Rocks, Ron, Whitebeard, Kaido vs Imu

"What are you mumbling about? Get over here..."

As Ron's voice fell, one of the chakra arms violently grabbed Golden Lion's waist, then pulled inward with force.

"Ron, I'll fuck your mother!!"

Golden Lion's curses still echoed in midair as his figure was dragged by the golden chakra arm into the interior space of the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

Then, Golden Lion stumbled out, furiously grabbing Ron by the collar, his face written all over with irritation: "Bastard... you really had to drag me onto your pirate ship?!"

Ron's expression remained calm, a faint smile even surfacing on his face: "Don't rush... if you interfere with me again, the guy behind us will catch up in a moment."

He paused, then added another sentence: "And you, Kaido... calm down, put my sword down."

Golden Lion started slightly, turning his head to discover that this bastard Kaido actually wanted to slash him with a blade.

Am I seeing things? Lawless to the extreme, aren't you, Kaido?!

The corners of Golden Lion's eyes twitched. He released Ron's collar, crossed his arms over his chest, and sneered, "You two bastards, don't think I'll help you with the trouble you've stirred up."

"Ron, why don't you throw this bastard Shiki out? He's too pretentious." Kaido glanced at Golden Lion with utter disgust, his tone carrying undisguised disdain.

"You've got some nerve, Kaido! Believe it or not, I'll slaughter you?!" Golden Lion roared angrily.

"Hehehe..." Kaido sneered, puffing out his chest: "Want to test the power of my Eight Gates?"

"What the hell is that? I don't care about your eight gates or nine gates, even ten gates coming won't help, you bastard!"

"Everyone," Ron suddenly interjected, his voice not loud yet just right to cut off the two people's argument, "are you done?"

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon abruptly stopped at that moment, its four paws plowing four deep trenches into the ground and kicking up a cloud of sand and dust.

"Once you're done, it's time to put in some effort."

"What..."

As the words fell, Golden Lion's expression abruptly stiffened.

Because Imu had flown ahead at some point and was now blocking the path of the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

"Bastard, let me out quickly!" Golden Lion hurriedly spoke.

"Whoosh~~~!"

Golden Lion's body was instantly ejected from the interior of the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, and the impact force was quite substantial, causing him to fly straight toward Imu like a cannonball leaving the barrel.

Golden Lion violently adjusted his posture in midair, using the power of the Float-Float Fruit to quickly neutralize the forward momentum. While stabilizing his figure, he couldn't forget to look back and curse: "Are you trying to kill me, Ron?!"

"Wasn't it you who told me to let you out?"

"You bastard, fine, you win!"

At the very moment he was distracted and cursing, Imu had already made his move.

A ball of black fog twisted and condensed within his palm, rapidly transforming into a giant black fog hammer.

Then, Imu swung the hammer right at Golden Lion.

Golden Lion reacted quickly as well, immediately drawing his dual blades to cross-block.

"Clang!"

A muffled, deafening explosion burst through the air.

Golden Lion, along with his swords, was blasted away by that giant hammer, his entire body tracing a brilliant arc through the air before heavily crashing down onto the distant ground.

"Boom!"

Billowing smoke and dust rose as a shallow crater appeared in the ground, cracks spreading outward in all directions.

Inside the large pit, Golden Lion lay prone without moving, eyes tightly closed, while cursing furiously in his heart.

Well, you thousand-time-damned Ron, I, Shiki, will remember you.

Then... he decided to continue playing dead.

"Truly an eyesore of an insect."

Imu slowly withdrew his gaze, those eyes locking back onto the direction of the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

His voice was unhurried, yet carried a oppressive sense of pressure as he asked, "You seem to have some understanding of the Void Century. Who on earth are you?"

"Me?" Ron thought about it for a moment, then answered seriously, "Monkey D. Garp."

Hearing this, Kaido violently jerked his head around, his eyes wide and round.

"D, huh..." Imu murmured slowly. Then he spoke once more: "Yet others call you... Ron."

"Tch..." Ron sneered, and spoke: "You just called that blonde fellow an 'insect' a moment ago. Is his name insect?"

Kaido looked at Ron with a face full of admiration, silently raising a thumb in his heart to the wisdom-bearer of the Intern Alliance.

Imu's expression darkened by a fraction. He did not speak again, merely reaching out to grab into the void where a mass of black fog churned within his palm, rapidly condensing into a pitch-black longsword.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Right at that moment, footsteps suddenly rang out from behind the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

Immediately following.

"Swish!"

Two figures leaped high almost simultaneously, tracing two parallel arcs through the air before landing respectively on the left and right shoulders of the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

"Rocks? Newgate? Where the hell did you two run off to?!"

"You bastard..." Rocks lowered his head and glared at Ron with displeasure. "You still have the nerve to ask? Newgate and I chased after you all the way!"

With that, he raised his head, his gaze landing back on Imu, and spoke out: "You should be that fellow I saw back there."

The corners of Imu's mouth slowly hooked into a demonic arc as he slowly spoke: "Good... the new Davy, you've arrived just in time. Saves me the trouble of coming to look for you."

"Be careful, Rocks. This fellow is an old schemer. It's best not to get close to him, or he'll poke you once and you'll end up controlled by him," Ron reminded.

"Wahahaha..." Rocks suddenly burst into laughter, gripping his longsword tightly with both hands. Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the blade like dark red flames, electric arcs dancing and flickering across the edge. "I'm not afraid."

Whitebeard immediately understood what Rocks wanted to do. He put away his naginata, pulled his right fist back, and the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit condensed a white orb of light on his fist.

Almost at the exact same moment.

Two loud shouts rang out simultaneously.

"Sky Breaker!"

"Abyssal Curse!"