"They are here as expected!"
Seeing Ripley and the others, the three Vice Admirals responsible for guarding the Giant King remained calm and unhurried.
The strongest among the three could handle great pirates with bounties over 100 million, and while the remaining two were somewhat weaker, they still had the capital to fight great pirates.
Two ordinary crew members from the former Giant Warrior Pirates, two rookie crew members from the White Wolf Pirates, and one kid who was clearly still wet behind the ears.
Such a lineup wanting to rescue Harald from their hands—the thought alone made them laugh.
"I will handle the three White Wolf Pirates members. Tavis, you deal with those two Giant Warrior Pirates crew members. Born, you continue guarding the Giant King."
To prevent accidents, even facing five enemies, Catero Naz still chose to hold back, having one Vice Admiral guard the Giant King.
In the pirate world, a bounty over 100 million was a threshold.
Being able to handle great pirates with bounties over 100 million, such Vice Admirals were also called elite among Vice Admirals. If they advanced further, they would be Admiral candidates, possibly competing for Admiral positions in the future.
Even within the Marines, there were not many Vice Admirals who reached elite-level strength.
This time, seven had come directly.
It was just that in the battle with the Giant King, the elite Vice Admirals had suffered heavy losses. Now only one remained in Elbaf's Midgard, commanding others to resist the giants.
He was responsible for guarding the Giant King.
"How pitiful. Are only the old, weak, sick, and disabled left in the White Wolf Pirates?"
Catero Naz confronted Ripley and the other two head-on.
"If it were Cunning Roya and Rose Edwards Lily, they might be able to rescue the Giant King from our hands. But you are not qualified enough!"
"Illusion Clone!"
Originally, Rocks and Newgate planned to help Ripley block Catero Naz, but after Catero Naz appeared before them, he actually split into three, simultaneously blocking all three of them.
"I ate the Illusion-Illusion Fruit and became an Illusion Human. I can create up to five clones at most, each with half my strength."
"To deal with you, I do not even need my main body!"
As Catero Naz finished speaking, his numbers changed from three to six, all simultaneously attacking Ripley's trio.
At the same time, each of Ripley's group had to face attacks from two enemies.
Among them, Ripley received special attention.
Catero Naz's main body punched Ripley's arm, the heavy force directly sending Ripley flying.
Rocks and Newgate were not much better off.
Even with only half of Catero Naz's strength, these clones were not something they could easily contend with.
"Damn it!"
Rocks looked defiant. If he could not beat Catero Naz's main body, that was one thing, but two clones also wanted to stop him?
But Rocks was very clear. This was a life-or-death battle, not a game.
Unlike last time at Sphinx, at Sphinx, the pirates had the advantage, so there was an opportunity for him to train his Observation Haki.
But now they were the disadvantaged side.
Their goal was not to defeat their opponents, but to rescue Giant King Harald!
"Though I really do not want to use this..."
Rocks suddenly put on a pair of gloves.
"But if the old man dies, I would be very troubled!"
"I want to surpass him while he is alive."
"Not surpass a dead man!"
Rocks's fist collided with Catero Naz's clone's fist. Under Catero Naz's shocked gaze, the area where he collided with Rocks gradually froze into ice.
"White Wolf Silas's ability core?"
"Correct!"
Rocks roared, using the gloves Silas had enchanted. After Catero Naz's clone was frozen, he shattered the clone with one punch.
"Though it has half the main body's strength, its durability is completely on a different level."
"I know how to deal with you now!"
After knocking back another of Catero Naz's clones with one punch, Rocks did not pursue but turned and charged toward Newgate's direction.
"Newgate!"
"Got it!"
Having always fought with Rocks, Newgate had excellent coordination with him. Hearing Rocks's voice, Newgate immediately used Armament Haki hardening, taking damage from one clone head-on, then grabbed another clone.
"Seems like not just strength, but speed is also only half too."
After consecutively defeating two clones, both Rocks and Newgate showed brilliant smiles.
"Damn it!"
Seeing two of his clones defeated, now it was Catero Naz's turn to look grim, not because of Rocks and Newgate, but because of Silas.
No matter how strong Rocks and Newgate were, they were still just two kids.
Only Silas was the opponent they truly valued. Even though Silas was currently fighting their Marines and CP0's strong fighters, just a little something leaking out could influence the battle situation.
Silas could temporarily attach his freezing ability to objects. Because they were separated from Silas, this freezing ability would decay, so Silas rarely used it.
But it was perfect for Rocks and the others to use.
Because their enemies were not strong. Even the weakened freezing effect was not something any random nobody could withstand.
Of course, without protection, Silas's freezing effect would also harm the users.
But compared to their lives, what did getting hurt matter?
So it was not just Rocks and the others using it. Even the giants fighting the Marines were using it. These were all things Silas had Ripley bring over.
"So this is your confidence?"
Eastern Elbaf, where Silas was fighting Rona and the others.
Seeing Rocks' and the others' actions, Rona and the others immediately understood why Silas still had confidence to rescue Harald even with the giants' main forces almost completely annihilated.
Because Silas had left such a trump card.
"But your ability's enchantment time should not be long, right? In other words, you could only enchant in these past two days for those items to cause effective damage to general-rank officers."
"So, having expended large amounts of stamina enchanting these tools, how much strength do you have left?"
Silas currently looked incredibly miserable, not only covered in deep bone-visible sword wounds all over his body, but even his chest was caved in from being directly hit by Kong once.
But Silas did not care at all.
"Do not forget I am a Zoan fruit user. This bit of consumed stamina can be recovered just by eating something. Rona, are you worried because you are distracted?"
"I will give those words back to you."
"If you do not focus here, once my lovely crew members rescue Harald, I will be running away! Haha!"