: Oh my god! Is… is that a dragon?!
: No mistake! That shape, the cloud-riding, storm-summoning ability—it's got to be one of our legendary Divine Dragons from the myths of Jiuzhou! Could it be the Eastern Sea Dragon King?!
: What is happening to the world?! Even mythical beasts are appearing now??
: Spiritual energy revival! It's real! The sleeping gods, immortals, demons, and spirits are all going to awaken! This Azure Dragon is just the beginning!
: Hahaha! I knew it! Our world was never normal to begin with!
: This is insane! I just watched a mammoth appear on Yuuto's stream, and now we get a freakin' mythical dragon?!
: Soaring through clouds, summoning lightning, roaring winds and thunder—it's exactly how Divine Dragons are described in ancient legends! That means… those myths were true!
: Wait—could this be someone who ate a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit?!
: Whoa… now that you mention it, it's totally possible! Yuuto did say there's a special category in Zoan Fruits called Mythical Beasts that let people transform into legendary creatures!
: Someone really ate a fruit that turns you into an Azure Dragon?
: Come on, that's ridiculous! A human turning into a dragon?! How absurd can you get?!
: Wait! The dragon's flying straight toward Sakurajima's waters! With the way those bastards act, there's no way they'll let it go!
: Crap! That's a Divine Dragon, you bastards! Where's our navy?! Can we save it?!
: Divine power shakes heaven and earth! Watch closely—Sakurajima's about to get wrecked!
Over the open sea,
Yuuto Kagami—now in Azure Dragon form—continued flying at full speed.
High above the ocean, a storm brewed in his wake.
But far off on the horizon, hidden among jagged reefs and scattered islands,
Countless shadows lurked silently beneath the moonlight.
A fleet of stealth warships,
Equipped with enhanced weapon systems and camouflaged with specialized coatings,
Blended seamlessly with the dark sea.
Despite the surface calm,
Inside the warships, the communication channels were buzzing with tension.
"Gentlemen!"
"This will be a historic operation!"
"If we succeed, it will bring us honor beyond imagination—glory that will follow us for life!"
"This mission allows for only one outcome: Victory!"
"Long live the Emperor! Long live Sakurajima!"
—
Admiral Koinu Ichiro, temporary commander of Operation "Capture the Dragon,"
Was flushed with excitement as he gave his rallying speech.
Half an hour ago,
Upon spotting the Azure Dragon, he had immediately transmitted the footage to command.
Five minutes later,
He was appointed commander of a top-secret SSS-rank mission:
Operation Capture the Dragon!
Even more unbelievable—
High command had sent him a mysterious treasure:
A red-and-white ball, said to be capable of capturing any non-human creature.
It was a newly unearthed artifact, found just yesterday.
Ichiro still remembered the shock and awe he felt testing it.
With its power, capturing the Azure Dragon would be easy.
"Unbelievable… Fortune has smiled upon me. This is my moment!"
"I have to seize it!"
His heart pounded with anticipation.
All soldiers and officers were on edge, their blood boiling in excitement.
Then, the forward scouts reported:
"Attention all units!"
"Target is approaching at high speed—estimated to enter capture range within 60 seconds!"
In that moment,
Every warship raised its alert status to maximum.
All weapons locked on.
They waited.
And sixty seconds passed in a flash.
From above, lightning arced across the sky—
A colossal silhouette weaved through the stormclouds.
The pressure was suffocating.
A mythical presence bore down on them.
"FWOOSH!"
Yuuto Kagami burst from the clouds in a surge of motion.
But the moment he emerged—
"BOOM!!!"
A blinding flash of light!
A thunderous impact struck his body.
He reeled mid-air, his massive form staggering from the sudden hit.
His soaring flight faltered for a moment,
Plunging briefly toward the ocean before Yuuto Kagami steadied himself with a growl.
"A shell…?"
His golden dragon eyes narrowed.
He scanned the surface.
And found them.
Dozens—hundreds—of warships, large and small,
Hidden within the island reef formations.
At the front of the fleet,
A battleship still had smoke trailing from its cannon—
The very ship that had just fired on him.
"Sakurajima's navy…"
Yuuto Kagami's gaze turned icy.
The flags on the ships were unmistakably Sakurajima's.
On the command ship behind an island,
Koinu Ichiro's face twisted.
He had guessed the Azure Dragon might be powerful—
But to tank a direct naval shell without injury?
That was beyond expectations.
Still,
He remained calm.
He trusted Sakurajima's naval firepower.
And more importantly,
He had that treasure—the capture orb.
"That first shot was just a test.
Now we can get serious."
He issued new orders:
"Continue the bombardment!!"
Moments later—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Over a dozen battleships fired in unison!
Armor-piercing rounds lit up the night sky,
Like a rain of fiery meteors crashing toward the Azure Dragon!
But Yuuto Kagami didn't panic.
He smiled.
He'd been looking for an isolated island to test out the Azure Dragon Fruit's power—
And now Sakurajima's fleet had delivered itself to his doorstep.
"ROAR!!!"
"Thunder Dragon Roar!!"
He bellowed.
Dark clouds billowed and churned above him—
Thunder Dragons formed from lightning, dancing above his head.
Then—
"BOOM-CRACK!!!"
Blinding bolts of lightning, shaped like roaring dragons,
Crashed downward in arcs of destruction!
They collided with the incoming artillery shells in midair—
BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
The entire sky erupted in flashes and thunderclaps,
Like a massive display of celestial fireworks.
Back on the command ship—
Koinu Ichiro broke into a cold sweat.
"How can this dragon's lightning be so terrifying? It neutralized an entire salvo?!"
Only now did he begin to realize…
This mythical Azure Dragon's strength was far beyond what they had calculated.
"Keep firing!"
"Deploy the helicopters for harassment!"
"Commence Phase Two—capture unit, move as planned!"
Even if his hands trembled slightly,
Ichiro had no choice but to follow through.
"WHIRRR!!!"
Over a hundred military helicopters took off,
Swarming toward Yuuto Kagami like a cloud of buzzing insects,
Dodging, weaving, circling—desperately trying to distract him.
Simultaneously,
The battleships below launched wave after wave of bombardment.
But Yuuto Kagami—
He moved like a storm god.
Bolts of lightning shot from his horns, claws, and tail.
Each flick of his body turned the sky into a thunderous death trap.
He could tell—
Sakurajima's forces weren't just fighting blindly.
They were waiting for something.
And he stayed alert.
Sure enough—
When Yuuto Kagami dove to dodge a shell, flying low over the sea—
A small, unremarkable escort ship suddenly sprang into action.
On its deck,
A strange launcher resembling a baseball pitching machine had been set up.
After final adjustments—
A soldier carefully cradled a red-and-white orb in both hands,
Placing it into the launcher's groove.
"PFFT!"
With a blast of compressed air,
The capture orb shot out at incredible speed—
Straight toward Yuuto Kagami!
And at that exact moment—
All other ships and helicopters ceased fire.
"Huh?"
Yuuto Kagami's sharp eyes narrowed.
In that instant,
He caught sight of the rapidly approaching orb.
"That is…!"
A tiny red-and-white ball, glowing faintly with runes of energy,
hurtling straight for his dragon form!
[To be continued…]
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