Luffy and the others managed to make it back to the Going Merry, but as they looked back at the chaotic scene in Loguetown, they couldn't help but worry.
"Is Moonlight going to be okay?" Usopp asked, his voice filled with concern.
"Yeah, he's facing all those Marines and Buggy's crew by himself," Nami added.
"You underestimate him," Zoro said with a confident smirk. "For him, that's not a problem at all. He's a man who can stand against the world's greatest swordsman. A few small-time pirates and a Marine Captain are nothing to him."
"Instead of worrying about him, we should be worried about ourselves," Sanji said, pointing out to sea. A fleet of at least twenty Marine warships had appeared, forming a blockade around the island.
"Ah, so many Marines! We're surrounded!" Usopp shrieked.
"They came so fast!" Zoro grumbled.
"They must have been waiting for us," Sanji surmised.
"Even if there are copper walls and iron walls in front of us, with a navigator like me, it's not a problem," Nami declared, her confidence returning. "Luffy, protect the ship! Usopp, steer! Sanji, hoist the sails! Zoro, watch our flanks!"
"Found the Straw Hat crew!" the Marines shouted from their ships. "The most wanted criminals, with bounties of 30 and 50 million! Prepare to fire! Sink them!"
Dozens of cannons roared to life, and a barrage of cannonballs rained down on the Going Merry. The sea churned violently, and the small ship was tossed about like a toy. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji did their best to deflect the cannonballs, but there were simply too many. The hull of the Merry was riddled with holes, and a massive whirlpool formed in the turbulent water, threatening to pull them under.
"Damn it, we're no match for them!" Usopp cried, closing his eyes in despair.
"Hold on!" Nami shouted, her eyes fixed on a dark cloud that was gathering in the sky. "A storm is coming!"
As if on cue, the wind picked up, and a torrential downpour began. A massive tornado formed on the sea, a swirling vortex of wind and water that raged towards them.
"It's over! We have to abandon ship!" Usopp wailed.
"Damn it, are we going to die?" Sanji muttered, a look of despair on his face.
"Abandon ship!" Zoro agreed, seeing no other option.
Luffy sat on the ship's figurehead, his face a mask of sorrow. "Merry... I'm sorry. We have to leave you."
"No!" Usopp roared, hugging the mast. "I won't abandon Merry! She's our nakama!"
The others fell silent. They had all grown to love the small ship, their first true home on the sea. But what choice did they have?
At that moment, Moonlight leaped onto the bow, his Armament Haki enveloping the Pheasant Sword. "I know it's a tornado," he said, his eyes blazing with a fierce determination. "But I'm not going to abandon our ship without a fight."
"Moonlight!" Usopp cried, his eyes filling with a renewed hope.
"This is a real swordsman," Zoro said, a look of admiration on his face.
"Phantom Sword Dance!" Moonlight shouted, and a massive, condensed ball of sword energy shot out, slicing through the raging sea towards the tornado. But the storm was too powerful. The sword energy was swallowed up by the vortex, and the tornado continued its relentless advance.
"It failed," Usopp whispered, his face resolute. "Even Moonlight couldn't do it."
"That's it, then," Luffy said, his voice heavy with defeat. "Sauron, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Moonlight... prepare to retreat."
But just as they were about to abandon ship, a powerful, unnatural gust of wind suddenly enveloped the Going Merry, lifting it from the sea and carrying it through the heart of the storm, depositing it safely in the calm waters on the other side.
"We're... saved?" Nami stammered, looking around in disbelief.
"Dragon?" Moonlight thought, a sense of awe washing over him. The leader of the Revolutionary Army, Luffy's father, Monkey D. Dragon. Only he, with the power of the Wind-Wind Fruit, could have performed such a feat.
From a high point in the port of Loguetown, a man in a brown robe watched the Straw Hats disappear over the horizon. "A pirate? Not bad," he murmured to himself. "If this is your choice, I support it. Go, change the world." A flash of lightning illuminated his face, revealing the determined features of the world's most wanted man.