Chapter 180

The estuary of Dajiao Village.

Fan Aoka and the others gathered on the deck, stunned by the news transmitted by Xiang Keluo.

"What do you mean… blow up this island?!"

Sorongo frowned deeply; even with his entire body wrapped in bandages, he stubbornly carried all three swords on him.

"Is it aiming to use some immensely powerful bomb to instantly disperse the island's toxic spores?!"

Roubo Luqi couldn't help but speculate.

But halfway through, he noticed the increasingly strange expression on Akin's face.

"Captain Akin?!"

Akin turned to face everyone, his gaze now carrying a Solemn weight:

"I think I know what it is."

"The captain mentioned once before—his Devil Fruit, the Crimson Dragon Fruit—has a special ability."

"In an instant, it releases all the energy stored within the body, triggering a violent explosion."

Roubo Luqi's pupils shrank, and he instinctively asked:

"How powerful would the blast be?!"

Before he could finish, his voice trailed off—he had turned his head and seen something horrifying.

In the distance.

At the center of Dongdao.

The Crimson Dragon pierced through the rapidly spreading black smoke, ascending to an altitude of nearly ten thousand meters.

Yet the pale blue radiance flowing over his body shone so brightly it outshone the sun, making every person near Dongdao see it clearly.

This phenomenon was formed after Gao Wen drained nearly one-fifth of Dongdao's earth vein energy at once.

Such a vast amount of energy was beyond even his dragon body's capacity to contain; the excess instantly vaporized into the air, forming streams of luminous mist.

Gao Wen felt the immense earth vein energy within him and couldn't help but be startled.

In terms of destructive power, this was nearly equal to a Power Rock, and the earth vein energy stored inside Gao Wen was astronomical—nearly a thousand times greater than what he had tested before.

Although Gao Wen's physique had strengthened more than double since before, and thanks to the Harmonizing Term, he could perfectly control his body,

he still felt his blood vessels continuously rupturing under the absurd pressure of the earth vein energy, only to heal instantly under the Crimson Dragon's innate ability—his entire body ached with nothing but the agony of flesh tearing apart.

"Am I even exploiting a bug in the Devil Fruit's ability?!"

Gao Wen sighed, then turned his gaze downward.

Now he was more worried about accidentally blowing Dongdao clean off the map.

…

"What is that?!"

"Something's wrong!"

"I have a bad feeling!"

Dulton rode his hippopotamus, swiftly leading countless civilians toward the edge of Dongdao, seeking safety before the spores could spread.

But their movement was interrupted by a cry of shock.

Dulton turned back—and his pupils shrank sharply:

"That posture… there's no mistaking it!"

"Is that Mr. Gao Wen? What is he trying to do?!"

"At this point, with Mushuru's toxic spores erupting and wiping out the entire Drum Kingdom and neighboring nations, it's already irreversible."

"Even now, after all this, he still hasn't given up?!"

As he spoke,

Dulton's eyes brimmed with palpable admiration, and in that moment, he felt something:

"If this man were to inherit the Drum Kingdom's throne, he would surely be a benevolent and mighty ruler."

"Too bad… you're a pirate!"

He let out a long sigh, yet his gaze gradually hardened:

"For a group of complete strangers, he's willing to go this far…"

"Even if the Drum Kingdom's downfall is now inevitable, such a man must not be forgotten!"

Even as he marveled, Dulton couldn't help but wonder: what exactly was Gao Wen planning?

The next instant,

he saw the answer.

The Crimson Dragon hovering in the distant sky paused for several seconds, then lifted its head high—blue fluorescent light flowed between its fangs, solid as liquid.

It was as if the dragon's mouth no longer held teeth and lips, but…

The sun!

And then Dulton truly saw the sun—a drop the size of a thumb, shimmering with ultimate brilliance, slowly sinking from the horizon…

"Crimson Emperor's Azure Star!"

A low murmur reached everyone's ears, allowing them to witness the divine spectacle unfolding before them.

Boom—!

The luminous drop exploded several kilometers above ground, blue flames instantly igniting the entire sky, spreading relentlessly across the whole of Dongdao.

Even though the explosion occurred thousands of meters above ground, the powerful shockwave flattened the mountain peak where Drum City stood, and continued onward, leveling every tree on the surface.

