childhood.
They were masters who had pushed the Navy's Six Powers to their absolute limits.
Yet they had emitted such agonizing shrieks simultaneously.
This was something the high command could mathematically never mishear.
It was, without a shadow of a doubt, a chorus of absolute horror.
Nonsensical cries about "demons" and "gods" echoed through the line. For a group of hardened operatives who had survived life-and-death torment since childhood to scream such absurdities was truly beyond belief.
Consequently, this intelligence was buried deep within the dark vaults. However, it was eventually overheard by a Marine who accidentally leaked the story, spreading it far and wide.
Although that Marine suffered severe disciplinary punishment, the incident triggered a massive wave of shock throughout both the Navy and the World Government.
It reached a point where almost everyone knew about it. For a long time, the story circulated that it had been a World Government operation rather than a CP0 deployment—a subtle cover-up designed to preserve CP0's dignity and aura of mystery.
It was precisely from that moment on that the Revolutionary Army's fame skyrocketed, and its mysterious leader, Dragon, became mythologized into a legendary figure.
There was even a popular theory asserting that the bizarre, terrifying scene those operatives had witnessed was executed personally by Dragon himself.
Now, Dragon's grand arrival instantly cast an intensely suffocating pressure over the entire battlefield. When a true powerhouse steps onto the field, the very heavens shift!
Atop the elevated platform, the Four Elders looked up at Dragon's silhouette in the sky, their expressions turning exceptionally grave.
PURUPURUPURU... PURUPURUPURU...
Right at that moment, a Transponder Snail suddenly began ringing loudly.
"Hm?" The Elders turned their gazes toward the Elder with short white hair, a fluffy beard, and a distinct scar over his left eye.
"Who is calling?"
"It must be the fourth one. It should be news regarding Pluton."
"Bwahahaha, this time, he will finally have something worthy to report to Lord Im."
CLACK!
As they spoke, the scarred Elder pulled the Transponder Snail from his robe and flipped the receiver up.
"Is that you?"
"Reporting to the Gorosei! Pluton has been destroyed! And... the Elder who was deployed..."
"WHAT?!" The Four Elders surrounding the Transponder Snail gasped in unison, their voices instantly rising in a sharp, furious shout: "What did you say?! Repeat that again!!"
"Reporting to the Gorosei... Pluton has been completely destroyed! As for the Elder... his life status is completely unmapped!!"