Enduring the full-force, simultaneous attacks of three Emperor-level opponents—no one in this world could come out of that unscathed.
Even if their individual strength had only just reached the Emperor or Admiral level, the sheer destructive power of their Conqueror's Haki-infused ultimate skills was still among the world's absolute finest.
Nusjuro's heavy slash could cleave an island several kilometers in diameter with a single strike.
Saturn's Malevolent Eye specialized in invisible, armor-piercing attacks that could be fired consecutively.
Marcus's mythological bird flames were hot enough to melt solid steel.
As formidable as Ray was, taking these three attacks head-on resulted in severe, horrific injuries.
The clothing on his upper body was completely shredded into ash.
A massive, jagged slash wound—deep enough to reveal the bone—ran diagonally from his neck all the way down to his abdomen.
His sharply defined muscles were riddled with over a dozen bloody, cavernous holes pierced by Saturn's Conqueror's Haki-infused glare.
Yet, strangely, no blood flowed from his body.
It had all been scorched dry and cauterized by the black flames of Marcus's Itsumade.
Looking at him, there wasn't a single patch of unmarred flesh left on Ray's entire upper body.
This was undeniably the most severe injury Ray had suffered since his desperate, regenerating battle against Momousagi back in Loguetown.
But despite Ray's grisly appearance, the three remaining Elders were currently in a state of sheer, unadulterated panic.
Because of the black moon behind Ray.
Without a doubt, Ju Peter was now gone as well.
This was the terrifying, ruthless aspect of Ray's combat style—relying on his overpowering physique to forcibly endure lethal attacks, all to buy the split second needed to use Meidō Zangetsuha on an enemy who was already pinned down and struggling against his Wind Scar.
Of course, this was exactly why Ray had noted earlier that if all four of them attacked together with perfect coordination, they genuinely stood a chance of killing him.
His body simply couldn't withstand the full-power lethal techniques of the Five Elders indefinitely without taking damage.
To break their cautious deadlock, he had to definitively kill the enemy he had already wounded.
He could only endure the others' attacks while using the black moon to devour the pinned Elder.
As a result, Ray was now severely injured.
His Haki defenses couldn't fully mitigate the overlapping damage from three gods, especially Nusjuro's devastating slashes.
If he were to go through this exact exchange again, Ray might very well enter a near-death state.
Because the remaining Elders, who hadn't been caught in his attacks, absolutely wouldn't give him a single second to recover.
Concentrated focus was required when using Demonic Power to heal.
While in recovery mode, all of his Demonic Power had to be routed to mending his flesh and bone, making it impossible to simultaneously launch counterattacks or use spatial skills.
If the physical shifts during Ray's recovery were discovered, he would inevitably be swarmed and beaten to death by these three ruthless old men.
And his current body had no flowing blood to cover the closing wounds as camouflage.
Even with blood covering them, Ray knew these 800-year-old monsters would still detect his healing process.
Monster of their age possessed exceptionally sharp, almost paranormal perception.
You could argue their raw, brute power wasn't quite as overwhelming as Kaido's.
But when it came to reading the flow of battle and seizing brief opportunities, the Five Elders were undoubtedly superior—they had centuries of accumulated combat experience.
During his previous battle with Kaido, Ray had used his full demonized form, engaging in a brutal, animalistic close-quarters brawl that allowed him to seamlessly utilize his Demonic Power for bodily repair.
Against Momousagi, he had stood completely stationary to channel his power, forcibly out-regenerating her slashes.
But now? Surrounded by three Yonko-level opponents, the moment he started channeling energy to heal, relentless, fatal attacks would follow.
This was the inherent limitation of his super regeneration.
As a certain famous ninja from his past life once said: Every seemingly perfect jutsu has its weakness.
Moreover, to successfully banish the Five Elders, Ray had to immediately chain the Meidō Zangetsuha right after the Wind Scar.
Meaning, if he wanted to kill, he literally had zero time to heal.
In summary: All Ray could do was keep attacking.
He had to keep killing until these old men lost their nerve and started fleeing, before he himself was beaten to death.
With his formidable vitality, it was a brutal race to see how many rounds of attacks it would take to actually drop him.
...
