Stars Shine Bright

With two shouts, they struck.

Blade and fist swung at the same time.

Two utterly different shockwaves intertwined, coiling around each other in midair and merging into an unprecedented torrent that crushed toward Imu.

The energy mass carved a deep trench across the ground as it streaked through the air.

Wherever it passed, the ground cracked, collapsed, and heaved upward. Rubble and dirt surged to either side as though swept aside by an invisible giant hand.

Imu's pupils contracted slightly.

Yet that sinister smile remained on his face.

He slowly raised the Black Mist Longblade in his hand.

Suddenly.

The wind stopped.

Then it began to howl again.

"Crackle~"

Massive dark-red arcs of electricity erupted from the Black Mist Longblade, wrapping the entire weapon in flowing black lightning.

Then Imu slashed fiercely at the incoming energy mass.

Boom!

The blast sounded like a bomb exploding inside their eardrums.

The instant the blade collided with the energy mass, a blinding light flashed between heaven and earth.

Immediately afterward, an incomparably terrifying shockwave erupted outward from that point, ripples spreading layer upon layer.

Below, the rocks and soil that had still retained their shape were blasted apart like crushed biscuits.

Not far away, Golden Lion, who had been playing dead, was sent flying by the aftershock. He flipped twice through the air, steadied himself midair, glanced back at the crumbling land, and decided to stop pretending.

"Jihahahaha..." Golden Lion laughed, his tone practically saying, I'm not joining this mess. "You lot have fun. I'm getting out of here first!"

With that, he flew off into the distance without looking back.

After the violent explosions, the earth seemed to regain a moment of calm.

But the ground was already covered in thick smoke and dust, like a gray blanket swallowing every line of sight.

"Can you two handle this, Rocks, Newgate?" Kaido's voice came from within the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon. "That guy isn't dead yet!"

Whitebeard and Rocks glanced at Kaido from the corners of their eyes, but neither spoke.

What a joke. That guy stood at the "pinnacle of the world."

If he could die that easily, then the "pinnacle of the world" would be far too pathetic.

In midair, Imu's figure slowly emerged from the smoke.

Having taken the combined strike of Whitebeard and Rocks head-on, he had clearly been forced back a considerable distance. He wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled sinisterly again.

But in the next second, that sinister smile dimmed slightly.

Because an incomparably massive energy sphere had already gathered in the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon's mouth.

Whoosh!!

With a long howl that rang through the air, the Tailed Beast Bomb shot out instantly.

Its path plowed a massive ravine through the vast smoke and dust on the ground.

"Heh, useless." Imu merely sneered and swung the Black Mist Longblade again. "Everything is futile."

Buzz!

The cry of a blade howled between heaven and earth.

The moment the Black Mist Longblade struck the Tailed Beast Bomb, dark-red lightning arcs and the Tailed Beast Bomb's radiance tore at each other before... exploding violently.

A huge mushroom cloud surged into the sky.

The entire island shook violently. The ground split apart piece by piece, and raging seawater burst from the cracks before opening like a greedy maw and mercilessly devouring the remaining land.

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon stood atop the slowly sinking ground, swaying with the rising and falling earth like a ship tossed about in a storm.

"Worhahahaha!" Rocks brandished his longsword and leaped into the air. "Our turn, Newgate!"

"Let's give it everything we've got." Whitebeard leaped after him, then added, "If things go wrong, there's no need to waste time here."

"Worhahahaha, I'm not an idiot!"

Their figures traced two arcs through the air as they lunged toward Imu. But just as they were about to leave the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, two chakra arms extended from the fox demon's body and lightly patted their backs.

In an instant, both Rocks and Whitebeard were covered in a thin layer of pale-red chakra cloaks.

"Hm?"

Rocks and Whitebeard both froze slightly.

They could clearly feel a power that did not belong to them appear within their bodies.

Instinctively, they turned to glance back toward the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

Then they both smiled.

"What about me?" Kaido urgently asked beside Ron.

"What about you? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Ron looked speechless. Did Kaido think they were dealing with some minor nobody? Once Imu poked him, he'd know he was wrong.

Whoosh!

Imu's figure shot upward in an instant and halted in midair.

After taking a Tailed Beast Bomb, something was clearly very wrong with him. Blood ran down from his temple, while the dark-red eyes within the ring of black mist behind him grew visibly restless, like an enraged swarm of bees.

He stared at Ron inside the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, and his expression changed drastically.

There was even a trace of wariness.

It did not come from the power of the Tailed Beast Bomb, but from something he could not see through.

That power belonged neither to a Devil Fruit, nor to Haki, nor to any known system in this world.

It was like a fragment embedded from another dimension, something he could neither predict nor control.

"This isn't the power of a Devil Fruit..." Imu's voice was low, as if speaking to himself. Then it suddenly rose, nearly becoming a roar. "Where did you come from?!"

As his words fell, terrifying Conqueror's Haki howled from his body. Dark-red lightning arcs lashed the surrounding land like whips, plowing more charred scars into the already shattered ground.

Whoosh!

From the towering smoke, Rocks's figure leaped upward, dark-red Haki lightning wrapped around the longsword in his hand.

"You seem rather interested in my companion?"

With that, he slashed fiercely. A savage sword-energy shockwave howled upward.

Imu glanced down from the corner of his eye at the approaching sword energy and muttered, "Davy..."

Imu had no intention of taking it head-on. His figure flashed sharply, layers of air ripples exploding where he had stood as he darted to the side.

However.

While Imu was evading, a figure dropped violently from even higher above.

Whitebeard gripped his naginata, his strike wrapped in Conqueror's Haki and the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Like a falling meteor, it cleaved straight down toward Imu.

Dark-red lightning arcs and white spheres of light intertwined along the blade, releasing a hum that made their teeth ache.

Imu's gaze darkened. The Black Mist Longblade in his hand thrust out instantly, and dense black mist erupted like a living creature from the base of the blade, forming a barrier before him.

Bang!

Whitebeard's naginata crashed brutally into the black mist.

The immense impact poured down like a mountain collapse. Imu's body sank sharply, and he plummeted rapidly toward the ground.

Boom!

The ground was smashed into another deep crater, smoke and dust spreading outward like a tide.

(One chapter first. There'll be more later.)