Chapter 317: Asking for Money?

"Ace, Sabo, Luffy!" Drake's voice resonated from within the Demon Warder.

"Hm?" Ace, Sabo, and Luffy shifted their gazes toward the Demon Warder. Luffy waved his arms and shouted up toward Drake, "Hey! Drake! This thing is way too cool! I want to ride in it too!"

"Yeah... if there's a chance in the future, I'll let you take it for a spin." Drake was completely drenched in sweat, his eyes bloodshot. Catching his breath with difficulty, he pressed on: "Listen to me right now—I need your help with something."

"What? You stingy bastard!" Luffy pouted.

"Luffy, wait a second. Something seems off with Drake's condition," Sabo noted abruptly.

"Huh?"

Ace and Luffy expanded their sensory perception. Their expressions darkened instantly—Drake's aura was steadily weakening, fluctuating as if he might collapse at any second.

"Hey, Drake! What happened to you?! What's going on in there?!" Ace shouted at the top of his lungs, genuine worry etched into the faces of all three brothers.

"Calm down and listen to me..." Drake spoke again, straining against the crushing weight. "The Demon Warder can indeed block her attacks, but it can't hold out for long... It needs money!"

"Money?" The three stood dumbfounded.

Catching his breath, Drake continued, "That's right. I'm counting on you guys."

The three brothers traded glances and gave heavy, resolute nods. Though they had no clue why Drake needed money at a time like this, since Drake had asked for their help, they had to deliver no matter what.

But money... where on earth were they supposed to find a fortune right now?

Ace looked at Sabo. Sabo shook his head with an awkward smile, then turned his gaze toward Luffy.

Before Luffy could even react, Ace shook his head first, sharing a bitter, knowing smile with Sabo.

Expecting Luffy to have money was sheer fantasy.

Luffy wore a face full of question marks.

"Go find the Celestial Dragons!" Drake's voice drifted down once more.

The three brothers' eyes lit up in unison. Exchanging broad smiles, they realized what a brilliant idea that was.

"Yosh! Let's go shake down the Celestial Dragons for treasure!" Luffy swept his arm through the air with a wide grin.

"Makes sense. We're pirates after all—looting treasure is our everyday pastime," Ace chuckled.

Robbing the Celestial Dragons of their wealth carried zero psychological burden. As pirates, it was second nature to them. Turning to Sabo, Ace raised an eyebrow.

Sabo smiled warmly. "If it's plundering treasure from the Celestial Dragons, you'll get no complaints from me."

Sensing Drake's faint, flickering aura, Ace knew they couldn't afford a single second of delay. "Let's move!"

Three pillars of light transformed into radiant comets, streaking across the sky toward the residential district of the Celestial Dragons.

"Shishishi...!" Luffy's exuberant laughter echoed across the heavens.

Under the watchful eyes of the entire battlefield, the three radiant beams cut through the sky, departing the main engagement zone.

"Ah... Luffy..." Empress Boa Hancock covered her flushed cheeks, her eyes trailing his silhouette. Luffy's laughter seemed to carry an enchanting magic, sending electric shivers straight through her heart and leaving her swooning.

Koby stood beside her, utterly baffled by her sudden behavior.

"That vector is..." "Cyborg" Kong's pupils contracted sharply as he noticed the trajectory of the three brothers.

Wasn't that heading straight for the sacred palace grounds in the rear district of Mary Geoise, where the Celestial Dragons resided?!

"Not good! They're targeting the World Nobles!"

"WHAT?!"

The Five Elders had barely recovered from the shock of that colossal construct withstanding Lord Im's Sky-Burying Dark Tempest before this news snapped them awake.

"Impossible! How could this happen... Lord Im's Sky-Burying Dark Tempest was actually blocked?!"

"And those three are heading to attack the Celestial Dragons! We must intercept them!" the Five Elders bellowed. "Kong!"

At this juncture, their active fighting force was reduced solely to Garp, Sengoku, and "Cyborg" Kong.

The World Government's Marine forces and CP agents had been entirely subdued and captured. The upper brass had been taken down in one fell swoop, and every Vice Admiral was stripped of their fighting capacity—including the Admiral candidates, Chaton and Momousagi, who had fallen in the final clash against Kizaru and Weitian.

