"Whoooosh!"
The earth shattered inch by inch, and the air churned wildly as vast slabs of ground were abruptly heaved up and crushed through it.
An enormous shadow loomed before Rayleigh, filling every corner of his vision.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
The cracking continued without pause as the ground rolled skyward, inch by inch.
From River's perspective, he had forcibly overturned the earth as though it were a table.
"Rumble!"
Tens of millions of tons of earth, rock, and soil, carrying turf and trees with them, came crashing down.
Rayleigh drew a deep breath, his eyes stern and grave. He bent his knees slightly, and Conqueror's Haki coiled around his blade, flickering with fine sparks.
Suddenly, his figure vanished, his entire body stretching into a streak of lightning.
Then he closed in at tremendous speed, reached the descending mass of earth, and swung his sword.
"Hum!"
Fine streaks of sword light flashed and howled forward, slashing into the tumbling earth.
"Boom!"
A deafening blast rang out. The earth spanning several thousand meters shattered into countless small stones that fell toward the ground.
Dust, rubble, flowers, and grass obscured the view.
Rayleigh stepped from one falling rock to another, racing forward.
He knew perfectly well that River's attack could not possibly be that simple. There had to be a follow-up.
Suddenly, the air to one side shuddered violently. Rubble within a radius of hundreds of meters turned to powder with a hum, and a figure streaked toward him, weaving like lightning until he appeared right before him.
"Daytime Tiger!"
"Mountain Crusher Strike!"
A low voice rang out. Like a ferocious tiger descending a mountain, the figure hurled a punch, wreathed in tiger-shaped force and driving an enormous surge of air and impact before him.
Rayleigh's pupils contracted, and he turned his sword.