Only Gion, who was fighting him head-on, could truly understand how terrifying Ray was when he went all out.
Every single sword strike wasn't just boosted by Haki and Demonic Power; it also carried this creepy mental attack that could mess with your head.
If you weren't strong-willed, you'd slip up instantly.
Plus, his sword was now coated in this toxic, corrosive stuff that ate away at anything nearby.
Ray's overwhelming power finally snapped Gion out of her flirty daze.
She stared at him cautiously, all her earlier playfulness gone.
But after a few minutes of fighting, Ray was also pretty shocked.
He was going all out, and he still hadn't managed to land a solid hit on her.
She really was close to an Admiral's level – definitely not someone to mess with.
In terms of pure attack power, Ray probably had her beat.
The real problem was her insane speed and her incredibly strong Haki.
She could use her advanced Flowing Haki to block his corrosive toxicity, even if just for a second – long enough for her to counter-attack.
Speed-wise, she was easily the fastest person Ray had ever fought.
'Hmph, she definitely earned her title,' Ray thought.
Her leg strength gave her explosive speed that was putting even him under serious pressure.
Gion had her own problems.
Fighting Ray was way more stressful than fighting Buggy.
Her eyes were laser-focused.
His weird power was the main issue.
That mental attack and the corrosive effect forced her to keep backing off to "cleanse" her Haki.
It was a super frustrating way to fight, basically just relying on surprise attacks.
And to top it all off, Buggy would occasionally fly a tiny hand in for a sneak attack, trying to chop her while she was distracted.
If she focused on dodging Buggy, it left an opening for Ray.
Thinking this, Gion let out a delicate huff, kicked off the air, and leaped backward. Crossing her arms and pouting, she said.
"You two big men, bullying a weak little woman like me. Aren't you ashamed?"
Buggy immediately shot back, "You? Weak? If we both have to fight you, doesn't that make us even weaker? Right, Ray?"
Ray just shot Buggy a glare. "You're the weak one."
Ray's cold comeback made Buggy cross his arms and pout, looking deeply offended.
Originally, Ray's plan was to just wear Gion down.
But now he realized she was so strong that the only way to even hold her off for a day was to team up.
Even going all out, Ray was burning through his energy way too fast.
If he couldn't beat her quickly, he'd be the one getting captured.
Just imagining that scenario gave Ray goosebumps.
In that moment, he finally understood that reckless feeling Luffy and Zoro had.
If he were really captured like that, he'd rather die.
...
The battle resumed.
Ray took her head-on, while Buggy launched sneak attacks from the side.
Gion was getting extremely frustrated.
The aerial battle had become a stalemate; neither side could get the upper hand.
…
While the three of them were fighting in the sky, the Marine warship had reached the shore.
Smoker and Tashigi, leading 500 elite Marines, began their charge toward the Roger statue.
Seeing this, Luffy immediately leaped down and joined Zoro, who had rushed up to support him.
All of Buggy's crew members also charged forward, vowing to defend the statue.
At a glance, Luffy's side was clearly outnumbered.
102 (Luffy, Zoro, 100 Buggy pirates) vs. 502 (Smoker, Tashigi, 500 elites).
The odds were terrible.
Luffy glanced at the sky battle.
"Zoro," he said, his voice dead serious, "looks like we're on our own for this one."
Zoro just tied on his black bandana and got into his Three Sword Style stance.
"Yeah. Ray's got his hands full."
With that, both of their fighting spirits soared.
After getting beaten up by Ray for so long, they were finally ready to see the results of their training.
…
On the other side of the beach, the battlefield was splitting up, and the matchups were becoming clear.
Things had shifted slightly from Ray and Gion's initial plans.
The moment Sanji saw Hina, he'd almost run straight to her to surrender.
Luckily, Gin had forcibly dragged him away.
The two of them were now facing the Clay-Clay fruit user, Prince Gruss.
Gruss, in turn, had sent his other two Devil Fruit users subbordinates (both Zoan types) to deal with Chouchou.
So, in front of Chouchou were 500 elite Marines and two Zoan-type ability users.
Following close behind Chouchou were 200 fierce dogs and their 100 pirate owners (the Mad Dog Pirates).
Why had the Mad Dog Pirates joined the battle? Because they had fallen for Buggy's grand deception... and Nami and Alvida's threats.
Earlier that morning, Nami had "offered" to set them free.
But Alvida had pointed out that the Marines would just see them as Buggy's allies and arrest them anyway.
Their only chance was to fight with the pirates.
Plus, their 200 attack dogs had all defected and were now loyal to Chouchou.
Trapped, they'd been forced to join the fight.
They teamed up with Chouchou to face the elite Marines.
…
This left Nami, Usopp, Alvida, and Cabaji to "block" Hina.
This "block" mostly consisted of Alvida standing nervously in front of Hina, while the other three stood behind her, cheering her loudly.
Alvida did not look confident, and her heart was pounding like crazy.
…
High in the sky, the three were still locked in their fierce stalemate.
Since it was obvious this was going to be a long fight, Ray stopped his all-out assault mode.
'What else can I do? She's too fast, I can't land a clean hit,' he thought, disappointed.
'My strength still isn't enough. If another enemy as strong as Gion showed up, we'd be doomed.'
Because this was the first time he'd fully unleashed his Demonic Power, his fusion rate with Sesshomaru had ticked up from 49% to 49.9%.
If he could get through this, he'd finally break 50%.
But for now, he had to stall.
He had to drag this out until midnight.
So, he switched tactics: conserve energy, and cooperate with Buggy (which he hated).
With a cold snort, he raised his sword and charged again, firing a two-meter-wide "Demonic Power sphere" at Gion.
Gion, who had been busy attacking Buggy, tensed up and swung her sword to block it.
The terrifying impact of the sphere blasted her 50 meters back through the air.
She was shocked.
'What is this energy? It's not Haki, but it acts like Haki. Is it a Devil Fruit? Something that lets him fly and attack like this... It must be a Mythical Zoan.'
Suddenly, her heart tightened.
'Damn it, I got distracted!'
One of Buggy's tiny, detached fingers was now pressed against her back.
Buggy grinned widely.
"Scatter!"
The Chop-chop ability activated.
Gion frantically tried to cover her body in Haki.
But, it was too late!
-----------------------------
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