Savage Dragon

"Where was this?"

The surroundings were nothing but ruins. The two pirates were gone, and even Loguetown was nowhere to be seen. The deathly silence and unfamiliar environment left Jerry deeply uneasy.

He only remembered placing his hand on the hilt, intending to draw the blade, when his consciousness suddenly sank. When he opened his eyes again, he had somehow arrived here.

"This is your hometown's future! La la la la la~" A strange laugh drifted over.

He looked up toward the sound and saw a pair of vertical pupils larger than his entire body.

It was the Savage Dragon!

Jerry immediately realized that this was the lingering soul of the Savage Dragon his mother's ancestor had slain, and the origin of the sword's name.

"This dragon can smell that man's scent on you! You are his descendant! La la la la la~"

"I saw your memories, weakling. You can protect nothing!"

Hundreds of years ago, the Savage Dragon had been at the peak of its strength. Believing itself invincible, it wreaked havoc everywhere, determined to turn the world into its Paradise.

It held so-called governments and armies in complete contempt, carrying itself as though it ruled the world.

Then, a man who dared to stop it appeared. It had initially assumed he was merely all show, but their battle lasted five days and five nights.

It had never seen a man so powerful. Their fight remained deadlocked for a long time, while it relied on its ability to fly and powerful regeneration to steadily wear him down.

On the fifth day, seeing the man kneeling on one knee, the exhausted dragon lowered its guard and landed, giving him a perfect opportunity.

Even after landing, it remained vigilant, ready at any moment for the man's ambush. Yet it had still underestimated him.

The man charged at it with astonishing speed, and its massive claw slammed mercilessly toward him.

It had thought that, as before, he would dodge, or his blade would clash against its claws before they resumed their fierce battle.

It had been wrong. The man did dodge, but he merely turned his body sideways. As it pierced through half his body, he unleashed an unparalleled sword strike.

Even after centuries, it still could not forget that heaven-shaking sword aura.

One sword strike had reduced over a hundred years of cultivation to nothing and erased its thousand-year lifespan. How could it not hate him?

At the moment of death, its overwhelming resentment transformed it into a vengeful spirit. Though it could only last for a short time, it still wanted revenge. It wanted to destroy everything.

Yet at the very end, that man had drawn a boundary as a prison and sealed it within the blade!

Even now, it could no longer count how many years had passed. It only knew that after a very, very long time, it had finally emerged—and encountered that man's descendant!

"What do you want?"

Jerry had no regrets. At worst, he would die. It was nothing more than a foolish dragon slain by his ancestor!

"Do you see these ruins? This is what your hometown will look like shortly. I will make you kill the family you love most with your own hands!"

"This is punishment for your ancestor!"

The Savage Dragon transformed into a cloud of black smoke and instantly enveloped Jerry's entire body. No matter how he struggled, he could not even make a sound.

In reality.

The sky began to darken. Black smoke flowed out from the sheath and coiled around Jerry's body as a terrifying resentment spread through the air.

His narrowed eyes snapped open, revealing a pair of vertical pupils. A sinister smile appeared on his bruised and swollen face, looking utterly unnatural.

"Welcome destruction! La la la la la~"

With the sheath in his left hand and the blade in his right, Jerry threw back his head and let out a long roar. He was now the Savage Dragon.

"Could that guy be behind this?"

The sudden strange weather and an ominous premonition caught Smoker's attention. He drove toward the direction where the sky had darkened.

"Looks like he has been controlled by that strange sword."

Cifer, who had seen his share of strange things, immediately recognized the problem.

Was there an old man hidden inside the sword?

Looking at Jerry shrouded in black energy and overflowing with killing intent, Cifer dismissed that thought. Then it must be some cackling monster!

He had heard that lightning specialized in dealing with darkness, hadn't he? Cifer revealed a mysterious smile.

"30 Million Volts - Raiju!"