Just as Ray gripped his sword, preparing to continue his bloody assault, dramatic changes occurred on Rayleigh's battlefield nearby.
After being completely suppressed and styled on by the Dark King for too long, Saint Killingham had grown incredibly impatient.
Knowing Rayleigh was deliberately stalling and wasting his time, Killingham intentionally let himself be sent flying by one of Rayleigh's Haki-infused kicks.
Taking advantage of the distance created by the knockback, he quickly drew a burning pentagram on the ground.
As the dark lightning dissipated, he summoned a father and son pair.
The elder man was the Commander of the God's Knights.
He had long hair and a distinctive beard that curved forward into a sharp crescent moon shape, perfectly complementing his facial structure.
His name was Saint Figarland Garling, a man who had shown remarkable, bloody prowess decades ago during the classic God Valley Incident and got low diffed by Rocks.
Standing beside him was a middle-aged man—the Vice-Commander of the God's Knights.
He wielded a slender rapier, had shoulder-length red hair tied back, and was dressed in pristine, aristocratic knight attire.
His name was Shamrock.
Upon their appearance, a tidal wave of Conqueror's Haki instantly erupted from them.
The terrifying, suffocating pressure made even Rayleigh halt his approach, his grip tightening on his sword.
"Garling... it's been a long time." Rayleigh's expression turned grave.
This man could definitely be considered an old, dangerous acquaintance.
Unlike the arrogant Killingham, Garling responded quite politely, resting a hand on his sword hilt.
"Long time no see, Dark King Rayleigh."
Beside him, Shamrock studied Rayleigh with intense, scrutinizing curiosity.
"Are you the one who took Shanks and influenced him to become a pirate?"
Rayleigh smiled faintly, choosing not to answer directly.
"You're truly twin brothers... you look so much alike. If I didn't know Shanks well enough, I'd have trouble telling you two apart."
Saint Killingham, brushing the dirt off his clothes, grew completely impatient at this casual banter and immediately shouted.
"Commander! Vice-Commander! Stop the useless chatter and finish off this old man quickly!"
What greeted him were two pairs of murderously cold, condescending eyes.
"Know your place, trash," Garling said flatly, not even looking at him.
After those chilling words, Killingham swallowed hard, sat aside, and fell completely silent.
...
While the three legends were chatting, all the resting members of the Straw Hat Pirates stood up straight, jolted awake by the terrifying Conqueror's Haki that had erupted from Rayleigh's direction earlier.
Even Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji found it difficult to breathe under the oppressive, overlapping pressure of these two new Conqueror's Hakis.
The others felt dizzy and nauseous, relying entirely on their strong willpower just to stay on their feet.
Only one person completely collapsed—Galdino, who had the weakest willpower among the conscious fighters.
As for Nami and Marianne, who were already unconscious from exhaustion?
They simply fell into an even deeper sleep.
Luffy stared nervously into the distance, wiping sweat from his brow, and spoke to Zoro and Sanji.
"Let's go check it out. Those two Conqueror's Hakis just now... they weren't from Uncle Rayleigh."
Zoro and Sanji nodded grimly.
They also believed that a new enemy had likely arrived, and an incredibly strong one at that.
This was highly troublesome.
Just as the three were about to run over to help, a white-haired elderly figure suddenly flew backward from the direction of the giant tree in the distance.
SKRRRT!
After landing, his slippered feet scraped hard against the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust, until he finally came to a stop right beside Luffy and the others.
Judging by his disheveled cloak and sliding retreat, it was clear he had been forced back by the enemy.
"Uncle Rayleigh!" Luffy shouted worriedly.
However, upon closer inspection, Rayleigh was only panting heavily and hadn't actually been injured.
He casually dusted off his shoulders.
"Hah... I'm getting old after all," Rayleigh chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"No, even in my youth, I wouldn't have been able to stop these two at the same time."
One second later, the two people Rayleigh mentioned casually stepped out from the settling dust cloud.
When Luffy saw the red-haired newcomer holding the rapier, his jaw dropped to the floor in absolute, utter disbelief.
"SHANKS?!" Luffy screamed, his eyes wide. "Why are you attacking Uncle Rayleigh?!"