He didn't care about ordinary people; the only ones worth a second glance were Brook and Rebecca.
But with his current speed, it was impossible to leave the island before the attack landed. Rather than fleeing in a panic, it was better to stand his ground and prepare to meet the attack. At least here, there were enough strong people and more who could actually help out.
"Reshiram, let's give it a try. Let's see who can tear that thing apart first!"
In the sky, Zekrom had already shed its miniature form and now appeared as a true black dragon. The turbine at its tail spun rapidly, blue-violet currents crackling around its body.
"Deal with that attack first. Lord's order comes before anything else."
"Of course I know that. But are you scared? Afraid of losing to me twice in a row?"
"Twice? You sure talk big. It's you who should get ready for a second defeat!"
Reshiram's tail flame burned even hotter. They kept arguing as they flew, but Reshiram and Zekrom gradually drew closer, finally rising together in a spiraling ascent.
Black and white formed a strange yin-yang symbol, surging with lightning and fire as they shot into the sky like swords. At this moment, Mother Flame's attack was already descending, but Zekrom and Reshiram chose the most direct approach: breaking straight through the center.
The devastating pillar of light was split in two by them. The divided energy didn't simply vanish, but detonated in the air.
At that moment, two suns appeared in the sky. Besides the natural star, there was a crimson sun formed by condensed energy. Yet as the twin dragons pierced the energy sphere, it ultimately dissolved into nothingness in midair.
Zekrom and Reshiram would assist the hero they recognize to establish a nation they approve of. The reason they could only assist was because, after their split, all that remained of their power was destruction.
Their way of aiding wasn't to create something meaningful, but to destroy the world they rejected, and rebuild an ideal or true civilization upon the wasteland.
They were not dragons of creation, but dragons of destruction.
"Let's start from here. I'll take the left."
Zekrom and Reshiram had reached an incredible height by now. The air was thin, and dark clouds were mere stepping stones beneath their feet. Mother Flame's main body was here.
Facing this massive machine, Zekrom felt no fear. Instead, wrapped in electricity, he lunged toward the left side.
Tearing it apart—this was their mission now.
"Such a brute."
Reshiram's eyes were full of disdain for Zekrom. Then it breathed out a stream of blue flame toward the right side. As the flames met the metal, something similar to an energy shield appeared above it, briefly blocking Reshiram's flames.
But as an urgent alarm blared, the outer shield was already consumed by Blue Flare. The portion of material touched by the flames vaporized instantly and began to corrode the surrounding structure.
The flames unleashed by Reshiram, manifested in its main body, were not on the same level as the power borrowed by Yamato. As the flames devoured it, the right half of the machine began to disintegrate.
As for the left side, the effect was even more pronounced. Unlike Reshiram, who spewed flames to incinerate everything from a distance, Zekrom chose a more direct approach: demoliting things up close.
The turbine engine provided terrifying explosive force. The special composite metal crumpled under Zekrom's claws as if it were not different from paper. Even though he was ripping off massive chunks of metal, Zekrom was even faster than Reshiram.
Even if Mother Flame was equipped with a special defense mechanism, they had never anticipated encountering beings like Zekrom and Reshiram. Whether it was lasers or gravity capture nets, nothing worked on them.
With the destruction escalating, the power core was soon revealed before them.
Both Reshiram and Zekrom now realized that whoever destroyed the power core first would gain the upper hand in their contest.
Lightning wrapped Zekrom's body, with the shadow of a giant dragon trailing behind. Like a Thunder Dragon God diving, Zekrom charged straight toward the power core ahead.
Reshiram didn't choose to make contact with it directly, but several swirling, intersecting streams of flame had already formed. As the flame completely turned blue, the interwoven blue flames blazed downward.
Boom!!
After a brief calm, a massive secondary explosion erupted high in the sky. The intense heat from the blast swept through everything nearby, and the already thin oxygen was completely burned away, making the surroundings seem like a false vacuum.
Due to the shockwaves, the surrounding clouds were all swept away, leaving only Reshiram floating proudly in the sky. A light blue barrier shielded it from everything before it, allowing Reshiram to look down upon all below.
Reshiram was waiting.. waiting for his destined opponent.
Before long, Zekrom burst out from the smoke, bathed in lightning and fire, and arrived before Reshiram.
Lightning danced across Zekrom's black shell, clearing away any ash that had stuck to it.
"I was the one who broke through that thing's shell first."
"But it was my fire that ignited it."
"My electricity burned down the circuits inside."
"You're wrong again. It was the high temperature I created that overloaded its wiring."
No matter what it was, Zekrom and Reshiram could argue about it. It wasn't about right or wrong; as long as the other dragon was involved, they'd almost always choose opposite answers.
"You know, I've wanted to fight you for a long time."
"Same here. Your head needs a good roasting to clear it up."
Now that Mother Flame had been dealt with, they moved to the next stage. With two roars, black and white intertwined once more.
At Mariejois, the tools in York's hands clattered to the ground. The sound in her ears, like a heart monitor flatlining, was unbearably harsh, but York had no mind to care.
To control Mother Flame, there were of course cameras mounted on it.
