Chapter 292: The True Strongest Logia

"D-Dragons! They're dragons, Usopp... the whole sky is crawling with giant dragons... sob... Pilot Usopp, what are we supposed to do..." Chopper wailed, his eyes brimming with tears.

"Huh?" Usopp grunted in confusion. The moment he pulled the fighter plane's nose upward, the apocalyptic spectacle broke flush into his line of sight.

His eyes nearly popped clean out of his head, his teeth chattering uncontrollably: "W-What in the world is that colossal thing..."

"Gah! I can't do this... I've suddenly caught the 'I'll-die-if-I-land-on-the-Red-Line' disease! W-We need to turn back right now!"

Chopper: "..."

In the very next heartbeat, the flight controls malfunctioned, sending the aircraft tumbling wildly through the air. Chopper and Usopp bounced violently around the cockpit, their high-pitched screams echoing across the sky.

"Usopp! Think of something, fast!"

"I'm... I'm trying..." Scrambling desperately across the cabin floor, Usopp reached a trembling hand out to grab the control yoke.

It wasn't just the two of them; virtually every combatant across the sprawling battlefield found their focus shattered by the madness above.

"AH! Usopp! Chopper!" Luffy's eyes snapped wide as he watched the fighter plane plunge toward the stone plaza.

A second later, the aircraft's nose yanked violently upward, soaring back into the cloud layer.

Seeing the plane stabilize, the Straw Hat Pirates breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Sanji lit a cigarette, puffing out a cloud of smoke. "Seriously... what is that idiot Usopp messing around with up there?"

"Looks like the situation on this field has reached an absolute flashpoint. We can't afford to sit on our hands any longer," Zoro noted, drawing a renowned blade from his waist—the Meito Enma!

"Leaving the Navy forces down below to those guys shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Yeah, if it's them, they've got it handled!" Sanji nodded slowly, his gaze hardening as he surveyed the battlefield.

When the Straw Hats had first reached the cliffs of the Red Line, they had run straight into a massive Marine reinforcement fleet sent to secure the perimeter.

Faced with a sudden interception, the commanders of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet had stepped up without a second's hesitation.

Holding off the grand naval fleet themselves, they cleared the path for the primary Straw Hat crew to scale the Red Line unhindered!

And that was how this moment came to be.

"Let's move!"

With that declaration, the Straw Hat Pirates officially entered the war!

High above, the atmospheric dragons began churning the heavens, twisting wind and clouds in a violent dance.

Supreme Commander Dragon snapped his eyes open, converting his frame into a high-velocity gale. The colossal wind dragons surged forward one after another as Dragon extended a single arm.

A hurricane dragon opened its abyssal maw, diving straight toward Im. Surrounding air currents inverted violently, its suffocating pressure weighing heavy over the entire sector.

Faced with such catastrophic power, Im remained utterly unruffled—his expression as calm as stagnant water. The howling gales whipped his dark cloak, yet failed to dislodge his hood.

"Commands the natural forces of the environment, shapes tempestuous winds into tangible mass, and alters localized weather patterns at will... This power... is unequivocally the true strongest Logia!"

"To think this legendary ability actually exists in the flesh. Had it emerged in a bygone era..." Im chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Very well. Let me witness this legendary fruit for myself!"

Extending both hands, Im summoned a swirling mass of pitch-black energy between his palms, striking out with a single thrust.

KABOOM!

The unstoppable hurricane dragon—cutting through the sky at mind-boggling speed—suddenly ground to a dead halt as a eerie plume of black fog materialized before its jaws.

From a distance, zero onlookers could spot Im's physical frame; compared to the gargantuan wind dragon, an ordinary human body was little more than a speck of dust.

Across the entire battlefield, only the Five Elders experienced a violent shift in expression. While others failed to decode the black fog, they recognized its origin instantly.

That Lord had officially stepped onto the field.

Trading sharp glances, the Elders nodded in silent unison.

"Deploy them. That Lord clearly has no intention of waiting any longer. Since every major player has assembled, we shall settle this war with absolute speed."

