Sanji's heart suddenly began pounding.
His entire body stiffened, and the artificial fruit he had bitten into slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.
"Sanji!?" Chopper yelped in shock.
"What's going on?" Franky froze, wide-eyed. "Don't tell me it's poisonous!?"
"Hey, Luffy, there's nothing wrong with that artificial fruit, right?" Usopp's jaw dropped. "Sanji, are you okay!?"
Sanji dropped to one knee with a heavy thud, one hand pressed against the ground while the other clutched his chest.
His face contorted, as though he were in intense pain.
Seeing this, even Luffy felt something was off.
Could there be a conflict between genetically modified humans and Devil Fruits?
Thinking about it more carefully, the princes and princess of the Vinsmoke family don't have Devil Fruits, yet they possess special abilities similar to Devil Fruit powers.
If those abilities were considered some sort of "fruit-like" power…
Then right now, Sanji was basically equivalent to someone who had eaten two Devil Fruits at once.
Was he going to explode?
Probably not to that extent—but the reaction did look like some kind of internal conflict.
Luffy pondered this, and his hand drifted toward the healing Devil Fruit he still carried.
But just as he was about to pull it out, Sanji abruptly threw his head back and let out a loud, primal roar toward the sky.
The next instant—
His facial expression changed dramatically.
His nose and mouth elongated outward, and pink dragon scales began spreading across his skin.
Suddenly, Sanji's entire head transformed into that of a dragon. His neck stretched upward, and his body shifted and expanded at the same time.
In the blink of an eye, a massive pink dragon appeared in the air above them.
Everyone stared upward, dumbfounded and awestruck.
The dragon was at least 500 meters long. Lowering his huge head, he shouted:
"LUFFY! I'M GOING AFTER THE MOSSHEAD!!"
With that, he swung around and soared in the direction from which they had come.
Nami's expression was… complicated.
"Why did he turn into a dragon!? And his eyebrows are still curly… Luffy, is Kaido like that too?"
"I never really paid attention to that…"
Luffy couldn't help but laugh.
Shaking his head, he turned to Chopper and said:
"These kids were poisoned by Caesar. Chopper, help them."
"Poisoned!?"
Chopper jumped in fright and hurried off to examine the children.
"Come on—our ship should still be near Zoro. I hope he's okay."
Luffy slammed his hand into the ground.
Instantly, a large platform broke free from the earth, lifting everyone up and carrying them toward Zoro.
---
Docking Point
No—calling it a "docking point" wasn't correct anymore. The two ships were now floating inside a half-hollowed chamber after rising from the surface.
At that moment…
Near what used to be the campsite, Zoro stood with two katanas in hand, his third clenched between his teeth.
The breath leaving his mouth condensed instantly, forming white mist before his eyes.
A thin layer of frost had begun forming across his body.
The ambient temperature had dropped to dozens of degrees below zero.
And the source of that intense cold stood over ten meters away, directly ahead of him.
The corners of Aokiji's mouth lifted slightly as he said,
"Your Haki isn't bad. But your swordsmanship is still far below Mihawk's."
He couldn't understand why a simple pirate hunter possessed such powerful Haki.
His bounty was far too low.
"You're not planning to arrest us, are you, Admiral? If you are… then I'll stop you."
"Ah, I never said I'd arrest you. I'm only passing the time while I wait for the real opponent."
Aokiji smiled lightly.
Without direct orders, he had no interest in fighting to the death with a pirate—especially a member of a Yonko's crew.
Suddenly, he lifted his head.
In the night sky, a massive pink dragon was flying rapidly toward them.
Zoro sensed the approaching aura as well—and it was very familiar.
"That pervert!"
He snapped his head upward—and froze for a moment.
A dragon!?
Unlike the flaming dragon he had slain before, this one had a long, serpentine body.
"I'M HERE TO HELP YOU, MOSSHEAD! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Sanji opened his enormous jaws, gathering flames inside his mouth.
A heartbeat later, the dragon's breath exploded outward.
"Seriously? Kaido?"
Aokiji stared in disbelief.
Flames dyed the night sky red.
BOOM!!!
A massive explosion shook the entire area, obliterating everything within several hundred meters.
After a long moment, the effects of the blast slowly dissipated.
Where Aokiji had originally stood, a massive crater now lay.
Suddenly, amid the rubble, Zoro burst upward, tossing debris aside. He raised his head and shouted furiously at Sanji:
"WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME TOO, YOU BASTARD!?"
"Tsk~ I missed?"
The giant dragon pouted from above.
"Oh, so you really WERE trying to burn me alive!" Zoro gripped his sword tightly, Haki coating his body, his eyes glowing red like a demon's. "I'll cut you into pieces myself!"
"Ice Time."
Without warning, frigid air surged across the battlefield, instantly interrupting their lively argument.
Zoro froze solid in an instant, transformed into a block of ice, and at the same time, Sanji's enormous body in the sky began freezing over as well.
Within seconds, the entire area became a frozen world.
Aokiji's figure gradually came into focus. He touched the thin line of blood on his forehead and said lazily:
"For a moment, I thought it was Kaido… Turns out it's just a knockoff. Don't scare me like that."
The dragon's heat breath wasn't even close to Kaido's level.
If it had been Kaido, that moment could have been dangerous.
Aokiji glanced up at the pink dragon and smirked.
"So you're also one of the Straw Hat's subordinates? As expected of a Yonko's crew—every one of you is a monster."
Sanji's expression was serious.
"Shishishishi."
Suddenly, that familiar laugh echoed across the air.
A floating platform descended from the sky. At its front, Luffy appeared out of nowhere, arms crossed, looking at Aokiji.
"Long time no see, Aokiji!"
He said it casually—and then punched the air beside him, cracking space itself.
BOOM!
Cracks spread like spiderwebs.
The frozen world shattered piece by piece.
Zoro, who had been frozen solid, immediately broke free.
Sanji unleashed his flames to melt the ice around him.
A Yonko.
A powder-dragon.
And a swordsman hero.
The three of them fixed their eyes on Aokiji.
Aokiji raised both hands slightly and gave a wry smile.
"Would you believe me if I said I'm just passing by? Straw Hat Luffy."
(End of Chapter)