Chapter 286: Danger

Weitian's gaze lingered for a brief second on the hand Drake used to hold Aiya's small palm, before she seamlessly redirected her attention back to the primary battlefield.

Her promise to Drake this time was to remain strictly neutral; pointing her weapons at her former companions was something she simply couldn't bring herself to do.

Yet, taking up arms to protect those wretched scum—the Celestial Dragons—or engaging the Revolutionary Army and Drake in open combat was equally impossible for her.

Thus, she chose this middle ground, resolved never to regret her neutrality regardless of who emerged victorious.

"This is..." Drake's eyes snapped open. Just as he prepared to spring to his feet, a silent figure materialized directly in front of him.

"What a bizarre aura!" Drake's pupils contracted sharply. He hadn't registered a single trace of the intruder's approach.

Instinctively placing Aiya behind his back to shield her, Drake demanded in a low, heavy voice, "Im?"

"Hm?!" Im's eyes widened slightly in mild surprise, not expecting Drake to be aware of his existence. With a swift sweep of his hand, he unleashed a murky, incomprehensible black fog that instantly enveloped Drake completely.

Drake's primary instinct was to keep Aiya out of harm's way. He immediately activated his spatial power to send her into his spatial dimension, calling out, "Aiya, go hide inside for a bit!"

"Ugh..." The moment the words cleared his lips, Drake's eyes shot wide as a violent wave of nausea hit him, causing him to double over and vomit uncontrollably.

"W-What... is this?! How can anything be this foul... Ugh... blech..."

In that moment, Drake felt as though the accumulated biological waste of every living soul in the world had been subjected to millennia of intense fermentation, combining into a sheer, unbearable stench of absolute despair.

The sudden fit of retching forced Drake to take a deep breath, and that single inhalation triggered another relentless wave of vomiting.

Trapped in a vicious cycle, within seconds, Drake felt as though every drop of his physical stamina had been utterly drained. A sharp, excruciating pain flared in his abdomen, his vision faded to black, and he collapsed limp onto the ground.

Curse it all! Here I thought I was going to be the savior of this world... only to get taken down by a move like this right out of the gate... I'm a complete joke!

I literally marched right in just to throw my life away!

As his consciousness rapidly drifted toward absolute darkness, Drake desperately wanted to scream in pure rage. He hadn't even managed to deploy a single technique from his vast arsenal before being completely brought down by... a foul stench. It was... a humiliation beyond measure!

My glorious reputation... destroyed!

With Drake hitting the cold floor, the final thread of his awareness snapped, and he sank into total, unconscious darkness.

Im's eyes remained entirely emotionless, as though he had merely crushed an insignificant insect. With another casual wave of his hand, Drake vanished from the spot, and the dense black fog dissipated alongside him.

It was as if Drake had never been there in the first place.

High up in the clouds, Weitian's eyes flashed with brilliant light as she desperately searched the ground for any trace of Drake.

No matter how intensely she scanned, she could find zero traces of his presence—only a hooded figure whose face was completely obscured.

Weitian was certain that the individual was not Drake. She was on the verge of plunging down to intervene, but someone else beat her to the mark!

Supreme Commander Dragon—who had been actively locking down Big Mom and Fujitora on the primary battlefield—abruptly vaulted into the high sky. As the two powerhouses attempted to pursue him, Dragon executed a sharp mid-air pivot, slamming a single palm downward.

A colossal wind dragon, condensed from the atmospheric currents converging from all directions, materialized in a flash, surging downward to strike the two pursuers head-on.

Without issuing a single new command, Dragon vanished from the primary theater. He knew zero further orders were required—with Sabo anchoring the frontline, the Revolutionary Army was in reliable hands!

Converting his frame into a dark-grey hurricane, Dragon rocketed toward Im's coordinate. Sensing the incoming approach, a mysterious smirk touched Im's lips beneath his hood, and he glided smoothly toward a specific location.

Dragon followed right on his tail.

