CHAPTER 88: CHAPTER 88: THE WORLD-FAMOUS BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON, THE TRAGIC BUSTER CALL

The ominous premonition in his heart led Aokiji to decide he would fight with the intent to kill the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, truly going all-out.

And so, Aokiji no longer held back.

An unparalleled freezing power began to erupt from his body.

"ROAR..."

In response, the imposing Blue-Eyes White Dragon let out a defiant low roar.

Its body shone with brilliant blue-white lightning as it opened its mouth to gather a dazzling light, preparing to form a Destruction Ray of light and lightning.

"Ice Age."

However, such an obvious wind-up motion allowed its body to once again be turned into a small iceberg.

The all-out Aokiji didn’t even move; an invisible cold air froze the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

BOOM—!

Before the Blue-Eyes White Dragon could break free from its seal, Aokiji slammed a palm onto the iceberg.

Using the same highest level of Armament Haki, Internal Destruction, the shockwave permeated the thick wall of ice and blasted towards the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

A deafening explosion erupted.

The entire small iceberg exploded from the inside out like a cannonball.

"Zzzzzzz..."

Countless ice fragments, large and small, scattered in all directions.

But the scene Aokiji expected to see—the Blue-Eyes White Dragon heavily injured by the attack—did not appear.

Just as the shockwave containing the internal destruction was about to touch the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, it was blocked by the Armament Haki released through Life Return. Then, as the shockwave was about to bypass the Haki emission and permeate its body to destroy its internal organs, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s body exploded along with the iceberg.

Unlike the iceberg which shattered into countless fragments that further damaged the broken warship, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon exploded into a mass of electric current. It was carried by the shockwave, which shattered the ship’s railing, and just as it was about to crash onto the ice field, the now-free Blue-Eyes White Dragon immediately released an electric field and teleported into the sky above the warship.

"It really can elementalize..."

Seeing this, Aokiji’s face, for the first time, turned ugly.

Now, the situation had become truly troublesome.

Just like before, a battle between Logia users of the same level was a battle of stamina.

If the Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s elementalization was like that of a special Paramecia user, Aokiji’s expression wouldn’t be so grim.

Special elementalization was not true elementalization, and there was more than one way to deal with it.

For example, the internal destruction attack from just now—forget special elementalization, even some Logia users with less proficiency in elementalization and Observation Haki couldn’t block it.

But the Blue-Eyes White Dragon not only blocked it, it elementalized beforehand to dissipate the Haki’s power.

The scene Aokiji least wanted to see had appeared.

This meant the battle, which could have ended early, now could not.

Just like with Karl and Kizaru, both sides would either have to stop fighting, or one of them would have to fall.

What followed was a battle of endurance against the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"ROAR..."

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was unaware of Aokiji’s thoughts.

After teleporting into the air, it launched another attack on Aokiji.

The mission Karl had given it was to destroy the Buster Call’s masts if possible, and if not, to hold Aokiji back.

The five Vice Admirals and nearly ten thousand Marine soldiers of the Buster Call would be dealt with by Kalina and the other four women.

Having let the Buster Call "escape," the Blue-Eyes White Dragon could only vent its anger on Aokiji.

And so, its body shining with brilliant lightning, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon no longer used charged attacks with obvious wind-ups. It dove down directly, engaging in close combat with its Haki-clad claws and monstrous physique.

Continuously being sealed, continuously breaking free, then being sealed again, and breaking free again...

The stamina of the man and dragon began to deplete at a visible rate.

At the same time...

From the moment the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared, displaying its mythical power, unleashing Conqueror’s Haki to knock out a thousand Marines, and then holding back the Navy’s top combatant, every scene was captured in hundreds of photos by the News Coos circling in the sky.

Although Morgans had recalled the News Coos circling over Gran Tesoro, he had not recalled the ones over Karl and Kizaru’s battlefield, nor the ones above the Buster Call fleet.

So, he was watching the real-time intelligence from both the former and the latter.

When Morgans "saw" the power displayed by the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, he was so excited that he shed a pile of feathers.

It was just as he had thought; this dragon was not as simple as it seemed.

It held up a Marine Admiral, forcing him to leave the Buster Call fleet to fight it on the ice field.

And in another sea, the Dragon Rider Karl was fighting Admiral Kizaru.

