Crack.
At that moment, Rock was still holding back two devastating forces with his hands.
His left fingers clamped tightly around Nika's enormous white fist that blotted out the sky, while his right arm braced against Imu's Void Sword and layer upon layer of demonic energy.
Three torrents of Conqueror's Haki tore madly at one another in the center. Amid the thunderous explosions, even the space beneath his feet kept sinking.
Yet as the scales grew denser, Rock's split, bleeding arms actually began to stabilize.
The first change came on the side of the enormous white fist.
Rock slowly tightened his fingers.
With a creak, the fist large enough to cover half of Pangaea Castle actually caved inward under his grip.
High in the sky, Luffy blinked. "Huh?"
The change on the right was even more obvious.
The Void Sword had been able to cut through Lightning Armor and erode Armament Haki moments earlier, but this time, when its blade pressed down, it actually got stuck.
The gray-black corrosive power continued spreading over the dragon scales, but its speed had slowed considerably.
Imu's ringed pupils abruptly contracted. "This is..."
Imu stared fixedly at Rock's transforming body, voice tightening.
"A second Devil Fruit?!"
"Why have I never seen this fruit before—?!!"
Rock looked up.
Two imposing dragon horns, curved backward, slowly emerged from either side of his forehead.
"Only just noticed?"
The next second, both arms exerted their strength at once!
"Get lost!"
Boom—!!
With a violent swing of his left hand, Rock flung Nika's massive white fist—and his entire body—straight into the sky.
"Waaaaaah—!"
The white figure spun dozens of times overhead.
Rock immediately thrust his right palm forward.
Bang!
The Void Sword was forced aside, and Imu crashed into the ruins of Pangaea Castle, sword and all.
Crash!
Another