King's move had certainly hurt his enemy at a steep cost to himself.
His Flame Charge from the sky had severely wounded Dragon, but King had not come out unscathed either. After all, forces acted in opposite pairs, and in a sense, King had slammed his own body into the planet.
The recoil from the collision had inflicted considerable injuries all over King's body.
Fortunately, Lunarians had naturally formidable defenses. Combined with his Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit and a Pokémon's innate resistance to such collisions, King's condition was not too terrible.
Compared to Dragon, who had taken the flames and impact head-on and nearly lost the ability to fight, King at least had enough strength left to keep fighting. Holding off a slacker like Kizaru would not be much of a problem.
King's sudden attack shocked everyone. Who would have thought that Dragon, having just defeated Saro and not yet had time to rejoin the fighting, would be taken out by King in a single blow?
The one who had least expected it was Dragon himself. His emotions had not yet settled, and his guard was down when King struck. He was hit before he could defend himself and had no choice but to withdraw from battle.
"How frightening! King, I never imagined your real target was Dragon!" Kizaru turned into a flash of light and appeared beside King and Dragon, remarking with feeling.
"Dragon, how are you? Can you still stand?" As Kizaru spoke, he shielded Dragon behind him to prevent King from taking the opportunity to attack him again.
Dragon pushed aside some of the rubble on his body and struggled to his feet. With a bitter smile, he said, "I won't die. I got careless this time!"
Had he been prepared, Dragon would never have been taken