In the heat of the battlefield, the fight between the two towering figures was the most eye-catching. With another clash of their swords, the terrifying force of the shockwave sent the surrounding combatants reeling back in horror, unable to look away.
"What a terrifying battle!"
"Is this a duel between a Warlord and a Sweet Commander?"
"Lord Cracker will win for sure! How can a mere Warlord stand against Lord Cracker, the strongest fighting force under a Yonko?! Just you wait, your captain Wilder will soon start to fall! Hahaha! Die!"
And it seemed as if the battle was indeed going as they predicted. Cracker's vicious smile vanished, and an icy aura began to radiate from his entire body.
"I'll admit, you have the basic qualifications to fight me. But this is just the beginning. What do you think? Can that strange sword of yours withstand my next attack?"
Cracker raised his double-edged sword, his face grim as he looked at Wilder. Wisps of red energy began to appear around the blade, growing more and more numerous until they were circling the sword in rings.
Cracker suddenly lifted his head, a strange smile on his face.
"Hoo…"
A light breeze blew past, and Cracker vanished without a sound.
"Zing!"
The next moment, his body suddenly reappeared above and in front of Wilder, a vicious smile on his face, his longsword already swinging down.
So fast!
Wilder's eyes flickered. His swamp sword reflexively rose to block above his head.
"Clang!"
"Crack!"
Two different sounds rang out in succession. The swamp sword shattered under the blow like a piece of old, rusty iron.
In that split second, the vicious smile on Cracker's face deepened, and the downward momentum of his sword didn't lessen in the slightest.
Wilder had no time to marvel at his opponent's attack. With a push of his feet, he quickly moved away.
Cracker gave Wilder no chance to form another swamp sword, following up at incredible speed. The longsword, wreathed in that strange energy, slashed down at Wilder again and again, the attacks fierce, swift, and dense, like a violent storm.
"Gehahahaha! This won't do! You're going to die! You're going to die! Gehahahaha!"
Cracker laughed excitedly as he slashed, his eyes wide and bloodshot, his attacks growing ever fiercer and faster.
"His Armament Haki is stronger than mine." Wilder's figure flickered, dodging the attacks. His eyelids lowered slightly, his mind racing.
Truth be told, Wilder's swordsmanship wasn't exceptional. It was unwise to have a sword fight with Cracker. Even a close-quarters brawl was taking the long way around.
So…
Wilder still decided to go for a direct assault first. For no other reason than he found this "turtle shell" in front of him to be an eyesore.
Ever since being threatened by Big Mom, he had been holding in a breath of frustration. Although he didn't show it on the surface, and while Wilder wasn't a man of many words or an aggressive person, at the end of the day, he was a ruthless man.
After dodging another slash.
Power suddenly began to surge rapidly within his body, like an engine pumping water. Strength and life force formed a torrent, and under the control of Life Return, they quickly gathered in his arm.
The following scene seemed to slow down infinitely. After Wilder dodged another of Cracker's attacks, the roles suddenly reversed. It was like a hunter, running and leaping, slashing down at his prey. The hunter believed himself to be the one in control, never expecting the prey to suddenly leap up, appearing before the hunter and baring its fangs. It was so sudden, it was as if the hunter had voluntarily charged into the tiger's mouth.
"Serpent Demon!"
The power accumulated in his arm was like a dam being opened. The floodgates were lifted, and the massive torrent of water found its outlet, pouring out all at once.
The surging power slammed into the unprepared Cracker. A transparent white fist imprint passed straight through his chest and out his back, stretching out behind him like a long, transparent white tube, shooting diagonally into the sky.
The biscuits shattered and peeled away, pulverized by the powerful fist wind. Cracker's real body was left completely unprotected, exposed to the white fist imprint. As the impact wave scraped past his body at high speed, cracks appeared on his skin, oozing blood that was quickly dispersed by the fist wind.
Cracker's pupils flickered, dilating and contracting as he endured the force, on the verge of losing focus. A mouthful of blood suddenly spewed from his lips.
"Gah!" After spitting out the blood, Cracker's body lost its autonomy for a moment, sent flying backwards like a cannonball by the terrifying fist wind.
