It seemed the furious thunder outside had reached them. Ivankov hurried over to Dragon and asked, "What's going on?"
"That guy..." Dragon's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "He's a Mink. He's entered his Sulong form under the full moon!"
Sure enough, after the initial shock, Dragon had already pieced it together.
"Sulong?" Ivankov said doubtfully. "But Sulong transformations don't cause thunderstorms, do they?"
"If I'm right, his mental state isn't very stable right now..." Dragon stepped aside so Ivankov could see for himself.
On the island, Ortoren was rampaging like a lunatic, swinging his warhammer and smashing everything in sight—rocks, shrubs, anything that caught his eye was instantly reduced to rubble under his blows.
His movements had no form or rhythm, just wild, frenzied swings. His eyes glowed faintly with a crimson light.
In that moment, both Ivankov and Dragon understood why the Marines had left him behind.
So that was it—Ortoren really did go berserk. If he'd turned like this aboard the warship, the entire vessel would already be scrap metal.
But he wasn't finished yet. Lightning burst violently from his body, dazzling and fierce. The dense currents coiled around him like silver serpents, making him look like a thunder god descending in all his majesty.
As the lightning surged, Ortoren's body rose into the air. Under the thick storm clouds, bolts of thunder rained down one after another onto the island, striking like natural disasters.
At that moment, the lone cliff in the island's center fell into his gaze, and to him it felt like a direct challenge to his authority.
The more he looked, the more it infuriated him. And now, with no rationality left, the violent madness surged straight to his head. His eyes flashed red as he roared, reaching out into the air.
In an instant, the raging thunder condensed in his grasp like a silver dragon caught in his fist. The dragon twisted and hardened into a spear, and with a sharp fling of his arm, Ortoren hurled the crackling bolt straight at the cliff!
Dragon, teacup in hand, swore instinctively. "Shit!"
The strike came far too fast. And since he was inside the cliff, there was no way to stop it. In an instant, the ventilation shaft Dragon had been using exploded with a deafening crash, collapsing in on itself.
At that very moment, Ortoren's instincts flared. Something was there.
His Observation Haki swept across, and immediately he picked up the auras of Dragon and Ivankov.
Like a starving tiger spotting prey, Ortoren's crazed expression twisted with a glimmer of excitement.
The next instant, his figure vanished from the sky.
On the other side, Dragon—covered in dust—was just about to speak when he felt the crushing weight of danger. He yanked Ivankov by the arm, his feet pushing off with explosive force as their bodies shot out of the collapsing cavern like cannonballs.
As they burst free, Dragon caught sight of Ortoren's feral face. Warhammer in hand, he slammed it down with brutal force onto the very spot Dragon had just been standing.
The blow was even more savage than the earlier thunderstorm, shaking the entire cliff to its core. The rock face split apart, and a torrent of rubble came crashing down the slope like a flood, burying Ortoren beneath it.
Dragon's body flickered again and again with blinding speed—Soru—before finally stopping on a patch of rocky ground deep in the jungle. He was still carrying a battered Ivankov, his expression heavy as he said, "That guy found us..."
Even before his words faded, the pile of rubble exploded. Two beams of lightning shot out like lasers, blasting skyward.
And then Ortoren emerged—completely unharmed, though covered in dust. His eyes now burned an eerie indigo, and it was clear those beams had fired straight from them.
In a heartbeat, his gaze locked onto Dragon once again.
Dragon narrowed his eyes and said, "Iva, hide. I'll deal with this lunatic..."
Fixated on his prey, Ortoren didn't hesitate. A sharp crackle split the air, and his figure flashed like lightning, appearing right in front of Dragon. The violent charge of thunder around him was so intense that Dragon's hair bristled upward with static.
"Arghhhhhh!!!" Ortoren let out a beast-like roar and swung his warhammer straight at Dragon's face.
Dragon had no intention of taking the strike head-on. He kicked Ivankov aside and moved with the agility of a cheetah, skimming past the edge of the warhammer as he lunged at Ortoren.
In an instant, Dragon's hand curled into a claw, dense Haki surging around his fingertips. He struck Ortoren's chest with a powerful swipe.
"Steel bones!?" That was Dragon's first thought the moment his blow landed.
Ortoren, completely consumed by madness, wasn't defending himself—he hadn't even used Armament Haki. Dragon's claw had connected cleanly with his chest.
Yet the feedback was like striking solid steel—unyielding and immovable. He hadn't managed to break through at all!
Before Dragon could process this, Ortoren suddenly let go of his warhammer. His arms snapped inward with terrifying force. Given Dragon's position, it was clearly a textbook bear hug finisher.
Except Dragon wasn't a girl.
Just before Ortoren's arms closed in, Dragon ducked low, narrowly slipping out of the hold. A muffled thud rang out as Ortoren's arms slammed into his own chest.
The miss only drove Ortoren into a deeper frenzy. His eyes flared, and two bolts of lightning burst out from them. This time, Dragon couldn't dodge in time. At point-blank range, the blast struck him full-on, hurling his body through the air.
As he was sent flying, Dragon's expression darkened. "Not good!"
Ortoren's speed was terrifying. In a flash, he appeared before Dragon, who hadn't yet regained his balance.
No wasted movements—his blood-red eyes burned, his mouth twisted in a beastly snarl, and his fist came crashing down with brutal weight.
Dragon had no room to evade. Gritting his teeth, he wrapped his arms in Armament Haki, hardening them into iron fists, and met Ortoren's punch head-on.
One fist clad in Haki, the other just raw strength.
But when they collided, pain shot across Dragon's face. "Shit... this punch is way too heavy!"
The sheer force nearly shattered the Haki he had hastily gathered!
Landing on his feet, Dragon steadied his stance and instinctively braced to contest Ortoren's strength.
As Garp's son, Dragon's physique was formidable. Trained from childhood under Garp and countless Marine powerhouses, his strength was nothing short of elite.
Which was exactly why he wanted to test it—just how terrifying was Ortoren's power?
But the moment he dug his feet into the ground, an overwhelming brute force bore down on him. His knees buckled instantly, nearly forcing him to kneel.
And that wasn't all. Ortoren, in his berserk state, had no concept of restraint. A violent surge of lightning erupted from his body, drowning both him and Dragon in a blinding storm.
Under the cover of flashing thunder, the ground exploded apart. Cracked stone and shattered earth, driven by the backlash, blasted out in all directions like cannon fire, bursting across the battlefield like fireworks.
One of those dark figures was Dragon himself. In the blink of an eye, he had retreated to a distant tree, clutching his wrist with a grimace that looked almost like toothache.
If he hadn't redirected the force just in time—if he'd stubbornly taken the blow head-on—his wrist would have been pulverized by that monstrous power.
"What the hell is this monster!?" Dragon cursed inwardly.
Who in the world decided to rank this guy alongside Sakazuki and the others? Worse, even putting him near the bottom of the list?
From what Dragon felt, Ortoren was clearly far stronger than Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino.
Calling them the Marine's Four New Generation Masters and lumping this guy in with them—wasn't that misleading?
This man was in a league of his own.
Absolute strength, a body with terrifying resilience, and the Goro Goro no Mi—together, they had forged a monster that left Dragon truly shaken.
...
(50 Chapters Ahead)
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