Chapter 343: The Might of the White Dragon

At this thought.

One of the Five Elders couldn't help but turn to look at Garling beside him.

The latter's expression hadn't changed in the slightest, yet his nearly stagnant breathing and the reluctance he could barely hide in his eyes refused to be suppressed.

He could have had everything!

Eternal life, an undying body!

Pity.

Im would never allow anyone to threaten his position.

Once Garling achieved immortality through the ritual of flesh, blood, bones, heart, and soul, all that awaited him would be Im's execution.

The Uranus would descend from the sky above his head, blasting everything to smithereens!

Just like the fate Britannias was about to meet.

At this very moment.

No one cared, nor did anyone dare care, that Gao Wen might possess a method to allow Devil Fruit users to overcome seawater.

Simply because for Im, for the Five Elders, and for the World Government, maintaining their own rule was far more important than expanding the boundaries of abilities!

Outside Britannias.

Beville knelt prostrate on the ground, gasping heavily, nearly exhausted.

Opening a gateway large enough to accommodate Jeanne's dragon form had completely drained his stamina.

The fact that he was still alive at this moment was already a miracle.

"If that body truly belongs to the Mad King Fafnir, merely burying it in the underground magma lake probably won't be enough to kill it; that fellow must be furious to the extreme by now."

"It's just..."

"What is this feeling of my very soul leaping with excitement?!"

Beville took a deep breath, lowered his gaze to his palm; his fingertips were trembling, yet his palm felt terrifyingly hot.

He clenched his fist, only then realizing that what was hot wasn't his palm, but the boiling blood surging within his body.

This time.

He did not regret his decision.

Even if it might drag all of Britannias straight into hell.

Three years ago, he had compromised once, piercing the heart of the monarch he had sworn to protect with his sword, believing he could save more people.

In the end, he saved nothing.

This time...

Beville recalled that shimmering thing he had seen in Morgan.

In his heart, there was only resolve.

If anyone could truly save the people of this land, it should be someone like Gao Wen, not Jeanne, not a second Wales!

Screech—!

While Beville was lost in thought, a shrill eagle cry suddenly rang out from the sky, sharp as a blade, nearly tearing his eardrums apart!

He looked up in bewilderment, his pupils constricting sharply.

He saw a massive eagle with a wingspan exceeding thirty meters diving from the sky, its sharp talons reaching straight for him!

Pure white feathers, crimson eyes, its entire body radiating an overwhelmingly powerful aura!

Among the host of ferocious beasts, this giant eagle's size was not the most imposing, yet within the beast tide besieging Avalon, it was one of the most threatening units, its power even surpassing that of an ordinary Marine Rear Admiral.

"Tsk—!"

Beville spat out a mouthful of saliva, gripped the longsword at his waist, and prepared to force an attack, yet his movement froze in the next instant.

Hum—!

A fierce wind blew through the mid-air, and the giant eagle exploded into a cloud of blood mist that rained down, prompting countless giant beasts to scramble for the food!

Xiang Keluo slowly landed beside Beville and asked:

"Where did you teleport that monster to?!"

"The underground magma lake."

Beville nodded to Xiang Keluo, his brows tightly furrowed:

"However."

"This method can only trap that monster temporarily, barely buying us some time."

"To save this country, there must still be a fight to the death."

Beville turned his head, looking toward Avalon behind him, and said:

"If that monster truly is the first monarch of Britannias, everyone will die!"

Recalling the information about the first monarch of Britannias that he had seen in the Juan Sect archives, Beville felt nothing but powerlessness.

That was no longer an existence humans could contend with.

And yet.

He did not see even a trace of defeat in Xiang Keluo's eyes!

"You..."

"That fellow will not lose!"

Xiang Keluo spoke calmly, stating what he believed to be fact:

"He never has!"

Beville was stunned for a moment, and Morgan's face floated before his eyes.

That formerly arrogant Eldest Princess of Britannias had matured greatly, and now possessed something he had never seen in her before.

A spirit.

Or perhaps faith.

Unlike the Heaven's Awakening Church, this was true faith, deeply rooted in the depths of the soul!

"Pirates?!"

Beville murmured, then asked:

"What kind of existence are they?!"

"That doesn't matter."

Xiang Keluo shook his head, looked toward the surging beast horde in the distance, and said:

"If you're truly interested, then survive first before we talk about it!"

"Compared to this world, Britannias is far too insignificant."