After the strength displayed by the man and dragon was published in the World Economic Journal by Morgans and sold all over the world, the entire sea was in an uproar.

"You’re kidding, right? That dragon is actually that strong?!"

"A dragon that can use Haki and has awakened Conqueror’s Haki? Is it a mythical creature? That’s too terrifying!"

"So the Blue-Eyes White Dragon is a Thunder Dragon species, capable of using a special light attribute power, and can elementalize like a Logia user... wait... elementalize?"

"Doesn’t... doesn’t that mean the Dragon Rider combination is actually equivalent to two Rumble-Rumble Fruit users?"

"A great pirate at the one-billion-berry level?"

"..."

Just as Karl had said back then.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon, which shared his physique, traits, and abilities, and had also eaten the Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit, would surely shock the entire world once it went all-out.

Now, the whole world was discussing the power of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Some of the weaker individuals who had once coveted the Blue-Eyes White Dragon turned pale and weak-kneed after reading the news.

The strong, however, developed the same covetous desires as those fools.

Such a powerful dragon—if they could obtain it, wouldn’t they have a place in the New World?

Not just the strong, but even the Four Emperors were greatly moved.

To be precise, Charlotte Linlin and Kaido.

As the two among the Four Emperors who best fit the pirate archetype, they had to have any good thing they saw.

Among them, Kaido was the most eager.

As a user of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Azure Dragon, he had a great fondness for draconic creatures.

Initially, when he saw the news about the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, he hadn’t paid much attention.

Because in his eyes, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was too small and was probably as weak as an ordinary dragon.

But now, seeing that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon not only possessed racial talents of lightning and light, but had also mastered Armament and Conqueror’s Haki, and possibly even Observation Haki, who wouldn’t want a dragon that had mastered the power of lightning and light and all three types of Haki?

If not for the fact that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was currently fighting Aokiji, and that intervening might cause the man and dragon to team up against him, and that with its Rumble-Rumble Fruit-like elementalization and speed, he couldn’t just snatch it away, Kaido would have suppressed the urge to set off immediately and stir up trouble.

And so, a seven-meter-tall, small giant cried like a child on Onigashima, leaving the members of the Beasts Pirates completely bewildered.

Charlotte Linlin’s desire was even more obvious.

Or rather, it was a kind of greed.

She had her eyes not only on the Blue-Eyes White Dragon but also on Karl.

To be able to fight Kizaru to a standstill at such a young age—although the Rumble-Rumble Fruit played a part, Charlotte Linlin knew that without a powerful body, one couldn’t have such strength at that age, even with Whitebeard’s Tremor-Tremor Fruit.

But Karl had done it.

Clearly, his physique was not much inferior to her own.

Finally encountering a "kindred spirit," if not for Karl’s young age, several generations younger than her, Charlotte Linlin would have already captured him to bear her offspring.

Although that wasn’t possible, she had daughters.

If she could have her daughter and Karl unite, perhaps the Charlotte family would soon have a second masterpiece.

At this thought, Charlotte Linlin couldn’t help but drool acidic saliva.

But soon, her expression turned ugly again.

One man and one dragon could hold off two Admirals, something even the rulers of the sea would find difficult to do.

If not for the fact that she also had subordinates who could fight an Admiral to a standstill for a short time, two Admirals could easily handle one Pirate Emperor.

That is to say, if the man and dragon were separated and faced one of the rulers alone, they would be slightly inferior.

But if they teamed up, their combined strength would be infinitely close to that of a ruler.

Would such a person be willing to marry into the Charlotte family?

At this thought, Charlotte Linlin’s pupils became bloodshot, and her mood grew as volatile as Kaido’s.

Karl and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon were completely unaware of the covetous reactions of these two rulers.

At this moment, the man and dragon were engaged in a long battle of endurance with their respective opponents, separated by a vast sea.

The remaining nine warships of the Buster Call, after enduring the harassment of Karl and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, finally encountered no more "roadblocks" on their journey.

And so...

The nine warships started their paddle wheels and, after a day, finally sailed out of the ice field created by Aokiji.

Once back on the open sea, the warships, with their main and secondary masts repaired, began to advance towards Gran Tesoro at high speed.

Because the Marines also had an Eternal Pose for Gran Tesoro, they had fallen behind due to the continuous harassment by Karl and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

But with the Marines’ excellent warship technology, they would catch up to Gran Tesoro in five days at most.

