The Rocks Pirates members, under the uniformed woman's ability, all transformed into demonic forms.
Their sizes increased several times compared to before.
Golden Lion, who narrowly escaped, looked down from the sky with lingering fear on his face.
"Roar!!"
"I feel omnipotent right now!!"
"Such powerful sensation!!"
"Task target: capture Rocks' child! Kill Rocks!!"
"Completing the task gets us Shakky!!"
"Awoo awoo awoo!"
The group of demons howled like ghosts and wolves.
They completely ignored Golden Lion in the sky, howling as they rushed toward a certain spot in the town.
Back to York's side.
He had just distributed the three Devil Fruits to Kaido, Whitebeard, and Charlotte Linlin respectively.
In the blink of an eye, he saw a large group of demonized former comrades charging toward them.
"Rocks' child spotted!!"
"Grab him! Kill him!!"
"What's the situation?!"
Looking at the former comrades whose sizes had expanded several times and appearances turned demonic, York's face was full of confusion and bewilderment.
At this moment, Golden Lion flew down from the sky and explained: "They were controlled by a woman's ability!"
York instantly understood.
"The woman fighting Rocks?!"
Golden Lion nodded lightly, then finally noticed, looking at Shakky with delight.
"Shakky-chan~~ So you're here! I was so worried when I couldn't find you earlier!"
Shakky forced a smile on her face.
"Thanks for your concern, Shiki."
"Ah~ Shakky-chan thanked me~~"
Golden Lion looked intoxicated, completely missing Whitebeard and Charlotte Linlin silently pocketing their Devil Fruits.
"Hand over Rocks' child!!"
Silver Axe, Golden Lion's mortal enemy and love-hate comrade, was the first to charge in front of everyone, swinging his axe that had changed from a single-edged broadaxe to a double-edged giant axe, sweeping horizontally with great force.
The massive double-edged battle axe encompassed everyone in its attack range, showing no regard for the life of the Rocks' son he claimed to want.
Whitebeard's face darkened, punching toward the incoming axe's side.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit activated; air shattered like glass. The powerfully sweeping battle axe stalled, unable to advance.
York handed the Devil Fruit sack back to Shakky again and leaped up from the ground.
Fist wrapped in Conqueror's Haki, he struck his former comrade Silver Axe with full force without hesitation.
"Fist Bone · Crushing Fist!!"
*Boom!!*
Black-red lightning exploded. Silver Axe, lacking former combat awareness, had his head blasted to bits on the spot.
"Heavenly Fire and Thunder!!"
Charlotte Linlin used the move she had against Garp again.
Fusing left-hand flame Prometheus with right-hand thundercloud Zeus, she unleashed a dual-attribute flame energy wave.
The other demonized former comrades swarming over were all blasted away by this energy wave.
Though not fatally wounded, they all suffered varying degrees of burns.
"Thunder Bagua!!"
Kaido directly showed his Azure Dragon Fruit's dragon-man form, swinging his spiked club, smashing John's face with one blow.
John's previous weapon was a mechanical arm.
Now demonized, his entire body was covered in mechanical armor, with only his head exposed.
Though Kaido's blow lacked Conqueror's Haki infusion—he hadn't learned it yet—the sheer base strength plus internal destruction Armament Haki still deformed John's skull.
In this instant, Whitebeard, York, Charlotte Linlin, and Kaido's combined efforts instantly suppressed the seemingly ferocious demonized Rocks Pirates.
This scene made even Golden Lion, infatuated with Shakky, briefly snap back, gravity in his eyes.
*These four guys... when did they get so close?*
*But they're striking too ruthlessly; even I wouldn't hit teammates that hard...*
Before Golden Lion could figure out the reason, the demonized Rocks Pirates displayed another terrifying ability that left him dumbfounded.
Silver Axe, whose head was smashed, and John, whose skull was deformed by Kaido, healed rapidly as if time reversed.
Including those burned by Charlotte Linlin's ability, the burn scars also vanished quickly.
In the blink of an eye, everything seemed as if it never happened; their severe injuries just now felt like an illusion.
"Immortality?!"
Golden Lion looked stunned, then recalled the woman's chant earlier.
"It's real?!"
York landed from the air, returning to the group.
Looking at these former comrades like unkillable cockroaches, his face grave.
"They're controlled by that woman; conventional methods can't kill them!"
"The only method to try now is seawater!"
"Soak them in seawater, or drown them with it! Their abilities should fail!"
With that, York looked at Whitebeard and Golden Lion.
"Now we need you two to cooperate!"
"Only your abilities here can manipulate seawater!"
York spoke bluntly, even directly providing a simple and effective solution.
Though not fully guaranteed, it seemed highly feasible.
However, after hearing him, Golden Lion just tsundere-ly tossed his head.
"Hah?! Cooperate?! With Newgate?! York, you're joking, right?!"
"I can fly! No need to waste time here with you!!"
Then, Golden Lion turned to Shakky.
"Shakky-chan~ It's too dangerous here! Let me take you off this island! We can elope far away!"
Shakky showed a trace of weakness on her face, teary-eyed: "But I'm so scared now. Can you first take out these evil guys?!"
Golden Lion's expression flipped instantly from reluctance.
"Shakky-chan, wait! I'll fetch seawater right now! Drench these brainless idiots awake!!"
With that, Golden Lion soared into the sky, unleashing several flying slashes at the sea outside the island.
Golden slashes hit the sea, cutting out several cubic blocks of seawater.
These blocks, imbued with Golden Lion's fruit power, flew toward them under his control.
Seeing this, Whitebeard temporarily abandoned his plan to directly cause a tsunami, instead punching forward.
Shaking all the demonized Rocks Pirates swarming over flying away.
But just like before.
With immortality, even if Whitebeard shattered their organs, they could still recover quickly.
"Kiehahaha! Wake up, idiots!!"
Golden Lion laughed maniacally. The controlled flying seawater lost ability control, free-falling from the sky.
*Boom!!*
Tens of thousands of tons of seawater crashed down like bricks, covering all the demonized Rocks Pirates members.
*Splash!*
Seawater roared, forming a small tsunami.
York cautiously picked up Shakky and jumped to high ground, looking expectantly at the group of demonized former comrades.
<><><><><><>
Read Advanced Chapters on: patreon.com/Anna_N1
~Every 150 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]