Imu Has Arrived?

Ron slightly turned his head and glanced at Kaido standing on his shoulder. His gaze lingered for two seconds on that face covered in blood before he teased, "Kaido, you're way too murderous. Young people like us should cultivate ourselves, speak civilly. What's with all that 'kill, kill, kill' every day? Have some decorum."

Kaido's club-swinging motion paused slightly. Then he looked at Ron suspiciously. "Wait... you haven't been possessed or something, have you?"

Ron did not take the bait. His gaze fell on the trail of blood running down Kaido's back.

Blood had already dripped down the hem of his clothes, leaving a stain on the surface of the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon's golden chakra cloak.

"Hey, Kaido." Ron's voice suddenly became more serious. "Is that ketchup coming out of your back? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Kaido answered carelessly and even managed a grin. "Just a little dizzy."

"Take a deep breath. Dizziness is normal," Ron quipped.

Wasn't that obvious? He had only been standing on Ron's shoulder for a short while, and blood was already pouring everywhere. Feeling dizzy was nothing. It would not have been strange if he ended up lying on the ground later.

"Let me tell you some good news, Ron." Kaido suddenly changed the subject, apparently remembering something worth bragging about.

"Hm? Did you find a legendary Devil Fruit?" Ron guessed.

At the mention of that, Kaido's stomach filled with rage. His brows furrowed as he complained, "Not that. That was a trap. That bastard Sengoku made one out of plastic, and it looked incredibly real. I was too eager and didn't inspect it properly. I bit right into it, and then he even asked me whether it tasted good."

"Sounds like he was pretty concerned about you." The corner of Ron's mouth curled slightly. "Actually, you should thank him. If he had put out a real one with a useless ability, you would have nowhere to cry."

"So according to you, I'm supposed to thank him?" Kaido glared.

"Whatever makes you happy."

"No... I was about to tell you the good news." Kaido cleared his throat hard, trying to steer the conversation back. "With your help, I successfully opened the Sixth Gate. My talent's pretty amazing, right?"

After a pause, Kaido seemed to recall something else, and his expression abruptly turned serious. "Oh, right. Did you see that woman on Sengoku's palm? There's something weird about her. I smashed her head flat, but she still recovered."

Ron was not particularly surprised. As a transmigrator, he knew a little about the abilities of God's Knights.

"That woman has an immortal body?"

"What?" Kaido was startled. "An immortal body? Then what the hell are we fighting for? Hurry up and get me out of here."

"You could call it an immortal body, but Haki can suppress her immortality," Ron explained.

"That's nonsense." Kaido retorted, "I used Haki just now, and she was still as lively as ever."

"Sorry, I take that back. To be precise, powerful Haki can suppress it."

"..."

Meanwhile, above the palm of the golden giant Buddha, the blonde woman had recovered.

She slowly raised her head, her displeased gaze falling on Sengoku's Buddha face. She asked coldly, "What are you doing? Why haven't you attacked yet? Don't tell me you're afraid of this fox?"

Sengoku lowered his gaze onto the blonde woman. "He isn't Kaido. That guy... is very strong."

"So..." The blonde woman's lips curled into a mocking smile. "You're afraid?"

Sengoku frowned slightly. He did not answer at once, merely fell silent for a moment, then withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "I'm only warning you. Whether you listen is your own business."

After saying that, he crouched slightly and gently set the blonde woman in his palm onto the ground.

Then he straightened up, his gaze locking onto the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon ahead once more.

"Ron." Sengoku's voice sank, stripped of its previous composure. "We've been waiting for you."

He did not waste time on pleasantries. As soon as he finished speaking, he pulled one hand back and fiercely thrust it forward.

Boom!

An invisible shockwave tore through the air, carrying a piercing howl as it roared toward Ron.

"Come in, Kaido."

Considering Kaido's serious injuries, Ron decided to pull him inside.