At Cifer's prompting, Enel casually summoned a wolf-shaped thunder beast and sent it charging toward the Savage Dragon.

"Little insect, even if this dragon is now only a soul, you are still unworthy of being my enemy!"

Rather than dodging, the Savage Dragon swung its sword to cleave the thunder wolf apart. Yet the instant the blade touched the thunder wolf, its soul felt as though it were being devoured by countless ferocious beasts, and agony overwhelmed it.

It collapsed to the ground, convulsing nonstop and screaming continuously, confirming Cifer's guess.

"Talk about one thing countering another!"

Cifer sighed. Judging from its aura alone, this thing was stronger than Enel, yet even Enel's casual attack could leave it wishing for death.

The Savage Dragon glared at the two of them with hatred, panting heavily as though it wanted to skin them alive and pull out their tendons.

"Damn it! Ahhh!"

After roaring in fury, it abruptly turned around and fled into the distance at incredible speed.

The decisiveness of that choice left even Cifer stunned for a moment.

"Ulquiorra, what are you up to?"

After parking, Smoker saw that nothing seemed to have happened here. But Cifer was definitely present, so he could only direct his anger at him.

"If you can keep up, come take a look!"

Cifer took a light step and vanished from his sight. Immediately afterward, a bolt of lightning shot into the distance as well.

"These two bastards!"

Being ignored infuriated Smoker. Veins bulged across his forehead as he twisted the throttle and once more chased after them.

"What exactly is that human? His ability actually restrains this dragon's soul!"

The fleeing Savage Dragon was already drenched in sweat. That single attack had nearly caused its lingering soul to collapse.

It did not dare continue fighting. Its power was almost gone, and before its lingering soul dissipated, it had to accomplish the thing it wanted most.

At that moment, its target appeared within its sight.

Found them!

What luck—the two women were actually approaching it! Jamie was pushing her mother in a wheelchair toward Jerry!

The Savage Dragon's targets were Jamie and her mother. It would use this brat's body to kill the person he loved most!

It had initially intended to kill them first, then commit suicide, extinguishing that man's bloodline from this world.

But on second thought, making him live in the world in misery would be the greatest torment of all!

"Savage Dragon!"

When the sky changed, she had guessed that the Savage Dragon had broken free. Seeing that it was clearly not headed toward the Marine branch, she knew something had happened to Jerry.

So she had her daughter push her out of the house and head in this direction.

"La la la la la! That man's scent!"

The bloodline within her was even stronger, and the Savage Dragon's killing intent intensified. In the blink of an eye, it had arrived before her.

"Watch carefully, brat!"

"No!"

Jerry, trapped within, struggled desperately to stop the Savage Dragon, but he could not break free from its control. He could only watch helplessly as it slowly approached his mother with the sword in hand.

Only then did he feel regret. Why had he not simply let those two pirates kill him earlier? At least then, his mother and sister might not have been dragged into this.

The Savage Dragon noticed that the woman was unnervingly calm, and a sense of foreboding rose within it.

Sure enough, when it got close enough, her left hand, which had been hidden behind her back, suddenly flung forward. Fortunately, it had sensed the danger and narrowly dodged.

Looking down, it saw a tube of blood. When it hit the ground, it gave off waves of scorching heat.

How could it possibly fail to recognize this?

It was its own blood!

Dragon Blood! An object of purest yang and utmost hardness!

That man had actually left a contingency behind!

Seeing that the Savage Dragon had dodged the Dragon Blood, the woman fell into despair. This was the method passed down by her ancestor to deal with it. Since it had failed, there was nothing more she could say.

She was only sorry for her two children.

Hot tears streamed down her face.

"Brother, wake up already!"

Jamie stood in front of her mother as the Savage Dragon raised the longsword in its hand.

Jerry's hoarse screams and desperate resistance only made it pause for an instant. The blade fell, yet stopped an inch before Jamie's forehead.

"Who gave you the confidence to kill someone in front of me?"

A pale hand gripped the blade.