Jason's anger was completely unleashed on the giant snake through Gabriels.
The enormous dragon swooped down, sending a terrifying blast of wind across the ground. The sheer pressure was so strong that the pirates had to raise their arms to shield their faces.
"So fierce!"
"Whoa! I'm actually seeing a dragon!"
"That's a real dragon! This is terrifying!"
The crew shouted excitedly as they ran out of Gabriels' attack range.
The giant snake stared at Gabriels in the sky with obvious wariness, but it wasn't afraid. Judging by their size, the two were roughly equal, so the snake had no intention of backing down.
"Aaaaargh!"
As Gabriels drew closer, he let out another earth-shaking roar, the shockwave rolling outward and slamming into the earth.
"SSSSSS!"
The giant snake hissed in response. Its massive body suddenly tensed, every vertebra along its spine flexing. An immense force erupted through its body, stretching it taut like a drawn bow before it shot into the air. Its jaws opened wide as it lunged toward the descending dragon.
"Foolish," Gabriels sneered, opening his jaws.
A torrent of flames erupted.
"Whoosh!"
The flames spread across the sky. The giant snake's eyes immediately filled with fear, but it was already too late, the inferno engulfed its body in an instant.
Even the snake's tough hide couldn't withstand the terrifying heat of a dragon's breath. It writhed violently, rolling across the ground while letting out agonized hisses as flames spread across the earth beneath it.
"Lie down!" Gabriels' deep voice thundered as he slammed one massive claw onto the snake's head.
"BOOM!"
The crushing impact pinned the snake's neck against the ground, leaving it dazed and disoriented.
"ROAR!" Gabriels raised his head and roared toward the heavens, a hungry gleam in his eyes. He had never eaten anything this enormous before.
"Gabriels, knock it out," Jason called out.
The command made the dragon pause before slamming his claw down again with considerably more force.
"BOOM!"
The snake's head was pinned firmly to the ground. Though it could no longer move its head, its body reacted instinctively, rapidly coiling around Gabriels.
Gabriels merely sneered and brought down his other claw. The dragon's immense strength immediately overwhelmed the snake; no matter how violently it struggled, it couldn't break free.
Gabriels then began hammering the snake's head repeatedly. After more than a dozen blows, the snake finally stopped moving and fell unconscious, its body badly scorched and smoking.
"You owe me a feast, human!" After subduing the snake, Gabriels glared fiercely at Jason.
"Heh heh. I'll treat you to some Sea King meat later," Jason burst out laughing.
Gabriels snorted. His enormous body quickly shrank back down before returning to Jason's shoulder.
The pirates were fascinated by Gabriels' true form. The Dragon-Elephant Six and Chaporos were especially excited, immediately surrounding Jason, chattering away and bombarding him with questions.
Gabriels remained arrogantly silent, simply closing his eyes and pretending to sleep.
Rojen chuckled at the scene before directing everyone to raise the giant snake's head. They stepped inside its belly and began retrieving the treasure within.
The snake's body was as spacious as a tunnel, allowing them to walk through without difficulty. After going several dozen meters inside, they discovered piles upon piles of gold and treasure.
Still tied tightly in vines, Edno didn't dare make a sound, closing his eyes and pretending to be dead.
What had he just seen? Good lord, that was a real dragon! For the first time, Edno felt incredibly lucky, if he had tried fighting that monster, he would've been smashed into meat paste with a single slap.
In less than fifteen minutes, the pirates hauled out all the gold and treasure from inside the giant snake.
"I really didn't expect this snake to have swallowed so much treasure."
"So the legends were true. Shandora really was a city made of gold!"
Everyone marveled at the loot.
"But how are we supposed to carry all of this back?" someone raised the obvious problem.
Rojen smiled faintly and aimed his right hand toward the treasure. A black vortex appeared, instantly swallowing the piles of gold.
The Rinnegan gave him access to a dimensional storage space capable of holding massive amounts of cargo. And with the System acting as his ultimate cheat, no matter how much treasure they found, taking it with them was effortless.
'System, convert all the treasure into Belly,' he silently commanded.
The System quickly converted everything.
'Conversion complete. Current balance: 3.2 billion Belly.'
Rojen smiled in satisfaction.
The pile of treasure had looked enormous, though the final number wasn't quite as shocking as its physical volume suggested. Still, added to his previous balance, he now had a total of 3.2 billion Belly.
That was definitely worth celebrating. Just imagine what kind of powerful character he could possess with 3.2 billion Belly!
Besides, Shandora's treasure wasn't limited to this single hoard. A city supposedly built entirely from gold, how much wealth was still buried within its ruins? The ancient Ark Maxim built by Enel was proof enough; even after hundreds of years, enough of Shandora's wealth had survived to make an astonishing fortune. If even a fraction remained hidden, the amount would be staggering.
Rojen led the crew onward in their search.
Shandora was far larger than they had imagined. Most of the ruins visible on the surface were remnants of the reconstruction carried out by the Shandians four hundred years ago.
Where was the truly ancient Shandora? That was something they still had to find.
While nobody was paying attention, Rojen quietly released the Deva Path. The Monster Monk placed one palm against his chest and bowed respectfully to Rojen before taking off into the air. With a few quick movements, he disappeared into the distance, far from the Nether Soul Pirates.
Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, evening arrived.
To everyone's surprise, even at an altitude of ten thousand meters above the Blue Sea, they could still see vast stretches of crimson clouds glowing like flames. The area surrounding Upper Yard was encircled by brilliant red clouds that seemed to burn in the sky.
The sight was breathtaking.
"So this is what the fire clouds look like up close…" Trens stared blankly into the distance.
The vast clouds high above had been dyed a deep crimson, resembling countless flames floating silently overhead. The entire crew stood quietly, captivated by the scenery.
Before long, darkness fell, and the fire clouds gradually faded. Within Shandora, the pirates lit a campfire and prepared to spend the night.
Meanwhile, at the border between Upper Yard and Angel Island, a young man wearing a shirt and jeans raised his head after keeping it lowered for a long time.
"A choice?"
"Big brother, I've made my decision!"
Lightning suddenly erupted around him. The young man vanished, transforming into lightning as he sped away.
(End Of This Chapter)
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