As the words "Demon Transformation!" left Ray's lips, his entire body erupted in a blinding column of blue-white demonic energy.
His eyes flashed pure, blood-red.
His features sharpened, his teeth elongating into vicious fangs as his body exploded in size.
A moment later, where the man had stood, a slender, massive white dog demon now loomed.
This beast was easily 70 meters tall at the shoulder, its body a full 130 meters long, not counting the three enormous, fluffy tails that swayed behind it.
Ray's familiar crescent moon mark glowed on its forehead, radiating a terrifying demonic pressure that pushed down on the very earth.
It made Tokikake's 100-meter earth giant look... small.
The Earth Giant stared at Ray as an uncontrollable, primal dread welling up inside him.
'What... what is this pressure?! Is this a Zoan-type Devil Fruit?!'
He'd only ever seen one person transform into something this massive, this monstrous: the Yonko, Kaido.
"Ray, you bastard..." Tokikake growled, his own confidence wavering, "you really won't stop until you win, will you?"
Unfortunately, the transformed Ray was far beyond listening to taunts.
With a ground-shaking snarl, the beast ignored him and just charged.
"So unreasonable!" Tokikake roared, swinging both his giant, Haki-coated earthen fists down in a crushing blow.
The moment they collided with the charging dog demon, Tokikake felt an enormous, unstoppable force blast up his arms, sending his entire 100-meter-tall giant form stumbling backward.
'What terrifying power!'
"Roar!"
Ray wasn't listening.
He was no longer "Ray."
He was a pure, instinctual force.
He attacked again, swiping with his massive claws.
The sharp, Haki-and-Demonic-Power-infused talons didn't just hit Tokikake's arms—they shattered the hardened, Haki-infused earth, sending black rock flying like shrapnel.
Inside the giant's chest, Tokikake broke out in a cold sweat.
'How did this damn dog's attack power increase so much?!'
As he thought it, the dog demon's blood-red eyes swiveled and locked directly onto his position, deep inside the giant's chest.
'Shit, he can hear me! He can sense me in here!'
Ray was fully berserk.
His massive claws became a blur, frantically tearing the earth giant to pieces.
Tokikake desperately used his awakened ability, pulling more rock and soil from the ground to repair the damage, but he couldn't keep up.
The destruction was too fast.
For every chunk he repaired, the beast tore off three more.
'Tch~ If this keeps up, I'll lose! What is this ability?!'
Panicked, Tokikake knew he only had one option.
He pulled his remaining arm back, pouring all his power into one last, desperate move.
"Virtue of All Things, Earth Mother Impact!"
His terrifying, Haki-infused fist collided with Ray's slashing claws.
The resulting explosion was deafening.
This time, the giant dog Ray was sent flying a full kilometer away, crashing into the desert.
His right foreleg looked mangled, clearly fractured.
But then... it just... healed.
The demonic energy pulsed, flesh and bone knitting back together instantly.
Before Tokikake could even process the regenerative speed, the beast was on its feet and charging right back at him.
"What the hell kind of monster is this?!" Tokikake yelled, his voice cracking with genuine fear.
"Ray! That's enough! Let's stop fighting!"
…
The Straw Hats and Cobra's group, who had scrambled another four kilometers away, just stood there, their minds completely blown.
"Is... is that giant dog really Ray?" Usopp stammered, his legs knocking together.
"No wonder Chouchou said he was a yokai," Nami whispered, her hand over her mouth. "That size... my god..."
Sanji and Zoro were mentally shattered.
The Ray they were seeing now was ferocious, primal, and way, way more powerful than Chouchou's demon form.
Their internal benchmark for "strong" had just been obliterated.
'If we make Ray this angry in the future... will he just... swallow us whole?'
Chopper who was hiding behind Zoro kneels down, his legs completely giving out.
The sheer, predatory pressure coming from Ray was too much for his animal senses.
(Chouchou, he now realized, usually held back his own aura around him.)
Cobra and Koza just kept swallowing, their throats dry.
