Task Complete!

Everyone was steering the Going Merry through the blockade.

Worried about the Millennium Dragon, Apis climbed onto its wooden raft, saying she wanted to stay with Dragon Grandpa. Everyone could only let her do as she pleased.

Suddenly, a cannonball was about to hit the Going Merry. Unable to steer clear of it, Nami watched as Luffy leaped down from the bow, sucked in a huge breath, and inflated his stomach in an instant, knocking the cannonball away before it could strike the ship.

The cannonball flew into a warship on the other side, smashing through its mast and splitting it cleanly in two.

Admiral Nelson flew into a rage and ordered his Marines to deploy the super-heavy cannon. Before it could fire, however, Usopp returned the favor and struck the cannon's firing port with the Going Merry's own artillery.

Boom!

The main cannon exploded outright, blasting Nelson and countless Marine soldiers off their feet and leaving them sprawled across the deck, unable to rise for quite a while!

"How was that? Pretty impressive, huh?"

Usopp proudly sought praise from the others, only for Roronoa Zoro to mock him for hitting the target through sheer luck. Meanwhile, Luffy stretched out his rubber arm, trying to grab the opposing Marine warship.

"Gum-Gum—Bridge!"

Seeing this, Roronoa Zoro and Sanji immediately jumped onto Luffy's arm and headed for that warship.

Zero, meanwhile, used simulated Moonwalk to propel himself rapidly through the sky. Sanji watched with envy, already calculating when he could ask Zero to teach him the technique. If he learned it, his combat strength would surely improve significantly!

Roronoa Zoro had no intention of learning Moonwalk for now. After all, his fighting ability was mainly centered on Sword Techniques, and he had only just grasped the method of sensing one's breath. He needed to consolidate that first, so he merely glanced at Zero before continuing forward.

Just as Zero landed on the deck, Roronoa Zoro and Sanji arrived as well. But in the next instant, Luffy retracted his arm and flew over, directly knocking the unlucky Roronoa Zoro aside!

"What are you doing, Luffy?!"

"Hahaha, we made it safely!"

Roronoa Zoro: "..."

Though he was full of complaints, when Luffy asked him to cut the steel chains, he did not refuse. He automatically stepped beside them and drew Wado Ichimonji from his waist.

Roronoa Zoro was responsible for cutting the steel chains, while the others protected him.

Luffy used all sorts of rubber techniques, while Sanji fought with his kicks. Even as Marines continuously rushed over from other warships to reinforce their side, they did not fall into a disadvantage.

Zero's side of the battle, however, was somewhat bizarre. Any Marine who came within three meters of him would roll his eyes back and collapse uncontrollably.

As a result, the Marines coming to surround him stopped in their tracks when they saw this. They did not dare get too close to Zero, and eventually all ran off to gang up on Luffy and Sanji, abruptly increasing the pressure on the two of them.

Zero wanted to clear them all out at once, but there were simply too many Marines, and more were continuously arriving. The range of his Haki was limited as well, so he could only clear out the enemies bit by bit.

In the end, Luffy used his rubber arms to gather all the Marines on the ship together, then tossed every last one of them off the warship, finally buying them a brief moment to catch their breath.

Just as the fighting subsided, Roronoa Zoro cut through the last steel chain. Nami and Usopp hurriedly steered the Going Merry forward, intending to force their way through the gap between the two warships!

Unexpectedly, a cannonball suddenly landed in the sea beside the wooden raft where Apis and the Millennium Dragon were. The raft shook violently, and Apis lost her footing and fell into the water.

Fortunately, Usopp noticed the emergency as well and immediately jumped down from the Going Merry, managing to rescue the limp Apis.

Seeing the unconscious Apis, the Millennium Dragon suddenly stood up, stretched out its neck, and let out a cry toward the sky. The astonishing sound waves made everyone present turn to look.

"Dragon Grandpa..."

Apis woke at that moment. She seemed to have heard what the Millennium Dragon was thinking and wanted to dissuade it, but it had already flapped its wings and flown into the sky, heading straight for Nelson's flagship!

"You lot, shoot it down! I only want the dragon bones—its corpse will do just fine!"

At Nelson's furious command, the Marine warships all turned their cannons toward the Millennium Dragon soaring through the sky.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Artillery fire filled the air. Most of the shots missed due to insufficient range, but a few cannonballs struck the Millennium Dragon's body, making it howl in pain. Even so, it did not fall from the sky.

Zero finally rushed over and used a Sword Technique to block every cannonball around the Millennium Dragon, letting the Straw Hat Pirates and Apis breathe a sigh of relief.

"It'll be fine. With Zero here, Dragon Grandpa definitely won't be hurt!"

Hearing Usopp's confident words, Apis nodded forcefully. Though she was still worried, things had already come this far. All she could do was pray that Dragon Grandpa would be all right.

Whoosh!

Boom!

After destroying another cannonball in midair, Zero used Moonwalk to hover briefly beside the Millennium Dragon. At this point, he could no longer suppress his temper.

At the end of the day, the Millennium Dragon was merely a somewhat unusual creature in this world. There were even talking reindeer here, so what was so remarkable about a Millennium Dragon?

And for something as obviously nonexistent as an immortality medicine, they had dispatched such a massive fleet to capture it. Wasn't that just bullying?

No, was it bullying a dragon?

"Whatever. I'm angry now, so—"

During the gap in the bombardment, Zero activated the Armament Haki around his body once more and coated Startled Dragon's blade with it. The dragon-shaped patterns on the blade now flickered faintly with purple light.

Boom boom boom!

Dense artillery fire came crashing in once again.

Clearly, the Marine fleet had grown impatient after repeatedly failing to bring down the Millennium Dragon. This time, there were even more cannonballs than before.

Facing an assault powerful enough to flatten a small mountain, Zero merely took a deep breath before swinging Startled Dragon once more!

Buzz!

An enormous blade of light suddenly appeared over the sea, like a crescent moon that filled everyone's vision.

In Nelson's eyes, the cannonballs posed no obstruction to the blade of light at all. Even the two warships before him were severed straight through the middle after the slash passed by.

Then, the blade of light faded.

All everyone saw was a black line suddenly appear down the center of the Marine flagship—the one Nelson was aboard—and gradually widen. Then, the upper half of the flagship slanted into the sea. No matter how Nelson and the other Marines struggled, they could not escape this fate.

On the Going Merry.

Seeing the suddenly silent battlefield and the warship slowly sinking into the sea before that man, stars appeared in Apis's eyes. "S-So amazing!"