After passing the fiftieth floor, nearly all the remaining adventurers were skilled fighters, but the enemies on each successive floor grew stronger as well.
There was Deidara, a master of explosions; Hidan, an immortal, deranged follower of the Evil God; Fugaku, who had mastered the Mangekyō; and then the Taijutsu expert Might Guy on the sixty-fifth floor and Uchiha Itachi on the seventieth.
The two major floor guardians on floors sixty-five and seventy, in particular, reduced the survival rate of the more than two thousand adventurers to less than twenty percent.
Overwhelming Taijutsu and omnipresent Genjutsu.
Both left the adventurers trembling with fear as they fought.
When Might Guy unleashed his strongest kick, even Diamond Jozu, whose defense was said to be the strongest on the seas, failed to withstand it and suffered grievous injuries. If Guy had not ended up exhausted and crippled by the severe aftereffects, the adventurers would have suspected that the Holy Church never intended to let them clear the Heavenly Ladder Tower and compete for the Holy Grail.
Watching Might Guy slowly dissolve into motes of light, everyone surveyed the devastated battlefield. This battle drove home a realization: perhaps their true enemies had never been their fellow adventurers, but the powerful guardians waiting on floor after floor.
On this floor, Luffy and Zoro, those seemingly blessed sons of destiny, had been defeated. Jozu had barely survived, Ace was gravely injured, and Hawk-Eye had fought until he was exhausted. The others were hardly any better off, each having suffered considerable injuries.
Fortunately, every floor of the Heavenly Ladder fully healed their injuries. Otherwise, who knew how many would have been unable to fight on the next floor because of their wounds?
Once they understood that the battles ahead would only grow tougher, everyone began working together.