In front of the Elder, two ordinary Marines stood frozen.
They had been running moments ago. Now they simply stared upward at the towering nightmare that had emerged from the pentagram.
One of them began to shake uncontrollably.
Marine: H-He's some kind of monster...!
The other tried to steady him, grabbing his shoulder.
Saturn's gaze shifted.
Just a glance.
The panicking Marine dropped where he stood.
No wound.
No sound.
He simply fell to the ground—dead.
The second Marine's face drained of all color. He screamed and turned, sprinting away as fast as his legs would carry him.
Saturn watched him flee with mild disinterest.
Like watching an insect scurry away into the grass.
Slowly, the Elder placed his clawed hands atop his massive wooden cane. The wood creaked faintly under the weight of something far older than the island itself.
He looked around.
Not with anger.
Not with urgency.
But with something almost nostalgic.
Black awakened smoke coiled around his upper body as purple sparks snapped around the pentagram's edge. The air trembled under the pressure of his presence.
He radiated absolute authority.
The kind that did not need to be spoken.
Inside the descending bubble vehicle, Vegapunk, Atlas, Franky, and Sanji stared down in stunned silence.
None of them fully understood what they were looking at.
Sanji's eyes suddenly snapped upward.
His breath caught.
Kizaru hovered above them.
A beam of light formed at his fingertip—
And fired.
Vegapunk jerked the controls at the last second, narrowly dodging the blast. The beam tore through the cloud road beneath them, carving a massive hole in the artificial pathway.
The bubble lost support.
It began to plummet.
The cloud fragments disintegrated beneath its wheels as the vehicle dropped straight down.
Above—
Ryo appeared.
His heartbeat thundered like distant war drums.
Lightning surged around him, more violent than before.
Ryo: I've found you!!
Kizaru turned to face him. The irritation from earlier was gone.
Now he simply looked unamused.
Kizaru: Boy... you've gotta be running out of juice. That form won't hold up.
Ryo glanced downward for a split second, seeing his friends falling.
A low growl rumbled from his chest.
He launched forward again, forcing Kizaru to shift his focus back to him.
Ryo: You're right! Which is why I'm going to give you all I've got—right here and now!
