Chapter 954: Tell Cracker to Come Over and Die!

Chapter 954: Chapter 954: Tell Cracker to Come Over and Die!

"What on earth are these...?"

Opera’s expression instantly twisted into sheer disbelief as dozens of Dragonians charged onto the battlefield.

These humanoid killing weapons, known far and wide as Dragonians, had already carved out a terrifying reputation. Their overall combat performance was in no way inferior to the World Government’s ultimate humanoid weapons, the Pacifistas. In terms of raw destructive capability, each one possessed a combat power easily rivaling that of a pirate with a bounty crossing the hundred-million Berry mark.

The arrival of dozens of these entities was functionally equivalent to dozens of elite, hundred-million-Berry pirates plunging into the fray simultaneously, more than enough to decisively tilt the scales of the entire battle.

As the dozens of Dragonians ran rampant across the battlefield, they inflicted catastrophic casualties upon the rank-and-file of the Big Mom Pirates. Conversely, very few among the invading forces possessed the strength necessary to even scratch them.

While a rare few could manage to slay a Dragonian, the vast majority of the pirates found themselves entirely occupied with merely holding them at bay, if they weren’t being outright slaughtered. Unless an individual possessed a powerful Devil Fruit, razor-sharp swordsmanship, or peerless physical techniques, piercing the Dragonians’ defenses was an absolute impossibility.

Furthermore, many of the Haki practitioners present possessed Armament Haki that was simply too weak, leaving them to struggle desperately or face immediate execution.

On the other side of the field, Sriya and Bakoji were locked in a ferocious duel. Sriya’s metallic prosthetics clashed relentlessly against Bakoji’s long-handled battle-axe. With a succession of deafening clang-clang-clangs, their metallic collisions sent violent shockwaves and billowing screens of dust radiating outward.

"You bastards!!!"

Opera bellowed in a mixture of panic and fury as he watched the Big Mom Pirates gradually show signs of a routing defeat. He frantically manipulated the vast ocean of whipped cream before him, constantly generating more of the substance to swell his reserves.

"Paper Shuriken!!!"

Seizing the opening, Ward swept his hand through the air, unleashing a torrential downpour of four-pointed paper darts that shot forward with sharp, whistling shua-shua-shua sounds.

Splash—!

A massive tidal wave of whipped cream surged upward, constructing a colossal bulwark directly in front of Opera. The dozens of four-pointed darts plunged straight into the creamy mass one after another, vanishing instantly into its depths without a trace.

Following that, in a matter of mere seconds, a massive, lake-sized expanse of white whipped cream manifested before Opera. Within the roiling basin, an immense volume of whipped cream converged rapidly, molding into a colossal, tens-of-meters-tall Cream Monster that loomed forward with overwhelming, suffocating pressure.

"Fall back!"

Ward roared at the top of his lungs. The severed paper wing on his back regenerated at a breakneck pace. With a violent flap of his twin pinions, he launched himself backward, soaring high into the relative safety of the sky.

Sriya required no warning from Ward. The exact moment the colossal monstrosity began taking shape, he had already pivoted on his heel and sprinted away.

Sensing that the situation had turned highly volatile, Bakoji didn’t bother to obstruct Sriya’s retreat either. He turned tail and fled with equal haste.

Boom—!

The tens-of-meters-tall Cream Monster collapsed forward like a disintegrating skyscraper, slamming heavily into the earth. It transformed into a churning, torrential flood that instantly swallowed three to four Dragonians and over two hundred royal soldiers in its path.

"Aaargh!"

"Wh-What is this?!"

"No—No—!"

Agonized, blood-curdling shrieks echoed from within the depths of the white lake of whipped cream. Because the soldiers were entirely submerged in the substance, their skin suffered massive, widespread saccharification. Their flesh instantly became scorched and charred, inflicting horrific, agonizing chemical burns.

Skin, mouths, eyes, and eventually internal organs... one charred corpse after another floated to the surface of the creamy lake.

"Roar—!"

Suddenly, a series of ferocious, beastly roars saturated with immense agony erupted from the violently churning depths of the cream.

In the next instant, several massive black silhouettes burst forth from the white expanse, hurtling directly toward Opera with unmitigated ferocity.

Opera’s face drained of color. Caught completely off guard, he had absolutely no time to evade. He could only frantically command the whipped cream before him to rise, throwing up a thick, white cream wall.

Splash—!

Yet, the massive black shadows didn’t slow down for even a fraction of a second. They rammed directly into the cream wall, sending colossal sheets of whipped cream splattering in every direction as they instantly shattered the defense.

Only then could Opera clearly discern the entities that had breached his barrier. They were several Dragonians, their entire bodies covered in severely scorched scales. Yet, even as those charred scales continuously peeled away and fell to the ground, brand-new scales were already rapidly regenerating in their place.

Simultaneously, the four Dragonians lashed out in unison, either swinging their razor-sharp talons or snapping their jaws as they lunged at Opera from all sides.