"Understood!"

Beville nodded heavily.

He struggled to prop himself up, yet lacked even the strength to stand, and could only lean against a nearby building, gasping for breath.

Xiang Keluo struck out, clearing away the giant beasts surrounding them, then transformed into a gust of wind that blew into the rushing beast horde in the distance, instantly tearing a massive gap through it.

Deprived of Jeanne's command, the beast horde gradually lost control, dominated by instinct; to fill their endless hunger, they began slaughtering and devouring one another!

The number of beasts began to decrease at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Xiang Keluo and the others simply chose to return to defend Avalon, purging the giant beasts wandering within the city while also blocking the distant tide of beasts outside Avalon's walls.

Step by step, the situation was brought under Xiang Keluo's control.

Until sunset.

The beast tide surrounding Avalon gradually receded, vanishing into the boundless dense forest.

Although roars still occasionally drifted into the city of Avalon, everyone knew that everything was gradually coming under control.

"Are we saved?!"

"The crisis of destruction has passed; this nation is about to be reborn!"

Some covered their faces and wept.

Amidst this disaster, under the inhumane domination of the Heaven's Awakening Church, he had already lost too much.

Wealth and family had all been taken away.

Left all alone, he had merely been barely surviving on the land of Britannias.

He had thought there was no hope left, yet at this moment, he saw the approaching dawn.

"Wonderful, truly wonderful!"

"Waaah—!"

A man with a severed arm leaned against the city wall, his eyes filled with tears of excitement.

Yet the expression on his face froze in the next instant, shifting from excitement to bewilderment, and then to an even deeper despair!

Pale wings flew in from the far end of his vision!

They blocked the sun.

And they also blocked the remaining sunlight shining into Avalon's inner city! "Wh-wh-white Dragon!"

The one-armed man only had time to let out a cry of shock before everything in his vision was consumed by pure white brilliance, and his memory ceased at that very moment.

The White Dragon's breath vaporized him along with the earth beneath him, spreading outward; the ultra-high temperature melted every patch of ground and every building it touched!

Molten rock rushed forth, gathering into a flowing lake!

"Burn!"

"Burn!"

"Burn!"

"Beville!"

Jeanne let out a roar, her heart filled with unparalleled hatred.

The White Dragon was nearly immortal, yet still felt pain, and no suffering was more intense than being burned by molten rock!

When flowing magma surges onto your wounds, it will not cease until it burns your bones to ash!

Endless pain gave rise to even stronger hatred!

"Didn't you want to protect these people? Didn't you vow to protect this land even at the cost of your divinity?!"

"Then I will make you watch with your own eyes as everything you defended is utterly destroyed!"

"I will sink Britannias into the sea!"

"I will make you scream in hell!"

Accompanied by roars like those of a starving ghost from hell, endless breath spewed from Jeanne's mouth; the survivors who had just been rejoicing in their rebirth didn't even have time to react before being completely engulfed!

The entire Avalon burst into flames at this moment!

Crimson firelight shone upon Beville's face, yet it still could not conceal his pallid complexion.

Even though he had long anticipated all this, when witnessing the destruction with his own eyes, he still couldn't help but feel a sense of suffocation.

He did not regret his choice.

Even if he bowed his head once again, all he would gain was endless torment.

Jeanne's true nature was no different from Wales's, and was even more brutal.

If he were allowed to dominate this nation, to rule over its common people...

Then it would be better to die in a fire that burns the entire country!

"Jeanne!"

Beville let out a roar, drew the long sword at his waist, and staked his life on a desperate, do-or-die struggle.

But unexpectedly, someone moved faster than him!

Fiercer!

More recklessly determined!

Several figures leaped up from within the city, charging toward the pure white giant dragon high in the sky!

Zoro held a blade in each hand, with the demon blade Murasama clenched in his teeth; his entire aura was terrifyingly sharp, and boundless killing intent surged forth!

The opponent before him was nearly the strongest existence he had ever faced, a power so immense that merely relying on its body could make one feel despair.

Yet there was little fear in Zoro's eyes!

"Slaying a dragon and bathing in its blood—will that make me stronger?!"

"Don't talk big, Moss-Head; talk about it again only if you survive!"

Sanji's face was Solemn.

Unlike Zoro, whose mind was filled only with challenging stronger foes, he could judge the gap between himself and this monster before him, knowing all too well that he was far from being its match!