Dozens of kilometers from the explosion's epicenter,

Dulton's pupils shrank violently as he shouted frantically:

"Get down!"

"Find cover!"

Halfway through speaking, he froze on the spot, simply because he could not make a sound no matter what.

No!

It wasn't that he couldn't make a sound!

Dalton raised a hand to touch his ear, feeling only a damp warmth, while his nose detected a warmth like rust.

It turned out his eardrums had ruptured right at the start of the explosion, unable to withstand such violent sound waves.

And the commoners around him were even worse off; some even suffered temporary blindness because their eyes could not withstand the intense light.

But driven by the instinct for survival, they subconsciously hid behind the massive hippo, seeking to survive the impact.

In the next instant, everyone present was buried by the surging snow waves...

The river mouth.

Roubo Luqi and the others stood on the deck, staring at the pale blue flames exploding in mid-air, which almost covered the entire sky of the Dongdao, momentarily stunned into silence.

"Hey, hey, hey..."

Zoro's jaw twitched, his pupils constantly contracting.

"Even if it's exaggerated, there must be a limit!"

"With such power, if the explosion point had not been over the Dongdao but close to the ground, it could have directly erased an entire city."

"So this is the skill the Captain has been hiding?!"

Even Van Augur, who was usually so calm and found explanations boring, now had his eyes wide open, staring blankly at the distance.

They were already close to the sea, and the distance to the explosion center was hundreds of kilometers.

Therefore, they had absolutely no need to worry about being affected by the explosion.

But the farther away they were, the clearer they could see just how exaggerated the scope of this explosion's impact was.

"Visually estimating the explosion range at ten kilometers, the shockwave's impact range should exceed fifty kilometers, and the range of that blue flame's eruption..."

In Roubo Luqi's eyes, there was only unspeakable horror, yet he still subconsciously predicted just how exaggerated the destructive power of Gao Wen's strike had been:

"It almost covered the entire island."

"This must have been specially adjusted by him to detonate at a high altitude, and even to make the range of the blue flame's eruption large enough, he sacrificed some of the power."

"Even the so-called Ancient Weapons should... should only be at this level, right?!"

Until this moment.

Roubo Luqi finally realized that Knight Gao Wen was hiding far deeper than anyone had anticipated.

The combat power capable of directly repelling Kaido's top commander, Ace, was undoubtedly already among the top tier in the world.

And given the endurance Gao Wen had demonstrated, while an Admiral might be able to defeat him, capturing him would be a completely impossible task.

Plus, this move capable of destroying an entire island with a single strike...

"His existence now poses a threat to the World Government!"

Miss Kalifa's voice trembled as she spoke.

She instinctively raised her hand to adjust her glasses, trying several times before finally touching the frame.

Her complexion could only be described as deathly pale.

"Someone like this..."

"Even if the entire CP organization mobilized, they would not pose a threat to him."

Roubo Luqi nodded in agreement.

He looked at the distant sky, feeling an emotion named awe towards someone for the first time in his heart.

"Hmm?!"

Miss Kalifa suddenly let out a cry of surprise; she subconsciously raised her hand, and a pink, cherry-blossom-like snowflake landed in her palm.

"These... are the ashes of the toxic spores?"

"Pink?!"

Miss Kalifa subconsciously looked up and saw that the clouds over the Dongdao had been blown away, with sunlight falling to illuminate the entire Dongdao brightly.

Yet her attention was completely drawn to the sky filled with pink dust.

At this moment.

Everyone who had come to their senses raised their heads, looking up at the sky.

The crisis of national destruction had already been eliminated; the Shanfeng where Drum Castle was located had been directly erased.

Those toxic spores, once regarded as a nightmare by everyone, had been burned away by the sky-full of blue flames just now, leaving only pink ashes condensing in the air, forming flaky substances like flower petals...

"Pink... snow?!"

Kestda.

Nami looked at the shocking scenery before her, her lips slightly parted, and her originally tense mood couldn't help but relax.

"So beautiful!"

Kureha reached out, and a flaky substance like a flower petal slowly drifted down into her palm, its shape resembling a flower petal, and extremely similar to the cherry blossoms Hiruluk had once described.

She gently crushed it and murmured:

"After the toxic spores burned out, the falling ashes are actually pink?! Is this the scene Hiruluk once described?!"

