Looking at the enormous pressure accumulating in the sky, the suffocating sensation instantly set everyone’s nerves on edge.
"Run! Hurry up and run, or we’re all going to die!"
Someone suddenly screamed.
The next moment, whether it was Capone, Urouge, or even the hardheaded Kidd, they all stopped caring about anything else and desperately fled.
Any thought of fighting had already vanished without a trace.
However, after they had only run a few steps, a devastating impact descended from the heavens.
BOOM!
A massive explosive shockwave swept across the entire open area like a hurricane.
Everything within a radius of several thousand meters was flattened in an instant, as fragile as paper beneath the overwhelming force.
The Marines who had already been frantically fleeing were now filled with gratitude toward themselves for making such a decisive decision.
Watching the people known as the Worst Generation being reduced to little more than paper scraps before Lucas, they finally understood why the tactical order had consisted of only one word—
Flee.
A vast cloud of dust swept across the entirety of Sabaody Archipelago’s Grove 1 like a storm.
Countless figures were violently hurled away like cannonballs, crashing heavily thousands of meters away.
The enormous impact embedded them directly into rocky mountains.
Some even spat out a mouthful of blood before their heads lolled to the side, their fates unknown.
Luffy and Trafalgar Law, who had chosen to flee from the very beginning, turned pale when they witnessed this scene.
Without giving it any further thought, they turned around and fled again.
Zoro and the others had originally intended to find a sliver of confidence by relying on the Marines.
That thought had now vanished completely.
"Luffy, duck!"
An elderly voice suddenly rang out.
Rayleigh came rushing over from the distance, his sword in hand.
Clang!
Two figures collided violently.
The resulting explosive shockwave sent Luffy and the others tumbling backward.
After they hurriedly regained their footing and looked behind them, they saw who had intervened.
It was Rayleigh and Lucas.
However, Rayleigh had completely shed his previous slovenly appearance.
Sword in hand, he had forcibly blocked the Hundred-Type Kan’on behind Lucas.
"Heh. Lucas, I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon."
Rayleigh gave a dry laugh.
"You promised me that as long as Shakky helped you gather information, you wouldn’t attack anyone I wanted to protect."
"This time, I want to protect young Luffy. You don’t mind, do you?"
Luffy and the others were stunned.
They had never expected the scruffy old man before them to have some kind of relationship with a Marine Admiral.
More importantly, he had actually blocked Lucas’s attack.
Of course, Lucas had never truly attacked personally from beginning to end.
Even so, compared with the Supernovas who had been defeated in a single exchange, Rayleigh was clearly on an entirely different level.
"Rayleigh, you’re still such a hopeless do-gooder."
Lucas took a swig of his Strong liquor and glanced at Luffy.
"Don’t worry. I’m here to find the Celestial Dragon. How did that guy manage to run so fast? That’s a ten-million-Beli reward, after all."
"And in a few more minutes, I’ll be off work."
"By the way, these guys just came out of the waters around Thriller Bark. You haven’t told them about that matter yet?"
Lucas had originally thought that his appearance would disrupt the original course of events and prevent the Supernovas from meeting.
He had never expected things would still reach this point.
"You know how difficult something like that is to bring up. You should understand Luffy’s personality better than anyone."
Rayleigh helplessly shook his head.
"If he finds out about it here, he’ll probably only end up throwing his life away."
"So I planned to tell them after they’ve left."
"By the way, thanks for getting Kaido involved as well. Otherwise, I might have had to make a trip to Shanks and help him intercept Kaido to prevent him from attacking Whitebeard."
"You teamed up with Shanks?"
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
In the original timeline, after seeing that Rayleigh had not participated in the Paramount War, Lucas had already guessed that something must have happened behind the scenes.
Now it seemed that Shanks had taken the credit for driving back the Beasts Pirates when they attempted to attack Whitebeard’s territory.
But the person who had contributed the most besides Rayleigh was probably not the only one.
There were likely other surviving combatants from the Roger Pirates involved as well.
Otherwise, given Kaido’s temperament, he would never have let the matter go so easily.
Whitebeard also would not have been able to face Marine Headquarters without a care in the world.
"Heh. It wasn’t really a team-up."
Rayleigh sheathed his sword.
"There are some things I owe Roger. It’s time I repaid that debt."
"By the way, those Supernovas are all running away. Aren’t you going to do something?"
Lucas shook his head.
"Who’s going to do a job that doesn’t pay?"
"At least I won’t."
"Let’s find the Celestial Dragon first."
With that, Lucas’s Observation Haki instantly spread across the entirety of Grove 1.
The next moment, a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.
At the same time, at the entrance to Grove 1—
Fujitora was sitting outside a shop, leaning on his cane while eating dango.
Sitting beside him was a man wearing sunglasses, bare-chested and draped in a green cloak.
"Hey, hey, Brother Fujitora. Didn’t expect to run into you here."
The man was the first to speak, laughing loudly and casually.
"You didn’t come here because you heard some news and knew I was about to make a move, planning to secretly backstab the Marine Admiral for me, did you?"
"But don’t worry, Brother Fujitora. He’s merely a newly appointed Marine Admiral. The commotion he’s making isn’t small, but once I make my move, he’ll quickly become nourishment for me."
"I haven’t eaten anything for more than two years. It’s been quite an unpleasant experience."
"By the way, didn’t Fleet Admiral Sengoku of Marine Headquarters extend a special combat force invitation to you not long ago?"
"I didn’t expect you to reject it just like I did."
"Is it because you also can’t stand the way this new Marine Admiral does things?"
Fujitora raised his eyelids and looked at the man who talked like a nonstop chatterbox.
He gave a dry laugh.
"Aramaki, you’re still the same as ever. You really do love defending the Celestial Dragons."
"But don’t worry. I’m not here to help you."
"Hahaha! That’s all I needed to hear, Brother Fujitora."
Aramaki crossed one leg over the other and laughed loudly.
"I don’t want outsiders criticizing me after I defeat that Marine Admiral."
"Perfect timing, too. Has that Celestial Dragon finally been found? Now that’s something worth celebrating."
Looking toward the distance, he saw Saint Charlos being escorted over by Spandam.
The Celestial Dragon was covered in blood and looked utterly exhausted from his journey.
Aramaki’s expression gradually darkened.
He quickly stood up.
As a die-hard supporter of the Celestial Dragons, seeing one of them humiliated and looked down upon was practically a violation of his deepest taboo.
The World Noble before him should have been an exalted existence standing above all others.
Instead, he had ended up in such a miserable state, covered from head to toe in blood and filth.
The sight caused Aramaki’s expression to turn grim in an instant.
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