The sea breeze over Bitao Island in the West Blue still carried the scent of gunpowder smoke and salt, while thousands of miles away in the Northwest Islands, dry winds swept up dust and scraps of grass. After disembarking and forming ranks, a silent torrent of iron was now crushing across the vast, tawny land at astonishing speed. The hoofbeats were not scattered drumbeats but an unbroken rumble of thunder, rolling across the boundless plains and making the earth tremble faintly. These were Ma Chao and his Xiliang Iron Cavalry, under Chen Yu's orders to sweep away the scattered nations, city-states, and nomadic tribes of the northwestern West Blue that had neither submitted nor been incorporated into the five-kingdom system.
Ma Chao reined in his warhorse atop a rise and surveyed the land before him. He wore gleaming silver chain mail beneath a plain white brocade robe, and his scarlet cloak snapped in the cold wind. Most striking of all was the fourteen-foot Dragon-Rider Spear in his hand. Blue-black electricity flowed faintly along its shaft, a sign of the Zekrom Fruit's power naturally spilling forth.
"General, Anias lies fifteen kilometers ahead." His deputy rode forward, his voice clear even in the cold wind. "The garrison numbers roughly three thousand. Their ruler is a Zoan Ox-Ox Fruit user."
A cold smile curled Ma Chao's lips. He pointed his Dragon-Rider Spear forward. "All troops, charge!"
Like a beast that had lain dormant for ages, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry suddenly sprang into motion. Scattered hoofbeats swiftly swelled into an unbroken rumble of thunder, while clashing armor and neighing horses intertwined into a symphony of death. At the head of the charge, blue-black arcs began bursting from Ma Chao's body. The Zekrom Fruit's power was awakening.
The Anias garrison was clearly stunned by this