Kaido scanned the surrounding environment, guessing at the potential weaknesses of Wang Zhi's fruit ability.
Currently, the strangeness of Wang Zhi's fruit awakening mainly lay in the inability to catch his main body.
In terms of attack power and lethality, at least for Kaido, there was no threat.
"So, have we returned to the era where there was no Haki to deal with Logia types?"
Kaido recalled some topics he had chatted about with York.
For example, the second weakness of Devil Fruits besides Seastone and the sea.
The Sand-Sand Fruit feared water, lightning-type fruits feared insulation, the Float-Float Fruit feared storms, the Rubber-Rubber Fruit feared slashing attacks, the Chop-Chop Fruit feared blunt strikes, and so on.
Recalling this topic York had once chatted about, Kaido seemed to have thought of how to deal with Wang Zhi's awakening.
"Wororororo! Wang Zhi, your doomsday has arrived!!"
Kaido laughed loudly, his robust body expanding rapidly. His skin turned into dragon scales, his mouth protruded forward, and the giant Azure Dragon rose from the ground once again.
Lurking in the swamp assimilated by his fruit awakening, Wang Zhi watched Kaido's transformation in silence, a faint trace of worry flashing through his heart.
As a Swamp-Swamp Fruit user, he was naturally very clear about his own weaknesses.
So when he saw Kaido transform into an Azure Dragon again, he immediately knew he might be in trouble.
Thus, he started digging underground immediately.
As long as the speed of assimilation by his fruit awakening was fast enough, he could dodge Kaido's attack.
Kaido, transformed into an Azure Dragon, naturally didn't know that Wang Zhi had started running away directly. However, adhering to the principle of not giving the enemy a chance to survive, he still inhaled and gathered power immediately.
"Blast Breath!!" (Bolo Breath)
Thanks to the massive heat spreading from York's battlefield, this mouthful of dragon breath from Kaido was thick and powerful.
Blazing dragon fire descended from the sky, bombarding the center of the swamp. The wet swamp was instantly evaporated by the terrifying high temperature of the dragon fire.
The viscous mud gradually dried and hardened. Wang Zhi, underground, felt the change behind him and immediately deactivated his awakening, returning to his original form.
A Logia Awakening could indeed allow him to become the swamp of nature, completely immune to any physical attacks. As long as the swamp existed, he existed.
But correspondingly, if the swamp was directly destroyed by some large-scale attack, he would be destroyed simultaneously, without even a bit of power to resist.
This was the advantage and defect of Logia Awakening.
The advantage was becoming nature itself, immune to physical attacks; no matter how strong Haki was, it was useless.
The defect was the lack of resistance to large-scale elemental attacks. Once encountering an ability that countered oneself, one was practically worse than a minion. At least a minion could leave behind a few pieces of a corpse; an awakened Logia user wouldn't even leave a corpse behind.
Reverting to his original form, Wang Zhi soon felt the terrifying high temperature of the dragon fire.
The scorching flames blasted open the soil layer, and the impact force, carrying high heat, slammed into Wang Zhi simultaneously.
Fortunately, his original strength wasn't weak, so he managed to withstand it by relying on full-body Armament Haki.
But... before he could be happy, the giant Azure Dragon transformed into a Dragon-Human again and descended from the sky.
Boom!!
Feet like dragon claws stepped on the edge of the huge crater blasted out by the dragon fire. Kaido looked down from above at Wang Zhi, who had reverted to his original form.
"Wororororo! Found you, Wang Zhi!!"
Wang Zhi fell silent.
His gaze was cold yet filled with unwillingness, and there was also a faint trace of regret.
"Kaido, how about we reconcile? No matter what, we used to be partners in the same pirate crew!!"
"Partners?!"
Kaido sneered, as if hearing the funniest joke.
"Go say words like 'reconcile' to Shakky! I'm only responsible for sending you to meet her!!"
Black-red lightning mixed with azure-black lightning erupted from Kaido. He leaped high wielding his kanabo, dragging a trail of lightning flames as he smashed down furiously.
"Conqueror of Three Worlds: Ragnaraku!!" (Kosanze: Ragnaraku)
Dual-colored lightning exploded behind the Skull Mountain, like Whitebeard's quake punch hitting the atmosphere, shattering the space behind the mountain into a single piece of broken glass.