Some video fragments remained on the devices around York. Reshiram spewing flames, Zekrom wielding lightning; their savage gazes were captured vividly by the devices.
"It's destroyed, it's destroyed… How is this possible?! How can a living creature become this powerful? How can fire destroy this energy shield, how?!"
York began frantically running calculations with the equipment, but the more she calculated, the less she could accept the results.
At this moment, York felt as if someone was telling her that one plus one actually equals three, that the idea of one plus one equaling two had always been wrong.
York's knowledge came from Vegapunk, but the power of Zekrom and Reshiram shattered the old system. Based on the final data sent back, these two creatures simply shouldn't exist in this world.
It wasn't until Lilith arrived that the alarms were silenced, but by then York had already fallen into a kind of manic state, endlessly running over the same data.
Lilith didn't bother with calculations, but looking at the gray screen and still hearing the echo of those harsh alarms, it was more than enough to show that something had gone terribly wrong.
In Dressrosa, when the twin dragons rushed into the sky against the energy beam and triggered the explosion, everyone realized it was an unimaginably terrifying weapon—one that seemed intended to erase everything completely.
But before their bodies could even react, the shockwaves of the explosion had already swept down.
Shk!
Sai drove the broadsword in his hand into the ground while Boo hugged his waist, but the shockwave still sent them both flying, and they only came to a halt after crashing into Chinjao's stomach.
"Grandpa?!"
"Stand firm! As pillars of the Happo Navy, getting blown away by a shockwave. How are you supposed to lead the Happo Navy like that?!"
Chinjao's pointed head exemplifies the importance of a streamlined design: with the drill-head in front, the shockwave's impact was relatively reduced for him, but even so, his feet were buried deep in the ground.
"What on earth is this? Have the Marines gone mad? Are they planning to bury all of Dressrosa?!"
They saw clearly what had happened. Even the shockwaves were so terrifying. If the two dragons hadn't interrupted that light beam, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
"So this is power… Looks like what happened during the Summit War wasn't just a rumor after all."
Chinjao shielded his eyes with one hand as he answered his grandson's question.
Not far away, Hajrudin's massive body crashed to the ground, but his fallen body became a refuge for the people nearby.
"Hajrudin! Hang in there!"
"You're the pride of the Giants, don't give up!! Everyone, keep it up! It'll be over soon!"
Using the giant's body as cover, some people found their own haven. As they used their meager strength to support Hajrudin's body, they constantly cheered him on.
Dagama even took the lead, acting as a cheerleader and organizing the others.
"All of you, shut up!"
Hajrudin was in a terrible mood at this moment. When the attack had just struck, he had been afraid.
He, who dreamed of becoming King of the Giants, had actually felt fear. This was a disgrace to any warrior's honor. But the attack—
The overwhelming power of the attack crushed any thought of resistance. At that moment, the young Giant warrior fell into complete confusion.
After King Elizabello II finished charging up and repelled the remaining shockwave with his King Punch, Hajrudin finally sat up in silence, unsure of what to do next.
"Ice Age!"
Kuzan raised his hand and created an ice mountain. Its streamlined shape redirected the airflow upward, giving the people behind it a chance to catch their breath. He kept repairing the ice, maintaining the barrier's integrity, and occasionally cleared away chunks of broken ice.
Just a moment ago, in order to protect a pair of grandfather and grandson, he could only watch as his bicycle was blown by the shockwaves into the ruins, then buried by a collapsing building.
"Ara, ara, this is going to be hard to explain."
The bicycle was important; he'd promised to bring it back intact when he left. But, all things considered, lives were more important than inanimate objects.
Sighing over the fate of his bicycle, Kuzan didn't dig it out, instead continuing to maintain the safe zone he had created.
Elsewhere, Fujitora stood at the front, gripping his sword with both hands, using gravity to withstand the shockwaves. Sengoku revealed his giant golden Buddha form, creating a sturdy barrier for the people behind him, sheltering this portion of the residents.
Fujitora looked relaxed. The many auras he sensed confirmed that everyone was still alive, but Sengoku felt differently.
This attack had been stopped again, and it definitely wasn't the work of the World Government or the Marines. That was good news for Dressrosa, but perhaps bad news for the world at large.
At the very center of the impact, Ace, Luffy, and the others got up one after another from the clouds of dust. Ace was a bit slower, and by the time he arrived, the attack had already fallen.
There was no time to run. All they could do was brace themselves and withstand the attack.
However, due to the nature of his ability, Ace ended up at the very back. Even Hercules, with its Protect move, offered better defense in this situation than Ace did.
"That was so cool!"
But Luffy, who had just narrowly escaped disaster, clearly didn't think like a normal person. His eyes were sparkling.
"Hey, hey, Pineapple Bro, can you use a move like that too?"
"That's not the point… Wait, which move are you talking about?"
Marco and Jozu had blocked the shockwaves with their own bodies. At this moment, Marco's body was wreathed in flames, a sign that he was regenerating.
Though the Phoenix fruit could heal his body, being pestered with questions during the process—especially by someone who could never remember his name—was incredibly irritating.
"I mean summoning dragons from your body! I saw two super cool dragons flying out of her body! You're a Mythical Zoan too, aren't you? So you should be able to do it, right?"
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