As Ron's words fell, Kaido's body seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, and he directly merged into the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

By the time Kaido came to his senses, he was already standing beside Ron.

"It can do that?" Kaido immediately looked around, excitement in his voice. "Why didn't you let me in sooner? Can I control it? I'm inside already, so I should be able to control it, right?"

"Quit yapping. Do you think this is a robot? You think getting inside means you can control it?" Ron's voice echoed within the fox demon. Then, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon abruptly leaped into the air, its enormous body stretching out as it easily dodged Sengoku's shockwave.

Then Ron clenched both hands in the air, and the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon made the same motion.

Screech!

Two massive ice spears instantly formed in the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon's hands. Their sharp tips gleamed with a cold light beneath the sun, wisps of white mist curling across their surfaces.

At the same time, dozens of chakra arms extended from behind the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon. Every two formed a pair, palms facing one another as they began condensing Tailed Beast Bombs.

"Come on, Kaido. I'll take you to shorten their lifespans." Ron's words had barely fallen.

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon gripped the two enormous ice spears tightly and dove toward the golden giant Buddha below.

Sengoku moved incredibly fast, thrusting out palm after palm. Shockwaves came one after another to meet the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, but Ron moved like a fish in water, twisting flexibly through the air to evade every attack. The ice spear tips dragged white streaks beneath the sunlight.

Seeing that he could not stop the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon from closing in, Sengoku had a thought: create some distance.

But at the very instant that thought arose, his Observation Haki blared a warning. Something was approaching from below.

His body instinctively evaded as the golden giant Buddha suddenly leaped to the side.

The next second, a deafening boom! erupted from where he had been standing.

A massive ice hand burst through the ground, its five fingers spread wide like the maw of a hunting beast. It grabbed exactly where the golden giant Buddha had stood a second earlier.

"Holy shit?!" Kaido stood beside Ron, his eyes wide round. "Ron... this... this ice hand is your ability too?"

Ron did not answer him, but the ice hand did not dissipate after missing. It adjusted direction in midair, its fingers curling shut again as it tracked Sengoku's movements like a living creature.

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon had already descended from above, while the ice hand pursued from behind. The golden giant Buddha was trapped in a difficult situation for the moment.

Whoosh~

"Damn it, no choice." Sengoku frowned.

Immediately afterward, the golden giant Buddha came to an abrupt halt and thrust both palms out, viciously grabbing the two ice spears stabbing toward him.

The instant the ice spears struck the Buddha palms, the impact traveled down the golden giant Buddha's arms and into the ground. The earth violently shook, and the land beneath him collapsed with a thunderous crash. Cracks spread outward like a spiderweb.

Crack~

The pursuing ice hand also seized the golden giant Buddha's body at that very moment.

In the instant he was locked down, the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon's body erupted with billowing white frost, instantly wrapping half the golden giant Buddha in a thick layer of ice.

Then the ice spread downward at a visible speed, producing repeated cracking sounds as it froze over.

The temperature around the ground plummeted. The earth froze and the ice spread outward, creating a white frozen domain.

"Here's another familiar taste." As Ron spoke, the dozens of chakra arms behind the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon all extended at once. Every fully condensed Tailed Beast Bomb was hurled forward, and the fox demon immediately pulled back.

"What?" The frozen golden giant Buddha had just been about to shatter the ice with his own Haki when his pupils reflected Tailed Beast Bombs hurtling straight toward him before he could act.

The moment the Tailed Beast Bombs fell, the ground first bulged upward before collapsing with a thunderous crash.

Expanding white cores of light blossomed from the cracks in the ground, like suns rising from beneath the earth. Then shockwaves raced across the surface, crushing everything in their path.

The entire island began shaking violently. The distant sea was caught in the blast, raising enormous waves.

Rumble rumble rumble!!!

The unending explosions were like a chain of muffled thunder rolling across the sky, lingering for a long time.

Over on Rocks's side.

