Outside the castle, countless onlookers looked up, staring dumbfounded at the suddenly appearing black giant dragon.
"What is that?!"
"A dragon... it's a dragon!"
"Marina? Is that Marina?!"
"Damn... Makoto really went all out..."
Kaido was silent.
What he wanted was a Mythical Zoan.
And Airi, a little blonde girl he considered to have 'no potential', had eaten the Dragon-Dragon Fruit he had dreamed of.
His mood was very complicated.
"Makoto-kun! I feel... an incredibly powerful force inside me... I need to release it!"
The black dragon form of Airi spoke, her voice like thunder echoing across the sky.
Her voice had changed, becoming deep, rich, carrying a unique draconic majesty.
Makoto smiled slightly.
He dispelled the Complete Body Susanoo, and the gray-black energy giant dissipated into the air.
Then, Makoto's figure flickered.
He landed on the head of the black dragon-formed Airi.
Susanoo!
Gray-black energy surged from his body again.
The gray-black energy armor covered the black giant dragon's body, arming the dragon scales, dragon wings, and dragon tail.
Majestic Attire Susanoo.
The technique once used by Madara on the Nine-Tails was now used by Makoto on the black dragon.
Feeling the power from the layer of energy armor on her body, Airi let out an excited dragon roar.
Makoto stood atop the dragon's head, looking down at Ragnir hovering in mid-air.
The corners of his mouth curled up as he beckoned to Ragnir with his finger.
"Weren't you angry, little squirrel?"
His smile was as bright as a child who had just pulled off a successful prank.
"Come again."
Ragnir hovered in mid-air, the ice and lightning on its hammer body weaving into a blue-white curtain of light.
It looked at Makoto standing atop the dragon's head, then at the black giant dragon covered in Susanoo armor, its hammer body trembling violently.
Anger.
Unmitigated anger.
If Makoto had eaten the Devil Fruit himself, it would have accepted it… after all, from their earlier exchange, it admitted that this man had the qualifications.
In tens of thousands of years, there had been very few who could fight it to such an extent.
But...
That little blonde girl?
The Devil Fruit it had guarded for thousands… no, tens of thousands of years, was eaten by a little blonde girl just like that?
Ragnir felt that the tens of thousands of years it had stood guard...
...had all been for nothing.
"Hum—!!!"
Ragnir let out a deafening roar.
Ice frantically spread from its hammer body, the air temperature plummeting below freezing.
Lightning continuously struck down from the dark clouds, converging on the hammer's surface, blue-white electric light wrapping the entire iron hammer into a ball of light.
The two elemental forces were pushed to their extremes.
Ragnir was going all out.
Dragging its blue-white tail of light, like a meteor, it charged at the chest of the Black Dragon Susanoo.
The power of this strike far exceeded any previous one.
Boom—!!!
The hammer struck the Susanoo armor on the black dragon's chest.
The power of ice and thunder erupted simultaneously, blue-white light exploding at the point of impact. The shockwave spread outward, blowing away all the surrounding rubble.
Then—
Everything fell silent.
The Black Dragon Susanoo didn't budge.
A small dent appeared on the surface of the Susanoo armor.
That was all.
Ragnir was stunned.
This was the result of its all-out strike?
Airi looked down at the iron hammer on her chest and blinked her golden vertical pupils.
Then, she raised her right claw.
The massive dragon claw, carrying the gray-black energy of the Susanoo armor, swatted at the iron hammer on her chest.
Smack—!
A sharp sound rang.
The iron hammer was swatted away, tumbling through the air for over a dozen rotations before barely stabilizing.
And on the hammer's body, a deep gouge appeared.
It was a scratch from the dragon claw.
In pain, Ragnir let out a sharp, piercing scream.
It hurts so much!
It hurriedly retreated, creating distance.
Most of the ice on its hammer body had shattered, and the electric light was intermittent.
To be honest, with Airi's own strength, even after eating the Nidhöggr Fruit, she wouldn't be able to exert such formidable power.
The size and strength of her black dragon form were far inferior to Loki, who had ancient giant bloodline in the original work.
But—
It was different with Makoto's Susanoo buffing her.
Majestic Attire Susanoo is not simply 'putting a layer of armor' on the dragon.
It fuses the power of Susanoo with the power of the black dragon, producing a qualitative change.
Back in the day, Madara used this technique against Hashirama, elevating the Nine-Tails' power to another level.
Now that Makoto was using this technique against Ragnir, it was naturally effortless.
Ragnir, feeling the pain, finally stopped holding back.
Its form began to change.
The hammer form contracted, deformed, recombined—
The hammerhead became the body, the handle became the limbs, the hammer's end became the tail.
A large squirrel appeared in mid-air.
On top of its head sat an iron hammer.
Its two eyes were round, now brimming with tears as it glared angrily at the Black Dragon Susanoo.
The wound on its chest from the dragon claw was still bleeding, its fur stained with blood.
This was its Devil Fruit form.
In this form, Ragnir possessed greater speed and more agile movements than its pure hammer form.
"How cute!"
Marina's eyes sparkled, and she couldn't help but exclaim.
She had been wondering if she could use such a terrifying weapon… after all, its world-destroying power earlier had truly frightened her.
But she hadn't expected the little guy's 'true form' to be so cute.
A round, chubby body, a fluffy tail, a pitiful expression...
It felt like even if it wasn't used as a weapon, keeping it as a pet would be great too!
After all, didn't her man have a little dog, Pochita, by his side?
So it would be perfectly normal for her to keep a little squirrel, right?
In mid-air, Airi herself was completely unaware of her sister's little thoughts.
The power of the black dragon inside her was running wild. That violent, scorching power, surging through her veins like magma, desperately needed an outlet.
She opened her dragon maw.
A dazzling, eye-catching energy gathered deep in her throat.
She condensed all that power inside her with no place to go into her mouth.
"Thunder Realm."
Airi's low voice came from the dragon's throat.
Then—
She suddenly spat out that electromagnetic cannon.
A beam of lightning surged from the dragon's mouth, carrying an aura of world-destroying power, blasting towards Ragnir.
Boom—!!!
The moment the black beam landed, all of Elbaf shook.
The earth trembled, the castle swayed, and the electrical charges in the air surged wildly.
The giant warriors hurriedly held onto nearby buildings, their faces pale.
The remnants of the Rocks Pirates looked up at that black beam, their pupils constricting sharply.
The dazzling beam lasted for over ten seconds, then slowly dissipated.
After the smoke and dust cleared, a huge circular gap appeared in the distant mountain range… the peak of the entire mountain had been completely sheared off, the severed section smooth as a mirror, still smoking.
The air smelled of ozone and the burnt odor of rock melted by high temperatures.