On one of the commercial streets of the Sabaody Archipelago.
The street was bustling with people, seemingly unaffected by the huge noise and tremors from a distance. Bonnie, now back in her adult form, stayed close to Nicholas, much to Katie's displeasure.
Nicholas and his group's distinct presence made them stand out, like fireflies in the night. Many passersby couldn't help but glance at them repeatedly. Nicholas and his crew paid no attention to these curious looks, but Bonnie, constantly on alert, watched the surroundings cautiously. She feared that any passerby might suddenly draw a weapon and attack, a common tactic used by the government's agents.
"Hey, Bonnie," Nicholas suddenly said.
"Huh?" Bonnie, who had been eyeing a cotton candy vendor, looked at Nicholas in confusion.
"So, what's your relationship with Kuma? It seems quite different from what I imagined" Nicholas asked with a gossipy look.
Bonnie with a stern and loving face looked towards the sky, "He is my pillar, We've been through so much together. He's always been there for me, even when things were at their worst..."
"Yohoho, Mr. Kuma sure is charming," Brook commented, giving Bonnie a knowing look.
"It's not what you think, he is my fa…"
"Mm?" Suddenly, there was a commotion in the distance. Nicholas and his group instinctively looked toward the noise.
A large white bear appeared on the street, surrounded by guards. Atop the bear rode a young Celestial Dragon, no more than seven or eight years old, wearing a transparent bubble helmet.
Everyone on the street immediately knelt, heads down, to avoid showing their faces to the Celestial Dragon and his entourage. Even those with some strength lowered their heads in disdain, not fearing the Celestial Dragon himself but the immense power he represented. Ordinary people, however, trembled with fear, terrified of incurring the Dragon's wrath and facing execution for any reason.
Among the kneeling crowd were children the same age as the young Celestial Dragon, but with vastly different mindsets. The young Dragon looked down on the "commoners," taught from a young age that they were inferior and that even breathing the same air was an affront. The kneeling children, on the other hand, were terrified, seeing their usually strong parents reduced to cowering in fear.
As the bear passed a little girl, her parents held her down tightly, forcing her to kneel. The girl was preoccupied with her new honey cotton candy, which she hadn't even tasted yet, wondering when the scary Celestial Dragon would leave.
Suddenly, she felt a hot, foul-smelling breath on her face. Looking up, she saw the enormous head and gaping mouth of the bear. The sight was terrifying even for an adult, let alone a child.
"Ahhh!" The little girl screamed in terror.
Her reaction startled the large white bear, causing it to jump back suddenly. This movement frightened the young Celestial Dragon riding on its back.
Seeing the alarmed Celestial Dragon, his guards and the accompanying government officials immediately turned their attention to the crying girl in her mother's arms. The soldiers pointed their weapons at the pale-faced couple and the crying girl.
"S-sorry, the child doesn't understand... Could the esteemed lord forgive her..." The father's instinct to protect his child made him summon the courage to plead with the Celestial Dragon.
The Celestial Dragon's servant looked at the father with contempt, saying coldly, "You lowly commoner, do you think you can gaze upon this important person?"
"Y-yes, I'm sor—" Realizing the servant's attitude, the father quickly began to apologize.
Before he could finish, the Celestial Dragon spoke, "Noisy." With that, the white bear opened its massive jaws to devour the family.
Facing the bear, the man turned ashen, while the mother, paralyzed with fear, held her daughter tightly, shielding her from the horrifying scene. The girl, enveloped in darkness and the tense atmosphere, cried even harder.
As the tragedy was about to unfold, a sudden gunshot echoed through the street. At the sound, the bear's head exploded in a spray of blood, and its massive body collapsed to the ground.
Staring at the fallen bear, the man felt the warm blood on his face, realizing this was no dream. Someone had dared to attack the Celestial Dragon!
The young Celestial Dragon, initially shocked, became enraged. His expression turned vicious, a level of cruelty uncharacteristic for his age. Never before had he encountered such defiance; all he knew were cowering commoners.
"Find that person and capture him. Make him wish he were dead! If you can't catch him, you'll take his punishment," he ordered coldly.
The guards, unwilling to face the consequences, rushed towards the source of the gunshot. However, they were swiftly and violently repelled, crashing into nearby buildings.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The sounds of destruction filled the air.
"Brook, bring that guy here. Let this be my declaration of return," Nicholas said calmly.
"Yohoho, as you command, Captain," Brook replied. Tipping his hat, he elegantly approached the Celestial Dragon's entourage.
The crowd, utterly shocked, began to flee, not wanting to be caught in the inevitable backlash from the World Government and the Marines.
"That's a Celestial Dragon," Bonnie murmured in disbelief as she watched Brook, armed with a sword-cane, stride confidently toward the Celestial Dragon's group.
"Celestial Dragon? Just a pest," Simon scoffed. "The captain killed plenty of them in Mary Geoise back in the day. They're nothing to us."