When the violent tremors shook the ground, Rocks was stepping on Saint Garling's abdomen. He turned his head slightly, first looking toward where the shaking came from, then glancing at Whitebeard beside him.

"Don't look at me." Whitebeard shrugged, his tone calm. "That wasn't my Tremor-Tremor Fruit ability. There was a massive explosion over there."

"Worororororo!" Rocks suddenly burst into laughter but said nothing more.

He lowered his head, his gaze falling on Saint Garling.

At that moment, Saint Garling's body was covered in horrifying sword wounds. Even the side of his head had been split open by a huge gash, with thick black smoke continuously rising from it.

His breathing was weak and intermittent, like a candle flame in the wind that could go out at any moment.

"You bastard... you're pathetically weak."

Hearing that, Saint Garling painfully forced a slightly twisted expression onto his face, which was covered in blood and dirt. He wanted to rage, to roar, to once again shout the word "insects" in that superior tone.

But when the sound reached his throat, he realized he no longer even had the strength to curse.

Rocks's strength exceeded his imagination. It was not merely a crushing difference in power. More importantly, that man's Conqueror's Haki was like poison specifically meant for their "immortal bodies," firmly suppressing their recovery abilities.

"How should we deal with them?" Whitebeard walked over, his gaze sweeping over the two wrecked bodies still twitching slightly. "Even if Haki can suppress their immortal bodies, they can still revive. Do you have some kind of sealing ability?"

Rocks tilted his head and thought seriously for two seconds before spreading his hands. "How would I know anything like that? How about we chop them up and throw them into the sea?"

Screech~~~~

As Rocks and Whitebeard discussed how to deal with Saint Garling and the others, a sharp explosive sound suddenly came from the direction of the stone temple atop the mountain.

Dark-red arcs of lightning burst violently from the mountaintop like a lit fuse, then spread in all directions at incredible speed. Like a massive expanding electric net, they covered the entire island in the blink of an eye.

"Conqueror's Haki?" Whitebeard spoke first, his brows tightly furrowed as he looked toward the mountaintop.

"Such powerful Conqueror's Haki." Rocks agreed, his expression becoming unusually serious. "It started from the mountain first. There seems to be a very strong person up there."

Whitebeard said nothing, staring intently at the mountain area engulfed by dark-red lightning.

Over on Ron's side.

Naturally, Ron sensed the powerful Conqueror's Haki spreading across the entire island as well.

Ron's brow twitched slightly. He glanced toward the mountaintop and muttered, "Could it be... that 'she' has come..."

From what he knew of God's Knights, they seemed to possess an ability similar to "vessels."

And the ruler behind the World Government could directly descend upon them through certain specific mediums.

"She? Who's she?" Kaido immediately asked curiously from the side.

"The ruler behind the World Government," Ron answered truthfully.

"The ruler behind the World Government? Who's that?" Kaido asked again.

Ron did not answer. Even if he told Kaido, Kaido would not know. He was like a curious child, asking about everything.

He withdrew his gaze and looked down at the smoke-filled surroundings. When he failed to find the golden giant Buddha, he dismissed the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon form.

The golden chakra cloak receded like a tide, and the two landed once more on the smoke-filled ground.

"Hm?" Ron drew the long sword hanging at his waist and casually rested it on his shoulder, his gaze sweeping the area. "Where's that blonde woman?"

"I... I don't know. I wasn't paying attention." Kaido looked around as well, his expression carrying the blank confusion of someone who had been too busy watching Ron fight.

Just then, the ground suddenly began to tremble.

Ron and Kaido both froze slightly.

Then, not far away, a golden light pierced through layers of smoke and dust. Like a golden spear thrust from underground, it suddenly burst forth.

The enormous golden giant Buddha rose from the earth once again.

"Uh..." Ron raised his head slightly, looking at the golden giant Buddha that had stood back up, and sighed. "That's really something. It didn't die even after all that."

The stats got cut in half again, damn it.

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