The two figures engaged in a high-speed chase, coming to a halt atop the apex of the tallest structure in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise—the roof anchored directly above the central hall where the Reverie was held.

With his hands clasped casually behind his back, Im slowly turned around.

"You... have business with me?"

Fierce gales whipped wildly around them, snapping their long cloaks in the high air currents. Dragon slowly pulled back his hood, revealing his severe features. "You must be the absolute ruler operating behind the World Government's curtain. As for my objective... I believe you understand it completely."

"To overthrow me? Do you possess the capacity to execute such a feat?"

"No!" Dragon shook his head.

"Oh?" Im arched a brow.

"It isn't just about you. After today, the term 'World Nobles' shall cease to exist in this world. I am going to drag the Celestial Dragons off their divine pedestal permanently!" Dragon declared, a resolute smile touching his lips.

"Is that so? That is indeed a grand dream. However... do you truly have what it takes?"

"Whether I do or not is something we will test right now!" Dragon threw both arms wide, and the surrounding sky instantaneously altered its parameters.

Violent tempests erupted as countless wind dragons materialized around Im, tearing through the air to converge on his position.

"An elite Logia mastery—you've pushed it to a threshold where you can directly command the natural forces of heaven and earth. Yet relying merely on this... is far from enough!" Im stated calmly.

Raising a single palm, Im made a subtle gripping motion. The roaring wind dragons collapsed instantly into nothingness, and the raging gales... ceased completely!

BOOM!

Dragon materialized directly before Im at an unmapped microsecond, driving a high-velocity kick straight toward Im's face.

"Let me see what manner of divine entity rules this world from the shadows!"

A pale hand intercepted Dragon's strike clean mid-air.

"You wish to see?" The corners of Im's lips curled upward, exposing a pair of chilling, concentric ringed eyes that struck primitive dread into the heart of any onlooker. "Then test my strength for yourself!"

With those words, Im initiated his very first offensive maneuver, a slender, alabaster hand driving forward right before Dragon's eyes.

BANG!

Dragon crossed both forearms before his chest, blocking a heavy, high-density punch.

This fist... carries such terrifying weight! Dragon shifted his footwork swiftly, wrapping both hands around Im's extended arm to divert the kinetic energy away. With his free hand, he executed a sharp, clawing strike.

Swirling tempests condensed into a massive, pitch-black Dragon's Claw, driving straight toward Im's hooded skull.

Im threw his free fist forward to meet the claw head-on.

KABOOM!

The collision of fist and claw unleashed massive shockwaves that agitated the surrounding spatial fabric—a clash observed in its entirety by Weitian high above in the heavens.

She was unaware of Im's true identity, but she knew beyond a doubt that Drake's sudden disappearance was directly linked to him.

What should I do...? Should I step into the fight...? Weitian found herself caught in a deep dilemma.

Meanwhile, down on the central plaza, Dragon's departure caused the high-tier combat balance to tilt against the Revolutionary Army.

At this critical junction, Benn Beckman—who had been smoking off to the side—shouldered his rifle and began stepping up toward the frontline.

As the situational parameters shifted continuously across the theater, Weitian struggled to arrive at a firm decision.

Suddenly, a sentence Drake had spoken to her earlier echoed in her mind: "I am guaranteed never to run into fatal trouble... Just make sure you protect yourself..."

She still vividly recalled how Drake had fled the scene in sheer embarrassment right after blurting out those words. His flustered, awkward expression at the time had secretly made her chuckle in her heart.

You had better keep your word... You promised you would never run into trouble, Weitian murmured silently to herself.

Meanwhile, inside the familiar, subterranean chamber, Aokiji remained tightly bound to the specialized metal cross.

However, a new object had materialized directly beside his frame—a gargantuan, exceptionally thick stone pillar.

What made the stone pillar extraordinarily bizarre was a human-face-shaped hollow carved near its top.

And the features displayed within that face-shaped hollow belonged to none other than the missing Drake!

Drake's eyes were tightly shut, clearly still trapped in a state of deep, unconscious slumber.