Amande and the others, who were fighting elsewhere, couldn't believe what they were seeing. The image of Cracker being sent flying seemed to be permanently seared into their minds, making their heads buzz and their hearts tremble.
"Brother Cracker!"
"How is that possible?!"
Wilder, of course, would not miss such an opportunity to strike while his enemy was down. His body moved, disappearing from his spot.
"Boom!" When he reappeared, he was next to the fallen Cracker's body. He expressionlessly lifted his foot and brought it down.
The sole of his shoe slammed into Cracker's abdomen. The ground beneath him instantly caved in, forming a circular crater. His body arched from the blow, and he spat out more blood.
"Dammit!" Seeing this, a portion of the combatants quickly disengaged and charged towards Wilder. As a result, the pressure on Wilder's subordinates was greatly reduced.
"You bastard… how dare you do that to Brother Cracker!"
"Wilder! Die!"
A group of them rushed towards Wilder like a pack of wolves.
Wilder still expressionlessly lifted his foot and brought it down. A dull thud echoed as the crater deepened. Cracker tried to struggle, but Wilder's foot came down heavily again, and he coughed up more blood.
Lift foot, bring down.
Lift foot, bring down.
It was as if he was completely oblivious to his surroundings.
"Go to hell!" Finally, someone couldn't hold back and lunged at him. Wilder recognized him as one of the triplets, a powerful fighter.
"Get lost!" Wilder turned his head, his icy gaze falling on him. As the word left his lips, the swamp surged up and instantly crushed down.
Under Wilder's control, the swamp came to life. No matter how hard the tall triplet struggled, it climbed up his limbs and body, binding him tightly.
Then, a sharp object, coated in Armament Haki, shot out from Wilder's palm, instantly piercing through his body and straight to his heart.
"Urk!" The triplet looked at Wilder in disbelief. His strength rapidly drained away, and his body went limp, collapsing to the ground.
But in that moment, Cracker had vanished from the crater beneath Wilder's feet. Wilder's eyes moved slightly, and he turned to look ahead.
"Hah… hah…" Cracker was panting heavily, his eyes blood-red, his face a mask of sinister hatred as he stared at Wilder. The pain and blood loss had twisted his features into a vicious grimace.
At that moment, some powder began to appear around him. Cracker laughed sinisterly. "I admit, you're strong. Not many people can break my Biscuit General. You're one of them. But… how many more can you break?"
With that, he broke into a vicious grin and began to clap his hands. "Clap, clap, clap…!"
As he clapped, the amount of powder around him increased dramatically and began to move. Then, one by one, Biscuit Generals appeared around him.
Twenty of them.
The same size, the same appearance. The twenty of them looked like a dense, overwhelming crowd, creating a sense of visual and psychological pressure. To describe it accurately, the twenty Biscuit Generals inspired a sense of despair, crushing any will to fight back.
But it didn't stop there. Cracker hadn't stopped clapping. As the sound of his clapping continued, powder began to appear behind Wilder, to his left, and to his right. The powder moved and gathered, and more Biscuit Generals took shape, their cold gazes all fixed on Wilder.
Eighty giant Biscuit Generals had surrounded Wilder.
The scene looked like eighty armed giants preparing to gang up on a first-grader.
"How many can you defeat?" Cracker stood between the Biscuit Generals, holding his sword. Electricity crackled on his topknots as he looked at Wilder with a cold smirk.
This was an act of someone who feared pain.
Wilder knew this. He also knew that this was a completely unreasonable ability. There was no way to explain why these biscuits were so hard. After all, everything in this world was inherently unreasonable.
It would take too much stamina to completely break even one of them. And eighty of them… even if they stood still and let Wilder hit them, he would probably collapse from exhaustion before he could finish. And besides, these Biscuit Generals were not immobile turtles.
Not to mention, even if he did manage to destroy all eighty, what then? He would probably never be able to destroy them all. After all, Cracker could just make another eighty.
So, a direct brawl?
Out of the question.
Being good at observing and finding the most suitable way to deal with all sorts of strange situations in a battle was a required course for any strong fighter. A direct brawl was hopeless. Against this kind of enemy, who was clearly relying on an overpowered ability to fight, the best way to respond was actually very simple.