BOOM!

Kong crossed a hundred meters in a single stride, moving with speed completely imperceptible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the perimeter of the Demon Warder's energy barrier.

"Luffy, Sabo!" Spotting the incoming Kong, Ace called out, his entire body bursting into roaring flames as he entered his Flame Emperor mode.

"On it!"

Luffy and Sabo flanked Kong from the left and right, their movement velocity pushed to absolute extremes.

Luffy, in particular, utilized his Future Sight Observation Haki to anticipate every trajectory, instantly clamping down on Kong's massive, muscular arm and locking it in place.

Just as Kong attempted to shake Luffy off, Sabo swept in and locked down his other arm with equal force.

Even though Kong possessed monstrous physical strength and top-tier Armament Haki with few rivals across the seas, he found himself rendered completely immobile at this moment.

Because the two restraining him were Luffy and Sabo!

Flames erupted furiously from Ace's grip as a blazing spear materialized in his hands, ready to pierce through all creation along with his body.

"Kong-san!" Sengoku cried out in alarm. Transforming into his Golden Buddha form, he drove a massive palm forward.

A devastating golden shockwave tore across the plaza. Anticipating the danger, the first to intercept was Weitian!

Unfurling her fiery wings, Weitian unleashed torrents of blood-crimson flames, colliding violently with Sengoku's shockwave.

"Weitian!" Sengoku gritted his teeth, pouring even greater kinetic force into his strike.

The resulting shockwaves from their clash carved a colossal crater deep into the bedrock.

"I won't let you disrupt their mission, Sengoku... san..." Weitian raised her head, her flames surging aggressively as she fought Sengoku to a dead standstill.

Having fully recovered her strength just moments ago thanks to the Senzu Bean, her combat prowess was on par with any Marine Admiral.

With the World Government virtually stripped of its military assets, as long as she held Sengoku at bay, the brothers could—

SWISH!

A sharp sonic boom pierced the air as a white silhouette materialized directly in front of Ace's spear trajectory out of nowhere.

"You damned old man!" Ace's pupils shrank. The one standing before him was none other than Monkey D. Garp!

Behind Garp, Yamato sprinted forward with heavy strides. "Old man, why the hell are you so fast?!"

"Yamato..."

Snapping back to his senses and seeing Garp blocking Kong, Ace yelled frantically, "Get out of the way, you old bastard!"

Yet the momentum of his thrust had reached terminal velocity—he couldn't pull it back!

"Get out of the way, Gramps!" Luffy screamed in terror. Ace's current combat power was at the absolute peak of the world; if their grandfather took this strike head-on, he would surely...

"Luffy!" Garp cut Luffy off abruptly, his voice resolute. "I told you before—I am a Marine! The moment you boys chose this path, I knew this day would come."

"You must have had the same premonition, haven't you?"

"Uh..." Ace, Sabo, and Luffy stared in wide-eyed horror, their pupils shrinking to needlepoints.

"Garp..." Kong watched the scene unfold, paralyzed with shock. "Hey, Garp! Move! You don't have to throw your life away for me!"

"NO, GRANDPA!"

As the tip of the flame spear pierced through the atmospheric barrier, bearing down inches from Garp's forehead, Luffy let out a desperate, bloodcurdling shriek.

His scream echoed across the entire Holy Land.

"LUFFY!!" Hancock sprinted forward, her legs moving so fast they left afterimages, tearing across the plaza like a furious gale.

At that razor-thin fraction of a second, a silhouette lunged forward, tackling Garp to the stone as the blazing spear tore through the space above, spraying a shower of fresh blood into the air.

Passing through the coordinate in a fluid motion, Ace stood frozen in mid-air, a look of complete daze washing over his face.

"When it comes to family standing on opposing battle lines... it's best left to the elders to bear the burden."

"Ugh...!" The surrounding crowd gasped in shock at the spectacle before them.

Down on the stone pavement, Dragon and Garp lay tangled together. At that final, split second, Dragon had suddenly appeared and shoved Garp clear of the lethal vector.

Yet his own shoulder had been impaled by the spear, crimson blood soaking through his dark green cloak.