As the Wood Dragon disintegrated, Robin, Nami, and the others watching from below grew slightly nervous.
Usopp and Chopper no longer dared to shout, holding their breath as they watched the battle.
Vivi looked up at the sky, praying for Luo Chen in her heart.
Now, all their hopes rested on Luo Chen.
Luffy and the others were clearly unable to defeat Crocodile and the Marines.
And Ace was entangled with four Marine Vice Admirals, unable to break free.
...
Luo Chen looked at the charging giant Sand Crocodile, a hint of mockery in his eyes.
Without saying anything, a wooden shield condensed in the empty space before him.
Onigumo's eight longswords slashed down.
The Sand Crocodile also crashed into it, creating a thunderous boom.
The wooden shield shattered on impact, and the fragments then shot downward like a rain of arrows.
Onigumo swung his swords, knocking away some of the fragments, and shouted a reminder, "Be careful! He'll use the fragments as cover to teleport!"
Behind the Sand Crocodile, Crocodile's expression tightened slightly. He didn't dare to be careless.
Luo Chen smiled upon seeing this.
It seemed Onigumo hadn't figured out the conditions for activating the Flying Thunder God Technique yet. He wondered when the man would finally catch on.
Luo Chen's move was not intended to use the Flying Thunder God to kill the enemy, but to teleport to Vivi's side below and rescue her.
Only then could he attack without restraint.
Luo Chen had placed a Flying Thunder God mark on every fragment of the wooden shield.
Most were destroyed by Onigumo and Crocodile, but some still shot past the two of them, passing by Vivi's side.
With a thought, Luo Chen's figure instantly vanished.
Onigumo and Crocodile's bodies suddenly tensed.
But soon, the two realized something was wrong and turned to look at the floating sand platform below.
Luo Chen's figure flashed into existence. His hands coated in Armament Haki, he easily tore apart the sand ropes around Vivi's waist.
He bent down, picked up Vivi, and his figure flashed and vanished again.
When he reappeared, he was already over a hundred meters away, next to Nami and the others.
"Luo Chen! Vivi! Are you alright?"
Carina, Usopp, Chopper, and the others were overjoyed.
Although they hadn't defeated Crocodile and the Vice Admiral, rescuing Vivi was enough.
Now they could run for it.
Nami looked worriedly at Luo Chen. Seeing that he was unharmed, she was relieved.
Robin said softly, "What's the plan now? Are we running? In the desert, Crocodile's pursuit ability is very strong."
Luo Chen shook his head. "I had to rescue Vivi first so I could fight without holding back."
Hearing this, everyone was astonished.
They had thought that Luo Chen had rescued Vivi because he was out of options and was preparing to flee. They hadn't expected him to keep fighting.
Luo Chen didn't explain further. He casually created a small Wood Dragon and carried Nami, Robin, and the others into the sky.
Next, the range and power of his attacks would be immense.
Not far away, Zoro, who was watching the battle, felt that something was not right. He suggested, "It looks like Luo Chen is going to keep fighting. Shouldn't we move further away?"
Sanji and Luffy both shook their heads.
"Don't worry, Zoro! Let's watch Luo Chen's strength. We won't get a good view if we're too far away," Luffy said, slapping Zoro on the shoulder with a carefree attitude.
Seeing this, Zoro had no choice but to say no more.
He also felt that it probably wouldn't be a problem. They were hundreds of meters away; it was unlikely they would be caught in the crossfire.
What's more, they were different from non-combatants like Carina and Usopp. Even if they couldn't beat a strong enemy, they had no problem protecting themselves in a battle.
...
"Sage Art Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Luo Chen shouted inwardly, habitually clapping his hands together as the ground beneath his feet began to rumble and shake.
In mid-air, Crocodile frowned.
'Is Luo Chen going to summon trees again?'
The trembling of the desert was even more intense than when he had summoned the Sand Crocodile.
