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"Ryu... Ryu..."
Seeing the ancient dragon lying still, Apis dashed down the mountain, tears streaming down her face.
When she reached Ryu's side, she knelt beside him and realized the heartbreaking truth—he was gone.
Looking at his motionless form, Apis sobbed. "Ryu, you promised me! You said that if you returned to your homeland, you'd get better! Why... why did you lie to me?"
Her cries echoed in the stillness until Luffy and Zoro arrived, still in their Millennium Dragon forms.
Luffy, his dragon eyes filled with a rare seriousness, spoke to her gently. "Ryu was a Thousand-Year Dragon who had lost his way."
"He's been lonely for a thousand years," he continued. "But in his final days, he found a friend in you, Apis. He said that the year he spent with you was the happiest time in his thousand years of life."
Though the others couldn't understand Luffy's words, Apis, with the power of her Whisper-Whisper Fruit, heard them clearly.
She turned to Ryu, tears welling up again. "Ryu… I was so happy to meet you, too. You'll always be my friend."
Her words trailed off as sobs overtook her once more. No matter what Luffy said, losing a friend was a wound that wouldn't heal easily.
As the group stood in somber silence, a faint cracking sound broke through the air.
Apis turned toward the source of the noise and saw something incredible—a fossilized dragon egg not far away was beginning to crack. A moment later, a tiny Millennium Dragon emerged, its scales glistening like fresh rain.
Apis stared at the newborn dragon, her tears slowing. In that small creature, she felt as though she saw the spirit of Ryu, renewed and reborn.
With the birth of the young Millennium Dragon, Apis seemed to mature in an instant. She wiped away her tears and smiled through the grief, finding joy in both Ryu's peaceful return home and the arrival of new life.
Approaching Luffy, she bowed slightly. "Luffy… thank you. Thank you so much for everything you've done."
Luffy grinned and rubbed the back of his dragon head. "You're welcome!"
At that moment, Usopp and Sanji, still in their Millennium Dragon forms, flew over from where they had been working to push the Going Merry back into the sea.
Ikki and Nami soon joined them, Ikki carrying a smug grin as he approached with the monkey talisman in hand.
"Alright, let's get you guys back to normal," he said with a chuckle. With a simple gesture, the talisman activated, and in a flash, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp reverted to their human forms.
Ikki grinned. "So, how did it feel to become Millennium Dragons?"
Luffy's eyes lit up with excitement. "It was amazing! Can I try something else next time?"
Zoro, always the realist, shrugged as he took a sip from his sake gourd. "It was interesting, but I prefer fighting with my own two hands."
Usopp, on the other hand, was bursting with enthusiasm. "Ikki! Next time, turn me into something even more powerful! Like a giant sea monster or something!"
Sanji approached Ikki cautiously, a sheepish smile on his face. "Hey, Ikki… uh, I've got a request. Next time we're near a beautiful woman, could you turn me into a cute dog or cat? I'd like to, you know, 'experience' the attention of lovely ladies!"
Although Sanji had spoken quietly, his words didn't escape Nami's sharp ears. Without hesitation, she punched him, sending him flying with a bloody nose.
Zoro, leaning casually against the ship's railing, smirked and muttered, "Ero kappa."
"What?! A Commodore and most of his fleet in the East Blue suffered heavy casualties? How does something like this even happen in the East Blue?!"
Fleet Admiral Sengoku's booming voice echoed through the room as he glared at the Den Den Mushi sitting on his desk.
The East Blue was known as the weakest sea, and a Marine fleet under a Commodore's command should be nearly invincible there. It was unthinkable for such a catastrophe to occur.
As Sengoku fumed, a thought crossed his mind. His gaze narrowed.
"Could it be… Straw Hat Luffy?" he muttered to himself.
Luffy, the grandson of Garp, was the only one Sengoku could think of capable of stirring up this level of chaos in the East Blue.
"Sir," the voice on the other end of the line interjected, "this has nothing to do with pirates. The private Marines involved actually helped rescue many of our injured soldiers who fell into the water."
Hearing this, Sengoku let out a sigh of relief. At least it wasn't Luffy this time.
"Then what exactly happened?"
"It was the Millennium Dragons, sir. Commodore Nelson tried to capture one, which enraged the entire group. Several of them attacked and destroyed nearly half of our fleet."
"What?!" Sengoku's face turned red with fury. "What was that idiot thinking, provoking a pack of wild beasts?! He's cost us valuable resources and soldiers!"
As for the myth that Thousand-Year Dragon bones could produce an elixir of immortality, Sengoku dismissed it as nonsense.
"The World Government has hunted these creatures for years, and not once has it led to any miraculous discovery," he growled. "That fool believed a ridiculous rumor and nearly ruined us for it."
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Sengoku gave his orders.
"Gather the remaining Marines under Nelson's command and bring them back to base. As for Nelson himself, Garp will handle his retrieval and bring him here for a full trial!"
With that, he slammed the receiver, cutting the call.
Moments later, he contacted Garp, briefing him on the situation.
Interestingly, Sengoku couldn't help but commend Luffy and his crew. "Even if it wasn't directly their doing, they still managed to save a lot of our men. That's something to be acknowledged…"
What Sengoku didn't realize was that Luffy and his crew had been the ones to defeat the Marine warships in the first place.
Back on Warship Island, the Straw Hats enjoyed a hearty farewell feast with steamed buns prepared by Apis' Grandpa. Their adventure with the Millennium Dragons now behind them, they boarded the Going Merry and resumed their voyage.
Their next destination: the Grand Line.
Nami, standing at the helm, directed the crew toward the towering Red Line, a 10,000-meter-high landmass that divided the seas.
As the Red Line came into view, the crew was awestruck.
"Uh… Nami," Usopp stammered, craning his neck to look up at the seemingly endless wall of red stone. "How exactly are we supposed to get over that thing? It's way too high!"
Even Nami, who had read about the Red Line, felt her breath catch at the sight of it. Seeing its true scale was overwhelming. But as the crew's navigator, it was her job to lead them through.
She smirked confidently. "Don't worry. Our ship can cross the Red Line."
She pointed toward an inconspicuous crack in the massive wall.
The others squinted to see what she was referring to. To the untrained eye, it was nothing more than a tiny crevice. But as they looked closer, they noticed something extraordinary—the seawater within the crack was flowing upward.
"That's it," Nami said. "The current flows straight up through that passage. With the right timing and steering, the Going Merry can ride it to the other side."
Zoro and Sanji quickly manned the rudder, while the rest of the crew gathered to look.
"Wait… the water flows up?!" Usopp exclaimed, his eyes bulging. "Is that even possible?"
"Looks like it is," Zoro muttered.
"Just one thing," Nami added, her tone turning serious. "We have to steer carefully. If the ship hits the walls of the Red Line, it'll be destroyed—and so will we."
Hearing this, everyone's expressions turned grave.