The tide of the battle had completely turned.
Seeing their captain take down Smoker single-handedly sent Buggy's crew into a frenzy, their fighting power instantly leveling up.
The Marines, however, saw their Captain defeated so easily and their morale just plummeted.
Even though they still outnumbered the pirates, they were now being pushed back.
A few seconds later, the fight was basically over anyway.
Buggy activated his Chop-Chop ability again.
The island terrain shifted, forming a giant square pit around all the Marines.
Hovering menacingly above the pit was a massive square chunk of land, perfectly sized to fit inside.
If Buggy lowered it, none of the 500 Marines would survive.
…
Ray glanced around at the different battlefields, saw that victory was certain, and then focused entirely on recovering his Demonic Power to heal his wrecked body.
Luffy and Zoro's fight? Over.
Buggy had jumped in, and now all the Marines, including Smoker and Tashigi, were trapped in Buggy's pit.
Staring up at the floating chunk of death, Tashigi felt completely hopeless.
'How did it come to this? A thousand Marines, three prodigy Captains, an Admiral Candidate... utterly defeated. Damn pirates!'
…
Sanji and Gin's fight? Prince Gruss had the upper hand at first, but seeing the Marines lose everywhere else made him impatient and sloppy.
Gin was now able to hold back all the clay soldiers, leaving Sanji to fight Gruss one-on-one.
Even though Sanji was using his best kicks, he was still getting pummeled and coughing up a lot of blood.
…
Nami, Usopp, and Alvida's fight? Cabaji was already knocked out, lying face-down with stars circling his head (apparently getting captured by Hina twice was too much for him).
Hina was extremely irritated.
Smoker was defeated, and Usopp kept throwing disgusting things at her, staining her nice red outfit.
Seeing Hina losing her cool, Nami smirked.
'Her openings are increasing.'
She told Alvida to charge in recklessly.
Alvida was confused – she knew she couldn't beat Hina head-on.
But Nami just gave her a thumbs-up.
"You're the most beautiful woman, Alvida! Of course you're incredibly strong! I believe in you!"
Hearing that, Alvida's confidence soared.
'That's right! I am the most beautiful and the strongest!' She lifted her giant club and charged.
Hina, done playing games, roared and unleashed her full power.
Her hands transformed into two fifty-meter-long iron bars, intending to trap all three of them at once.
'Even if Alvida slips out, I'll just use Haki again.'
(She hadn't done this earlier because Usopp was too far away, outside her 50-meter range.)
But now, Nami, Usopp, and Alvida were all perfectly positioned.
Hina smiled confidently. "You three are done for."
But was that really the case?
Nami just grinned slyly and aimed her Clima-Tact at Hina.
"No, you're the one who's done for. Forecast: Thunder!"
As Nami activated her weapon, electric currents surged through the air.
Hina's eyes widened in horror.
'Oh crap! I'm a giant lightning rod!'
She tried to retract her ability, but it was too late.
All the lightning zipped straight down her iron bars and zapped her entire body.
Hina turned black, her eyes rolled back, her hair frizzed out, black smoke billowed from her mouth, and she collapsed.
…
Up on the cliff, Ray, while healing, had been keeping an eye on his crew.
'Nami's clever,' he thought. 'She really took my advice to heart. She didn't try anything flashy like creating a giant storm cloud. Instead, she used Usopp's disgusting projectiles as cover while she sneakily set up small thunderclouds all around the battlefield. Then she lured Hina right into the trap.'
The lightning strike was perfectly executed.
Of course, some stray sparks had also hit Alvida, the unfortunate bait...
…
Nami was now "sincerely" apologizing to the blackened, smoking Alvida.
At their feet lay Hina, tied up in some kind of intricate knot, still spitting out black smoke.
Alvida was furious and wanted to kill Nami, but since Nami was Ray's crewmate, she didn't dare.
Nami, seeing her apologies weren't working, awkwardly looked away towards another fight.
…
Chouchou and the Mad Dog Pirates' dogs were doing great.
At Chouchou's feet lay the two Zoan users, knocked out cold.
The other Marines had all been blasted unconscious by Chouchou's explosive spear swings and were now being tied up by the Mad Dog Pirates.
The pirates were stunned.
All they'd done was get in the way; Chouchou had done all the actual fighting, effortlessly taking down two Devil Fruit users.
They had basically won without lifting a finger.
After this, the Mad Dog Pirates decided Chouchou was their new god.
The 200 fierce dogs looked at him with pure adoration, especially the female ones.
…
Ray hadn't been worried about Chouchou.
The dog demon's aura suppressed the Zoan users' powers, and his AOE attacks easily handled the Marines.
…
Now, only Sanji and Gin were still struggling against Prince Gruss.
Seeing Sanji get punched and spit blood again, Zoro yelled, "Useless cook!" and rushed over to help.
Ray and Buggy weren't worried.
With Zoro joining in, that fight would be over soon.
The Marines were completely defeated.
But even though things looked good, Ray felt like something was off.
After about ten minutes, he'd recovered enough Demonic Power to heal about 30% of his injuries and could use Haki again.
His gaze was now fixed intently on the distant sea.
Using his enhanced senses, he realized Gion had vanished.