Ron looked down at Rayleigh's figure. Rayleigh stood on the broken wall, calm in posture and steady in tone. His words contained no aggression or insult, yet it was precisely that "I'm reasoning with you" attitude that made Ron feel like laughing.
Whether your target is me or not, does that matter?
If your target is not me, does that mean I cannot attack? Does it mean I can only let you do whatever you want?
You were the ones who taught me that whether pirates talk reason depends on their mood.
As for Ron's current mood, it had originally been quite good. But after the Roger Pirates came over to disrupt things, he was unhappy.
Extremely unhappy.
"Oh. Then do as you please."
Ron's tone was calm, but his movements were not honest at all.
The Nine-Tailed Fox's body trembled slightly. Many chakra arms extended from both sides at once, each pair beginning to condense a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Dark red light shone in the palms.
A full ten of them.
Rayleigh's expression instantly darkened. His gaze swept across the ten forming Tailed Beast Bombs, then returned to Ron's enormous golden fox eyes.
"You... what is the meaning of this?"
"No obligation to inform you."
Boom!
At that moment, Roger descended from the sky. The long blade in his hand carried Haki and anger like a bolt of black lightning as it hacked fiercely toward Ochoku.
Already heavily wounded, Ochoku could no longer dodge. He could only grit his teeth and use the last bit of his strength to raise his arms, using Haki to block.
Boom!
A huge sound exploded through the ruins.
Under Roger's powerful impact, Ochoku's knees bent sharply, and he was forced to kneel on the ground.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, splattering it across the charred earth.
"Misunderstanding..."
"Roger, this must be a misunderstanding..." Ochoku's voice was hoarse and urgent, mixed with blood and therefore muffled.
Roger's face was dark as he looked down at him from above, anger in his voice. "Bastard. You're the one who kidnapped Annika. You're the one who made me do something stupid."
"No. Pfft!"
Ochoku tried desperately to deny it, but spat another mouthful of blood. His body trembled under the pressure of Roger's blade, and the bones in his arms made cracking sounds under the strain.
"I was forced!" Ochoku shouted hoarsely, his eyes frantically darting toward Ron. "If I didn't admit it, that bastard Ron was going to kill me!"
"Don't try to deceive me again!" Roger's voice rose abruptly. "You bastard, I will never believe you again!"
As the words fell, his wrist pressed downward, and his power rapidly increased.
Boom!
Under the enormous pressure, Ochoku's body began to bend at a strange and twisted angle.
Blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, his nostrils, and his ears, dripping onto the ground and forming a small dark-red puddle.
"Bastard," Ochoku roared hoarsely, his voice filled with final struggle and unwillingness.
Buzz!
Suddenly, a fierce shockwave wrapped in a storm came roaring from not far away.
Roger froze slightly, immediately withdrew his blade, and flashed backward, avoiding the edge of the shockwave. Then he flipped in midair, spun, landed, and raised his head toward the direction the attack had come from.
Not far away, Whitebeard was striding forward. Murakumogiri dragged behind him, its blade carving a long groove in the ground.
Behind him, Kaido carried his kanabo and followed closely, covering three steps in two.
"Bastard, Roger!"
Whitebeard cursed. He suddenly leapt high into the air, twisted his waist, poured both Conqueror's Haki and the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit into his naginata. Black Haki markings wrapped around the blade, while a white sphere of energy formed at the tip. Then he brought it down fiercely.
"Newgate..." Roger murmured. Without hesitation, he gripped his sword with both hands, wrapped it in Haki, and swung upward from below.
Bang!
Blade and blade collided again.
A dull boom rang out, and the aftershock spread swiftly in all directions. The surface of the earth was peeled up layer after layer, with stones and dust rolling outward like waves.
Whitebeard pressed down from above with his blade, his expression grave. "Bastard. Look at what you've done."
"Newgate, listen to me. There is a misunderstanding here," Roger said through gritted teeth as he resisted Whitebeard's pressure.
"Misunderstanding my ass!" Whitebeard gave him no face at all. "I already said it. If you attack Ron, no matter what, I won't sit by and watch!"
"Ron?" Roger froze, then hurriedly explained, "No! There was a misunderstanding between me and him, and that bastard Ochoku caused it! I'm settling things with him now!"
Whitebeard did not answer right away. He had only one thought in his mind: do I look like an idiot?
At the same time, Kaido gripped his kanabo and leapt fiercely into the air. He was not aiming at Whitebeard and Roger, but charging toward Rayleigh.
"You bullying bastards, take this!"
Kaido's voice still echoed in the air as his kanabo came crashing down with a shrill wind.
However, Rayleigh merely raised one hand. His Haki-covered palm caught the kanabo cleanly.
A circle of dust exploded beneath his feet from the impact, but his body did not move at all.
"Little brat from the Rocks Pirates, calm down," Rayleigh said.
Kaido's face flushed red. Both hands gripped the handle as he desperately pressed down, but Rayleigh was like an ancient tree rooted in the earth. No matter how hard Kaido pushed, he could not move him even a little.
At that moment, another chakra arm extended from the right side of the Nine-Tailed Fox and grabbed Kaido, who was still suspended in the air.
"Ron? Did you grab the wrong one? Why are you grabbing me?" Kaido turned his head and immediately cursed at Ron. What kind of eyesight was that? How could he mistake such a huge person?
"Shut up."
The next second, Nine-Tails chakra flowed into Kaido's body through that chakra arm.
Kaido's body trembled. A light red chakra cloak quickly covered his body, emitting a warm glow.
In that instant, Kaido clearly felt his strength rising rapidly.
It was hard to describe the sensation. It was like a hand that could originally only lift a stone suddenly became capable of lifting a mountain.
The fingers gripping his kanabo trembled slightly. Not from fear, of course, but excitement.
The strength surging up was so fierce that it gave him the illusion that he could beat Rayleigh.
"Ron... your Devil Fruit is way too abnormal. It can even pass power to others?" Kaido looked back at Ron in shock.
"Hey, brat," Rayleigh's unhurried voice drifted over. "You're making me look stupid like this."
Rayleigh suddenly increased the force in his hand, and the kanabo Kaido had been pressing down began to push back inch by inch.
Kaido's expression stiffened. He cursed, "Bastard."
Then he turned back toward Ron and shouted, "Ron, lend me this big thing of yours to play with!"
"Idiot. What do you think I am? You think I can give you anything?"