Gear 4 combined with the infusion of Conqueror's Haki, utilizing both Armament and Conqueror's Haki simultaneously—this clash represented the absolute peak of Luffy's current strength.
Spurt! Kaido forcefully coughed up a massive spray of blood, which continued to drip endlessly from the corner of his mouth.
This sight utterly terrified the members of the Beast Pirates.
"Lord Kaido!" King's pupils constricted. Spreading his wings, he shot directly up into the sky.
Right then, a streak of light cut across the horizon, hurtling straight toward him like a rainbow. Left with no choice, King hastily raised his arms to guard.
BOOM!
The brilliant streak slammed violently into King. As the radiance faded, everyone below could see that the attack had come from an immense, exceptionally long staff.
Caught completely off guard while defending, King was sent blasting backward by the single blow, hurtling straight down toward the ground.
The golden staff suddenly transformed into a flash of light and dissolved, flowing back toward its source. At the end of that direction, Locke slowly extended his palm, and the golden light settled into his hand, gradually condensing back into a golden iron rod.
"It's Locke from the Dragon Flag Pirates!" The lead CP agent's face darkened instantly.
Every single member of this obscure Dragon Flag Pirate crew possessed such terrifying strength. How could this be? Even with the World Government's intelligence network, they hadn't received a single shred of information about them. Since when did the New World gain several powerhouses of this caliber? Furthermore, all of them had boarded Vale D. Drake's ship.
Rumble...
The sky erupted with a series of explosions as Luffy shifted his form once again.
Bounce-Man!
"Gum-Gum... King Kong Gun!" Relying on the foundation of Gear 4, Luffy took another massive breath.
His arm swelled instantly, and the revving sound of his colossal fist gathering power drew the eyes of everyone on the battlefield. As Kaido slowly plunged downward, Luffy unleashed his punch.
BOOM!
The gigantic fist smashed squarely into Kaido, the sound shaking the heavens and the earth.
"Aaargh..." Kaido plummeted like a meteor.
He crashed directly into the center of the battlefield, carving out a massive crater upon impact.
"What on earth is that..." The Beast Pirates stared up at Luffy in sheer horror.
"The Guardian Deity... It's the Wisdom King!"
"What?!"
The expressions of the Wano samurai changed drastically. Luffy's appearance in Gear 4 delivered an immense visual shock to them. With that fearsome visage and overwhelming power, could he truly be the Guardian Deity of Wano?
"That's Luffy..." Chopper and Usopp grinned. Although they were secretly shocked that Luffy had managed to blast Kaido right out of the sky, their most prominent reaction was to jump up and down in pure excitement.
At this moment, the lips of every Straw Hat crew member curled upward. That was their captain!
"To think he's... the Wisdom King..." The white-cloaked agents looked on in horror. They had truly witnessed the sheer weight of Luffy's audacity today.
In the sky, Luffy slowly drifted back down to the ground.
By now, the surrounding battles were drawing to a close. The Tobi Roppo were simply no match for Kenshin and Locke. Because of their intervention, the high-ranking officers of the Beast Pirates were collapsing one after another. Following Kaido's sudden plunge, the morale of the Beast Pirates had suffered an unprecedented blow, causing the war to devolve into a complete rout.
At that moment, two figures slowly descended from the sky—one a meteor of fire, the other a streak of white light. It was Ace and Yamato.
Yamato had already shifted into her Hybrid form. Together with Luffy, the three of them surrounded Kaido once again.
While it appeared as though Luffy had just subjected Kaido to a furious, tempestuous barrage of attacks, that had only been possible because Ace's prior strike had wounded Kaido first. Otherwise, Luffy would never have been able to land his blows so smoothly. As for what actual effect this latest assault would have, even Luffy himself didn't know.
The moment Ace, Luffy, and Yamato landed, everyone in the vicinity hastily retreated into the distance. It was no joke when these three started fighting. If anyone got caught in the crossfire by accident, they wouldn't even have a place to complain.
King looked toward the massive crater in the ground, his face incredibly grim. He had no way of knowing what Kaido's current condition was. Yet even if he wanted to move, he couldn't; right in front of him, Marco's eyes hadn't left his body for a single second. How was he supposed to act?
Aside from King, Queen was the only All-Star left standing, but he couldn't be relied upon for anything at the moment. Bael's flying slashes had been completely continuous from the very beginning until now. Although Queen hadn't suffered any substantial injuries yet, he didn't dare lower his guard for a single second.
What infuriated Queen the most was that he couldn't deploy his trump card. With the Beast Pirates currently at a disadvantage, his secret weapon could have turned the tide of battle, but he simply wasn't given any opportunity to unleash it.
Bael panted heavily, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Although he didn't know exactly what Queen was trying to do, he could sense that it would pose a catastrophic problem. If that was the case, he absolutely could not let the man's schemes succeed! Therefore, he had fought with full strength from the very start, never giving Queen a single moment to catch his breath.
Meanwhile, in a corner of the battlefield, Robin slowly retracted her giant limbs. In front of her, Black Maria—one of the Tobi Roppo of the Beast Pirates—toppled straight to the ground.
Following the intense fight, Robin was utterly exhausted. This scene happened to be caught by Sanji.
"Robin-chan..." Sanji instantly transformed into a floating phantom and drifted over. Even the white-cloaked agent opposing him was drawn to look. What kind of ability was that?
Although Sanji's reaction speed could be considered among the absolute best in the world, someone else was still faster than him.
"Yo-ho-ho-ho..." Brook beat him to the punch, catching Robin and leaving Sanji with nothing but a view of his back.
Sanji: !!!
Watching Brook carry Robin away in a bridal-style hold, a burst of fury ignited in Sanji's heart. "Brook!"
Seizing this opening, the CP agent unleashed a rapid volley of Flying Finger Pistols, shooting straight toward Sanji.
"Hmm?!" Sanji's brow furrowed. Effortlessly dodging the attack, a fierce blaze erupted along both of his legs. "So you're the ones who want to capture Robin-chan! Today, I'll make sure none of you leave here alive!" With that, Sanji launched himself into the air, kicking out furiously with both feet.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Aaargh... You... What's going on? Why can't I move?!" Page One and Ulti cried out in sheer terror.
Everything had been perfectly fine just a moment ago. Why had they suddenly lost all mobility?
In front of them, a remarkably elegant and beautiful woman walked over slowly, her hands continuously shifting through a sequence of hand seals. Arriving before the siblings, her palms blurred into a series of afterimages. Though her strikes appeared light as a feather, every single hit that landed on their bodies caused their veins to bulge, throwing them into a cold sweat.
"You two should get some proper rest..." Following a gentle remark that reached their ears like flowing spring water, the siblings collapsed to their knees in unison in the next instant, completely losing consciousness.
Ann slowly withdrew her palms from their bodies. Taking on two of the Tobi Roppo by herself, she had still appeared to handle the situation with effortless grace!
This sight utterly stunned the nearby members of the Beast Pirates. What kind of method was that? They hadn't seen where the two Tobi Roppo had been injured, nor what kind of injuries they had sustained. Yet the agonizing expressions on their faces certainly couldn't be faked! What exactly had this witch done to them?
In a place hidden from everyone's view, the veins on Ann's jade-like hands inside her sleeves bulged prominently, trembling uncontrollably. Just now, by relying on her acupoint-sealing techniques and the meridian-disruption methods she had studied in the medical codex, she had completely crippled both of them!
A person without functioning meridians was no different from a useless cripple!