Chapter 272: Uninvited Guest

"Why didn't Supreme Commander Dragon simply redirect the meteor straight into the Marine ranks?"

A collective wave of deep confusion rippled through the minds of the Revolutionary Army soldiers.

They were actively locked in an all-out war; their leader was certainly far from an indecisive man, making this reserved course of action appear thoroughly contrary to standard logic.

"The Commander naturally operates with his own strategic intent; our duty is strictly to manage the threats before us. Though, that meteor..."

Under the anxious gazes of the subversives, Dragon raised a single palm once more, elevating his arm high above his head.

"Is the Commander preparing to...?"

Before the astonished eyes of both subversives and Marines, the entire atmosphere seemed to fall under a paralyzing spell. Absolute zero atmospheric flux remained across the open sky; the wind... had completely ceased!

The clouds driftlessly suspended in the upper atmosphere froze dead in their tracks. Had the soldiers on the ground not confirmed that their own limbs could still move, they would have assumed time itself had ground to a complete halt.

"What... what is happening here...? Why does the air feel so bizarre...?" a Marine private stuttered, his voice trembling with deep anxiety.

"The heavens... have frozen solid!" a Marine Vice Admiral gasped, his eyes wide as though witnessing an absolute impossibility.

ROAR... KABOOM!

At that exact microsecond, the gargantuan, roaring meteor breached the lower cloud line. Strangely, neither the atmospheric currents nor the surrounding clouds were displaced by the kinetic force of its descent.

"Dragon..." Ivankov—lying wounded upon the back of the giant cybernetic bird—frantically attempted to drag herself upright. Dragon turned his head slightly, offering a calm reassurance: "Rest for now, Ivankov. Leave this obstacle to me."

Without waiting for a response, Dragon turned back to face the colossal, looming mass of burning stone directly before his eyes. Closing his raised palm into a subtle fist, he triggered a display that left every watching soldier completely dumbfounded.

The massive meteor—which had been plunging with unstoppable momentum a microsecond prior—came to an abrupt, absolute halt in midair.

"IMPOSSIBLE!!"

The Marines below completely lost their composure, screaming in sheer shock. They had simulated scenarios where the mysterious Dragon might manage to block the meteor, but they had never imagined he could hold it at bay so casually with a solitary hand.

Yes—a single hand!

At this exact threshold, the gargantuan meteor hung suspended in the sky as if resting upon Dragon's palm. Meanwhile, at the absolute rear of the Revolutionary Army's formation, a continuous stream of subversives was still being hauled up the sheer precipice of the Red Line without interruption!

This proved that an assault of this magnitude was completely incapable of disrupting his dual-tasking. Did this imply that his absolute strength lay light-years beyond the tier of a Marine Admiral?!

"Not good!" As deep astonishment gripped the assembly, cold sweat began to bead across Fujitora's forehead.

That colossal meteor was currently held within Dragon's absolute grip. Should he choose to hurl it down upon the Marines below...

In the very next microsecond, however, Fujitora was spared from that specific horror as Dragon made his move.

With a casual sweep of his arm, Dragon tossed the gargantuan meteor straight back toward Fujitora's coordinate, opting entirely against targeting the Marines on the plaza.

What... what exactly are you trying to accomplish...? Fujitora thought silently, his mind racing.

A fierce, howling gale suddenly shattered his internal contemplation as the gently tossed meteor abruptly accelerated to extreme velocity in mid-flight.

The raw kinetic mass compressed within that mass forced even Fujitora's heart to leap in alarm. What manner of Devil Fruit ability or physical strength could generate a force so terrifyingly immense?!

"Horizontal Gravity!"

Fujitora dared not reserve a single fraction of his strength. Clamping both hands around the hilt of his gravity blade, he funneled 100% of his stamina to unleash a maximum-power slash.

HUMMM...

Crushing horizontal gravity pressed violently against the unyielding, forward-charging meteor. Yet an absolute hurricane had wrapped around the burning rock at an unmapped microsecond, completely insulating its structure.

Under such extreme pressure, the meteor failed to lose even a single fragment of its mass—the hurricane was actively shielding it!

"To think... it's this strong...!" Fujitora's expression transformed instantly. He had assumed he could easily neutralize the returning projectile, but the horizontal gravity field he had unleashed was being forcefully pushed back!

