Whitebeard tilted his head slightly, glanced at the spirited Rocks beside him, and asked in a low voice, "Are they the mysterious organization from the World Government that you mentioned?"
"Heh hah hah... Who knows?" Rocks replied offhandedly, his gaze lingering constantly on those three figures on the coastline, his tone carrying the casualness of someone who simply did not care who they were.
Saint Garling and the other two did not continue forward, instead stopping a few dozen meters away from the coastline.
Sea breezes swept between them, rustling the hems of their cloaks and revealing their tall riding boots.
The captain of the Rocks Pirates?
Saint Garling's gaze landed on the figure atop that golden nine-tailed fox's head.
The marines' evaluation rating was "extremely dangerous," but now, seeing them like this, they were nothing more than "humans" who were slightly stronger than ordinary people.
Yet what about themselves?
They were gods.
Gods possessing immortal bodies.
They were beings that humans could never defeat.
"Hey," Rocks called out suddenly from the forehead of the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon toward the shore, "hidden little rats, is that clumsy brat on my ship doing alright?"
After a brief pause, the corners of Rocks's mouth hooked upward into a curve: "If he's not doing well, none of you will be doing very well either."
"Damn lowly commoners!!"
"Damn Worms!!"
The two God's Knights members beside Saint Garling instantly twisted their faces at the words "hidden little rats," anger exploding in the depths of their eyes.
Who were they?
They were the descendants of the Creators, beings bestowed with the title of "gods," beings that no one in this world was allowed to insult.
"Whoosh!"
Two figures vanished from Saint Garling's side almost simultaneously.
When they reappeared, they had already streaked left and right toward the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon on the sea surface, the weapons in their hands wreathed in Haki as they charged in the direction of Rocks.
Saint Garling did not stop them; he merely stood in place, his gaze beneath his cloak watching the battlefield ahead calmly.
Rocks watched those two figures hurtling toward him, the expression on his face remaining indifferent, and even had the leisure to say to Whitebeard, "Look, these fellows are just so sensitive. Mention anything bad about them, and they get all worked up."
"However..."
The look on Rocks's face turned serious abruptly, his hand gripping the hilt of his blade in a single motion. The Haki-wreathed blade emitted a low hum the instant it left its scabbard, dark-red electric arcs dancing and flashing across the sword body.
"Swish!"
Almost in the blink of an eye, his figure vanished from the forehead of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.
When he reappeared, he was already midair, facing those two God's Knights members head-on.
"Zzzt!"
Dark-red electric arcs cracked and burst across Rocks's blade. He looked at the two men and said coldly, "Rats ought to scurry back into their holes, you know."
The moment the words fell, he swung a slash.
"Hum!"
A sword hum tore through the air, erupting into a loud, shrill screech.
An extremely terrifying slash shockwave burst forth from the blade, carrying the pressure of Conqueror's Haki as though it meant to tear the entire sky in half.
The reactions of the two God's Knights members were equally swift, both of them swinging the weapons in their hands simultaneously in an attempt to meet the blow head-on.
"Bang!"
A muffled, deafening crash exploded in the air.
Rocks's slash shockwave was like an unstoppable torrent, instantly sending their weapons blasting away.
The moment the weapons left their hands, a genuine horror surfaced on both men's faces for the very first time.
"No!"
Midair, a single cry of "no" echoed all around.
The slash shockwave smashed directly into them, dark-red electric arcs leaping frantically across the surfaces of their bodies like relentless, biting teeth.
Their bodies flew backward at high speed, resembling two withered leaves caught up in a violent gale.
The next second, the slash sliced directly through their abdomens, cleaving their bodies in two. Their upper and lower halves separated in midair, four lumps of flesh plunging toward the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle~~"
After a burst of movement, laughter pierced through the smoke and dust.
"Heh heh,"
"Heh heh hah hah hah,"
On the ground, those two God's Knights members lay sprawled beside their own severed lower halves, laughing in low tones.
The attack was strong, but so what?
They possessed immortal bodies; they would not die.
Yet very quickly, their laughter froze.
Rocks's Conqueror's Haki was pressing down upon them like an invisible tide, that suppression originating from the depths of their souls making their "immortal bodies" feel as though they had been pinned in place, leaving the severed areas unable to rejoin.
"Ugh."
Rocks dropped down from midair, his feet landing on the ground as he walked over to them unhurriedly, lowering his head to gaze down at the two twitching torsos.
"What are you laughing at? What is it that's so funny to you?"
"Worms!"
One of the God's Knights members gritted his teeth, squeezing out a hoarse insult from deep within his throat.
"I don't care to hear it." Rocks's voice grew cold as he lifted the hand holding his longsword slightly.
Right at that moment, a fierce wind pressure approached from the side.
Saint Garling could finally stand it no longer. Gripping his longsword, his entire body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, hurtling fiercely in the direction of Rocks.
The blade carved a chilling arc through the air, its target aiming straight for Rocks's side neck.
Yet before he even arrived, another figure descended from the sky.
Whitebeard swung his bisento, delivering a blow carrying the dual powers of Conqueror's Haki and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, accompanied by dark-red electric arcs and an overwhelming momentum as he chopped vertically downward at Saint Garling's front.
Saint Garling's pupils shrank violently, and he instantly canceled his attack on Rocks, crossing his blade to block in front of himself.
"Bang!"
A muffled, heavy crash exploded between them.
The ground where Saint Garling stood shattered instantly, spiderweb-like cracks spreading outward in all directions.
His weapon bent slightly under the immense impact, his knees buckling as well, and his entire body was pressed down by a notch.
"Ah!!"
Saint Garling roared angrily, power continuously surging from within his body, and his legs slowly straightened under the crushing weight.
"Hah!"
Whitebeard followed up with a loud shout of his own, his personal power increasing in synchronization.
The dark-red electric arcs on the bisento flared larger by a circle, and that crushing strength grew heavier once more.
"Boom!"
Saint Garling's knees slammed back to the ground, kneeling deeper and heavier this time.
The impact shattered the ground once more, and crushed stone scattered in all directions like bullets.
After Whitebeard joined the combat, Ron quickly landed on the island to search for Kaido.
Meanwhile, over on Kaido's side.
Amidst the ruins, the blonde woman lay between shattered slabs of stone and rubble.
Her face, which had been flattened by Kaido's club, was slowly recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. Her collapsed eye sockets bulged outward again, her fractured bones emitted cracking sounds, and her compressed, distorted facial features returned to their original places bit by bit.
Black smoke curled and rose from the surface of her skin like a layer of dark adhesive repairing cracks.
"Unforgivable..."
Her voice squeezed out from a throat that had not yet fully recovered, hoarse and distorted, carrying a malicious grudge crawled straight out from the depths of hell.
"Absolute unforgivable..."
She raised her hand slowly, her five fingers digging into the rubble of the ground, her nails scraping harsh, grating sounds across the stone surface.
"Damn bug!" The blonde woman's voice pitched upward suddenly, carrying a hysteria born of being utterly enraged. "How dare you... how dare you!!"
"Huff, huff, huff~~~~"
After unleashing a fierce round of attacks against the man transformed into a golden giant Buddha, Kaido stood panting heavily amidst the ruins.
Suddenly, he caught a faint sound, turned his head to look in the direction of the blonde woman, and then let out a look of utter astonishment.
"What in the world? Her face got smashed all out of shape and she still doesn't die?"
Before you continue