At this moment, the camera shifted to the broader battlefield.
High above the ground, intense combat had already erupted in midair.
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" Borsalino asked lazily, his body dissolving into a beam of golden light as he shot toward Van Augur below.
Among all the enemies present, this gunman posed the greatest threat to him.
Borsalino could clearly sense it through Observation Haki. Van Augur's bullets were not only coated with Haki, they also carried a strange, unfamiliar power. More importantly, they were far faster than ordinary bullets.
There was no doubt about it. Van Augur was a Devil Fruit user with powerful Observation Haki, and he had already locked onto Borsalino's position.
In a battle at this level, a single moment of carelessness was enough for Van Augur to seize an opening.
Yet Van Augur's expression did not change.
In the blink of an eye, Borsalino appeared in front of him. Golden light condensed into solid form as Borsalino's leg flashed out, kicking toward Van Augur.
Van Augur merely watched him calmly.
Borsalino's speed was overwhelming. There was no time to dodge, no time for the body to react. Only Van Augur's eyes shifted slightly.
And then, just before the kick landed, Borsalino vanished.
His figure disappeared from its original position and reappeared in midair.
The kick struck nothing.
This was not unexpected.
Nelson had already activated his ability, forcibly grabbing Borsalino and swapping his position with empty space.
In the same instant, Pouf and Laffitte rushed in from the left and right, wings beating as they slashed downward with prepared sword strikes.
Behind them, Liszt's mental tentacles surged forward, closing in on Borsalino.
Three of those tentacles carried a power that sent a chill through Borsalino's heart.
On the ground, Van Augur did not hesitate. He raised his gun and fired two shots into the sky.
In an instant, Borsalino was trapped in a coordinated, multi-directional assault.
His expression finally sharpened.
"So that's how it is," he muttered, becoming completely serious.
"Ama no Murakumo Sword."
Golden light gathered in his hand, forming a massive three-meter-long greatsword.
Few knew this, but Borsalino was not only a Devil Fruit powerhouse. He was also a formidable swordsman, a true Great Swordsman, even if he rarely showed it.
Facing two incoming blades, he raised his sword horizontally, calmly parrying both Pouf and Laffitte. With a burst of strength, he forced them back.
At the same time, Borsalino twisted his body, Armament Haki spreading across his form.
A bullet grazed his cheek.
It did not strike directly, but the force contained within it was far wider than expected. The penetrating power embedded in Van Augur's bullet sliced across Borsalino's face, leaving a thin line of blood.
Another bullet followed, aimed at his arm.
It was blocked by Haki, yet still managed to break through slightly, leaving a shallow wound that did not hinder his movement.
Those two shots had originally been aimed at his heart and head.
Borsalino had sensed them in advance and shifted away from his vitals. Even so, being injured at all was proof of how dangerous Van Augur's attacks were.
Around him, three mental tentacles closed in, attacking from three directions with Borsalino at the center.
He felt a sharp sense of danger.
Borsalino immediately attempted to turn into light and escape, but he was still within Nelson's ability range.
Before he could get far, Nelson's power dragged him back again.
The three mental tentacles were already upon him.
Borsalino crossed his arms in front of his body, Armament Haki covering him as his entire form glowed intensely.
Whether it worked or not, he had no choice but to try.
He had already seen what Liszt's ability could do. When speed alone could not solve the problem, this was his strongest defensive measure.
Borsalino knew that Liszt's power targeted the mind itself, but there was no alternative.
The plan against him was clear.
Nelson controlled the battlefield and manipulated positions. Pouf and Laffitte restrained his movements.
The true attackers were Liszt and Van Augur.
In that instant, searing pain exploded inside Borsalino's mind.
His body froze against his will.
He clutched his head with one hand as sharp, piercing wails echoed in his ears. His consciousness shook violently, stinging pain pushing him to the edge of collapse.
Even so, Borsalino endured.
He immediately elementalized, his entire body turning into light and slipping through Liszt's mental tentacles.
Liszt's tentacles could not be imbued with Haki, and they could not physically grasp a fully elementalized body.
However, the closer one came to their core, the more terrifying their soul-targeting damage became.
Borsalino forced himself through the pain, breaking out at the junction between two tentacles.
Then his heart sank.
As expected, Nelson's ability activated again.
His expression turned grim.
Once more, Borsalino was dragged back.
This time, his entire body was engulfed by the mental tentacles. The mental damage stacked relentlessly as he prepared to dodge again.
At that moment, two sword slashes came down.
Pouf and Laffitte struck simultaneously.
Borsalino raised his sword to parry. At the same time, two more bullets tore through the air toward him.
He blocked them and instantly conjured light mirrors. His body refracted rapidly through the air, shifting left and right, changing directions mid-movement.
This made it far harder for Nelson to lock onto him.
Crossing his arms, Borsalino counterattacked.
"Yasakani no Magatama."
Countless light bullets erupted outward, streaking toward Laffitte in the distance and the Nightfall Pirates below.
Nelson moved again.
Against Borsalino, he was unquestionably the key figure.
The power of the Steal-Steal Fruit allowed him to grab Borsalino as long as he could see him. However, if Borsalino remained fully in his light-speed state, even Nelson struggled to catch him.