"Agreed!"

"Though one figure remains unaccounted for," one Elder noted.

"You mean Drake of the Legendary Four Brothers, correct? No matter—a single individual cannot alter the trajectory of this tide," the leading Elder dismissed with a wave of his hand.

To their minds, the Legendary Four Brothers commanded authority because they functioned as a unit; isolated, a single young man posed zero existential threat.

"Fifth Elder, go retrieve them."

"Understood!" The Elder who had previously escorted Kaido turned, stepping off the high platform to head toward the inner sanctums of the Holy Land.

Watching the Elder depart, Red-Haired Shanks' eyes glinted sharply.

For a member of the Five Elders to leave the line at a critical juncture like this implied a massive, hidden move.

BOOM!

Shanks' aura erupted violently, converting his frame into a residual blur as he rocketed forward.

Kaido—preparing to launch an assault of his own—clutched at empty air as Shanks vanished from his vision in a microsecond.

Shanks' sudden sprint drew every eye on the field. Admiral Ryokugyu tried to pursue instantly, unleashing a dense wave of wooden vines, but his attack lacked the velocity to match Shanks' speed.

Unsheathing his sword, a cold flash of steel cut through the air. Shanks unleashed a flying slash from mid-air that tore across the sky like a giant sword, aiming straight for the retreating Elder!

The crowd gasped in absolute horror—that was one of the Five Elders!

Yet in the very next heartbeat, an outcome no strategist had predicted unfolded before their eyes.

Two Elders who had been standing atop the high platform materialized behind the Fifth Elder out of nowhere, thrusting both palms forward.

KABOOM!

Following a thunderous impact, the two Elders forcefully intercepted and neutralized the full-power slash from Yonko Red-Haired Shanks!

The Five Elders actually possessed combat strength of this tier?!

While the assembly stood paralyzed in shock, Shanks remained completely composed, looking as though he had anticipated the intervention all along.

"Shanks..." Luffy murmured softly.

BOOM!!

At that exact microsecond, a catastrophic explosion detonated in the high heavens.

The entire Holy Land trembled violently under the shockwave as the hurricane dragon charging Im shattered into pulverized air currents. No one on the ground could comprehend what had just transpired in the clouds.

Yet judging by the sheer scale of the shockwave, an apocalyptic clash was unfolding in the upper atmosphere.

Dragon moved fluidly across the backs of the remaining wind dragons, rapidly closing the distance to Im. Meanwhile, Im—enveloped in pitch-black fog—maneuvered freely through the sky, shattering one dragon after another with casual, high-density strikes.

Im's absolute strength was demonstrably unfathomable.

During his high-speed approach, Dragon seized every microsecond opening to strike at Im with maximum force. The surrounding wind dragons were merely tactical feints; he understood that securing victory required absolute, unreserved engagement.

Before long, the two had exchanged hundreds of high-velocity moves. In every exchange, Dragon was subtly pushed back, while Im maintained a completely unruffled, effortless demeanor.

After gauging the parameters of Im's defense, Dragon closed in once again, an invisible, high-frequency energy wrapping around both of his hands—Tempest Blades.

It was a specialized technique Dragon had developed through his Devil Fruit mastery. Unassuming on the surface, its cutting density was capable of slicing through the dense Armament Haki of top-tier powerhouses with ease.

Even against a Yonko, Dragon held absolute confidence in this technique.

Carrying howling gales in his wake, Dragon's strike held enough raw power to shake the bedrock of the Red Line.

Im met the blow head-on without a fraction of hesitation, driving a fist coated in black energy straight forward.

KABOOM!!

The brutal kinetic impact annihilated everything in the immediate radius, plunging the upper sky into a dense, obscured zone of raw energy.

Down on the plaza, every soldier recognized that a supreme battle was raging in the heavens. They assumed the black wind dragons belonged to Revolutionary Army Commander Dragon.

As for the entity fighting him on equal—or superior—footing, every single soul on the battlefield was left completely in the dark.