A scruffy silhouette flipped through the air and landed squarely atop the twenty-meter-tall fortress monster’s head.
The towering beast—once a military stronghold—paused as if genuinely baffled by the tiny figure clinging to it.
"Don’t underestimate me!!"
Tokikake clenched the creature’s head between his hairy legs, fists wrapped in jet-black Armament Haki, and began raining down blows like a madman.
"I’m a genius of Marine HQ!!"
Before the stunned eyes of nearby Marines, the monster’s head shattered under the brutal barrage. The fortress collapsed like a demolished tower, crumbling into countless stones.
Tokikake rose from the rubble, eyes bloodshot, arms outstretched as fragments of stone tumbled from his body.
"Commander Tokikake... he’s strong..."
"His close combat skills..."
"As expected from HQ’s prodigy..."
The Marines stared in awe, and for a fleeting moment, Tokikake’s pervy, twitchy face seemed almost radiant—haloed in glory.
He raised his arms to the sky and roared in heartache:
"A beautiful mature woman like Big Mom... chose Darren over me!? UNFORGIVABLE!!"
The surrounding Marines collapsed in unison, black lines streaking down their faces.
The "halo" shattered in an instant.
Before anyone could react, Tokikake had already stomped off, cursing, and charged another soul-beast.
Fueled by rage, he became a berserk whirlwind of destruction—tearing down soul-infused fortresses with his bare hands, shredding monsters into rubble wherever he passed.
A blur streaked across the battlefield.
A monstrous creature had cornered several young Marines, its massive foot about to crush them into a bloodstain.
A searing sword slash exploded across its skull, flames bursting from the wound.
The monster trembled—then collapsed.
The trembling Marines looked up.
A man with a rough beard stood atop the smoldering corpse, a cigar between his lips, his voice calm and kind:
They blinked, then nodded in unison.
But they couldn’t miss the blood dripping steadily from the man’s sword hand.
"Then do me a favor. Help evacuate civilians over there, would you?"
The Marines scrambled to their feet and ran, teeth clenched with resolve.
The bearded officer exhaled a stream of smoke and tightened his grip on his blade.
"Oi, Yamakaji—how’s it going over there?"
A cold voice echoed from the left.
The bearded man—Yamakaji—looked over and saw Onigumo approaching from atop a collapsed monster.
Blood dripped from Onigumo’s mouth. His gray-white hair writhed like spider legs, and eight sabers whirled around him with lethal precision.
"These things are tough," said Yamakaji with a sigh.
Strawberry, Dalmatian, Doberman—others from the Training Camp generation—were all locked in brutal combat.
The soul monsters Big Mom had created were enormous, terrifyingly strong. A single punch could level a building. Every step cracked the earth like thunder.
Just earlier, Yamakaji had blocked one of their strikes to protect fleeing civilians. His hand had split at the joint. His arm still throbbed with pain.
If not for Armament Haki reinforcing him, his bones would’ve been pulverized.
Not everyone was like Darren—that freak—who could fistfight giants bare-handed.
"Scared?" Onigumo asked, wiping blood from his lips.
He lifted his gaze to the distant sky.
There—four figures surrounded the proud Golden Lion, launching a coordinated assault.
From a distance, it looked like four vicious wolves were challenging the king of the jungle.
Each strike triggered shockwaves that shattered the earth for hundreds of meters.
Magma, light, ice, electromagnetism, swordlight—
The area surrounding those five had become a hellish war zone. No one else could even set foot there.
"Darren and Kuzan are under far more pressure than we are," he murmured.
Onigumo frowned, narrowing his eyes.
"They’re monsters. We’re not."
"Monsters have their own way of fighting.
Humans have our duty."
His sword blazed into flame, red fire dancing along the steel.
The glow cast bold shadows across his broad, resolute face.
His eyes turned toward that distant battleground—filled with admiration.
"I’d give anything... to fight beside them," he whispered, tightening his grip.
Then—with no hesitation—he charged another towering beast head-on.
"Lion’s Might: Earth Surge!!"
The ground for hundreds of meters suddenly surged upward—shaping into a colossal lion over a hundred meters tall.
It roared, then snapped its jaws shut around a lone figure.
A pillar of magma erupted from the lion’s belly, splitting the stone beast with blazing force.
Cracks raced across its massive body. Blinding red light leaked from within. Mi
The lion exploded into molten rubble.
Lava spread across the battlefield, melting frost and fire alike.
Sakazuki stepped out of the magma one slow step at a time, blood trickling from his lip. He adjusted his cap and glared up at the Golden Lion.
"A legendary pirate...
...reduced to cheap parlor tricks?"
"Jihahahahaha..." Shiki roared with laughter, blades in hand. "Bleeding already, and still running your mouth, brat."
But then—his pupils flashed crimson.
A blinding light gathered behind him. A white shoe spun through the air—
"You ever been kicked...
Borsalino’s voice oozed laziness as he phased into form, fingers stroking his stubble, one leg crashing down like a beam of divine judgment—
—aimed straight for the back of the Golden Lion’s skull.