As for why Sengoku and the others would take such a huge risk and choose to trust Wood.
Calling it complete trust wouldn't be quite right. After all, everyone had desires, and there were countless examples of people being seduced by power and fame and ultimately falling into ruin.
But the World Government was already rotten enough. Even if Wood really did have ulterior motives and wanted to take its place, they figured things couldn't possibly get any worse than they were now.
In short, Sengoku, Garp, and the others were taking a gamble. Even if Wood rose to a position of power, he probably wouldn't turn into the kind of bastard the Celestial Dragons were...
Saint Pete, transformed into a gigantic sandworm, burrowed and rolled through the ground like a massive drilling machine. Every time he surfaced, his enormous, razor-sharp mouthparts tore through the bodies of countless soldiers.
Ruth, transformed into a gigantic Mosasaurus, had only just managed to catch him when he surfaced, clamping his jaws around him.
The Mosasaurus, ruler of the seas, had an astonishing bite force. Even though the sandworm Saint Pete had become was much larger, when he tried to burrow back underground, Ruth used his tremendous bite to drag him out by force.
The sandworm let out a pained shriek as the Mosasaurus's sharp teeth sank into his body. The two colossal beasts soon became locked in a struggle, their battle shaking the entire Holy Land and bringing down countless buildings around them.
"You damn traitors! Once Saint Nusjuro returns after killing Ancient Weapon Wood, not one of you will make it out alive!"
Saint Pete wrapped his massive, slender body tightly around Ruth while secreting an acidic substance through his sandworm skin, hoping to corrode Ruth's body outright.
The reason he could