Chapter 52: Please keep reading! Wind Dragon's Chant swallows two cats!

Dragon's entrance was sufficiently shocking, but the Black Cat Pirates on board were South Blue elites with extensive combat experience. After a brief moment of surprise, people all around had already aimed their muskets and pulled their triggers without hesitation.

[Bang!]

The first loud gunshot directly kicked off the battle, followed by more shots ringing out from all directions as a dense barrage of bullets poured forth like heavy rain.

Seeing this, Dragon's brow furrowed slightly as he forcibly suppressed the instinct to use Haki.

To him, if he used Haki or overly powerful physical techniques, this battle would lose its meaning; he had to ensure he responded using only the powers of the Wind-Wind Fruit.

In an instant, the hail of bullets drew close, only to be blocked by a swirl of pale green wind that appeared out of thin air around Dragon, rotating slowly. The bullets lost their momentum and clattered to the ground, covering the deck.

"It really is a Devil Fruit ability, but it looks quite different from ours, meow!"

'Fishing Kitten' had jumped from his white ship at some unknown moment and was now crouching on the mast of the black ship, looking down at Dragon from a height.

He and 'Three-Legged Cat' came from the lowest rungs of South Blue, so they had received no proper education; they had only been taught literacy by two kind old men for three years. They had no opportunity to learn about Devil Fruits, so their understanding was limited to knowing them as the "treasures of the sea."

Furthermore, having only heard rumors and never having encountered other Devil Fruit users in the South Blue, they had assumed everyone possessed different animal forms just like themselves.

"He seems to be able to turn into wind and control it. Those cannonballs just now were definitely blown back by him. Look closely, meow!" the black cat 'Three-Legged Cat' warned with a serious expression, while carefully observing the combat.

Meanwhile, on the deck, the Black Cat Pirates saw that their gunfire was useless. Pirates armed with steel blades, daggers, and longswords rushed forward with the most ferocious expressions.

As expected, this suddenly appearing Marine could no longer stand still and ignore the attacks. Accompanied by the green wind, he moved with ethereal motions, weaving through the crowd to dodge slashes and thrusts coming from every angle. Occasionally, some pirates felt their weapons strike something solid, only to realize it was merely a layer of translucent wind.

On Dragon's side, he suppressed the urge to counterattack, managing the pirates' siege while simultaneously sensing the power of the wind.

At this moment, if Rear Admiral Alvin were to see him, he might think Dragon was using Observation Haki, but he was merely sensing the flow of air, supplemented by occasional semi-elemental manifestations.

Dragon felt that since he was already a Logia-type user, he had to quickly get used to utilizing the characteristics of elementalization.

The technique he was using at this moment had already been named "Wind Dragon's Protection" in his mind. The wind reinforcement on his body not only increased his agility and speed but also provided protection and airflow perception. It seemed to be a quite comprehensive support skill, but it was more than that.

"Wind Dragon!"

In the next moment, the green wind that had been quietly swirling around Dragon suddenly went into a frenzy. More wind surged forth, forming a spiraling divine dragon of wind that violently swept nearly a hundred pirates on the deck high into the sky.

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

It didn't end there. The pirates enveloped by the gale began to suffer dense, bloody lacerations across their bodies. The excruciating pain of being sliced a thousand times caused them to let out instinctive screams and cries of agony.

"My god, what the hell is that?"

'Fishing Kitten' instantly appeared beside 'Three-Legged Cat,' staring in disbelief at the wind dragon spiraling around a tornado, with Dragon's silhouette appearing and disappearing within the eye of the storm.

The moment the wind dragon appeared, his animal instincts had been screaming warnings. Fortunately, he had obeyed those instincts and jumped down at the fastest possible speed; otherwise, he would likely be getting shredded in the wind right now.

"..."

'Three-Legged Cat' did not respond to 'Fishing Kitten,' because he didn't know what to say either. Dragon's power was too staggering; he had no idea how to deal with it.

Ten seconds later, as the wind dissipated, the bloodied and wounded Black Cat Pirates fell like dumplings being dropped into a pot, with some unlucky ones falling directly into the vast ocean.

Most astonishingly, a massive hole had appeared on the deck exactly where Dragon had been standing. However, he did not fall through; instead, he floated in mid-air, accompanied by a much smaller wind dragon circling him.

What made 'Three-Legged Cat' and 'Fishing Kitten' most nervous was that Dragon's gaze was fixed on them, causing the two to adopt the wary posture of felines.

However, the latter held no killing intent toward these two "cats."

He had already reviewed their files on his way here. For pirates like these who only targeted nobles, never harmed commoners, and committed relatively little slaughter, they had to be captured, but there was no need to kill them.

But being stared at like that finally pushed 'Three-Legged Cat' and 'Fishing Kitten' past their limit. Driven by the idea of striking first, even though there had been no verbal or visual communication, they charged at Dragon almost simultaneously.

The users of the African Lion and Serval cat forms attacked from the left and right, their speeds so high their forms became a blur. In less than a single breath, they closed the distance to Dragon.

Cat claws, sharp enough to slice through metal, lunged fiercely—one attacking from above and one from below in perfect coordination.

"Black Cat Frenzy Claw, meow!"

"White Cat Frenzy Claw, meow!"

At the same time, the wind dragon on Dragon's body roared and grew with the wind, rapidly transforming into a divine wind dragon over three meters high and ten meters long.

It completely ignored 'Three-Legged Cat's' slashing and instead slammed him away with a heavy blow. It moved as fast as it had arrived, and then its tail whipped out, knocking 'Fishing Kitten' back from the other side.

[Thud! Thud!]

The two slammed heavily against the ship's railing one after another, both spitting out mouthfuls of blood. They stared in terror at Dragon, who was slowly floating toward them, and the wind dragon swimming through the air, staring them down.

In truth, as Zoan-type users, while the wind dragon's attack was heavy, it wasn't enough to strip them of their combat ability; however, the massive gap between the two sides was despair-inducing.

"Captain! Captain!"

Just then, the crew of the White Cat Pirates from the other white ship came running, gritting their teeth and wielding weapons while climbing the ropes of the grappling hooks.

They had also seen the strength Dragon displayed, but their two captains had always treated them well. Most of them had previously suffered oppression and bullying from nobles, and it was the captains who had appeared to teach those nobles a lesson and brought them out to live freely and abundantly on the high seas.

Therefore, at this moment, even the Black Cat Pirates who had been sliced by the tornado—as long as they had the strength to stand—braced through their pain and charged desperately at Dragon.

"Captains, take the white ship and run!"

"Yes, run! We'll hold him off!"

The Black Cat and White Cat pirate groups believed that with the strength of their two captains, they would surely escape. After all, they were Devil Fruit users!

"You... you guys..."

'Three-Legged Cat' and 'Fishing Kitten's' eyes reddened, but they did not choose to flee. Instead, they stood up and, alongside their crewmates, roared as they charged at Dragon.

"If we die, we die together, meow—!"

Dragon was somewhat surprised by this scene. He had encountered many pirate crews in the past, but he had truly never seen pirates so united, even willing to die for their captains.

He became curious about these pirates.

"Very well, I'll lock you all up first," Dragon decided, feeling that enough time had passed.

In the next instant, the wind dragon expanded violently and then exploded with a boom, turning into a surging green gale that swept up everything in its surroundings, swallowing all the pirates and the "Two Cats." The white ship and the black ship were torn apart and dismantled within the wind.

[Aooooooo—]

The eerie cry of the wind dragon echoed across the sea.

(End of Chapter)