A terrifying, foul wind laden with a metallic stench rushed over him. Trapped in a state of absolute horror, Opera found himself completely exposed to the brunt of the massive, coordinated onslaught.

In that critical, life-or-death juncture, an immense torrent of butter materialized out of nowhere. It coiled around the limbs of the four Dragonians with blinding speed, pinning the mid-assault monsters rigidly in place.

"An enemy that cannot move is nothing more than a stationary target!"

A silhouette flashed into existence. A long blade flashed through the air, instantly generating a brilliant, blinding net of sword-light that entirely enveloped the four Dragonians.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Within a few brief breaths, the razor-sharp sword-light carved dozens of bone-deep lacerations across the monsters’ bodies, going so far as to cleanly sever several of their arms and legs.

"Opera-niisan, are you alright?"

Galette came sprinting over from a distance, her eyes scanning Opera up and down with deep anxiety.

"I’m fine!"

Opera shook his head, a lingering sense of terror still gripping his chest. He turned his eyes toward the pale-faced man with long, wild golden hair and said in a heavy tone, "You have my thanks, Raisin!"

The man before him possessed long, golden hair that closely resembled a Super Saiyan 3, yet was styled in a manner strikingly reminiscent of Madara Uchiha. He was none other than the thirty-third son of the Charlotte Family, Charlotte Raisin.

Clad in a crimson cape, purple attire, and white trousers, his performance with the long blade and the terrifying net of sword-light he had just unleashed made it abundantly clear that he was an exceptionally skilled swordsman of formidable caliber.

"It is enough that you are unharmed, Opera-niisan."

Raisin spared a brief glance at Opera before training his sharp gaze onto the Dragonians that were still very much alive. His expression shifted drastically into one of utter horror as he witnessed their bone-deep lacerations closing at a visible rate and their severed limbs beginning to sprout anew. "What kind of godforsaken monsters are these?"

The vast majority of the Big Mom Pirates’ officers had seen the Dragonians in intelligence reports, but very few had ever engaged them in direct combat. Though they possessed advance intelligence on these entities, witnessing their horrific attributes firsthand filled each officer with undeniable dread.

The whipped cream generated by Opera could induce saccharification to scorch an opponent’s flesh, inflicting extreme torment. However, it suffered from one fatal flaw: a distinct lack of immediate lethality.

Unless the whipped cream was successfully forced into an opponent’s nose, mouth, or eyes to corrode their internal organs, it was exceedingly difficult to claim a life with it, let alone kill a Dragonian possessed of a monstrously durable physique and high-speed regeneration. Opera simply lacked the burst damage required to deliver a true one-hit kill, which was precisely why he had fallen into such a perilous predicament.

Shoom—!

Boom—!

Abruptly, a dark silhouette streaked across the sky from a short distance away, crashing violently into the earth a mere dozen meters from Opera and his companions.

The ground shuddered violently under the immense impact. A powerful concussive shockwave erupted instantly, kicking up a towering plume of dust that blanketed the area. Opera, Raisin, and Galette instinctively raised their arms to cover their faces, narrowing their eyes against the debris.

"What happened?!"

"Who is it?!"

"That’s... Bavarois-niisan?!"

As the dust cloud gradually dispersed, a crater several meters wide was revealed. Lying at the center was a figure completely drenched in blood. The tattered, ruined boxing gloves on his hands and the shredded prison attire on his frame left no doubt as to his identity.

The twenty-sixth son of the Charlotte Family, Charlotte Bavarois!

"How can this be?"

"Damn it! Who did this?"

"For Bavarois to be defeated here...?"

Shock and fury contorted the faces of Opera and his companions. They found it entirely impossible to believe that the blood-soaked, broken figure lying before them was truly their own brother.

"As expected of an officer of the Big Mom Pirates. To think you actually managed to hold me off for so long."

A calm, deep voice drifted over from the front. Opera and the others snapped their heads up, their eyes landing on a tall, profoundly muscular bald man who had just stepped into view. His black suit was filled out to the absolute limit by his bulging, rock-solid muscles.

"You are... Daz Bonez!"

The moment Raisin recognized the newcomer, his pupils dilated in sheer shock, and he blurted out instinctively, "Don’t tell me... Crocodile is here as well?!"

Before the echoes of his voice could fade, a sudden vortex of sand swept into the clearing, swirling rapidly beside the bald giant. The vast quantities of yellow sand coalesced into a human silhouette at breakneck speed, manifesting into a man with a thoroughly indifferent expression, a thick cigar clamped between his teeth. A long, horizontal scar cut across the bridge of his nose, and a massive golden hook gleamed subtly beneath his heavy black fur coat.

Crocodile took a long drag from his cigar, exhaling a plume of white smoke as his cold, arrogant eyes swept over the group.

"Where is Cracker? Tell that bastard to get his ass over here and die!"