This was evident from the extremely Solemn Faces of Xiang Keluo and Akin.

Xiang Keluo was even hesitating over whether to abandon the commoners in Avalon City, to cast those people aside, after all, their target was never himself.

Yet for some reason.

He felt that if he retreated here, he would never be able to lift his head before Gao Wen for the rest of his life!

And he would have no qualification whatsoever to become that man's right-hand man!

"Screw being a right-hand man!"

"What I originally wanted was to become the captain!"

Xiang Keluo spat out a mouthful of saliva, his steps beneath him growing even more resolute, and in an instant he had rushed to strike right before Jeanne's eyes!

The long tail behind him thrust out like a sharp sword, wrapped in blades of air powerful enough to shatter a mountain range, yet upon striking Jeanne's dragon scales, it barely managed to spark a single flicker of fire!

Ding—!

After the piercing hum, darkness swept before Xiang Keluo's eyes.

He lifted his head.

All he saw was a massive dragon claw descending from the sky...

"Die!"

"Reptile!"

Boom!

The dragon claw fell, tearing the earth asunder!

The ground within Avalon City suddenly sank dozens of meters, the rock layers below fracturing and triggering an earthquake that spread across a range of dozens of kilometers nearby!

Jagged rocks protruded, spreading outward in all directions in a radial pattern!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The fierce shockwave blasted back the attacking Zoro and the others!

And it brought with it endless despair!

"Monster!"

Beville's face turned pale, despair reaching its extreme.

He knew Jeanne was strong, but he had never expected Jeanne to be powerful to this degree!

A single strike relying purely on physical strength had destroyed more than half of Avalon, while the breath spewing from its mouth could easily scorch the earth into barren wasteland.

If there truly was an end of the world in this realm, then this scene before them was it!

"How can such a monster possibly be defeated?!"

"Knight Gao Wen... Knight Gao Wen..."

He murmured Gao Wen's name in a low voice.

The confidence that had risen because of Morgan and Xiang Keluo was directly dismembered at this moment.

All because Jeanne, after seizing the flesh of Fafnir, had become powerful enough to belong to another dimension, surpassing human limits and most easily earning the title of god!

"Flee!"

"Xiang Keluo!"

"Since Britannias is destined to be destroyed, you have no reason to stay here and be buried with it!"

Beville had already given up on the idea of saving this place, but at the very least he wanted existences like Gao Wen and his group to survive.

They could not save Britannias, but they could allow people in other regions to gain a chance to live on!

"What kind of foolish talk is that!"

Akin cracked his neck, his body covered in bone armor, and charged once more toward Fafnir!

Much of the bone armor covering his body had developed cracks from Jeanne's earlier strike, with blood seeping out from the fissures, adding several degrees of ferocity to his appearance!

Yet only those eyes showed not the slightest wavering!

"Retreating now would be the greatest insult to that man!"

"Besides, that fellow Xiang Keluo won't be defeated so easily!"

Beville froze for a moment, then turned his head to look at Jeanne, where atop the massive dragon body stood a slender human figure.

Only then did he realize that Xiang Keluo was originally a Zoan-type ability user, possessing special abilities similar to logia transformation.

Jeanne was not skilled in Haki, and certainly could not coat her fist in Armament Haki; although the power of that earlier strike was immense, it had failed to injure Xiang Keluo.

Beville breathed a sigh of relief, yet still maintained his own judgment:

"Let's go."

"You cannot save this country; do not throw away your lives in vain."

Ah Jin shook his head and was about to speak again, but in the next instant, he whipped his head toward Jeanne's position; the white dragon, nearly a thousand meters in size, had already vanished.

"In the sky!"

Ah Jin looked up at the sky.

A giant dragon a thousand meters long spread its wings, hovering high above, its entire body engulfed in pure white flames!

"Annoying insects!"

"One strike will destroy you!"

Pure white flames blazed around the white dragon, illuminating the entire sky; the blindingly intense light forced everyone to squeeze their eyes shut!

Yet even with their eyes closed, when they looked up, they could still see that great sun.

While everyone was stunned,

Jeanne suddenly flapped her wings, accelerating downward toward Avalon, and in the blink of an eye, collided with the earth...

Boom!

A deafening roar erupted.

The ground upheaved like a tsunami, only to be melted in an instant, sending splashes of lava soaring thousands of meters high!

Countless buildings collapsed, swallowed by the undulating, wave-like ground!

(End of Chapter)