And then...

And then, tragedy struck!

What was the most terrifying thing about a Buster Call?

It wasn’t the nearly ten thousand Marine soldiers, nor the five accompanying Vice Admirals and their officers, nor a large warship that could produce a Pacifista, nor the commanding Marine Admiral.

It was the ten large warships, carrying enough cannonballs to destroy an island.

Combined with the island-destroying Marine Admiral himself.

Two island-level firepower sources and monsters—that was the most terrifying thing about a Buster Call.

As a transmigrator with Robin, who had experienced a Buster Call, by his side, Karl naturally knew how powerful it was.

At the same time, he also knew its weakness.

As long as you could hold off the Marine Admiral before the Buster Call arrived and then destroy the ten warships, the so-called Buster Call would be a joke.

But Karl also knew that the Buster Call represented the pride of Mariejois and the Marine Headquarters.

If you stopped the Buster Call halfway, they wouldn’t terminate it; they would escalate it.

As long as the warships weren’t destroyed, the Marines wouldn’t send new ones, so they would definitely upgrade in terms of high-end combat power.

If one Admiral wasn’t enough, then two.

No one could withstand two Admirals teaming up.

Not even Karl.

But dispatching two Admirals was the highest scale for a Marine Buster Call.

Even if another accident occurred, they couldn’t send a third Admiral.

Even sending the Marine Hero wouldn’t work.

He didn’t have Kizaru’s speed to travel a thousand miles a day. By the time he crossed the Red Line and took a warship here, it would be too late.

After successfully setting the trap and making Sengoku dispatch Kizaru, Karl began the next phase of his plan.

Have the Blue-Eyes White Dragon hold off another one.

With the two top combatants held up, the Buster Call was left with five Vice Admirals and nearly ten thousand Marine soldiers.

Such a force would make even a great pirate crew in the New World feel despair.

Because these Marines were well-trained, their coordination was impeccable, and they had various tactics that allowed them to exert power beyond their level.

But it still didn’t change the fact that they were low-end combat power.

To put it nicely, they were low-end combat power.

To put it bluntly, they were just cannon fodder.

Most of these Marine officers specialized in martial arts and Haki, or swordsmanship and Haki. The number of ability users was very small.

If their enemy was a martial arts expert or another type of ability user, unless they were a monster like Douglas Bullet, even an ordinary Warlord might be worn down and killed.

However...

They had no idea what kind of terrifying and unbeatable existence their next enemy was.

Looking back at the original story, there were quite a few rule-based abilities.

But most of these powerful and unbeatable abilities appeared in weak individuals, making one feel it was a waste.

At the same time, it made one wonder: what would it be like if these powerful, rule-based abilities appeared in strong individuals?

In fact, as far as Karl knew, there were two rule-based powerhouses.

One was Vice Admiral Tsuru, a contemporary of the Fleet Admiral and the Marine Hero, and a user of the Paramecia Wash-Wash Fruit.

The other was the Empress of Amazon Lily, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Boa Hancock, user of the Paramecia Love-Love Fruit.

The former was old, but she still chased Donquixote Doflamingo all over the world.

The latter, like Perona, could one-shot even a Vice Admiral, unless they could ignore the Mero Mero Mellow.

Besides the Mero Mero Mellow, every kick that fused Haki and her fruit ability was an instant-death attack.

Unless one was a special ability user or a powerhouse with astonishing Haki, any place Hancock kicked would be petrified and shattered, unable to recover.

With her powerful three types of Haki, fruit ability, and martial arts, Hancock’s strength among the Seven Warlords was second only to Mihawk and Bartholomew Kuma, making her a gatekeeper of the top tier, just like Doflamingo.

In fact, her threat level was absolutely that of a top-tier powerhouse.

Rule-based abilities truly shine in the hands of the strong.

Although Karina and Perona’s strength was nowhere near that of Tsuru and Hancock, they had an advantage: an unbeatable combination where 1+1+1+1+1 equals n.

And so...

Four days later, when the nine warships had overcome the two great mountains that were Karl and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon and were just one day away from catching up to Gran Tesoro, they once again faced a nightmare of Paramecia rule-based and strategic-level abilities.

This would also let the world witness the full strength of Karl’s crew.

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