Chapter 270: Head-on Clash: The Revolutionary Army Executives

So, Dragon's initial offensive had merely been a ploy to draw their focus, while his authentic objective was to transport the Revolutionary Army forces waiting at the base of the Red Line straight to the summit.

That tempestuous capability could actually be weaponized in such a manner! This sudden maneuver left the high command of the World Government feeling as thoroughly disgusted as if they had been forced to swallow flies.

Under these parameters, didn't it imply that the entirety of the Revolutionary Army's lower military mass could join the fray?

In the span of a single microsecond, the strategic balance had devolved into such a dire state.

The positional superiority they held by anchoring the absolute apex of the Red Line had completely dissolved into thin air.

"Hurry, Akainu! Stop him immediately!" the Elder with the scar over his left eye barked at once.

Akainu was naturally well aware that permitting this progression to continue would pose a fatal hazard to their side, potentially rewriting the final outcome of the war entirely.

He immediately turned to Ryokugyu and Fujitora, roaring, "Ryokugyu, Fujitora! Intercept Dragon at once!"

As he issued the order, Akainu tightly clenched his fists. The situation was turning exceptionally grim. Had Kizaru been present on the field, his speed and combat prowess would have comfortably allowed him to arrive in time.

Perhaps he could have drastically restricted the volume of subversives ascending the plateau. Yet even now, Kizaru remained in a complete communications blackout. What on earth was...

Could it be?!

Akainu's pupils contracted sharply as his gaze locked onto Dragon's utterly calm, unruffled expression. A deep, gnawing dread began to bloom within his chest.

He firmly believed that Kizaru would never betray the Navy. Yet with a tier of strength like Kizaru's, it was mathematically impossible for him to remain out of contact with Headquarters for this long unless...

There was only a solitary possibility.

He had been captured—or his survival metrics had already been permanently erased.

At that exact moment, the earth beneath their feet suddenly rolled and upheaved, forming massive earthen shields that completely intercepted the incoming barrage of artillery shells.

"Revolutionary Army West Army Commander, Morley!"

A giant wielding a colossal trident dug into the ground; with every sweep of his weapon, the terrain underwent a massive, radical transformation.

The Marines—who had been maintaining an organized battle formation—were thoroughly broken apart by the shifting earth. The artillery shells were either blocked outright, redirected off course, or detonated directly among the Navy's own ranks.

"Aaagh... Not good!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Atop the elevated platform, the expressions of the Five Elders and Akainu turned exceptionally dark. The war had barely initialized, yet the strategic balance was already shifting violently against them.

The battlefield was progressing in a direction increasingly unfavorable to the regime. First, the Revolutionary Army's troop numbers had multiplied several times over, and now Morley was deploying this thoroughly troublesome ability.

"Chaton!" Akainu roared toward the battlefield, calling out to Vice Admiral Chaton.

"Understood!"

Chaton naturally grasped Akainu's intent. The ability commanded by the West Army Commander of the Revolutionary Army posed far too great a threat to their ranks.

He had to be neutralized immediately!

SHING! A long blade cleared its scabbard, its edge flashing with lethal brilliance.

Chaton drove his boot into the ground, vaulting forward like a high-velocity cannonball. Moving rapidly through the air, he compressed his physical stamina to prime a devastating strike.

"One-Sword Style: Iai Slash!!"

The long blade carved a radiant arc across the sky, a colossal wave of flying energy bisecting the raised earthen barrier clean in two.

"Vice Admiral Chaton, sir!" The Marines who had just managed to regain their footing were overjoyed at the sight of his arrival.

Vice Admiral Chaton was an elite among the Vice Admirals, a powerhouse commanding a tier of strength considered a prime candidate for Admiral.

With him stepping into the fray, this Revolutionary Army Commander would undoubtedly be dealt with.

Having severed the earthen wall, Chaton clamped both hands around the hilt of his blade. The tip radiated a bone-chilling aura as he thrust the sword forward like a striking sniper rifle.

"Extreme Point Shot!!"

A visible beam of condensed kinetic energy saturated the surrounding air, punching straight through every obstacle in its path as it shot toward Morley's gargantuan frame at mind-boggling speed.

"Not good!" Morley's pupils contracted sharply. The incoming attack was far too fast for him to dodge!

"Death Wink!!"

