Chapter 302: Weitian Takes the Stage

"W-What...?!" The four World Nobles stared with wide, horrified eyes, absolute disbelief written across their features.

As the violent, suffocating pressure radiated by the Revolutionary Army continued to climb, a deep, primal dread began to consume their minds.

Finally unable to endure the psychological torture, one of the Celestial Dragons screeched at the stunned Five Elders: "HEY! What are you useless fools waiting for?! Hurry up and save us!"

At this milestone, genuine panic had completely broken their composure.

The sheer momentum of the Revolutionary Army was simply too staggering—a terrifying, unyielding resolve that disregarded life and death to achieve their absolute objective.

The Five Elders' expressions turned hideously dark. Sweeping an arm downward, the lead Elder barked: "STRIKE! Retrieve the Celestial Dragons at all costs!"

The absolute first to move was the solitary remaining agent clad in a golden porcelain mask. Moving at a velocity so extreme it left behind a trail of residual phantoms, he materialized before Supreme Commander Dragon within a fraction of a heartbeat.

CLANG!

The sharp, metallic ringing of clashing steel echoed across the plaza as Zoro—wielding his three blades simultaneously—slowly raised his head. "Your opponent... is ME!"

CLANG!

Zoro pressed the offensive once more. The flight propulsion module strapped to his back granted him immense aerial mobility, subtly amplifying the raw kinetic weight behind every strike.

Repelling the masked agent, Zoro accelerated to give chase.

"Curse you!" The masked agent hadn't calculated that Zoro would prove this dangerously tenacious, forcing him strictly onto the defensive.

At this junction, the only high-tier commanders unengaged on the field were Former Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Commander-in-Chief Steel Skeleton Kong. Trading a quick glance, the two veteran Marines—despite a lingering, profound reluctance—launched themselves toward Dragon simultaneously.

Deep down, they harbored absolute disgust for the Celestial Dragons, yet duty dictated that they intervene.

HUMMM...

A streak of cyan-and-gold fire cut through the cloud layer, colliding head-on with Sengoku's incoming trajectory.

KABOOM!

"My forty-meter blade has been starving for blood!" A giant silhouette lunged forward simultaneously, wielding a massive forty-meter longsword that sliced through atmospheric currents to drive a flying slash toward Kong.

BOOM!

Both veteran Marines were forcefully intercepted mid-air, a sight that sent another shockwave through the surrounding ranks.

"First Division Commander Marco of the Whitebeard Pirates! Locke of the Red Hair Pirates!"

"Hey, hey, hey... You two aren't going anywhere," Red-Haired Shanks noted, leveling his blade at the restless forms of Kaido and Big Mom.

"KAIDO!" Big Mom shrieked, as Kaido initiated his move on the flank.

"Drunken Dragon Bagua!"

The gargantuan kanabo was swung as effortlessly as a light toy. Kaido—operating in his hybrid beast state—poured maximum output into a single strike, forcing Shanks to raise his blade to absorb the impact.

CLANG!!

The surrounding bedrock shattered under the kinetic pressure, the overwhelming aura driving every nearby soldier far back. Big Mom refused to sit idle; slamming her boot into the earth, she extended a single hand.

Absorbing thousands of stray souls scattered across the blood-soaked plaza, her physical vitality and Haki output spiked to absolute peak parameters.

"Kaido! Allow me to lend you a hand!"

Wielding her giant sword Napoleon, she drove a sweeping strike straight onto Shanks' blade. In a fraction of a microsecond, the stone paving was obliterated into dust.

The combined, maximum-output offensive of two sovereign Yonko was an apocalyptic threat. Even a titan like Shanks suffered internal shockwaves from the clash.

"ARRGH!" Kaido and Big Mom roared, ramping up their physical output as superheated Haki radiated off their weapons.

Shanks gritted his teeth, a thin line of crimson leaking from the corner of his lips.

Just as Shanks' stance wavered slightly, a high-speed silhouette blurred onto his flank. Executing a sharp 180-degree rotational spin, Benn Beckman drove an Haki-infused propulsion kick squarely against Big Mom's giant blade.

BANG!

The heavy kick forcefully deflected the trajectory of Napoleon's strike.

"Are you holding up?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Shanks replied with a quiet smile. A massive arc of flying sword energy erupted from his blade, forcing Kaido to vault backward.

"Is that so...?" Beckman offered a subtle smirk.

