"You dare make the great Lord Kara bleed?! You criminals—Princess Witch deserves death!"
Kara roared furiously and lunged toward the two Shadow Dragon probationaries he had just knocked back.
Capone Bege's expression shifted. He was about to activate the power of his Castle-Castle Fruit.
These soldiers had been sent by Sith Oguro for training—casualties were expected.
But if he stood by and allowed losses through inaction?
That Soul King-sama would not forgive him.
However—
Someone moved faster.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several chains shot through the air, wrapping tightly around Kara's limbs.
More than a dozen Shadow Dragon probationaries split into four groups, each bracing themselves and yanking hard on a chain.
Kara's forward momentum stalled instantly. His massive body jerked to a halt.
"Soru!"
The remaining members seized the opening, flashing forward and unloading everything they had.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Within seconds, Kara absorbed at least thirty to forty Shigan and Rankyaku strikes.
Bege stared, dumbfounded.
He had expected them to suppress—or even defeat—Kara.
But not this cleanly.
They didn't even shout commands.
The coordination was flawless.
That had been Oguro's strict requirement: the Shadow Dragon Guard must master coordinated combat.
True top-tier monsters who could ignore numbers were rare.
Against the vast majority of enemies, teamwork created overwhelming advantage.
Kara had just become a live-fire training exercise.
"Bastards…"
Kara coughed up blood, collapsing to the ground, appearing barely conscious.
But thanks to the tenacious vitality of a Zoan Devil Fruit, he wasn't finished.
The instant he sensed his enemies relaxing—
His body shrank.
From a three-to-four-meter giant wolf down to a two-meter humanoid wolf form.
The chains slackened.
He burst free.
The Shadow Dragon probationaries reacted a split second too late.
They hadn't expected him to feign collapse.
Inexperience.
"You made me lose face…"
Kara's eyes burned red.
He no longer shouted "Great Lord Kara."
Now he was just furious.
"I'll twist off each of your heads and display them as trophies!"
He howled toward the sky.
Hybrid form.
The strongest state of a Zoan user.
Now he was fighting at full capacity.
Whoosh!
Kara vanished in a blur, charging the nearest soldier.
With Zoan-enhanced speed, he was nearly as fast as Soru.
Slash!
Claws tore toward a man's throat.
The probationary didn't panic.
His body suddenly softened, floating like paper in the wind.
"Kamie."
The airflow from the claw strike pushed him just far enough aside.
The attack missed.
Kara froze.
"What… what kind of sorcery is this?!"
He was a provincial fighter from the West Blue.
Devil Fruit aside, he had never seen true Grand Line combat techniques.
For him, eating a Zoan fruit had been a miracle already.
"Rankyaku!"
The same soldier pivoted, unleashing a crescent blade of compressed air at point-blank range.
Too close.
Kara couldn't dodge.
Slash!
The attack struck his forehead directly.
Blood sprayed.
A vicious scar split across his wolf-like brow.
He staggered backward—
And before he could recover—
The Shadow Dragon Guard's concentrated assault resumed.
Like ants devouring prey.
Except Kara wasn't an elephant.
This time, no mercy.
No hesitation.
"Shigan: Bachi!"
"Rankyaku: Line!"
Boom!
Kara crashed heavily to the ground.
His hybrid form dissolved, revealing his battered human body.
Bege shook his head.
"This is the Four Blues. Even without Haki, Rokushiki alone lets you rule here."
He genuinely couldn't understand why Sith Oguro cared about the West Blue.
Look at the Yonko. Look at the former Warlords.
None of them wasted time on the Four Blues.
Of course, if Oguro had heard him, he would've lectured him about population bases and strategic foundations.
Empires weren't built on pirates.
They were built on people.
"Is he dead?" Karina asked calmly.
"Not yet. Still breathing."
Karina nodded.
"Bind him tighter."
"When I reclaim my throne, his head—and Red's—will decorate the ceremony."
There was no softness in her voice.
Slavery had burned away any fragility she once possessed.
She turned toward the remaining palace guards.
"Choose."
"Surrender… or die."
Clang.
One guard dropped his sword immediately and fell to his knees.
"W-we surrender!"
If even the "legendary warrior" had fallen, what chance did they have?
One surrender triggered another.
Like dominoes, weapons clattered to the ground.
Moments later, a procession moved toward the royal residence.
At the front, a Shadow Dragon soldier dragged the tightly bound Kara.
The other guards watched in silence.
No one dared interfere.
The palace—
Had already fallen.