Onigumo's figure had already dived down, his voice filled with a cold, killing intent. "Don't give him time to prepare! Kill him!"
Crocodile had no choice but to stand on the head of the Sand Crocodile and charge down after him.
Just as the two were about to reach the ground, a touch of dark green appeared from the trembling yellow desert.
Then, the dark green color rapidly expanded, gradually revealing its true form from beneath the sand that spanned several hundred meters.
A towering, magnificent, giant Guanyin statue descended upon the world like an ancient giant god.
The statue was over six or seven hundred meters tall, completely obscuring the dazzling sun in the sky.
A boundless dark shadow was cast down.
A cool aura caressed the skin of Crocodile and Onigumo. They couldn't help but shiver.
Standing on the back of the Sand Crocodile, Crocodile's pupils trembled violently.
He felt so small.
It was as if he were facing a giant curtain wall that reached the dome of the sky.
Of the thousand arms behind the statue's head, a single one could easily crush the Sand Crocodile he had summoned.
The single left eye of Onigumo was filled with disbelief.
'Luo Chen's fruit ability has been developed to this extent?'
No Marine at the Vice Admiral level could possibly condense such a huge and detailed summon. The lifelike face of the Guanyin statue and the intricately carved thousand arms represented Luo Chen's ultimate condensation and control over his own power.
This statue perfectly condensed Luo Chen's strongest power. Its might was sure to be extremely terrifying.
Luo Chen stood hundreds of meters in the air, looking down on Onigumo and Crocodile.
A smile hung on his face.
"Summit Enlightenment."
He calmly uttered the two words.
The thousand arms behind the Guanyin statue slowly began to move.
The next moment, they rained down, covering the sky as they smashed down!
A thousand arms, clenched into a thousand fists.
Each fist was powerful enough to seriously injure an ordinary Marine Vice Admiral.
A thousand fists, all crashing down.
As long as it wasn't Garp or an Admiral Candidate, absolutely no Marine Vice Admiral could withstand it.
The upturned faces of Onigumo and Crocodile were slightly pale.
Both were battle-hardened powerhouses who were accustomed to life and death.
At this moment, a sense of despair still rose in their hearts.
A thousand giant Guanyin wooden fists covered the entire sky.
It was pitch black before their eyes, and the air was so compressed by the powerful winds from the fists that it was hard to breathe.
It was as if the entire dome of the sky was falling, crashing down on them.
Not far away, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji watched the suddenly darkened sky, and the vague, massive shadows of fists in the darkness. Their eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
Zoro swallowed and asked, "Are we... also kind of in the attack range?"
Luffy and Sanji nodded dumbly.
Absolutely. A thousand giant arms were crashing down at once. The area they covered was no different from an entire giant mountain peak smashing down on them.
Zoro's face turned slightly green, and he turned and ran.
He didn't want to die from the collateral damage of an ally's move before he became the world's greatest swordsman.
"Run, Luffy!" Sanji suddenly snapped out of it, his face deathly pale, and he frantically shook Luffy by the collar.
It was too late for him to run out on his own. He could only place his hope in Luffy.
Luffy looked at the thousand arms and said with a laugh, "It's fine, I'm a rubber-man..."
Sanji was so angry he used his fingers to pry Luffy's eyes open until they stretched across his entire face. "The fists have Armament Haki on them!"
Luffy took a closer look, and sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
After learning about Armament Haki, he finally understood why it had hurt so much when his grandpa had beaten him as a child. It must have been because of Armament Haki.
Although not all of Luo Chen's thousand arms were coated in armament, at least a tenth of them were.
If he got hit, he would die.
Luffy's face also turned pale. He quickly stretched his arms, grabbing two rocks a hundred meters away. His body shot out like a slingshot.
Sanji clung to him tightly.
Zoro, who had run some distance, was sent flying by the two of them. Amidst angry curses, they flew off into the distance together.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]