In the narrow alleyway, Dragon hurried toward the source of the noise, shaking his head and sighing to himself.
"The Grand Line truly is as chaotic as the rumors say. I didn't expect that even the Rulusia Kingdom, known for its peace and tranquility, would encounter a pirate attack."
Speaking of which, these pirates were truly bold.
After all, the distance between the Rulusia Kingdom and Marineford was very short.
The waters near Marineford.
Among the more famous islands, aside from the Sabaody Archipelago, Bubble Port, Enies Lobby, and Impel Down, the Rulusia Kingdom was one of the closest.
Marine warships frequently passed through the surrounding waters for necessary patrols.
Therefore, generally speaking, a country like the Rulusia Kingdom wouldn't typically encounter blind pirates coming to plunder.
Because doing so would be causing trouble right under Marineford's nose.
It was practically a death wish.
Dragon instinctively reached for a den den mushi to contact his superiors and notify nearby Marine bases or patrol ships to rush over for support.
But soon, a bitter smile appeared on his face.
He had forgotten that he had already defected from the Marines.
Shaking his head, Dragon ran back to the previous street, grabbed a harpoon lying by the roadside, and looked toward the chaotic district.
At this moment.
The streets of the East District were already in total chaos.
A large crowd of people ran past Dragon in a panic, pulling their loved ones along as they fled from the chaos.
Some cried out in panic as they ran.
"Run! It's pirates! Those guys aren't just stealing money; they're taking lives! Many neighbors have already been brutally killed because they couldn't produce money immediately! They're absolute beasts!"
"Go notify the Royal Army! Have His Majesty send the army to suppress them!"
Hearing the various cries and screams.
Dragon's expression grew grimmer.
A deep sense of fury welled up uncontrollably in his heart.
"Damned pirates!!"
Grasping the harpoon, he dodged the colliding crowds and struggled forward.
On the long, chaotic street.
Everyone was fleeing backward.
Only he was alone, striving forward.
Finally!
He saw it!
On a city street not far from the port he had come from.
There were several pirates holding blades and guns, dressed in sailor uniforms and Captain's coats, wreaking havoc.
A one-eyed brute of a pirate wearing an eyepatch shouldered a rocket launcher and, laughing wildly, pulled the trigger at a house in front of him.
The next moment.
"Boom!!"
A loud explosion rang out.
The three-story building was instantly engulfed in a fierce explosion.
The resulting heatwave and flames sprayed in all directions, swallowing over a dozen fleeing pedestrians and setting their clothes and hair on fire.
The pedestrians let out panicked screams.
Some rolled on the ground, while others tried to beg for mercy.
But it was useless.
Dragon saw the tallest pirate, draped in a Captain's coat, a sinister look on his thin face as he grabbed a weeping little girl by the neck and lifted her off the ground.
He was about to tighten his grip and snap the girl's fragile neck.
"You bastard! Stop it!!"
Dragon's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. Without a second thought, he hurled the harpoon in his hand, aiming straight for the pirate Captain.
Guillaume, disguised as a pirate Captain but actually a member of CP0, caught sight of his prey delivering himself to his doorstep, and his lips curled into a smirk.
The harpoon whistled through the air, heading straight for his tall frame.
But he leisurely turned around, lifting the little girl he was choking to use as a shield.
The glinting harpoon was about to strike the girl's small body.
Dragon's eyes nearly split from the strain.
"No!!"
His feet slammed against the ground.
In the next instant, he vanished from the spot.
When he reappeared, he was already in front of Guillaume!
Dragon's movement made Guillaume raise an eyebrow in surprise.
"The Six Powers' Soru?"
He hadn't expected Dragon to have already mastered the Six Powers.
However...
Dragon, having used Soru, didn't launch an attack at him.
Instead, he dashed in front of the harpoon and reached out, grabbing the projectile aimed at the girl with his palm.
With a squelch...
Dragon let out a muffled groan; the palm of his raised hand had been pierced through by the very harpoon he had thrown.
Crimson blood instantly stained his palm.
The intense pain made Dragon's expression contort.
But he didn't stop. Roaring, he turned and kicked toward Guillaume's elbow joint.
Simultaneously, ignoring the harpoon stuck in his hand, he grabbed the little girl from Guillaume's grasp and pulled her back.
With a thud, Guillaume's right arm was kicked away, and the little girl was released, falling back with Dragon as he held her.
"Hmph, foolish kindness."
Guillaume sneered, his right foot suddenly becoming a blur as it struck toward Dragon's chest and abdomen.
"Bang!"
With a dull thud, Dragon was sent flying like a kicked sandbag. Guillaume's kick launched him over a dozen meters, slamming him sideways into a nearby shop.
With a crash!
Dragon's back smashed through the shop wall, and he tumbled into a store selling farm tools.
Amidst the scattered bricks, his body curled up, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Yet he still tried his best to arch his body, protecting the little girl he had saved in his arms.
"Big brother! You're bleeding!"
Seeing Dragon beaten like this to save her, the five or six-year-old girl burst into tears from fear.
"Little sister... run, go find your family, get out through the other side!"
Through the hole he had made, Dragon saw Guillaume approaching. Ignoring the stabbing pain in his abdomen, he pushed the girl out of his arms.
At the same time, he gritted his teeth, rolled over, and charged out with a low growl.
As he charged, he didn't forget to grab a hoe as a weapon, gripping it with both hands and swinging it heavily at Guillaume.
"Overestimating yourself."
Looking at Dragon swinging the hoe at him, a sinister glint flashed in Guillaume's eyes.
He stood still, unmoving.
But on the side street, the brute suddenly swung the muzzle of the rocket launcher toward Dragon and pulled the trigger.
The moment the shell left the barrel, Dragon's hair stood on end. He only had time to glance sideways before being struck by the projectile.
"Boom!"
A burst of fire exploded on his body.
Immediately after, a smoking figure flew backward, spitting blood all the way, and slammed heavily onto the hard pavement.
Another dull thud.
Dragon collapsed on the ground like a sandbag.
He was charred black all over, his body curled up in agony.
It felt as if every inch of his body was in pain.
He didn't know how many bones in his body were broken.
The skin on his side was extensively burned and abraded.
But he wasn't dead yet.
He gritted his teeth hard.
To stay conscious, he even bit the tip of his tongue, using the sharper pain to stimulate himself. With bloodshot eyes, he slowly crawled up from the ground.
"Quite resilient, aren't you?"