A Worthy Opponent Is Hard to Find

In the Panggu Castle, the Five Elders exchanged uneasy glances.

The energy beam from earlier—its form and power stirred a faint sense of familiarity within them, especially since it had originated from that ruin...

A hard-to-believe guess surfaced in their minds, leaving them momentarily hesitant.

The entire Mary Geoise fell into an eerie silence, until a thunderous roar echoed from the hole.

The mysterious intruder was rapidly closing in on the surface.

Debris trembled on the ground as a massive black shadow leaped from the hole, then slammed heavily onto the surface, collapsing surrounding buildings like toy blocks and kicking up a vast cloud of dust.

The Five Elders, the Celestial Dragons, the CP organization... everyone in the holy land of Mary Geoise fixed their gaze on this audacious intruder.

The dust cleared, revealing Godzilla's towering, mountain-like form!

What appeared before them was Godzilla, having absorbed ample nuclear energy underground—in its prime state!

"My god! How did this lizard get so big!"

"What lizard? That's clearly an ancient dinosaur!"

In a distant, hidden shelter, gathered Celestial Dragons stared at the sudden giant beast with awe.

"Look! It has gills on its body—it must be a Sea King! Only Sea Kings can grow this big!"

A sharp-eyed Celestial Dragon declared smugly.

Another Celestial Dragon gazed at Leon with infatuation, muttering under his breath, "If I had a creature like that as a slave, how impressive would that be..."

The Five Elders watched the giant beast standing motionless on the ground, communicating through telepathy.

"I have never seen a creature of this form before."

"Perhaps a member of the Giant Tribe who ate an ancient Zoan fruit? And what about that beam—ancient technology?"

The Five Elders exchanged cryptic glances. This was too significant; for now, they would wait and see, awaiting that person's orders.

Godzilla's appearance drew the attention of everyone in Mary Geoise, but Leon, at the center of the storm, was in a tough spot.

The reason he stood still, aside from his wariness of the Five Elders and Im, was mainly—he was exhausted.

Though it didn't show on the surface, a tidal wave of fatigue kept crashing against his mind.

There was no helping it. Godzilla was amphibious, but it couldn't fly.

The distance from underground to the surface—if this were still the budget version of Godzilla, Leon could barely manage it. But the problem was that Godzilla's size had grown too fast, and Leon's mind hadn't kept up.

His situation was like a rookie who'd just gotten the hang of a remote-control car being suddenly ordered to pilot a Gundam...

"Hah..."

Leon let out a deep breath. Despite the twists and turns, he had finally seen the light of day again.

He looked down at the world from Godzilla's perspective.

"Whew... that's high..."

The situation now was different from what Leon had imagined. He'd expected to be attacked the moment he burst out of the ground.

But strangely, the atmosphere on site was eerily quiet.

He didn't know what was going on, but given the current standoff, his massive size made it hard to just slip away easily...

If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move.

Since he wasn't under attack, Leon decided to stay put and seize the time to get used to Godzilla's body.

In the distant sky stood a middle-aged man in a yellow suit, draped in a Coat of Justice.

Vice Admiral Borsalino, codename Kizaru. The moment he received the order, he used the advantage of the Glint-Glint Fruit to reach Mary Geoise before Leon burst out of the ground.

But Kizaru didn't rush to act. Instead, he concealed himself and quietly observed the distant giant beast.

A glint flashed behind his yellow sunglasses as he stroked his chin, his expression unreadable.

"Oh my~ how terrifying~"

Adhering to the spirit of slacking off—no, adhering to the justice of ambiguity—

Facing such a powerful enemy, it wouldn't do to act rashly. And since the enemy was right in the holy land of Mary Geoise, he had to constantly watch out for the safety of the Celestial Dragons, making it even harder to move recklessly.

After all, he wasn't the only one who'd received the order...

"Ice Block: 'Pheasant Beak'!"

"Hound Blaze!"

Two sudden attacks shot straight at Leon.

Without a moment's hesitation, the ones who broke the stalemate and launched the first strikes were Vice Admiral Kuzan, codename Aokiji, and Vice Admiral Sakazuki, codename Akainu!

Leon didn't dodge—he couldn't even if he wanted to. He stood his ground and took both attacks head-on.

The ice bird formed from cold air shattered directly against Leon's body, frost spreading across him. On the other side, Akainu's magma-coated arm struck Leon square in the head, a devastating blow that seemed meant to shatter the giant beast's skull.

Aokiji and Akainu landed slowly, their expressions grim.

The probing attacks had hit successfully, but compared to the sheer scale of the giant beast before them, they seemed almost insignificant.

And with the battlefield located in the holy land of Mary Geoise, they couldn't use wide-range offensive techniques.