Chapter 295: Dragon's Crisis

While Garp and Sengoku stared wide-eyed at the escalating combat, a towering, burly figure stepped up quietly directly behind them.

"They represent the absolute foundation accumulated by the World Government over eight hundred years. Their emergence signifies that the World Government has officially entered its most perilous hour in centuries!"

Garp and Sengoku turned around in shock. "Commander-in-Chief Kong!"

The newcomer was none other than the Commander-in-Chief of the World Government's military forces—Kong the Steel Skeleton!

Naturally, "Steel Skeleton" was merely a legendary epithet; his actual name was simply Kong.

"Look closely at those four individuals," Kong continued, offering a brief nod to the two veteran Marines. "Every single one of them was once a titan who led an entire era. To claim their combat output merely equals that of an Admiral would be a severe underestimation."

"Their bodies have allegedly attained a state of complete, absolute immortality—though I admit such a claim sounds entirely absurd."

"WHAT?! Absolute immortality?!" Garp and Sengoku traded a sharp glance, reading the profound shock mirrored in each other's eyes.

After all, birth, aging, illness, and death were the absolute laws of nature; never in history had they heard of a human attaining genuine immortality.

Suddenly, Sengoku froze. A specific detail Kong had mentioned echoed in his mind—over eight hundred years...

Which meant at least some of those individuals had been alive for centuries! Given that even he—a former Fleet Admiral—had been kept completely in the dark regarding their existence, it confirmed that they had been operational throughout his entire tenure. In short... they were all ghosts from bygone eras.

"This..." Sengoku cast a bewildered glance at Kong, who offered a slow, heavy nod in response.

"I am not telling you this to voice idle trivia, but to warn you: your strength will likely be required shortly."

"Are you implying that even those four entities won't be enough to hold the line?"

"What do you two think?"

Sengoku and Garp remained silent for a long moment.

They could clearly register the exceptionally dangerous energy radiating from Sabo and his companions—energy that had clearly not been unleashed to its absolute limit yet.

The four masked figures were undeniably formidable, but to suggest they could flatly defeat Sabo's group was something neither Garp nor Sengoku believed for a microsecond.

"We understand. Do not forget—we are Marines first!" Old man Garp and Sengoku traded a resolute glance before turning to address Kong in unison.

Seeing their unwavering resolve, Kong let out a loud, booming laugh. "You two truly haven't changed a bit."

"Looking back, had it not been for your presence decades ago, a cataclysm like the one unfolding today might have erupted long ago."

The era had suffered endless turmoil—from the explosive expansion of the Great Pirate Era over twenty years ago, to the rise of the Rocks Pirates, the Roger Pirates, and the Golden Lion Pirates.

Had the strength of those legendary crews converged back then, the strategic crisis would have mirrored today's battlefield. It was precisely because Garp and Sengoku anchored the Navy that this ultimate reckoning had been delayed by over two decades.

Hearing those words, both men felt a subtle wave of self-deprecation. Sengoku felt his achievements paled in comparison to Garp's, while old man Garp felt utterly embarrassed—after all, more than half of the primary leaders driving the subversive force below were directly related to him!

To discuss past achievements at a time like this felt completely absurd.

"Gahahaha..."

A second later, the three old veterans traded a knowing grin, reading each other's inner thoughts with total clarity.

Meanwhile, the clash across the primary plaza escalated to a violent, boiling pitch. Sabo engaged two golden-masked figures single-handedly, holding his ground against their coordinated pressure.

Zoro was locked in an intense duel with the third masked figure—a clash between elite swordsmen where outside interference was fundamentally unpardonable, as both fought to uphold their absolute convictions.

Yet the most aggressive combatant on the field was undoubtedly Luffy. Utilizing Gear Fourth, he unleashed a continuous, erratic barrage of high-density attacks, cycling through various Haki applications to keep the fourth masked figure under absolute, suffocating pressure.

Kizaru was locked down by Kenshin and Locke, unable to free himself for a single microsecond. The tactical synergy between the two was utterly seamless, demonstrating a textbook example of a combined output greater than the sum of its parts. A single microsecond of distraction on Kizaru's part would guarantee a swift, catastrophic mistake.

Red-Haired Shanks locked down Kaido.

Sanji engaged Admiral Fujitora.

Facing an unengaged Admiral Ryokugyu, Jinbe stepped forward to hold the line.

Every high-tier combatant on the field was fully accounted for.

