As the two shouts rang out, blade and fist were unleashed at the same time.
Two completely different shock waves intertwined in midair, twisting together and fusing into an unprecedented torrent that crushed toward Imu.
The path the energy took through the air left a deep trench in the ground below.
Wherever it passed, the earth cracked, collapsed, and was lifted away. Stones and soil rolled to both sides as if swept aside by an invisible hand.
Imu's pupils contracted slightly.
But that sinister smile still hung at the corner of his mouth.
He slowly raised the black mist blade in his hand.
Suddenly, the wind stopped.
Then it blew again, violently.
Crackle.
Dark-red lightning exploded across the black mist blade, wrapping the entire weapon in flowing black thunder.
Immediately after, Imu slashed at the incoming energy.
Bang!
The sound was like a bomb exploding inside the ears.
The instant blade and energy collided, dazzling light flashed between heaven and earth.
A terrifying shock wave burst outward from that point, ripples spreading layer upon layer.
The remaining rocks and soil below were scattered like crushed biscuits.
Not far away, Shiki, who had been pretending to be dead, was directly blown away by the aftershock. His body flipped twice in the air before stabilizing. He looked back at the land cracking apart, then simply gave up pretending.
"Jihahahaha..." Shiki laughed, his tone saying very clearly that he wanted no part of this. "You can all play by yourselves. I'm leaving first!"
With that, he flew into the distance without looking back.
After the violent explosion, the earth seemed to regain a moment of calm.
But a thick layer of smoke and dust covered the ground like a gray blanket, blocking all vision.
"Can you two do it, Rocks, Newgate?" Kaido's voice came from inside the golden fox demon. "That guy isn't dead!"
Whitebeard and Rocks glanced at Kaido from the corners of their eyes and said nothing.
What a joke. That guy was the "pinnacle of the world."
If he died that easily, then the "pinnacle of the world" would be far too pathetic.
In midair, within the smoke, Imu's figure slowly appeared.
After forcibly taking the combined strike from Whitebeard and Rocks, he had clearly been forced back a great distance. He wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled sinisterly again.
But in the next second, that smile dimmed slightly.
Because inside the mouth of the golden nine-tailed fox demon, an enormous energy sphere had already gathered.
Whoosh!
With a long howl, the Tailed Beast Bomb fired instantly.
Its path carved a huge ravine through the smoke blanketing the ground.
"Heh. Useless." Imu merely sneered and swung the black mist blade again. "Everything is futile."
Hum!
A sword cry howled between heaven and earth.
The instant the black mist blade struck the Tailed Beast Bomb, dark-red lightning and the light of the Tailed Beast Bomb tore at one another. Then they detonated.
A massive mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
The entire island shook violently. The ground split apart piece by piece, and raging seawater surged from the cracks. Like a greedy mouth, it devoured the remaining land without mercy.
The golden nine-tailed fox demon stood on the slowly sinking ground, swaying with the rise and fall of the earth like a ship tossed in a storm.
"Wahahahaha!" Rocks swung his blade and leapt up. "Our turn, Newgate!"
"Do what we can," Whitebeard said, leaping after him. "If the situation goes bad, there's no need to waste time here."
"Wahahahaha. I'm not an idiot!"
Their bodies traced two arcs through the air, charging straight toward Imu. But the moment they were about to leave the golden fox demon, two chakra arms extended from within and lightly tapped their backs.
In that instant, both Rocks and Whitebeard were covered in a thin red chakra cloak.
"Hm?"
Rocks and Whitebeard both froze slightly.
They could clearly feel an unfamiliar power inside their bodies.
Both subconsciously looked back toward the golden nine-tailed fox demon.
Then they both smiled.
"What about me? What about me?" Kaido asked anxiously beside Ron.
"What about you? You want to go die?" Ron looked speechless. Did he think they were dealing with small fry? If Imu stabbed him later, Kaido would learn regret very quickly.
Whoosh!
Imu's figure instantly rose and hovered in midair.
After taking a Tailed Beast Bomb, his condition had clearly become wrong. Blood slid down his forehead, and the dark-red eyes in the circular black mist behind him were visibly agitated, like an enraged swarm of bees.
He stared at Ron inside the golden fox demon, and his gaze changed greatly.
There was even a hint of caution.
That caution did not come from the Tailed Beast Bomb's power, but from something he could not see through.
That power did not belong to Devil Fruits. It did not belong to Haki. It did not belong to any known system in this world.
It was like a fragment embedded from another dimension, impossible for him to predict or control.
"This is not the power of a Devil Fruit..." Imu's voice was low, as if speaking to himself. Then he suddenly raised his voice, almost roaring, "Where did you come from?!"
As his words fell, terrifying Conqueror's Haki howled out from his body. Dark-red lightning lashed the earth like whips, carving more charred trenches into the already broken ground.
Whoosh!
From the towering smoke, Rocks leapt up, his long blade wrapped in dark-red Haki lightning.
"You seem very interested in my crew member."
After speaking, he swung his blade. A fierce sword shock wave roared upward.
Imu glanced down from the corner of his eye, sweeping over the approaching sword energy, and whispered, "Davy..."
Imu did not intend to take it. His body flashed, the air in his original position exploding into ripples as he moved sideways.
However, while Imu was dodging, another figure descended from even higher above.
Whitebeard gripped his naginata. His strike, wrapped in both Conqueror's Haki and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, fell like a meteor from the sky, cleaving down vertically toward Imu.
Dark-red lightning and a white sphere of light intertwined along the blade, producing a sound that made teeth ache.
Imu's gaze sank. The black mist blade in his hand pointed instantly. A dense mass of black mist burst from the end of the blade like a living creature and formed a barrier in front of him.
Bang!
Whitebeard's naginata slammed fiercely into the black mist.
The tremendous impact poured down like a collapsing mountain. Imu's body dropped sharply and shot toward the ground.
Boom!
The earth was smashed into another deep crater, smoke spreading outward like waves.