As the sword of Maffey struck Thor's chest, a metallic sound echoed across the battlefield, a sound that clearly did not match the expectation of a blade coated in haki.
Even though Saint Maffey had used everything she had in that surprise attack, the strike only scraped against Thor's skin.
His body, strengthened by the same natural defense that Linlin possessed and reinforced even further by the blood of an Ancient Giant running through him, simply refused to be pierced.
That defense, combined with the unnatural mass of his body, made him nearly impossible to injure.
Maffey's face shifted from confidence to shock almost instantly. She had expected Thor to drop or at least show a sign of injury, yet he stood there without even taking a single step back.
"So close," Thor said calmly. He adjusted the shape of his weapon into its axe form and coated it in a thick layer of mass.
This time he swung with the intention of cutting her cleanly. The blade connected, splitting Maffey in half, and she felt the full pain of being bisected before her Devil Fruit tried to pull her body back together.
Thor did not give her time. He swung again, packing even more mass into the second strike.
The force behind the attack pushed through her regenerating body and directly disrupted the function of her Devil Fruit, something his haki allowed him to do once he concentrated it enough. The moment the effect disappeared, Maffey finally died for real.
With two Holy Knights now dead, Garling, the commander of the group, finally understood the danger. Thor had killed both members with less effort than expected, and Garling felt a spike of fear at the idea of dying here.
He turned to the remaining Holy Knights who were still recovering from the shock of what they witnessed.
"Garling, this kind of death in our ranks is unprecedented. I do not want to tell you how to do your job but staying here is not the best option. We should retreat and focus on evacuating the gods on this island," the knight wearing the skull shaped like a bovine head said.
His tone was serious, and even he knew how disastrous this situation already was. They all understood that losing two members in a single mission was something the Celestial Dragons would not ignore.
"We should combine our strongest attacks to cover our retreat. There is not much choice left," Garling replied. The remaining knights began discussing how to escape without suffering more losses.
Thor heard every word.
"You know I can hear you discussing things. How stupid can you get to loudly discuss your matters?" Thor yelled from his side, making their planning entirely pointless. He held his axe again and coated it with mass, more refined than before thanks to the practice from killing Maffey.
Conqueror's haki and armament haki surged through the weapon, giving the axe a bright shine that spread across the blade.
He positioned himself like someone preparing to swing a bat, then launched the attack with the intention of cutting through every remaining member of the God Knights.
Sommers reacted first and formed a barrier made of thorns to block the incoming strike.
He expected the others to counterattack alongside him, but when he turned around he saw that Garling and the rest had already used his effort as a distraction so they could retreat. They abandoned him without hesitation.
Sommers realized this only for a moment before Thor's attack destroyed the barrier. The cut went straight through him, splitting his body in half. The last thing Sommers saw was Thor grinning before he followed up by cutting off his head with haki that erased the Devil Fruit effect keeping Sommers alive.
Once the fight ended, Thor turned toward the direction where he had sensed the strange haki earlier.
The sensation had appeared only minutes before, and it was still there, meaning the source had not moved.
He was ready to leave when he noticed two Devil Fruits lying near the bodies, the result of his kills.
Thor picked both fruits up and used his observation haki to locate Borsalino. He sensed two smaller presences near him as well.
Thor created Ice Clones and had them deliver the fruits to Borsalino while he ran toward the strange haki signature.
As Thor moved, he sensed other strong presences heading toward the same location.
Newgate, Rocks, and Roger were already ahead, and Kaido flew in dragon form above them, which told Thor that Kaido had already eaten the Devil Fruit Linlin had obtained earlier.
Behind them, Thor felt an angry presence rapidly approaching from another direction, clearly belonging to Linlin herself.
When Thor arrived, it matched perfectly with Garp's arrival from the Marine side. Kaido had landed earlier and was looking proud of himself.
"Oi, look at this, I now have my own devil fruit," Kaido said toward Thor. Thor did not respond to that because his focus was on Newgate and Rocks.
"Is it done?" Thor asked.
Rocks did not bother to answer verbally. He only grinned, which was enough confirmation that whatever mission he had was completed.
In the middle of their group stood the spider shaped monster. It was perfectly still and appeared to only observe them. Thor sensed a feeling of confidence radiating from the creature, a sense that it did not believe anyone present could harm it.
"What is that, Rocks? Do you have an idea?" Roger asked as he looked over the creature.
"I do not know exactly, but if I had to guess, I would say that is the World itself," Rocks answered with a grin.
Garp arrived from the Marine side at that moment. The creature moved, stabbing Marines and pirates with its spider like limbs without any hesitation or distinction.
"Who the hell is that?" Garp barked at one of the Marines. The Marine explained something had happened to Saint Saturn.
"If it is not the Rat King itself, have you finally come to kill me?" Rocks said loudly, provoking the figure of Imu that was now controlling Saturn's altered body.
"So thou art the one Davy Jones," Imu said toward Rocks. The tone was calm but filled with hatred.
"Afraid you got the wrong person. I have not even met the man. That said, I believe promises are meant to be kept," Rocks replied, which only angered Imu further.
"That is precisely why your wretched ill must be expunged from history to begin with. Mu's world remains incomplete," Imu responded.
Thor, who had been quiet while listening, finally steadied his stance. Newgate and Kaido did the same. Roger finished yelling at his crewmates and prepared as well.
"This world is not yours to begin with," Rocks said, readying himself for battle.
Linlin then arrived with overwhelming anger. She targeted Kaido first, firing a massive attack at him, but Kaido dodged. Her attack struck Imu instead.
Everyone from Thor to Garp launched their attacks at Imu since that was the greater threat.
Linlin continued trying to strike Kaido, but her destructive power only added to the chaos.
"RAGNAROK," Thor roared as he struck. He coated his entire axe with ice and lightning, both produced through his weapon like natural extensions.
He sent the attack at Imu at the same time as the others unleashed their named techniques.