Within the Reality Marble.
The four who originally surrounded Caelan had been completely annihilated.
Across the entire battlefield, only two groups of people remained conscious.
On one side were Magellan and his men, whom Caelan had deliberately protected. On the other were the Evil King and the others, struggling under the pressure of Caelan's overwhelming Conqueror's Haki.
Both sides looked toward Caelan standing at the center of the battlefield, their faces filled with shock.
Just moments ago, four notorious pirates had besieged him with terrifying power.
But the moment the Azure Dragon intervened, their formation collapsed instantly.
The Evil King and the others, who had been knocked to the ground by the Haki, stared at Caelan in utter fear.
"Bullet, Redfield, and the others were defeated that fast!" the Evil King said bitterly, kneeling on the ground. "They were so arrogant before, but they fell apart the moment they clashed with him!"
When they were first released from Eternal Hell, Bullet and the others had spoken wildly, their arrogance unmatched.
Yet they had all perished within mere minutes of appearing.
"Forget about them, let's think about our own situation," Catarina Devon said calmly. "At least they could still move. We can't even lift a finger under the pressure of his Conqueror's Haki."
"What's there to think about? If no one saves us, we'll just die here."
They couldn't move under Caelan's oppressive will. There was nothing they could do.
The gap between them was far too great. There was no hope left, only death.
For a moment, the great pirates looked at Caelan and felt true despair.
They had escaped from the sixth level of Eternal Hell, only to fall into another, far more terrifying hell from which there was no escape.
…
"Caelan-sama, your strength is beyond belief!"
Magellan looked at Caelan, shock filling his eyes.
He never imagined that Caelan could so easily defeat four great pirates.
Those people had taken the Navy countless efforts to capture.
If the four had joined forces, Magellan would have stood no chance. Even facing him alone, they would never have cooperated.
"Bullet, the so-called Roger's right hand, was once captured only after the Fleet Admiral Sengoku personally led a team, with Aokiji and Akainu.
'The Lone Red' Redfield once fought the former Admiral Steel Bone to a draw in an aerial battle, only to be exhausted and subdued by other Marine officers afterward.
These people are no ordinary pirates, yet Caelan defeated them with ease!"
"How terrifying!
Only by witnessing such battles firsthand could they truly understand how irresistible true power was and how insignificant they themselves were.
In front of the nearly invincible Caelan, they were like ants.
"It's such a pity about the Azure Dragon," Ivankov sighed as he looked at the dying creature. "To withstand such an attack and still live, it must be incredibly strong, perhaps even on par with an admiral. What a waste. Now its tail is broken, its head crushed, and a massive hole tears through its torso. It's unlikely to survive."
"But with Caelan-sama's speed, he could have dodged that attack. Why let the Azure Dragon take it head-on?" Magellan said in confusion.
Given how quickly Caelan had killed Bullet and the others, that previous assault would have been useless against him.
Why risk such a powerful mount just to block their attack?
Hannyabal's eyes suddenly widened as realization struck him. "Maybe, he wanted to protect us."
"At that time, we were all standing behind him. If he hadn't blocked those attacks, most of us would have been dead by now."
As he spoke, Hannyabal's tone shifted to one of genuine reverence.
It was no longer the false respect he had shown before, but sincere admiration from the heart.
"So that's how it is," Magellan said, deeply moved.
If the combined attack of those four had not been blocked, even if Magellan had survived, he would have been severely injured.
Domino and Sadi beside him would likely have been killed outright.
Domino looked at Caelan with eyes burning with admiration, instinctively drawn to his strength.
"Caelan-sama~, Master~," Sadi whispered, her gaze hazy with adoration.
Such a powerful man had saved her at her most desperate moment.
She couldn't help but imagine being punished by him, her body marked by his presence.
For a moment, Sadi pressed her legs together tightly, a faint mist rising from her body.
Hundreds of meters away, Caelan's ears twitched slightly as he caught the sound of everyone's sighs.
"I didn't know I was that impressive," Caelan muttered to himself.
He had asked the Azure Dragon to block the combined attack not out of sentimentality, but primarily to protect the captured pirates.
After all, there were hundreds of Devil Fruits at stake.
If they died, finding them again would be nearly impossible.
Still, Caelan had no intention of explaining himself.
Let them misunderstand. In the end, he had indeed saved their lives.
He turned his gaze toward Blackbeard, the true prize of this Impel Down expedition.
(To be continued.)