...
Battlefield in front of the mountain.
York's words did not shake Imu's will to erase or capture him.
Similarly, Imu's words did not shake York.
He had already invited Charlotte Linlin to help guard his base.
With her help, and the assistance of Gloriosa, Stussy, and Dragon, as long as Garp didn't go, it was basically foolproof.
And York knew Garp very well.
After the incident at God Valley, even if Garp was still willing to serve the World Government, he would definitely disdain underhanded tactics like sneaking into someone's home to capture their wife and children.
Without Garp participating in the home raid, even if the remaining Sengoku brought Tsuru and Zephyr, there was nothing to worry about.
Although Zephyr was also a taijutsu expert, his taijutsu belonged to the defensive type.
Optimistically, maybe Ginny could control him from start to finish with a single Barrier Ball.
So, York and Imu, equally unshakable by words, engaged in an even fiercer battle clash in front of the Skull Mountain.
Imu possessed Saturn, and black shadow tentacles besieged York from all directions.
The other four Elders, despite being frequently burned to charcoal by York, persisted in attacking him relentlessly.
Needless to say about the remaining pirates; transformed into demons, they had completely lost their reason, knowing only to obey Imu's commands.
No matter how many times York burned them to death, as long as they could regenerate, they would charge at York, even if they paid countless years of lifespan for it, their originally healthy and strong bodies beginning to age and wither.
York thought of countermeasures while dealing with the siege.
Continuing to increase the temperature limit of the controlled flames was meaningless.
One million degrees was enough for him to deal with these enemies in front of him. Higher temperatures would only slightly improve killing efficiency and consume more stamina.
Correspondingly, if he could improve his purification power to thoroughly eliminate Imu's Black Transformation Domination, the outcome of this battle would be completely reversed.
Act on thought.
But before that, York had to replenish his stamina again.
Although the vitality obtained from absorbing all the pirates on the island hadn't been fully consumed and there was still some left, York was a hoarder. He'd rather finish the fight with leftovers than run out halfway.
"Fire Dance Whirlwind!!"
Flames of one million degrees transformed into a fire tornado under York's control, protecting him in the center while clearing the surroundings completely.
The four Elders, who thought they had found an opportunity to launch a joint attack, were swept up by the flames. Mars (the monster bird) and Ju Peter (the sandworm) were vaporized on the spot.
Venus (the skeletal horse) relied on his cold air to resist for a few seconds but ultimately couldn't escape the fate of becoming charcoal.
Only Warcury (the wild boar) lasted a full ten seconds before gradually disappearing in the flames.
At the same time, Imu's countless encroaching shadow tentacles were all burned away by the howling fire tornado.
Not to mention those ordinary pirates transformed into demons.
When the fire tornado dissipated, York's hair, which had been like white flames, returned to black, while the pitch-black flame ribbon behind him turned white.
He looked at Imu possessing Saturn from afar and grinned.
"Remember this form of mine?"
Imu, with ringed eyes, narrowed them, recalling some unpleasant memories.
"York!!!"
A low roar carried anger, and the shadow of Imu possessing Saturn seemed to tremble slightly because of it.
"Hahahaha..."
York laughed towards the sky. He knew his sneak attack on Gunko back then had succeeded; his ability must have affected Imu's main body.
"Want to do it again?!"
York raised his hand. The light wasn't as intense as before, but holy light tentacles that still looked sacred shot out.
Imu controlled Saturn's body to jump back instantly to create distance, like a frightened bird.
With a smile on his lips, York made the tentacles flying out suddenly turn mid-air, piercing into the recovering body of Ju Peter (sandworm).
"Unngh!!"
Ju Peter let out a muffled groan. The giant sandworm, which didn't look like much to begin with, immediately went limp on the ground.
Its thick and long body twitched, but those eyes revealed a look of confusion and happiness.
After dealing with Ju Peter in one move, a second tentacle immediately shot towards Mars (monster bird), who was also still recovering.
The awakening of Happy Mode, although no longer carrying area-of-effect damage like before, had reached the ultimate effect against single targets.
Mars, not using full-body Conqueror's Haki, was also hit. The giant monster bird fell from the sky, unable to rise again.
Warcury and Venus, seeing their two colleagues fall so easily, simultaneously showed looks of terror in their eyes.
