The battle between the two erupted once more. This time, the Snow Woman managed to gain a slight upper hand, but she herself was far from unscathed. When the two forces clashed, Gott was blasted backward, tumoring hundreds of meters across the air. His clothes were torn to shreds, and he spat a mouthful of blood.
The Snow Woman's once-lustrous white hair now seemed to lose its glow. Blood poured from her mouth as well, and her spirit itself seemed shaken.
"Hahaha! Snow Woman, you've really lost it! To pay such a steep price… do you really intend to die with me? You even forced yourself to endure my ability's attack. But today—your life ends here!"
Gott steadied his form, though his eyes glinted coldly. He had noticed the abnormal state of the Snow Woman and the strange surge of power behind her last attack. It was far beyond what she should have been capable of—even at her peak. He could already guess she had paid an enormous cost to unleash it.
A savage grin spread across Gott's face. Today, at last, he would have his wish. This old foe who had clung to him for decades would finally fall at his hands.
The Snow Woman said nothing. She knew Gott had already seen through her condition—and indeed, he was right. Her body had paid dearly to unleash that devastating strike.
Floating in the air, she turned her gaze back toward the island… as if looking once more toward a certain direction, a certain memory. Her body trembled violently, then dissolved into countless flakes of snow. In the next instant, those flakes turned blood-red. Her figure slowly faded away.
From the sky above, crimson snow began to fall. This time, there was no strange phenomenon, no ethereal beauty. Only a storm of blood-red snowflakes, piercing the air with the shriek of arrows, all streaking toward Gott with deadly intent.
The moment her body shifted into that blood-stained snow, Gott's instincts screamed. He slashed at the void with his giant scissors, trying to cut down the attack. But this time, his ability grasped at nothing—his strike found no purchase.
His face hardened. So this is her final strike…
The crimson snowflakes screamed toward him like guided arrows. Panic flashing in his eyes, Gott turned and sprinted at full speed toward his ships, pushing himself faster and faster.
But the blood snow pursued him relentlessly, as if it had eyes of its own.
As he neared the ships, the deadly storm closed in. Desperation twisted his expression into something feral. His eyes swept over his panicked subordinates scrambling on the decks.
Then he roared:
"All of you—block it for me!"
His words struck his crew like a command etched into their very souls. The panic vanished from their faces. Every single one turned, abandoning flight, and hurled themselves at the incoming storm without hesitation.
They threw their bodies into the snowstorm, letting crimson flakes pierce their flesh and spill their blood. Yet their eyes were empty, their faces bearing eerie, almost satisfied smiles.
Their sacrifice dulled the storm. The number of snowflakes dwindled until only a few dozen remained. Even so, those survivors cut through their corpses and pressed on toward Gott.
He halted, watching his dead men with cold indifference. As the final snowflakes closed in, a glint of triumph flashed in his eyes. His life was safe. The Snow Woman's end was at hand.
Snarling, Gott cloaked his arm in Armament Haki and swung against the oncoming crimson snow.
The instant they clashed, terror flickered in his eyes. He had miscalculated. Even a mere handful of those snowflakes carried an overwhelming power.
A deafening explosion ripped across the island.
When the smoke and dust cleared, Gott's figure emerged. He looked utterly wretched. His boulder-like muscles were etched with deep bloody gashes. His right arm was gone, torn off at the shoulder. His face was pale as death, and he collapsed to his knees upon the deck.
Meanwhile, the Snow Woman plummeted from the sky. Her body was riddled with cracks, as if she were about to shatter at any moment. Her aged face looked even more withered, drained of all life. She fell helplessly toward the sea below.
Seeing her broken state, Gott suddenly seemed to revive. A mad grin split his face, and he roared in hysterical triumph:
"You old hag—you're finally dead! How dare you stand in my way! Who are you to stop me?! Those worms—so what if they die? That's their fate! You risked your life to protect them? Then I'll slaughter them all! Hahaha! You're gone now—gone! Nothing can stop me from escaping! Hahaha!"
But just as Gott's laughter echoed across the sea, a shadow streaked through the air. In an instant, the Snow Woman's fading body vanished.
His laughter froze. Gott's face turned from wild triumph to stunned disbelief, then to blazing rage.
"Who?! Who was that?! Which bastard dares—?! Come out! Come out and face me! I'll make you suffer a fate worse than death!"
His furious roar reverberated over the sea, refusing to fade.
The figure who had snatched the Snow Woman away was none other than Buggy. He and his companions had already carried her into the so-called Forbidden Snow Mountain.
Buggy hadn't rescued her out of pity, nor out of some heroic desire to slay a villain. He suspected there was far more to this situation than met the eye. From the heated exchange between Gott and the Snow Woman, it was clear they both knew secrets about escaping the island.
And from their words, the Snow Woman seemed to be the one on the side of justice. She might hold the answers they needed—and with her body on the brink of collapse, she could hardly resist telling them everything she knew.
Gott, on the other hand, still had fight left in him. If he were truly wicked, he could easily mislead them with lies.
So Buggy had made his choice. Rescue the Snow Woman—because if she died, much of the truth might die with her.