Marine Vice Admiral Darren carried himself with an easy, unhurried grace that made his confidence unmistakable. The Gorosei's faces darkened in unison.
"Your courage is admirable," Saint Saturn sneered, an eerie crimson gleam kindling in his eyes. "But what makes you think you'll leave here alive? Do you truly believe a handful of you can protect every civilian on this island?"
A killing pressure crashed over the Boa sisters, as if invisible hands had closed around their throats. Breath turned to fire. Their faces blanched, then flushed, then purpled.
A tall figure—slick with blood—stepped forward and placed himself between them and the Gorosei.
The instant he blocked their line of sight, that suffocating threat vanished. The sisters reeled, sucking in air, eyes wide.
Beside them, Dragon lifted his arms, his expression like ice.
"Storm: Wall of Sighs!"
A visible cyclone tore across the land, scooping snow into a sky-high barricade of ice and white wind. In a breath, it sheared away the Gorosei's presence and sightline.
In the hush of whirling snow, the scene turned stark and solemn.
"I'm sorry. You can't come with me this time."
Darren turned back, crouched, and ruffled the black-haired girl's wind-tossed hair with a gentle smile.
"It's far too dangerous."
Hancock went pale. At that smile, panic surged—a sudden certainty that if she didn't stay now, their next meeting could be years away.
"No… I haven't thanked you properly…"
Her lips were cracked from the cold. Framed by falling snow, she looked fragile enough to break. Her eyes reddened; she shook her head as if that alone could hold him here.
The face that was usually all sharp edges and arrogance softened.
Hancock drew a breath, forced herself to meet his gaze, and blurted, "I… I still want to go on a date with you!"
Her sisters' eyes flew open.
My sister is too bold!
Among the Kuja, love and hate ran hot; once they chose, they stayed. Even so—this was too daring.
Dragon's jaw dropped. Kuma turned away with tactful silence. Ivankov folded his arms, openly amused.
Darren chuckled at Hancock's audacity. He shook his head, pinched her cheek, and thumbed away the tears gathering in her lashes.
"You're still a child."
He rose and looked to Bartholomew Kuma, calm as ever. "Kuma, would you see them to safety?"
Kuma nodded, stepped forward, stripped off a black leather glove, and offered the three girls a warm smile.
"Ready to go home?"
Hancock glanced back, eyes shining. "What about you, Darren-san?"
"I'm not done having fun yet."
Rumbles thudded behind the wind wall.
"Darren!" Dragon called, voice tight. "I can't hold them much longer! These old men are far stronger than they look!"
Hancock understood. No more time to waste.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Just before Kuma's paw could touch her, she spun and lunged. Her sisters cried out as she rose on tiptoe, aiming a flustered kiss at the rough line of Darren's jaw.
A blood-stained finger slipped between them.
"We'll meet again, beautiful lady."
Behind him, the hurricane of ice and snow began to crumble. Five vast black shapes clawed and hammered at Dragon's wall, shredding the storm.
Darren turned away and left the girl with the image of a back broad as a mountain. Smoke curled past his starlit eyes; he glanced over his shoulder, winked, and grinned.
"When that day comes… give me another passionate kiss."
Hancock froze. Tears finally spilled.
"Then you owe me a date!" she shouted.
A soft paw pressed her back.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
Whoosh.
The three girls vanished.
The next instant—
Boom.
The Hurricane Wall blew apart.
Amid exploding snow and the earth's low groan, five colossal silhouettes—each dozens of meters tall—rose into view.
The Gorosei, supreme authority of the World Government, shed their human facades and revealed the demons beneath.
A skeletal warhorse that exhaled the chill of hell with every bone.
A gargantuan sand worm, its spiral maw ringed in razors, its skin slick with mucus.
A four-tusked warthog mottled like hammered iron.
A winged serpent with a razor beak and talons bright as fresh-sharpened steel.
And Jaygarcia Saturn—bull's head, spider's body—an abomination crowned with cold fury.
Shrouded in black smoke, the five monsters roared, and the sky shook.
Bakotsu.
Sand Worm.
Fengxi.
Itsumade.
Gyuki.
Names of nightmare, dredged from legend.
"Hey, hey, hey—what are these monsters?!" Ivankov backpedaled, color draining from his face. The power rolling off the Gorosei prickled across his scalp and locked his muscles tight.
"So this is the Gorosei…" Dragon's stance deepened, cloak snapping in the gale. "Who would have thought the ones perched in heaven—above the world—were five unmatched demon lords?"
"In this world, hell isn't beneath our feet—it's in the skies above!"
To be continued...