On Tree Islands 60 to 69, where Marine branches and World Government installations were based, panic broke out the moment news arrived that Souta Kiryuu had launched an assault on the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Not good! Lord Sabii of the Jegarushia family hasn't left the Archipelago yet!"
A World Government officer cried out in terror. After the report of Souta Kiryuu's attack on Enies Lobby, Mary Geoise had already issued urgent orders for the Celestial Dragons to return at once.
But Jegarushia Sabii had lingered in the Human Auction House, bidding on rare races as slaves and experimental specimens. That delay had left him stranded.
No one had expected the Ararashi Pirates to actually descend upon Sabaody.
"Admirals Kizaru and Aokiji are already at Enies Lobby chasing Kiryuu. By the time they return, it'll be too late!"
"Quick! Follow me—we must save Lord Sabii immediately!"
The Marines stationed at Sabaody, along with every available Government official, mobilized at once, rushing toward the Auction House to protect the Celestial Dragon.
Inside a quiet bar on Tree Islands 40 to 49, Shakky, with her short black hair, and Silvers Rayleigh, his long white hair flowing loosely, gazed at the crimson dragon blazing across the sky.
"A monster on par with Kaido of the Beasts…" Rayleigh muttered.
"Is he really about to kill another Celestial Dragon?"
Even they had to admire Souta Kiryuu's audacity. He had killed a Celestial Dragon not long ago, and now he had come straight to Sabaody to hunt another. Such defiance was unheard of across the seas.
"Kizaru and Aokiji are both at Water 7, Akainu is still in the New World, and with Garp back in the East Blue, there's no admiral nearby to save this one. Unless Sengoku himself comes, that Celestial Dragon is finished," Shakky said as she exhaled a thin stream of smoke.
She suspected Kiryuu had deliberately lured the Admirals away—his own version of a diversionary tactic—leaving Sabaody vulnerable for this very strike.
Because word of Enies Lobby's destruction had not yet spread, Shakky and Rayleigh had no idea of the greater carnage that had already unfolded. If they had, their shock would have been far greater.
"It looks like Sabaody won't be peaceful much longer. Better close shop early," Rayleigh chuckled, before strolling toward Grove 1. He wanted to see the chaos for himself.
"Boom!"
Another massive shockwave shaped like a bear's paw blasted through the Auction House, sending CP agents and armored guards flying.
Everywhere Bartholomew Kuma walked, bodies toppled. Step by step, he approached the trembling Celestial Dragon.
From above, Souta Kiryuu's voice thundered, breaking the fear shackling Kuma's heart.
"Out of my way!" Sabii screamed, his face twisting between rage and terror. "The Jegarushia family are Celestial Dragon nobility among nobility! My ancestor is one of the Five Elders themselves!"
He wanted nothing more than to enslave this "little giant" daring to advance on him, to break him into submission and torture him for life.
"Ehh? Did you just say Saturn is your ancestor?!"
Souta Kiryuu swooped down from the sky, reverting to human form in midair. He seized Sabii by the collar, snarling into his face.
"You dare speak my ancestor's name aloud? You're courting dea—"
CRACK!
Kiryuu shattered Sabii's transparent air bubble with a savage strike, dislocating his jaw.
"Sorry, Kuma. This one, I'm killing myself."
With a feral grin, Kiryuu's right eye blazed with a searing laser that erupted in a single beam, blasting Sabii's arm clean off.
"Good!"
Kuma, who had been summoning his courage to deliver the finishing blow, exhaled in relief. Even now, he could not fully break the chains of his childhood as a slave in Mary Geoise.
He still remembered the day his parents were killed there—his father gunned down before his eyes, his mother executed soon after. The warmth of his father's blood splashing across his face at nine years old was something he would never forget.
"Papa Kuma! Stop dawdling! Look over there—reporters, loads of them! Of course Sabaody's busiest grove would be crawling with the press!"
Jewelry Bonney—or rather, Bonney Kuma—ran up and shoved a World Government flag into his hand.
"Come on, Papa Kuma! Let's burn their flag!"
"Fine." Kuma's reply was as curt as ever. If he couldn't yet slay a Celestial Dragon himself, he could at least declare war.
"Listen well, world!" Bonney shouted as the flames devoured the flag. "Enies Lobby has already been destroyed by the Ararashi Pirates! This is its World Government banner!"
"Today, I—Bonney Kuma, daughter of the Tyrant—formally declare war against the World Government and the Celestial Dragons!"
She abandoned the surname Jewelry, the false name her adoptive father had given her to hide the truth of her illness. Kuma had lied, telling her the crystalline scars of her disease were gemstones, "jewels" that made her special.
But today, she claimed his name proudly before the world. This was her gift to him.
Tears welled in Kuma's eyes. Ginny's daughter had chosen to bear his name.
"Papa Kuma, don't just stand there! You too!"
Moved beyond words, Kuma stepped forward, raising his massive paw.
"I, Bartholomew Kuma, hereby declare war on the Celestial Dragons! Saturn—I will kill you!"
The proclamation resounded across Grove 1.
Then Kuma unleashed a devastating shockwave, collapsing the entire Auction House into rubble.
His rage was boundless. Kiryuu had told him everything: Saturn had been the one to experiment on Ginny, dooming her with the Jade Scale disease, which she passed on to Bonney. Kuma's life of suffering all traced back to Saturn and the Jegarushia family.
As father and daughter roared their challenge, reporters snapped frantically, capturing every moment. The world now had two more maniacs to fear—madmen who stood alongside Souta Kiryuu.
"Enies Lobby… destroyed?!"
Rayleigh's pupils shrank. That revelation was even more staggering than the declaration of war.
Had Kiryuu really wreaked havoc at Water 7, annihilated Enies Lobby, and then flown here to Sabaody in a single rampage?
"Could be. The latest whispers claim massive earthquakes and tsunamis erupted near Enies Lobby's waters," Shakky murmured as she appeared beside him, having closed her bar and followed.
"Tomorrow's headlines will send the world into a frenzy," Rayleigh said with a wry shake of his head. "This Ararashi crew makes even the Four Emperors and the Revolutionary Army look tame. They've turned the Grand Line upside down in a single day."
"Look there," Shakky said, raising a transponder snail-camera toward the scene. "That experimental subject… he's really about to kill a Celestial Dragon."
The snail's shutter clicked, recording the moment history would never forget.
...
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