Although Blackbeard, Bullet, and the others were ready to make their move, it was Crocodile who acted first.
As someone who had fought Caelan before and survived, he still doubted whether Caelan was truly powerful enough to surpass the Yonko.
He had fought him evenly just a few months ago, so how could Caelan have become someone far beyond his reach in such a short time?
When they clashed back then, Caelan was clearly below the level of the Yonko. How could his strength have risen so drastically in just a few months?
Crocodile had not been idle during his imprisonment in Impel Down. Ever since his defeat at Caelan's hands, after pushing his fruit ability to the extreme, he had been training his Haki and had made some progress.
He truly wanted to see whether the gap between them had really become so enormous in such a short span of time.
Confused but determined, Crocodile unleashed his ultimate move.
Crocodile roared, and his body turned into a great mass of yellow sand.
In this battlefield of yellow sand, it could at least be considered half his home ground.
The sand, carrying the essence of death, rose into the air and completely covered the sky.
A massive sandstorm formed instantly and swept toward Caelan.
The raging sand blocked sight, and the cutting wind sliced through everything. It was a force of nature itself.
The sandstorm devoured moisture and life along its path. Any criminals caught in its wake were instantly drained into husks, shredded into pieces by the wind blades, and then swept into the storm.
Crocodile hid within the storm, his body shifting constantly with the sand to confuse Caelan and prevent him from finding his true body.
"Haha, the same old tricks are already outdated."
Caelan looked at the massive sandstorm before him and felt a hint of nostalgia.
It was this very move that had once overwhelmed him a few months ago, leaving him dazzled and unsure of Crocodile's location.
At that time, his Observation and Armament Haki were only at C-rank, and he had been forced to use Nine Lives: Shooting the Hundred Heads to defeat Crocodile.
But now, with all three forms of Haki at their peak, Crocodile's attack was full of flaws in his eyes.
Caelan calmly opened his Observation Haki.
Under his future-sight Haki, every grain of sand that made up Crocodile's body stood out clearly.
Not only could he see Crocodile's current location, but also the exact place he would move to next.
"Clang."
Caelan drew his sword, Shusui, and swung it casually.
In an instant, a streak of silver light tore through the air and slashed toward the storm.
The strike was so sharp that it split the air itself in two.
Wherever it passed, the wind ceased, the sand froze, and only a blinding streak of white continued forward.
"What terrifying swordsmanship… has he really become that much stronger!?"
Crocodile felt a chill run down his spine inside the sandstorm. A deadly sense of crisis washed over him.
In his perception, the power behind this slash was on par with Shooting the Hundred Heads from months ago.
But its force was far more concentrated. This sword carried even greater destructive might than a single attack from Shooting the Hundred Heads.
There was no way he could block it.
Panicking, Crocodile shifted his form repeatedly within the sandstorm, up and down, left and right, without even knowing where he would be next.
Then—
Crocodile collided with a thin thread.
In an instant, most of the sand he had transformed into was annihilated, and his consciousness faded away.
Thud.
A half-destroyed body fell to the ground.
Crocodile, dead.
"Heroic Spirit, Transformation."
Caelan murmured softly.
While Crocodile's body was still warm, he began the transformation into a Heroic Spirit.
Although Crocodile was weak compared to others, he was still among the top 100 fighters in the pirate world and worth converting.
Within moments, Crocodile, who had just died, was reborn.
Before he could even realize what had happened, Caelan sent him to Valhalla in the sky with a single thought.
Under the binding of the Command Seal, Crocodile had no power to resist.
It all happened in an instant.
In the eyes of Blackbeard and the others, Crocodile had been cut down with a single sword. Part of his body fell to the ground, and then his corpse vanished.
That terrifying power. That unmatched swordsmanship.
There was no doubt about it. Based on these two feats alone, Caelan was already qualified to stand among the Yonko.
And that was without considering all his other abilities.
For a moment, Blackbeard and his group felt tremendous pressure, their hearts sinking like stones.
"Let's go together. This isn't the time for pride."
Blackbeard said in a deep voice.
Seeing Caelan's overwhelming power, he knew that their previous loose alliance was useless. Only by fighting in unison could they hope to survive.
Hearing this, Bullet, Byrnndi World, and the others nodded slightly. Even Redfield, proud as ever, did not object.
They exchanged looks, and the next moment, they launched their assault together.
"Dark Vortex!"
Blackbeard pressed his hands to the ground, and thick darkness spread instantly.
Wherever the darkness reached, an enormous gravitational force followed, dragging everything toward it.
The darkness surged toward Caelan.
"Flame Giant Fist!"
Byrnndi World threw a punch.
His fist was covered in pitch-black Armament Haki, and the shockwave from his strike tore through the air as it charged at Caelan.
When his speed peaked, he activated his Moa Moa Fruit ability.
A hundredfold speed.
A hundredfold mass.
Speed is power, and mass is power.
When both increased a hundredfold, the result was a force beyond mortal comprehension. This was the reason he was called the World Destroyer.
The punch let out a deafening roar, shaking the air like thunder, threatening to rupture eardrums.
The friction from his fist ignited the air, producing a blinding flame.
He also magnified that flame a hundred times over.
The resulting fire burned as fiercely as the Flame-Flame Fruit.
Then, a massive flaming fist, the size of a hill, hurtled toward Caelan.
"Ultimate Cannon!"
Bullet activated his Clank-Clank Fruit power, endlessly merging with the surrounding sand.
The sand broke down, reformed, and fused into his body.
Bullet's body swelled rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he exceeded three hundred meters, and he was still growing.
His left arm was massive, almost as large as the rest of his body combined.
He raised that colossal arm, Armament Haki coating it entirely, and brought it down with overwhelming force on Caelan's position.
The massive fist scorched the air red from friction and heat.
The "Ultimate Cannon" was no mere attack—it was like a meteor crashing to earth.
True to his title, "Devil's Heir," Bullet now resembled an enraged demon, horrifying in both form and presence.
"Fist of Destruction!"
Redfield drew in a deep breath, forcing his aged body to move at its limit.
Unlike the others, he had no flashy fruit ability, relying only on his honed strength.
He had once stood shoulder to shoulder with Roger and Whitebeard in his youth. Even if he was slightly inferior, it was not by much.
Redfield vanished from sight, appearing in front of Caelan in an instant.
His fist drew back like a fully drawn bow, filled with all his strength.
This punch could overturn the sea itself.
In the blink of an eye, Caelan faced a situation that seemed inescapable.
With Blackbeard's gravitational pull and the other three attacking from all sides, even the Yonko would have suffered under such an assault.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)