In all their lives, they had never seen such a terrifying... dog.
It was tearing a 100-meter-tall earth giant to shreds.
Unlike the others, Nami and Vivi's eyes were wide and sparkling, their bodies doing that wavy-line thing Sanji does when he sees a beautiful woman.
"Big... white... dog..." Nami breathed, her cheeks flushed. "I really want to pet it."
"I can't even imagine how comfortable it would be to lie on," Vivi added, in a total daze.
(Cobra just gave his daughter a very, very strange look.)
As for Crocodile... his spirit was utterly broken.
He'd fought with all his might, awakened his Devil Fruit, and hadn't even forced Ray to use this trump card.
He felt like a complete and utter clown.
…
Ray's current state was, in fact, pretty bad.
After demonizing, it was hard for him to stay rational.
The bloodlust was overwhelming, a primal, all-consuming impulse to just tear Tokikake apart.
'No wonder the system warned me. If this drags on, I'll lose control.'
His beast-like fighting style was powerful, but it was all instinct.
Sloppy.
If he were facing an enemy who could match his raw power, he'd be full of openings.
But he couldn't hold back.
He was determined to rip this Vice Admiral to pieces.
Instinct was taking over.
Tokikake was in an even worse state.
His real body, hidden deep within the crumbling giant, had already coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.
'Damn it, if this continues, he's really going to kill me! He's getting more and more bestial... I can't talk to him anymore. I never expected venting my frustration would lead to this. I've only got one move left.'
"Earth Secret Art: Wrath of the Earth!"
With a furious roar, all the sand, soil, and rock within a 2.5-kilometer radius rose up.
It was an avalanche in reverse, converging on Ray from all sides, forming a massive, 200-meter-high mountain, instantly trapping the giant dog demon.
Tokikake poured all his remaining power into it, continuously compressing the mountain, trying to crush the beast inside.
Trapped within, Ray roared in fury, struggling against the immense pressure.
'If he doesn't keep compressing this, I can break out in seconds!'
'Damn it!' Tokikake cursed, his mind racing. 'How do I get out of this safely?!'
Ray, meanwhile, was fighting a different battle—the battle for his own sanity.
'Sesshomaru's demonic power... it's too terrifying...'
Suddenly, his Observation Haki, amplified by the feral state, kicked in, and he foresaw what would happen next:
The giant dog demon would burst free, its eyes pure red.
It would tear Tokikake to shreds.
And then, relying on its blood-soaked senses, it would hunt down the crew.
He saw himself... devouring them.
This horrifying vision jolted Ray back.
He couldn't accept that.
His latent potential, his human potential, erupted.
He roared, not in rage, but in defiance, forcing the overwhelming demonic power to retract, forcing the transformation to cancel.
"Azure Dragon Break!"
He condensed all his remaining power into a single, person-sized, piercing dragon of pure blue energy and blasted his way out of the collapsing mountain.
Seeing Ray return to his human form, his eyes clear but exhausted, Tokikake understood.
He deactivated his own ability.
The earth giant crumbled, revealing his own weakened, human form.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and stared at Ray, panting.
"If we continue fighting," Tokikake panted, "the outcome will definitely be bad. Do you still want to go on?"
Ray just snorted coldly, turned, and started to walk away.
"Do whatever you want with Crocodile."
"Haha," Tokikake chuckled weakly, "you really do care about your comrades, don't you?"
He knew Ray had actually lost control, forcing himself to power down.
With that, Tokikake activated his ability, submerged into the ground, and reappeared instantly beside Zoro, Nami, and the others.
They all jumped into fighting stances, terrified that Ray had lost.
But Tokikake ignored them.
He just smiled at Cobra. "Let's return to the royal palace. I'll help you prove Crocodile's crimes. Then I'll head back to HQ to report. Hahahaha."
He wrapped the 'still-unconscious' Crocodile in sand and started walking with the royal group, acting as if the Straw Hat Pirates didn't even exist.
------------
Quick question, does sesshomaru also goes berserk when he transform ?