Not good!
Seeing the situation turn, Kraem and Doraine's faces paled at once.
In the blink of an eye, the bloodless Kraem desperately pushed his ability to its limits. The island beneath his feet trembled and heaved as enormous black vines, each more than ten meters thick, tore through the ground.
The black vines were needle-sharp at the tips, glinting with a cold and deadly light.
Under Kraem's control, they flew like a rain of giant obsidian needles, tearing the air with a shrill whistle as they drove straight at Ghidorah.
Doraine, seeing his comrade giving everything, also held nothing back.
At this point, if either of them reserved strength, neither would leave the island alive.
His eyes flared, spewing out a chaotic gray mist. The already gloomy sky darkened further, until it resembled an endless polar night.
Far away, aboard the retreating Navy warship, Green Bull and Fujitora felt the vessel lurch as though it were a small skiff caught in a storm, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.
"What a terrifying creature…" Green Bull muttered, horror in his eyes. "To think, we Admirals — regarded as the Navy's strongest — are so helpless before such an attack."
"Good thing these old eyes see nothing," Fujitora replied with a half-joking smile. "Spare me the blow you're taking."
Though he could not see, his powerful perception painted the battlefield clearly in his mind. Even blurred, the oppressive aura from the island made him tremble inwardly.
Buru buru… buru buru…
At that moment, the Den Den Mushi in Green Bull's coat rang. He instinctively answered, and Kizaru's voice came through:
"You two — leave that island immediately. The Navy cannot afford to lose even a single Admiral right now."
The words carried an undertone that almost sounded like abandoning the World Government itself. Yet neither Admiral was surprised.
Exchanging a knowing glance, they gave the order for the ship to turn about and withdraw.
Meanwhile, aboard a World Government vessel, Steel-Bone Kong had awoken. He gazed silently at the apocalyptic scene unfolding across the waters, struck speechless.
Rumble…
A storm like a natural disaster raged across the island. A hurricane, beyond even Ghidorah's control, swept up colossal blades of wind — blades sharp enough to rival any of the Supreme Grade Blades of legend.
As the storm tore through, the remaining stone peaks of the island were sliced flat in an instant. Even the shattered debris was carved into fragments midair.
Its destructive power was unimaginable.
And it did not end there. On the sea, waves nearly a hundred meters high rose, crashing toward the island like living walls.
ROOOAR!
Ghidorah, buffeted in midair by the storm, was forced to land.
His control over wind was secondary, nothing compared to a true wielder of the Storm-Storm Fruit. Against such mastery, he could not remain aloft.
But his landing was exactly what the two had anticipated. The forest of black, needle-like vines came down in a crushing tide, piercing toward him.
Faced with the onslaught, his golden pupils blazed with savage light. With a furious roar, hundreds of bolts of lightning split the sky, striking down in torrents.
The golden thunder illuminated the darkness. Like a god of storms incarnate, he drank in the electricity, devouring the electromagnetic charge with madness.
As the power surged through him, his golden scales shone like a colossal lightbulb. His entire body blazed with radiance, accompanied by a strange, ominous hum.
Vmm… vmm… vmm… BOOM!
With a sudden eruption, his golden energy reached critical mass, exploding forth from all three maws at once.
Ignoring the countless attacks around him, his three gravity beams converged into one blinding golden ray — and with earth-shaking fury, he fired straight at Doraine in the sky.
BANG!
The overwhelming beam swallowed Doraine whole, detonating into a towering blaze. The fireball was no true flame, but air itself igniting under impossible compression.
"DORAINE!!"
Kraem, still controlling the black vines, turned ashen as he cried out. His features twisted in anguish and rage.
It wasn't just about comradeship — though he had some. He knew that if Doraine perished, his own end would swiftly follow.
The lips cannot survive if the teeth are lost.
Snarling, Kraem drove his power harder. The countless vines Ghidorah had scorned drove home.
Pupu-pupu…
A chorus of sharp punctures filled the air as dozens of massive vines speared through Ghidorah's body at once.
The mighty golden beast, scourge of the strong, was riddled like a pin-cushion, his flesh torn with gaping wounds.
Golden blood — thick and gleaming like molten metal — trickled down the vines' twisted surfaces.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Kraem burst into crazed laughter. "You fool! This is the price of underestimating my Diamond Vines!"
With a snarl, he willed the vines tighter, trying to tear the monster's body apart from within.
But Ghidorah's voice thundered back, laced with fury and pain:
"You think… this is enough?"
Though his body was riddled with holes, though agony wracked him, his wrath made him terrifying.
CRACK! SNAP!
Muscles bulged, immense strength surging. The pitch-black vines, said to be unbreakable, split and snapped one by one under sheer brute force.
The more he struggled, the more his wounds tore open, golden blood raining across the ground.
But where it spilled, life erupted.
Shriveled plants, long since blasted lifeless, surged back to vitality the instant they touched his blood.
Grass turned not green, but golden like ripened wheat, growing at insane speed.
Behind him, a gnarled dead tree shivered, straightened, and bloomed with renewed vigor.
And Ghidorah's own wounds, soaked in his radiant ichor, began to close.
"As payment for my pain… you can die!"
Freed from his bindings, the colossal beast twisted, twin tails sweeping out like warhammers.
WHOOSH—CRASH!
The massive tail-spurs, spiked like maces, smashed through everything. With irresistible force, they crushed the ground where Kraem stood.
The earth erupted in a shower of soil and splintered vegetation.
A dome of plant matter split apart, spewing sticky fluid everywhere.
Only by cushioning himself with his plant powers did Kraem narrowly survive — but his body was drained, weakened, wretched.
He burst from the cloud of dust and debris, staggering, yet wasted no time. Panic in his eyes, he sprinted desperately toward the shore.
But Ghidorah was not about to let him escape. With a low, thunderous hum, a violent gravity beam roared from his maw.
The golden ray tore across the ground, plowing a trench of erupting earth and shattered stone as it streaked toward the fleeing figure.
"It's over!"
Seeing the beam about to strike, Kraem's face went stiff, and despair swallowed his heart.
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