Kureha raised her head and saw that the Dongdao was now experiencing a snowfall of pink, like countless cherry blossoms drifting through the sky.

"Now that guy should be able to die without regrets, right?!"

"Hey, Chopper… Chopper?!"

"Dr. Kureha…"

Amidst a sky full of pink snowflakes, Chopper clutched his hat tightly, his words slurring:

"Is this… the medicine Dr. Shirruck spoke of? The one that can heal a nation and heal hearts?!"

"Mr. Gao Wen, is this the universal medicine Dr. Shirruck has been waiting for—the one that can heal a nation?!"

Saying this, Chopper raised a hand to wipe the tears from his face, his eyes red-rimmed yet blazing with unwavering resolve:

"I've made my decision!"

"I'm going to follow Mr. Gao Wen!"

"I'll become his ship's doctor—I'll become a universal medicine like him, capable of healing a nation and healing hearts!"

Seeing this, Kureha's lips curled into a faint smile.

Though her heart ached, she did not stop him, only said softly:

"You're merely a pet Dr. Shirruck left in my care—you're free to leave by your own will."

Chopper froze, turning back to see tears already welling in Kureha's eyes:

"Dr. Kureha…"

"At least call me 'Teacher'!"

"You damn brat!"

…

Elsewhere.

Dolton and the others had crawled out from beneath the snow.

The event had come so suddenly they could only barely escape danger by relying on the giant hippopotamus.

Fortunately, aside from two unlucky ones who broke their legs, the rest suffered no serious injuries.

Now that the tension had eased, everyone stared blankly at the pink snowflakes drifting from the sky, silent.

"Are we… not going to have to leave here anymore?"

Someone asked, voice trembling with disbelief.

"Almost all the toxic spores were incinerated by the explosion just now; even if any remain, they can't cause destruction on this scale anymore," Dolton murmured.

His mind, however, involuntarily replayed the moment Gao Wen took flight.

Yet an image involuntarily surfaced in his mind: the scene of Gao Wen spreading his wings and soaring upward just moments before.

Around him, cheers erupted.

"It's wonderful!"

"Now that Wapol is dead and Mshuru's threat is gone, this kingdom will be reborn!"

"It was the Demon Dragon! The Demon Dragon's flames ended it all!"

The crowd wept with joy, gazing at the falling snowflakes.

The crowd wept with joy, gazing at the snowflakes drifting down from the sky.

The nightmare that had hung over them for decades had been ended by the presence of a Demon Dragon.

"The Demon Dragon… who saved the nation?!"

"It's the Divine Dragon who saved the nation!"

"His deeds must be recorded—they must not vanish with the passage of history!"

"He will become the new legend of this nation!"

"He will become this nation's new legend!"

The crowd erupted in joy, gazing at the pink snowflakes drifting down, filled with unspeakable gratitude.

Even the two injured unlucky ones wore expressions of profound relief.

After all, compared to losing one's life, this cost was trivial.

Dolton listened to their words, and a thought slowly rose in his heart—he murmured:

"Wapol is dead. This nation has been reborn because of Knight Gao Wen, because of this cherry blossom…"

"We need a new name and a new flag."

"But for now, come with me to save lives!"

"But for now, come with me to save people!"

…

…

…

Amidst the crowd's cheers.

At the center of Dongdao.

Gao Wen had crashed onto a desert, reverted to his human-beast form.

He had drained one-fifth of Dongdao's earth vein energy, causing the snow plains within a radius of dozens of kilometers centered on Drum City to turn into desert—dead land unfit for new life.

"Ghk—!"

Gao Wen opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of bloody flesh fragments, his eyes filled with unspeakable dread:

"I was careless."

"Such vast earth vein energy—I still cannot control it freely; it caused severe backlash."

"But at least I stopped the disaster from spreading."

Saying this.

A smile couldn't help but appear on the corner of Gao Wen's mouth.

He himself couldn't explain why he would go to such lengths merely for a group of unrelated people.

It was simply his instinctive unwillingness to let someone like Mushuru get his way, his unwillingness to watch these innocent people die miserably.

Gao Wen scanned the area and saw that within the surrounding desert, there was no longer any sign of life.

"So this is what's called a Fierce God? Truly destructive power exaggerated to the extreme!"

(End of Chapter)