"Oh oh oh!"
Even though they didn't know what was happening inside, when Roger said those words so seriously, they still got all excited.
"Isn't that obvious?" Gaban grinned. "Whatever it is, if it's in our way, we'll take it down!"
Someone will die, maybe even me? The enemy is so strong, and even from this distance, they could feel the pressure of that power, but it didn't matter. After they set out on their journey across the seas, they had long put their lives on the line. Cowards who fear death wouldn't have survived this long. What they had to do now was follow Roger and crush all his enemies!
"Put Shanks down. He's still a kid." Rayleigh walked out behind Roger and said to Gaban.
Gaban had wanted to put Shanks down for a while. How could he fight with a child on his back?
But... put Shanks down?! Leaving a kid under three years old in a place like this, is that really okay?
"Don't worry." Rayleigh saw Gaban's concern and said, "Someone will look after him."
"Uh, alright." Gaban gently placed the sleeping Shanks on the ground, but something unbelievable happened. Shanks, who was supposed to land on the ground, floated up instead?!
That's right, he was floating!
He was very close to the ground, but he really didn't touch it. Gaban saw this and stared at Rayleigh with wide eyes.
"What's going on?"
"We'll talk on the way. Roger's already heading out." Rayleigh kept walking forward, as if he really trusted leaving Shanks alone here.
Gaban was puzzled but had no choice but to follow the group.
Rayleigh explained to the crew what he and Roger had found in the cave and what Number One had said, while Roger led the way at the front.
"Looks like someone's already here."
Suddenly, Roger at the front interrupted Rayleigh's explanation and said, "It should be Garp and the others, right?"
Boom!
The moment he finished speaking, a huge roar came from the darkness in the distance!
........
"Is this the place?"
On the Marine side, Sengoku and Garp, who had rushed here with Sakaki, looked at the endless mountains ahead and felt puzzled.
This was the location of the Pig Cage Village they had gone to before. Though still some distance from the village itself, it was definitely that mountain range.
The base of those demon followers...
Is it here?!
Sakaki gazed at the mountains ahead, as if sensing something.
"It's here..."
He suddenly swung his dual swords. A freezing ice blade shot out from the edges, crossing paths and slamming into the ground with a boom, splitting it open!
At the end of the split ground, a circle appeared out of nowhere. Then the ground opened up like a door, and a figure jumped out from it.
"Tunfo... so you were underground!" Garp and the others hadn't thought of searching underground, but back then, the ground should have been fine.
On second thought, if even Pig Cage Village could be a world in a painting, then the demon followers' hideout would naturally have some protections. It wasn't strange that they couldn't find it.
No wonder Tunfo and those demon followers had run so fast back then...
"You got here quick," Tunfo said calmly. "Just as fast as rushing to your deaths."
"We're here to stop this!" Garp was already charging forward as he spoke.
They had agreed on the way: release their full power right away, and best case, prevent that demon lord from being summoned.
But just as Garp took his first step, he suddenly stopped.
It wasn't by his own will, but...
"What the hell...?"
Sengoku frowned at the 'people' appearing behind Tunfo.
From the hole Tunfo had come out of, the demon followers they had seen before kept emerging. They could be Number Three or Four or Five, but their power levels were all very similar.
And the numbers were terrifying. They kept coming out from underground, or appearing suddenly around them, on the high mountains. In no time, more than fifty three-eyed monsters stood before them!
This wasn't just one or two, or even seven or eight, but over fifty!
These guys weren't weak at all, and their power came from the same source—mind power. When combined, it was even stronger than a group of others working together.
Right then, as soon as the fifty-plus demon followers appeared, they unleashed their mind power. The pressure hit instantly, pinning Garp in place!
Garp had the red Nine Tails power on him, but even using that, he felt a huge block. He couldn't move forward at all.
"Your strong bodies are perfect as the next sacrifices."
Tunfo smiled, looking at the three pinned down by the demon followers. He then shifted to his final form, and black flames started burning around him.
"Die!"
The black fire turned into a massive sword. Tunfo appeared in front in an instant and swung down at Garp, who was held by the mind power.
"Tathagata Palm!"
At this critical moment, a huge surge of power came from far away, blasting toward Tunfo as he was about to swing his black flame greatsword!
Tunfo raised his hand and blocked the distant palm strike with his forearm, but in that brief delay, Garp broke free from the mind power hold and threw a punch at Tunfo.
Tunfo's half-swung black flame greatsword clashed with Garp's fist. The impact sent Garp flying hundreds of meters.
"Ah Xing?!"
At that moment, Sengoku happily spotted Ah Xing arriving from afar. It was him who had just used the Tathagata Palm from a distance. Otherwise, if Tunfo's sword had hit, Garp would have been badly hurt or worse.
"Sorry, I left the others behind."
Ah Xing reached the battlefield and said to Sengoku, "But good thing I made it just in time."
Ah Xing's speed was only a bit slower than the first three, so he arrived shortly after they did.
"Both sacrifices are here now."
Tunfo gave a faint smile. The next moment, he plunged his black flame greatsword into the ground.
"Everyone's gathered, so it's time to start the final ritual."
----
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