Use a cheat to beat a cheat.
The "Swamp Monster" ability was very suitable and could be considered a cheat, but unfortunately, it wasn't mature yet, so it could be ruled out.
Then… the only option was to become the cheat himself. A gleam of light flashed under Wilder's slightly lowered eyelids.
"Boom!" The eighty Biscuit Generals moved at the same time! Eighty greatswords swung down at the small figure in the middle. The force and the attack of eighty greatswords were enough to cripple or even kill anyone. The dust kicked up by the mere act of swinging the swords had already enveloped the area. One could only imagine the devastation when they landed.
The blades of the eighty greatswords glinted with a cold, sharp light. The light was like eighty threads, closing in on Wilder from all directions.
"Boom!"
A violent hurricane erupted from the spot where he stood. The air was forcibly pushed aside by a suddenly appearing giant object, creating a temporary vacuum.
The air currents caused by the vacuum spread out in all directions, invisible waves of air sweeping across the smaller battlefields nearby.
The surging swamp moved frantically, constantly layering, secreting, layering, secreting. Wilder's field of vision was also constantly rising.
It all sounds like it took a long time, but it happened in an instant. Before the eighty greatswords could even land, their attack seemed to pause. Then, a hurricane erupted, and a behemoth suddenly appeared, directly pushing away all the Biscuit Generals surrounding Wilder. With an unrivaled force, the eighty Biscuit Generals were sent flying in disarray.
"What is that?!" Cracker shielded his forehead with his hands, blocking the violent hurricane blowing towards him, staring in disbelief at the behemoth that had so abruptly appeared.
The wind died down, and the entire battlefield fell silent. Everyone stood frozen, shock etched on their faces. Their eyes were wide as they stared at the massive figure standing between heaven and earth. For a moment, it felt as if something was stuck in their throats. They couldn't speak. Even breathing became difficult.
A greyish-black, massive, viscous humanoid creature made entirely of swamp stood in the middle of the battlefield. Everyone looked like tiny insects beneath this behemoth.
Even the eighty Biscuit Generals now looked like nothing more than slightly larger bugs.
Truly blotting out the sun, the shadow cast by the "giant" enveloped everyone. They all stood with their mouths agape, making a clicking sound as if something was caught in their throats, a sense of shock rising from the depths of their hearts with no way to vent it.
A hundred meters tall, with a thick, massive body, without a single scale of armor, yet it exuded an suffocating feeling of being utterly unbeatable.
This was…
The Giant General!
It wasn't aimed at Cracker, but compared to the Giant General, the Biscuit General was truly a little brother.
Cracker had tried to use his overpowered ability to take down Wilder. Wilder had no choice but to give him a taste of his own medicine.
The massive body moved slightly, and a bit of swamp inadvertently shook off.
Of course, this "bit" was only relative. In reality, it was crashing towards the ground with terrifying range and speed.
The Biscuit Generals had gotten back to their feet, but before they could make their next move, they found their heads covered by an even deeper shadow.
"Splat!"
The swamp crashed down, instantly kicking up a cloud of dust. And under the force of the impact, the swamp was like a pool of water with a stone thrown into it, the outer edges rising up and spreading outwards.
The Biscuit Generals were directly hit in the face by the swamp, their movements inhibited by the thick ooze.
Wilder's body was hidden at the top of the giant Swamp General, but the entire massive body moved with his actions.
While everyone was still in a daze, Wilder finally made his real move. The giant Swamp General slowly raised its hand, its five fingers spread open. Its gaze fell on a cluster of fifteen biscuits, and then…
"Boom!" The giant palm suddenly slammed down. The air pressure and airflow from its descent alone were immense.
Cracker's face was grim. The fifteen Biscuit Generals all looked up, raised their longswords, and slashed upwards with all their might.
"!"
The heavy swamp palm pressed down into the ground to a depth of three meters without any resistance. The fifteen Biscuit Generals were utterly powerless, completely turned into biscuits, as if their final attack was just a joke, unable to even cause a single ripple.
Oh, no, at least fifteen scratches appeared on the palm of the heavy swamp hand for an instant, and then it returned to its original state.