They weren't worried about dying from York's ability.
So far, York hadn't shown the ability to kill them.
What they worried about was losing face too much after being hit by York's ability, thereby losing Imu's trust.
Coincidentally.
Imu, seeing two of her subordinates lose combat capability just like that, couldn't sit still either.
The siege situation she had painstakingly designed couldn't just be broken by York one by one.
At that moment, she/he temporarily put aside the fear of York's ability and launched an attack on York again.
Interfered by her, York couldn't sneak attack the remaining Elders anymore. He released an equal number of holy light tentacles to clash head-on with Imu's dark tentacles.
Meanwhile, he released more, thinner holy light tentacles to pierce through those pirates transformed into demons.
Don't misunderstand; York wasn't trying to save them.
Since this group of people had already consumed a large amount of lifespan under Imu's ability and wouldn't live long anyway, they might as well contribute their remaining vitality!!
Gulp gulp~
Like a water pump, balls of pink light representing vitality were extracted from these demons and transported to York, making his confidence in this battle even more sufficient.
At the same time, happy smiles reappeared on the faces of those pirates transformed into demons.
"So comfortable~~"
Dying in happiness—this was the last tenderness York granted them.
Imu naturally couldn't just watch York getting replenished, but with Ju Peter and Mars incapacitated, and Warcury and Venus still recovering...
Relying only on the combat power she could exert by possessing Saturn, it was really hard to interrupt York.
Actually, the main reason this battle was so difficult was that she couldn't use Black Transformation Domination on York.
Not only because the tentacles stabbing at York would be destroyed, but also due to ability limitations.
To deal with an expert of York's level, one must break his psychological defense line or beat him directly to near-death.
The former failed; threats were ineffective against York.
The latter was in progress, but progressing very difficultly.
"No choice!!"
Imu, in the distant Room of Flowers, turned her head to look at the girl Gunko nearby, dressed as a shrine maiden with heterochromatic eyes.
"Gunko, make a trip for Mu."
The girl Gunko nodded gently, and a pentagram magic circle appeared beneath her feet, initiating long-distance teleportation.
As the candidate with the highest compatibility for Imu to possess in this current era, Gunko represented the highest combat power Imu could exert externally.
Since simply possessing Saturn couldn't handle York, then let's have another God Valley!
"If Mu can take out one Rocks, Mu can take out a second one!"
"Feel despair! York!!"
Hachinosu (Fullalead).
Inside the empty room in Skull Mountain, the pentagram magic circle emitted a bewitching light again.
After a crackle of black-red lightning, Gunko, who was just in the distant Holy Land's Room of Flowers, appeared on Hachinosu.
With a pull of her slender, pale hand, she tore the shrine maiden robe covering her body, revealing a military uniform on top and a special outfit with only shorts and shoes below.
On Saturn, the black shadow that looked like a flag ribbon gradually disappeared. Gunko, who had just torn off her shrine maiden robe, had her heterochromatic eyes gradually replaced by a pair of ringed eyes.
Imu moved Gunko's hands, very satisfied with the compatibility of this body.
If not because the body she was using now had even higher compatibility, she would probably designate Gunko directly as her next body.
York, who had just received a wave of vitality replenishment, noticed the abnormality occurring on Saturn.
"Retreated?"
"No! Impossible!!"
"If leaving, they would definitely leave together!"
"So..."
"Did they teleport that woman over?"
A gleam flashed in York's eyes.
At God Valley, the great battle between Rocks and the woman possessed by Imu left a deep impression on him to this day.
Of course, that woman's lips at the final moment also left a deep impression on York.
The corners of his mouth, which had been smiling, curled up further. York whispered softly: "If I recreate the God Valley of back then, I wonder what you will become, Imu!!"
Looking into the distance, York already saw the figure of the woman walking out of the room in Skull Mountain.
Licking his lips somewhat greedily, York raised his hand and released a third holy light tentacle.
Pure white, but with magic patterns, the tentacle pierced straight through Saturn's body.
Poor Saturn had just woken up from Imu's possession and hadn't fully adapted to his state when he was hit directly by York's move.
Immediately after, familiar pleasure surged in his heart. The giant spider Saturn transformed into had all eight legs go weak, collapsing limply onto the ground.