Tremors

"Boom!!!"

Just as Dawn and the others were evacuating under the protection of the officers, a Stone Lion descended from the sky with a piercing roar and an overwhelmingly heavy sense of oppression.

"Rankyaku!!"

Nearby, one of the officers responsible for protecting Dawn and the others was the first to leap into the air and confront the Stone Lion head-on.

Using Geppo, he faced the approaching Stone Lion. His legs, already turned jet-black, unleashed enormous, razor-sharp slashes that smashed the Stone Lion into a pile of rubble in an instant.

But the moment they were held up, the battle here seemed to catch Golden Lion's attention. Amid his fight with Garp and Sengoku, after a large-scale attack, even more Stone Lions came roaring toward them.

Then several officers used Geppo to ascend into the sky, the sonic booms created by their feet striking the air echoing overhead.

Along with them came hundreds of Rankyaku slashes, their sharp whistles tearing through the air as they shredded the Stone Lions.

The Marine officers assigned to guard them had acted, but the results were not as good as expected.

The Stone Lions created by Golden Lion's attacks had merely taken on the form of lions through the Float-Float Fruit's power. At their core, they were still only stone.

If they were not completely shattered, even fragments of rock could still inflict damage so long as they carried enough momentum.

Most of the officers were held back trying to completely destroy the Stone Lions, but at that moment, Dawn saw three Stone Lions charging straight toward them!

"Damn it, run!!" The officer guarding them roared. His face, which had relaxed after seeing the officers act, instantly darkened as he used Geppo and rushed over to stop them.

Yet even officers had to take the Stone Lions' attacks seriously. As colonel-level officers, the second tier of combat strength, they needed several people working together to stop and smash them.

For a moment, the situation looked grim.

"Boom!! Amid the shrill whistling from above, the only one that slipped through came roaring in with killing intent!!

In an instant, the fierce Stone Lion charged toward the youths from the training camp.

At that moment, every guard nearby had been drawn away and could not return to help. The only ones facing the Stone Lion were the young—and even younger—trainees.

"Tekkai!"

Just as the Stone Lion was about to roar down upon them, Sola, that reckless tigress, instantly threw the little one in her arms toward Berigood beside her and turned without hesitation to meet it!

Sola had transformed into a tiger-like human-beast form. The tiger stripes on her forehead formed the character for king, making her look imposing, but before that enormous Stone Lion, she was like an egg thrown against a rock.

"That idiot! Resistance Aura, Air Shield!" Dawn cursed and immediately controlled the air to block Sola's path.

"Smack"!

Sola looked as if she had crashed into a sheet of solid glass in midair.

After hanging there for a moment, she even slid straight down the translucent, glass-like wall Dawn had created.

Of course, the impact had twisted her features, and her beastly form was hardly much to look at in the first place.

"Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!"

Several Air Shields blocked the Stone Lion directly in front of Sola, but the shields were repeatedly shattered and repeatedly regenerated.

"Get out of here!" Dawn shouted at Sola with difficulty. The girl was still a little dazed from smashing her head into the shield.

"O... Okay!!" Sola shook her dizzy head, then immediately got to her feet and ran toward Dawn. As a Zoan user, that level of impact was nothing to her.

After blocking the Stone Lion, Dawn saw that the officers nearby had already dealt with the previous group of lions and begun taking over this straggler. He could not help letting out a breath of relief.

The defensive skill he had developed specifically to deal with Golden Lion's attacks was not bad after all. The Air Shields had shown decent defensive power just now.

Dawn had only kept creating a new shield the instant the previous one cracked and the Stone Lion attacked because he was afraid Sola behind him would get caught up in it. That was how he had managed to hold out for so long.

Dawn and the others were elites from the training camp. After sprinting all the way, they reached the shelter at Marine Headquarters in no time.

The air was filled with the smell of sweat mixed with the rusty stench of blood, everything proving the brutality of this battle.

He called for everyone to go help. They could do nothing about wounds that were too severe, but they could still handle simple bandaging, emergency treatment, and various chores.

As for Dawn, because he had displayed excellent medical skills before, he joined in treating the severely wounded.

But faced with the Marines caught in the aftermath, whose cries of pain filled the area, as well as the family members living at headquarters, Dawn once again realized the cruelty of this world.

At that moment, the seed of strength in Dawn's heart grew even stronger. He did not want to become cannon fodder who had to desperately block even the shockwaves when the strong fought!

This world was just like that.

It seemed like a beautiful fantasy world filled with dreams and adventure, with all kinds of wondrous islands to visit and explore, but behind it all lay unimaginable cruelty.

The weak had no choice in how they lived. They could only passively accept everything.

As time passed, the battle ended with half of Marine Headquarters destroyed. Garp and Sengoku captured Golden Lion and imprisoned him on the sixth level of Impel Down.

As News Birds flew in every direction, newspapers flooded the world with news of the major event:

"The captain of the Flying Pirate fleet—Golden Lion, the pirate fleet admiral known as the 'Flying Pirate'—attacked Marine Headquarters. After a fierce battle, he was captured by Marine Hero Garp and Sengoku the Buddha working together."

Beneath the article was a photograph of Golden Lion after his arrest, looking utterly bedraggled inside a cage.

For a time, the seas trembled once more, while the Marines' prestige rose to even greater heights!

Not long after the arrest of Pirate King Roger, they had now brought down Golden Lion, one of the four great pirates.

Only Whitebeard and Red, who traveled alone and whose whereabouts were uncertain, remained upon the seas.

For a time, even Marine Headquarters was filled with talk that pirates were destined to decline and perish.

After all, the Marines' record during this period was simply too dazzling. There was no need to mention Pirate King Roger; capturing Golden Lion, who commanded numerous fleets in the New World, was in some ways an even greater achievement than capturing the Pirate King!

After all, the Roger Pirates had only one ship, while Golden Lion's fleet possessed vast military strength!

Now that they were leaderless, Golden Lion's fleet was bound to split apart.

Beyond that, everyone was looking forward to the execution ceremony of Pirate King Roger.

As long as the execution in Loguetown went smoothly, it would deliver an incomparably powerful deterrent to the pirates of the seas. At the same time, those who had not yet set sail would see where the path of piracy led.

But the people at this moment did not yet know that an even greater upheaval was about to arrive.