By silent consensus, the two refrained from further chatter, re-anchoring their complete focus onto the two Yonko before them.

With these high-tier figures stepping into open combat, the strategic atmosphere across the entire theater reached an intensely volatile state.

"Hey, Grandfather, what are we supposed to do now?" Yamato asked in a quiet whisper, glancing around at the chaotic battlefield.

Garp—who had been casually watching the show—was caught completely off guard by the question.

"Ahem! We are actively engaged in combat!"

Yamato blinked in confusion, before her eyes illuminated.

"Right! We are in the middle of a battle!"

"Alright, Grandfather! Take this!" Yamato swung her kanabo, engaging Garp in a continuous, high-velocity trade of blows.

With zero unengaged high-tier combatants left to support him, sweat began to bead along Akainu's forehead. If the situation persisted, the tactical outcome was going to turn catastrophic.

Snapping his head toward his opponent, Akainu growled: "Aokiji! Can you truly stand there and watch your fellow Marines be butchered?!"

"Save your breath," Aokiji replied coldly, driving a blade forged of solid ice straight toward Akainu's neck. Trying to play an emotional guilt card at a milestone like this?

Talk about delusional.

"In that case, don't blame me for holding nothing back!" Akainu converted both forearms into churning magma, surging forward.

BANG!

The collision of ice walls and magma currents produced blinding plumes of white steam.

"Vice Admirals! Rescue the Celestial Dragons immediately!" Akainu bellowed.

Since the top-tier Admirals were locked down, the only tactical option remaining was deploying mid-tier officers to execute the rescue.

The Navy's mid-level officer reserves were exceptionally vast—especially at the Vice Admiral tier, where the Revolutionary Army lacked matching numbers.

Under Akainu's command, dozens of Marine Vice Admirals freed themselves from their respective lines, surging en masse toward Dragon's position.

"Dragon, WATCH OUT!" Ivankov yelled in alarm. The incoming detachment comprised fifty elite officers at minimum, including over ten seasoned Vice Admirals.

Yet Dragon made zero evasive moves. He simply swept a single arm wide, causing the localized hurricane surrounding his frame to expand outward. The expanding gale blasted every approaching officer clean off their feet, scattering them across the plaza.

Seeing their rescue force effortlessly repelled, the lingering hope in the Celestial Dragons' hearts plunged back into an abyss of total despair.

Under Akainu's continuous commands, wave after wave of Marines tried to close the distance to Dragon, only to be blasted back before stepping within ten meters of his frame.

As time ticked on, the Marines' patience and morale eroded completely. They were increasingly unable to decode the actual purpose of this war.

Were they bleeding and dying strictly to rescue a handful of arrogant, subhuman scum?

Every tragic detail unfolding on the plaza was observed in its entirety by Weitian high in the heavens. Watching countless Marines throw away their lives for those Celestial Dragons, a seed of profound doubt sprouted in her soul regarding whether the Navy was capable of delivering true justice.

Individuals who had enlisted with noble dreams were unconsciously committing acts that strayed further and further from their original moral principles.

Yet they were powerless to break the system.

As time slipped away, Weitian endured an agonizing internal conflict.

Suddenly, she snapped her eyes open, her pupils glowing with an eerie, purplish-red radiance that seemed capable of piercing through reality itself.

HUMMM...

Unfurling twin wings forged of crimson fire, a shower of radiant red feathers saturated open airspace, dispersing the cloud layer.

Transforming into a gargantuan, fiery Vermilion Bird, she radiated concentric rings of scorching crimson flames that expanded outward in sweeping waves.

With a sharp snap of her wings, the Vermilion Bird dived straight down, tearing through the atmospheric layers to crash onto the central plaza.

Just as Akainu and Aokiji were locked in a fierce, static deadlock, Weitian descended directly between them, her red lotus flames parting their collision.

"Vice Admiral Weitian!" the Marine soldiers gasped in wide-eyed shock.

Shifting back into her human form while fanning her fiery wings, Weitian turned her gaze directly onto Akainu.

"Weitian! You came at the perfect time!" Akainu erupted into instant delight. "Hurry! Secure the Celestial Dragons immediately!"

To the Navy's strategic line, her emergence represented a massive, tide-turning asset.

Yet the words that issued from Weitian's lips next left every soul on the battlefield paralyzed in speechless shock:

"I want the position of Fleet Admiral!"