As the clash of sea and land reached a white-hot, world-shattering pitch, Kaido and Kozuki Oden's attacks ripped through the chaotic air like twin bolts of lightning, striking with deadly precision.
Two top warriors who had once been each other's enemies abandoned all grudges, focused every ounce of their will on Rosse, and, in tacit agreement, unleashed a long-brewing offensive.
"Oden, Two-Sword Style · Peach Garden Ten Punches!"
Kozuki Oden roared, his arm muscles bulging. The Enma and Ame no Habakiri in his hands were like two black banners, their blades tearing at space as they crossed to slash at Rosse. Where the blades passed, the air left faintly warped traces.
"Roaring Thunder Bagua!"
Kaido likewise showed no weakness. Thunder roared about his body like a demon risen from hell. He swung his wolf-tooth club Eight Trigrams, wrapped in thunderfire, and brought it down toward Rosse with crushing force. This strike seemed intent on smashing the entire world to pieces.
Controlling awakened Devil Fruit power and fighting on the scale that Golden Lion and Whitebeard had created demanded absolute concentration. No slack could be afforded.
And what they needed to seize was precisely the prime opportunity forged by Golden Lion and Whitebeard's joint assault.
"Good coordination, but still not enough."
Facing this combined attack that could easily crush S-rank fighters, Rosse felt not the slightest urgency; instead he even offered a remark tinged with mock praise.
His tone was flat, as if the two world-shaking warriors before him were nothing but negligible challengers.
Just as Kaido and Oden's strikes were about to land, Rosse slowly raised the Sea God Trident in his hand.
A great black-and-red dragon, saturated with an aura of destruction, came to life and coiled around the shaft of the trident, letting out a soul-shaking roar.
He chose a head-on collision.
This strike condensed all his understanding of Armament and Conqueror's Haki, not to the level of Joy Boy or Imu, but still a terrifying power surpassing S-rank.
No flashy techniques, no intricate schemes, only power in its purest extreme.
Use the fruit to suppress Golden Lion and Whitebeard's wide-area assault. Use Haki and close combat to crush Kozuki Oden and Kaido's sudden strike.
No detours, no dodging, and no observation haki prediction.
Rosse, trident in hand, strode straight into them.
On a battlefield of this level, all the flashy evasions looked pale and futile.
If both sides refused to trade blows, stamina would be near endless, and relying on dodging would never lead to a decisive victor.
The true top warriors of the pirate world, without exception, were monsters with high offense, thick endurance, and great defense.
Those with high attack but low endurance were merely pseudo-strong.
After all, no matter how strong an attack is, it still can't surpass an opponent who occupies a higher tier.
To win battles of this level, the only path was to exhaust the enemy's stamina completely, break them so badly they can no longer move, and only then can final victory be claimed.
BOOM!
Kaido's kanabo and Oden's twin blades finally collided with Rosse's Sea God Trident, wrapped in the blood-red dragon, producing an epic impact in midair.
In an instant, heaven and earth dimmed, and space itself warped.
Terrifying energy erupted like a volcanic blast, pouring madly in all directions.
Under that savage force, even space emitted groans of being unable to bear it.
Kaido and Kozuki Oden's bodies were struck as if by a high-speed train; they were blown backward in an instant.
They flew like two blasted cannonballs, carving long arcs through the air, and it took dozens of meters before they barely stabilized their forms.
Rosse, by contrast, drifted back only about two meters and then hovered steadily in the air, like an unshakable mountain.
This scene struck deep into Kaido and Kozuki Oden's hearts.
"How is this possible?", Kozuki Oden's face went iron-gray, disbelief and shock written all over him.
The two had given their all, and with Golden Lion and Whitebeard fully occupying Rosse, they still could do nothing to him.
They knew Rosse was strong. But never had they imagined he was this strong.
Not only resisting the terrifying offensives of Golden Lion and Whitebeard at the same time, but completely suppressing them in close combat as well.
This exceeded the realm of "strong" and reached something close to monstrous.
The word "monster" had been used by others before to describe them. This was the first time they truly realized what crushing despair felt like when weaker people faced them.
Keep in mind: with a similar four-person lineup in previous times, with comparable numbers and strength, they hadn't even used full power and could kill a Five Elders' member in minutes.
Now, with an even stronger, better-configured lineup and everyone at full strength, they were only able to stalemate Rosse?
This was simply inconceivable.
A deep sense of helplessness, like a lingering shadow, wrapped over Kozuki Oden's heart.
If this battle cost the Flower Capital and still ended in defeat, what would that make him?
A real clown?
"KOZUKI ODEN!!"
Kaido let out a roar of bitter fury. The Eight Trigrams, wrapped in feral thunderfire, smashed like a meteor toward Oden.
At the very moment he shouted, Rosse's figure flickered like a phantom and instantly appeared before Kozuki Oden.
Rosse, fully unleashed, exuded a suffocating oppression. The Sea God Trident in his hand, carrying the momentum to cleave heaven and earth, thrust straight toward Oden's heart.
And before him, the man who should have been resisting desperately, Kozuki Oden, froze.
'Damn it!'
In a battle of this level, how could Oden be so foolish as to falter?
Given the exaggerated strength Rosse displayed, a mere second's hesitation could cost the four of them a significant portion of their combined fighting capability.
Such a loss could very well lead directly to their destruction.
Realizing the fatal mistake he had made, Oden finally snapped out of his daze. His face went deathly pale, cold sweat soaking his back.
He scrambled to raise his swords to counterattack, to make up for his error.
His speed wasn't slow, but Rosse was faster.
"Kozuki Oden, hesitation and doubt are a strong man's greatest enemies," Rosse's indifferent voice whispered in Oden's ear like a death knell. The sound was cold and calm, as if pronouncing his sentence.
At the same time, the sound of blood spraying, like tearing cloth, pierced everyone's eardrums.
With a single strike, Rosse's Sea God Trident, like a knife through tofu, easily pierced Kozuki Oden's abdomen.
The overwhelming force instantly shattered all his defensive posture, leaving him utterly unable to resist.
The sharp trident blade emerged from his back, blood boiling and streaming through. A piercing, bone-deep pain spread through his entire body, forcing a muffled groan from him.
To hesitate in battle with him, Kozuki Oden truly dared to do that.
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