The moment Borsalino slowed, he became vulnerable.
In a flash, Borsalino vanished and reappeared far away.
Below him, there were no Nightfall Pirate members left. The light bullets slammed harmlessly into empty ground.
Each one blasted out a massive crater, vividly demonstrating the destructive power of his attack.
The forest below was devastated in seconds, the land riddled with holes.
Seeing no targets, Borsalino stopped, unwilling to waste stamina.
Meanwhile, the light bullets already fired were redirected by Nelson's ability, also toward empty ground.
Before Borsalino could relax, that ominous sensation returned.
He was grabbed again.
Intense mental pain twisted his face.
Two more bullets struck his body.
Though blocked by Armament Haki, the damage from Liszt's mental assault froze his movements just long enough for Van Augur's shots to land.
He ignored the pain entirely, his body transforming into light as he vanished once more.
"Damn it," Borsalino muttered. "I'm really going to lose my mind."
Only those who personally experienced Liszt's ability could understand how terrifying it was.
Inside those mental tentacles, it felt like being dragged into hell itself, surrounded by endless wailing demons.
At Borsalino's level, his willpower was extremely firm. His usual lazy demeanor was not his true self.
The reason he looked down on Zephyr was simple. Aside from the Glint-Glint Fruit, Zephyr had never truly understood him.
Borsalino had long since built his own combat system.
Even so, he was being continuously injured and harassed.
Thankfully, the mental pain did not last too long. Otherwise, he might have truly fled the battlefield.
By now, he had almost stopped paying attention to Van Augur's bullets.
The real threat was Liszt's mental tentacles.
The correct response was simple. Escape them as quickly as possible.
If Liszt were alone, dealing with him would be easy. But with Nelson constantly interfering, resistance became extremely difficult.
Add to that Van Augur's deadly marksmanship, with bullets frequently aimed at vital points, and the constant pressure from two fast-flying swordsmen.
At this moment, Borsalino only wanted to shout.
"This is way too hard!"
"Can't I just stand on the sidelines for once?"
Sengoku's original mission had long been forgotten.
If he stayed any longer, Borsalino felt he might not even be able to protect himself.
The spectators could see it clearly.
Morgans provided commentary from the sidelines, explaining the abilities at play as Borsalino was suppressed by the coordinated efforts of five opponents.
The most eye-catching among them was Nelson.
He barely moved at all, simply controlling positions again and again.
Without his ability, a light-speed powerhouse like Borsalino would never be in such a miserable situation.
Liszt and Van Augur followed closely behind, continuously inflicting damage.
Liszt's mental attacks had already been shown earlier, and now even Borsalino was visibly suffering. It was hard to imagine how terrifying that ability truly was.
As for Van Augur, his precise shooting allowed him to lock onto Borsalino every time, and his bullets consistently drew blood.
Pouf and Laffitte played crucial supporting roles, restraining Borsalino and creating openings for Nelson.
This was a formation designed specifically to counter Borsalino.
The near Marine Admiral level, once expected to turn the tide, was being firmly suppressed without achieving any meaningful results.
The sight shocked everyone and inspired a deep sense of awe.
Few could imagine surviving under such pressure.
This battle completely denied Borsalino his greatest advantage.
At the very least, he managed to hold back five powerful Nightfall Pirate cadres, easing the pressure on the Marines and allowing them to catch their breath.
But once this ended, an even fiercer assault awaited them.
With five cadres temporarily tied down, the Nightfall Pirates' morale dipped slightly.
To reverse the situation, Gar and the others finally unleashed their true power.
Gar, clad entirely in white, eyes glowing blood-red, transformed into a berserk hunter under Sulong.
Violent currents of electricity wrapped around his weapon, shining with blinding white light.
At the same time, the electricity stimulated his body, accelerating his cells and granting terrifying explosive power and speed.
Gar's mastery of electricity was now fully unleashed.
Massive currents erupted from his body and spread outward.
Any Marine they touched fell instantly, regardless of rank.
The electricity invaded their bodies, paralyzing and destroying them from within.
Just by standing there, Gar rendered countless Marines incapable of fighting.
"Roar! Prey should meet the fate of prey. Death is your only destination!"
Marine casualties skyrocketed.
Wallace, meanwhile, glowed crimson, like steel heated in a furnace.
The air around him became unbearable. No Marine dared approach.
Even refined longswords melted upon touching his body, or became red-hot through heat conduction alone.
Smoke and debris swirled around him as Wallace's temperature climbed beyond two thousand degrees Celsius.
As he continued refining his steel body and increasing its density, both his hardness and thermal limit rose.
Originally, Wallace's limit had been around fifteen hundred degrees.
Steel's melting point could not be changed, and Wallace understood his own limits clearly.
Steel was an alloy. The highest melting point among its components determined his ultimate ceiling.
In theory, that ceiling was below three thousand degrees Celsius.
Reaching it would be extremely difficult.
In Teach's judgment, two thousand five hundred degrees would already be extraordinary.
Now, Wallace had surpassed two thousand degrees, more than enough to prove his talent.
With techniques like Molten Steel Forging continuously strengthening his body, his future potential was terrifying.
All eyes turned toward Wallace.
Every expression grew solemn as everyone sensed the immense threat he posed.