The Thousand Sunny made an emergency maneuver at the edge of the shattered star field, with dark purple energy pulses relentlessly pursuing it like living tentacles.
"Hiding like this isn't working!" Franky roared from the control panel, "Super-Deflection Field, Full Power!"
Multiple layers of diamond-shaped energy shields lit up around the ship's hull, attempting to deflect the attack. However, when the dark purple pulse struck the shields, the shield structure became disordered again, with some areas even beginning to disintegrate.
"Their energy has a built-in 'rule-deconstructing' effect!" Allen quickly analyzed, "Conventional energy defenses are very ineffective!"
"Then let's use something unconventional!" Zoro's eyes sharpened, and he leaped out of the cabin. " Three-Sword Style: Blue Flame Slash!"
The slash, wreathed in cyan ghost fire, tore through the air and collided head-on with an energy pulse. This time, the slash was not completely disintegrated; the ghost fire and dark purple energy corroded each other, emitting a piercing shriek.
"It works!" Sanji's eyes lit up. "They have lower resistance to energy containing strong will!"
" Ifrit Jambe - Skewer!" Sanji's figure moved like lightning, his fiery kick carrying the will of the World-Purifying Flame, shattering another energy pulse.
Taking advantage of this gap, the Thousand Sunny distanced itself from the wrecked area.
"We need to find out what these guys are all about." Luo opened his ROOM space and tried to scan the nearest otherworldly creature.
The creature's form was bizarre, as if pieced together from countless sharp, shadowy fragments, with a constantly pulsating dark purple core at its core. ROOM's scan returned a large amount of garbled and contradictory information.
"Unable to analyze!" Luo frowned. "Their physical structure does not conform to any known laws... Wait, they are transmitting some kind of signal through a spatial rift!"
Just then, the largest spatial rift suddenly expanded, and an even larger Otherworldly Demons, more resembling a multi-legged, carapace-like creature, emerged. It let out a silent roar, and the space around it distorted, forming a dark purple barrier of rules.
"They're establishing an outpost!" Nami, watching the energy readings on her instruments soar.
"Stop it!" Luffy stretched out his rubber arm, grabbed a piece of floating star debris, and hurled it at the giant Otherworldly Demons, " Gum-Gum - Star Debris Cannon!"
The massive stellar debris flew away with a whooshing sound, but the moment it touched the dark purple barrier, its motion was altered, and it was instantly "frozen" in mid-air. Then, as if erased by an eraser, it gradually disintegrated and disappeared.
"It can even nullify physical attacks?" Usopp's mouth dropped open.
Allen stared at the barrier, his eyes swirling with runes of rules. "It has partially reconstructed the rules, forming a ' Alien Rule Domain ' that rejects everything in this world."
He tried to neutralize it by Definition Domain, but found that the other party's rule system was completely different from this one, like two different programming languages. Forcibly intervening would require enormous energy and decoding time.
"Let me try." Brook's Soul Departure, and he floated towards the barrier, wielding the Soul Solid. " Chill of the Underworld!"
The extremely cold sword energy touched the barrier, and strange dark purple ice crystals condensed on the surface of the barrier. However, the ice crystals were quickly shattered by the reconstruction of the barrier's own rules.
"Yo ho ho ho~ You can even adapt to attacks at the soul level?"
The battle reached a stalemate. The Otherworldly Demons safely constructed an outpost behind the barrier, while more dark purple energy poured in through the cracks, eroding the surrounding space.
"We can't let this continue!" Allen made up his mind. "We need even greater power to break through its rule barriers instantly."
He looked at Luffy and Zoro: " Luffy, Zoro, I need your power! Use your strongest attacks, those attacks imbued with ultimate will, and concentrate them on one point!"
"Understood!" Luffy grinned, entered Nika Form, and the release drumbeat sounded again.
"Leave it to me!" Zoro bit down on Wado Ichimonji, and the three swords gathered a sharp edge that could cut through anything.
" Gum-Gum-- "
" Three-Sword Style: Ultimate Technique"
"Giants - The Liberation Gun!"
"One Great Thousand Worlds!"
A gigantic fist wreathed in laughter and a perfectly condensed slashing wave struck the same spot on the dark purple barrier almost simultaneously!
The barrier trembled violently, and a blinding flash erupted as the rules clashed. In that instant, a tiny crack appeared in the barrier!
"Now!" Allen seized the opportunity, Definition Domain as a thin yet resilient thread of rules, precisely piercing the crack!
Definition Analysis: Target Rule Structure!
A massive influx of information about otherworldly rules flooded Allen's consciousness, bringing intense shock and pain, but he stubbornly held on. After a few breaths, a flash of understanding appeared in his eyes.
"Found it! There's a brief, synchronized fluctuation gap at the core of their rules!"
He immediately shared this information with everyone.
"The next fluctuation interval is in ten seconds!" Nami shouted, looking at the data that Allen had synchronized with her.
"That's enough!" Sanji, Law, Jinbe, Franky, and the others immediately got ready.
When the dark purple barrier showed that barely perceptible fluctuation again, everyone's strongest attacks poured down on the same spot like a torrential downpour!
boom--!!!
The barrier shattered like broken glass, revealing the Otherworldly Demons behind it.
"Next," Luffy laughed as he charged toward the unprotected Otherworldly Demons, "It's our turn!"
They had won their first battle, but they knew this was just the beginning. The real challenge was how to repair the spatial rifts and completely stop the invasion from another world.