A massive figure suddenly dropped from the sky directly before him—none other than the big-headed Emporio Ivankov.

KABOOM!

The two offensive vectors collided in mid-air, triggering a violent, atmospheric detonation. Ivankov stood with hands on hips, a broad, peculiar grin stretching across his face as his eyes widened to cartoonish proportions, looking thoroughly strange.

Morley, however, was long accustomed to his comrade's flamboyant demeanor.

"Morley, keep up your work! Leave this coordinate to me," Ivankov declared with a sweeping wave of his hand, his tone brimming with grand bravado.

"I'll leave it in your hands, then!" Morley beamed, resuming his disruptive tactics to fracture the Marine ranks.

A Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user who possessed the Push-Push Fruit ability, Morley could manipulate any ground he touched as if it were clay, while seamlessly submerging into the earth to bore subterranean tunnels.

While the ability might appear unremarkable at first glance, weaponizing it in a macro-scale war yielded enough tactical leverage to rewrite the entire battlefield. Amidst the chaotic clash of opposing armies, he could effortlessly shatter the enemy's formation simply by shifting the terrain.

"You think you can just step away?!" Chaton swept his blade through the air, unleashing a flying slash that tore through the atmospheric currents.

BOOM! Ivankov leaped into the air, intercepting the flying slash head-on.

"You dare ignore me?! Death Wink!!" Ivankov snapped his eyelid, discharging a strange, compressed shockwave straight from his eye.

Vice Admiral Chaton quickly brought his long blade vertical before his chest to parry the blow.

KABOOM!

"Ugh..."

ROAR... KABOOM!

A sudden cadence of explosions echoed through the high heavens as a continuous stream of airborne Revolutionary Army soldiers were shot down, tumbling out of the sky.

The two Marine Admirals had attempted to intercept Dragon's movements at the very first instance, but Revolutionary Army soldiers surged forward one after another, throwing their bodies into the line to block their path.

"What are those subversives wearing on their backs?! It's actually allowing them to sustain high-altitude flight!"

Earlier, while the Revolutionary Army soldiers were soaring through the sky, the Marines hadn't been able to discern the details. Now that they were being shot down, they noticed that every single one of these airborne soldiers was equipped with a specialized flight apparatus strapped to their backs.

"Fujitora, go stop Dragon! I'll hold these pests off!" Ryokugyu barked, his brow furrowed tightly as he turned to Fujitora.

"Dense Forest World!!"

In an instant, countless thick, sprawling vines erupted from Ryokugyu's body, spreading rapidly across the entire theater.

The swarm of airborne Revolutionary Army soldiers who were attempting to charge past were completely snared by the wooden net.

A significant number were struck out of the sky, tumbling heavily toward the ground below.

"Not good! The Flying Dragon Unit is in critical danger! Reinforce them immediately—we must stall these two Admirals!" The exact microsecond Ivankov logged the threat, he prepared to vault into the sky, only for another lethal sword slash to come sweeping toward his flank.

The Flying Dragon Unit was a secret strike force long hidden within the ranks of the Revolutionary Army. Every single member was an elite operative possessing exceptional agility and martial prowess.

Some even possessed remarkably versatile Devil Fruit abilities. Yet their unifying characteristic was their absolute mastery over the Revolutionary Army's newest flight apparatus.

Specially engineered for aerial combat!

The entire unit comprised only a few hundred operatives, divided into squads of fifty to execute classified covert operations.

This afternoon marked their absolute first public deployment before the eyes of the world.

And their operational objective today was to buy crucial time for Supreme Commander Dragon to haul the remaining subversives up from the base of the Red Line.

The task was nothing short of monumental.

Yet not a single operative hesitated. They launched charge after relentless charge; even when thrown back by violent impacts time and again, as long as they preserved a single fraction of re-ignited combat capability, not one abandoned the line, dragging themselves back to their feet to charge anew.

BANG!

"Ivankov! Go, quickly! Leave this coordinate to us!" A petite silhouette materialized directly before Ivankov.

Koala and Hack!

"Right! I'll leave this line to you!" Ivankov offered zero hesitation, winking hard to propel his physical frame high into the heavens.

"Death Wink!!"

"Halt right there!!" Ivankov materialized before Fujitora in a flash, driving a fierce, high-velocity kick straight toward the Admiral's face.