Throughout all his past battles, he had never encountered a scenario where his gravity was flatly overridden like this. The father of Straw Hat Luffy was terrifyingly powerful!!

During their earlier probes, Fujitora had yet to directly collide with Dragon's absolute force. This exchange represented a raw, strength-against-strength collision, yet the Admiral was being completely outmatched!

"CRAP!"

BANG!

The energy-saturated meteor violently breached his gravity field, slamming flush against Fujitora's body.

Bracing his gravity blade as a last-line barrier, Fujitora barely managed to keep his frame from being pulverized instantly.

"Issho!!" Seeing this, Ryokugyu surged forward to assist, but his reaction time lagged behind the speed of the assault.

Dragon pushed his right palm forward once more, summoning a violent surge of atmospheric wind that drove straight into the rear of the meteor.

Fujitora—who was already struggling at his absolute physical limit—was violently blasted backward by the sudden influx of colossal force. The gargantuan meteor acted as a crushing battering ram, carrying the Marine Admiral along as it roared straight toward the residential quadrant of the Celestial Dragons.

"HOLD THE LINE!! YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT IN TIME!!" Ryokugyu pushed his abilities to their absolute limits, sending a dense thicket of stubborn, giant vines erupting from the ground around him.

Each vine was massive enough to easily crush a giant into fine dust. The surging green tide stretched frantically through the air, chasing after the trajectory of the falling meteor.

"This is insane... even an Admiral is no match for him!!" The entire battlefield erupted into a chaotic frenzy.

No one had anticipated that Dragon could block an Admiral's maximum-output strike so effortlessly, let alone turn the attack back upon his foe with even greater devastation.

Forget the Marines—even the Revolutionary Army officers felt a profound sense of unreality.

Their Supreme Commander... was simply far too strong!

"I caught it!" Ryokugyu felt a sudden wave of relief wash over him as his surging vines made solid contact with the giant meteor.

"GOOD! NOW STOP!!"

The massive vines coiled tightly around the meteor, exerting full physical force to trigger a brutal tug-of-war.

The projectile finally ground to a absolute halt just as it breached the outer perimeter of the Celestial Dragons' domain.

"We made it... thank goodness," one of the Five Elders let out a deep, heavy sigh of relief.

"This trajectory is unsustainable. I believe it is time to release him," the Elder wearing spectacles noted, his expression exceptionally grave.

"Releasing him...? Isn't that far too risky? That man is hardly an asset who willingly accepts orders!"

"Under our current predicament, having him on the field will resolve every single threat effortlessly. Besides, do we not hold his absolute lifeblood in our hands? This is merely a transaction."

"Very well! Bring him forth!" the Elder with the scar over his left eye decided with swift resolve.

"Good! Fifth, go retrieve him personally, and finalize the terms of the transaction along the way."

"I shall head out immediately."

Standing off to the side, Fleet Admiral Akainu listened to the cryptic exchange in total confusion. Once the fifth Elder departed, he asked in a cold, demanding tone: "Who is this person you speak of?"

"There is zero need for you to pry. You shall witness the answer shortly, and I assure you, even your mind shall register a profound shock," the remaining three Elders replied, their features resetting into their usual arrogant, unbothered expressions.

Akainu: "!!!"

I am the Fleet Admiral of the Navy, for god's sake! What is the meaning of this attitude?!

Ultimately, Akainu merely let out a harsh, bitter snort, refraining from pressing the matter any further.

The Five Elders were perpetually condescending; expecting them to treat anyone as an equal was a complete impossibility.

Even if that individual held the title of Marine Fleet Admiral.

Across the central plaza, open warfare erupted in full force. As the Revolutionary Army's numbers expanded continuously, their frontline force was rapidly closing the gap to match the World Government's troop volume.

This development filled the Navy's high command with mounting dread. If this progression sustained its pace, the battlefield would drift toward a completely disastrous outcome for the regime.

"THUNDER BAGUA!!"

A thunderous, world-shaking roar suddenly erupted across the sky, instantly shocking the entire battlefield into absolute silence.

Colossal bolts of jagged lightning violently sundered the firmament. A gargantuan, spiked kanabo shot up into the high heavens, hammering down toward Dragon's elevated coordinate with cataclysmic weight!

"WHO IS THAT?!"

"THAT IS... A YONKO!! KAIDO OF THE BEASTS!!"