The golden hook pirate's voice echoed through the amplifiers scattered across the forest, followed immediately by a high-frequency tremor ripping through the dirt.
The sounds of stampeding vanished, replaced by a dense, grating noise like thousands of rusty nails scraping across a chalkboard.
Zaraki had just shattered the thick skull of a giant crocodile with Yubashiri.
He hadn't even shaken the sticky brain matter off the blade when the surrounding treetops lowered in unison.
The sunlight dimmed.
Thousands of dark shadows blotted out the sky.
It wasn't clouds rolling overhead—it was swarms of mutated pterosaurs and gliding monstrosities.
At the exact same time, the ground churned like boiling water.
Countless purple-skinned giant rats, dripping with highly corrosive acid, dug up from beneath the dirt.
'So this is the "refined gift"?'
Attacked from above and below, surrounded by acid that could melt solid steel, clearing them one by one with ordinary swings would only waste time.
Crack.
Yubashiri let out a strained hum under the continuous collisions and corrosive spray around it.
Zaraki clicked his tongue.
"This really is the wrong blade for a meat grinder."
His left hand moved to the newly acquired sword at his other side.
There, the ominous Third Generation Kitetsu hung silently in its sheath.
The moment his fingers brushed the hilt, the cursed blade let out a sharp, delighted hum, as if it had finally smelled enough blood.
But the killing intent wrapped around its steel cowered the instant it touched the ferocious soul of Kenpachi Zaraki within him.
Shiiing—!
The Cursed Blade unsheathed.
A dark-red glow flickered along the edge before being drowned beneath thick Busoshoku Haki.
"Let's see whether your edge is worth the trouble."
Zaraki lowered his center of gravity.
Then he moved.
This time he didn't charge straight ahead.
He spun at the center of the encirclement and unleashed a storm of dark golden flying slashes in every direction.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—!
This was nothing like the elegant sword art of swordsman but a brutal suppression!
The pterosaurs diving from above were cut apart mid-air before their claws could descend. The acid rats surging from below were split open before they could swell and self-destruct.
Their corrosive fluids burst back into their own ranks, melting flesh and bone together into a foul, bubbling mess.
There were absolutely no blind spots.
Zaraki stood his ground, one hand gripping the cursed blade, the other loosely guiding the rhythm of the slaughter.
The Third Generation Demon-Slayer trembled in delight, not from controlling him, but from being dragged by him into a feast of blood it had never even dreamed of.
One hundred? Five hundred?
The numbers completely lost their meaning.
In just over ten seconds, the roaring forest fell into a dead, eerie silence.
The pirates sitting before the surveillance screens gaped, their loud cheers stuck tight in their throats, leaving only the loud chattering of their teeth.
On the screen, the youth slowly raised his head.
Beneath his heavy boots, piled corpses flowed with fresh blood.
The dark-red blade in his hand hummed faintly, coated in blood and Haki, looking more sinister than ever.
Zaraki's dark gaze passed over the massive pile of corpses, precisely fixing on the towering castle in the distance.
"Enjoying the view over there?"
Even through the screen, the pirate with the golden hook felt as if the monster was staring right into his soul.
A cold chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Frantically, he grabbed the emergency communicator sitting beside him.
"Quick! Notify Captain Shiki! This guy isn't human! He's a monster! He's—"
"Too late."
On the screen, the youth switched blades again.
Yubashiri returned to his hand, while the cursed blade slid back to his waist.
He gripped Yubashiri with both hands and raised it high.
This time, what coiled around the blade was not just heavy Haki, but also a terrifying Reiatsu that almost seemed to burst straight through the monitor.
This heavy strike would not only cut flesh, but also crush souls!
"Die."
The blade fell.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a thin, dark-golden thread silently extending from the center of the destroyed forest, instantly spanning several kilometers, gently slicing straight across that sturdy stone fortress.
The surveillance feed instantly went completely black.
In reality, that heavy rock castle built directly against the mountain, acting like butter cut by a hot knife, saw its entire upper half slowly shift completely out of place, then... crash down with a thunderous roar.
The cut looked as smooth as a polished mirror.
Only then did the tremendous, deafening roar reach them.
Amidst the billowing thick dust, before the terrified survivors in the ruins could even scream, the aftershock of the slash and the collapsing rock buried them together without mercy.
This was a totally one-sided slaughter!
In just three minutes, the once clamorous, beast-roaring outer region of the floating island fell completely silent.
Only the rustle of wind through the broken treetops and the steady drip of blood onto the rocks remained.
Zaraki hoisted Yubashiri onto his shoulder, stepping heavily on the rubble of the ruins as he walked step by step toward the Central Tower located at the island's absolute highest point, which even his previous massive slash had failed to shake in the slightest.
Only there remained an aura so powerful it truly excited him.
At this exact moment, atop the highest floor of the Central Tower.
Thick, dark clouds swirled around the towering spire, the air sitting thin and freezing cold.
A man with twin swords in place of legs leaned heavily back in a broad throne, resting with his eyes closed, a half-smoked cigar pinched tight between his fingers.
The tremendous noise and violent vibrations from outside were enough to shake the entire massive island, but by the time they reached this high place, they had been dampened by the thick soundproofing layers into faint, buzzing hums.
Yet even so, the straight column of smoke rising from the cigar trembled ever so slightly at that exact moment.