Hovering over a sea of flames, Ace used his fiery spear to suppress Fleet Admiral Akainu's magma assaults single-handedly. Akainu had never looked this disheveled in his entire career—the very youngsters he had dismissed years ago had officially surpassed his baseline output.

It gave him a profound sense of total unreality.

Yet the searing physical pain radiating across his frame served as a constant, unforgiving reminder that this was no dream, but absolute reality!

The Revolutionary Army's frontline—which had initially lacked sufficient high-tier combat mass—was fully reinforced by the Straw Hat Pirates and Yamato, converting the battle into a balanced, grand-scale confrontation between two supreme armies.

"So this is the Holy Land of Mary Geoise? It's really gigantic!" Yamato mused, glancing around with wide, curious eyes. Ever since leaving Wano Country, she had witnessed various corners of the outside world, yet the sheer architectural scale of the Holy Land still elicited a soft gasp of awe.

Seeing a woman wandering casually across the field, several CP0 agents sought an easy victory, rushing forward to intercept her—only to be smashed clean out of existence by Yamato's kanabo, their survival metrics left entirely unverified.

The all-out offensive unleashed by the Straw Hat Pirates placed immense pressure on the Marine ranks. High above, Usopp's fighter aircraft functioned as a mobile artillery platform, raining down a continuous stream of explosive rockets. The sheer kinetic destruction was so horrifying that even Usopp himself felt a cold chill run down his spine as he watched the strikes detonate.

It was terrifying beyond measure!

To compound the Marines' growing desperation, an uninvited guest stepped onto the field—former Seven Warlord, Crocodile!

Why on earth is HE here?!

"Nhn-hn-hn-hn... A battlefield of this scale is truly magnificent, you worthless trash!"

The Marines & CP0: "!!!"

Looking at Crocodile's arrogant, sneering demeanor, it wasn't just the Marines and CP0 who felt their blood boil; even the Straw Hat Pirates strained to suppress the urge to beat him into a bloody pulp right then and there.

Even though they had entered into a temporary non-aggression pact where Crocodile was technically standing on their side...

And even though everyone knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he harbored his own hidden agenda...

At the present moment, they were standing along the exact same frontline.

Every member of the Straw Hat crew was equipped with specialized combat gear provided directly by Drake, resulting in a continuous, deafening sequence of high-energy explosions echoing across every sector of the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Zoro found himself facing a tactical predicament. His fundamental inability to achieve sustained flight severely restricted his combat maneuvers in open airspace, making it impossible to press his advantage.

"Zoro, catch!" Recognizing the issue, Locke seized a microsecond opening to toss an object toward Zoro.

A flight propulsion unit!

Evading an incoming energy slash, Zoro strapped the flight module onto his torso according to Locke's rapid instructions, initializing high-speed aerial sword combat.

Locke let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Zoro stabilize his position, continuing to maneuver across the entire battlefield alongside Ann.

While intense clashes raged across the plaza, Supreme Commander Dragon found himself in a dangerously dire situation on the upper tier.

As it turned out, the previous back-and-forth engagement had merely been a illusion—Im had not deployed a fraction of his true power. Now, with every casual flick of Im's wrist, Dragon's maximum-output wind assaults were neutralized effortlessly, followed by swift, brutal counter-strikes.

A single direct blow from Im had blasted Dragon over a thousand meters through the sky.

BOOM!

Dragon vaulted back into the air, anchoring his stance atop a massive black wind dragon, a fierce crimson light flashing in his eyes.

Conqueror's Haki!

Dragon tightened his fist, channeling Advanced Conqueror's Haki directly into his palm.

Facing an overwhelming aura of this caliber, Im offered absolute zero reaction, looking entirely detached as if speech were a foreign concept to him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Fists and kicks collided at mind-boggling speed as the two exchanged dozens of moves within a matter of heartbeats. Yet in every single exchange, Dragon was the one blasted backward—only his command over atmospheric gales allowed him to stabilize his momentum mid-air and avoid sustaining compounding physical trauma.

With a instantaneous spatial displacement, Im materialized directly before Dragon's face. He deployed zero named techniques, relying strictly on a simple fist enveloped in swirling pitch-black fog.

KABOOM!

The heavy punch slammed downward. Even though Dragon crossed both forearms to absorb the impact, the sheer kinetic weight smashed him clean out of the sky, slamming his frame violently into the bedrock below.