Half a minute earlier.
Ray had locked onto his target: Marcus Mars (Itsumade).
His reasoning was simple: among the three Elders still currently alive and fighting, only Mars was stuck in his massive beast form.
He's the largest one in size, making him the absolute easiest target to trap.
As for Nusjuro's Skeletal Horse form? His movement speed was too fast, and his sword slashes were too powerful.
Ray couldn't guarantee that the Wind Scar could cleanly trap him in place for the follow-up.
As for Saturn? It wasn't yet time for him to die.
Ray had a very specific backup plan reserved exclusively for that spider bastard.
Thus, Ray swiftly launched his attack, sending a massive Wind Scar—heavily imbued with Haki and pure Demonic Power—directly toward Mars.
The moment the golden light illuminated the sky, Nusjuro and Saturn felt a wave of relief, while Mars was filled with absolute despair!
They all understood the grim reality: whoever Ray targeted next would die.
The attacks of the other two could severely injure Ray, but they couldn't stop his execution strike.
That black moon... to them—the supposedly immortal and undying Elders—it was like staring directly into the gaze of the Lord of Hell.
They had lived far too long!
With their immortality, they seemed to have entirely forgotten the primal fear of death.
Today, Ray reminded them.
To ensure their own survival, the exact moment Ray committed his attack against Mars, Saturn and Nusjuro desperately unleashed everything they had at Ray's exposed back.
A dense barrage of freezing sword slashes infused with Conqueror's Haki, and a machine-gun-like onslaught of invisible armor-piercing 'Malevolent Eye' strikes rained down on Ray without a single gap.
The island landmass around Ray was completely obliterated into dust.
This was a high-stakes, brutal gamble.
Trading Mars's life for Ray's.
Because if Ray wanted to guarantee the kill on Mars, he would have to stand his ground and endure this entire wave of devastating attacks.
If Ray used the Meidō Zangetsuha defensively to absorb their incoming attacks instead, Mars would escape the stun, heal, and return to his uninjured state.
Soon, Ray would once again be facing the synchronized assault of three immortal opponents.
Thus, Ray made the ruthless choice to trade his own flesh for their lives.
Perhaps Ray had other defensive options, but since he was holding back his true, full-demon transformation skills for later, it wasn't yet time to use them.
Benefits had to be maximized!
…
One second later.
Ray had successfully withstood the barrage of Haki-infused slashes and the machine-gun-like onslaught of fierce eye attacks from Saturn.
And of course, Mars had also vanished eternally into the Meidō Zangetsuha.
With that, three of the Five Elders had fallen, leaving only two remaining on the battlefield.
Ray hovered in the air, blood streaming down his torn body.
Yet his gaze beneath his silver hair remained completely calm, showing not a single trace of fear or panic.
His posture was upright and steady, and the hand gripping Tessaiga showed not the slightest tremor.
At this moment, both Nusjuro and Saturn were plunged into genuine, freezing panic.
'Why isn't he dead yet?!'
Logically, after taking that concentrated barrage, he shouldn't even be able to stand.
What kind of monster was he?
They had truly given their all in that last desperate strike, their Haki reserves nearly depleted.
Even so, Ray still hadn't collapsed.
What if—what if Ray still had the strength to launch another combo attack right now?
What would they do?
Who would be the next to die?
Nusjuro might still have a slim chance to evade with his speed, but how could Saturn dodge?
Previously, relying on infinite regeneration, Saturn had wreaked havoc fearlessly.
But against the wide-range, spatial banishment of the Meido Zangetsuha, he couldn't evade whether in human, hybrid, or beast form.
He could no longer withstand it head-on.
His Haki was almost completely exhausted.
The Five Elders' ability to regenerate infinitely only applied to their physical flesh—not the Haki reserves within them.
If Haki could also be magically restored, Imu, who provided them with ther immortality, would surely be drained dry.
Ray was certain: he had won this phase.
With only these two cowards left, the encirclement naturally ceased to exist.
Everything was just a one-on-one hunt now.
Although Ray was severely injured, the other two had expended a massive amount of Haki and stamina just trying to survive.
Ray's Demonic Power, however, remained incredibly abundant—perfect Demonic Power was notoriously difficult to deplete.
As long as his body could move, his combat power would remain largely unaffected.
Comparing both sides, the heavily injured Ray actually held the absolute advantage.
Because Nusjuro and Saturn could no longer unleash attacks capable of breaking through Ray's defenses in the short term.
Given the current progression, the complete annihilation of the Five Elders was only a matter of time.
But just then...
BOOM! BOOM!
Two terrifying bursts of fresh, top-tier Conqueror's Haki suddenly emanated from Rayleigh's direction in the distance.
Sensing these two fearsome auras, Ray frowned as a rough guess forming in his mind.
Nusjuro and Saturn, however, immediately grew excited, their despair morphing into vicious glee!
They knew exactly who had arrived.
It could be said that the two newcomers' true combat prowess far surpassed their own.
The seemingly hopeless situation had suddenly been overturned.
Saint Figarland Garling and Shamrock were different from the Elders—they were the genuine, battle-hardened top-tier combatants of the Celestial Dragons' faction.
If the four Elders were roughly at the initial Yonko/Admiral level, then Warcury, Garling, and Shamrock were firmly established at the peak Yonko level.
They stood on the exact same plane as the current Admirals and Yonko.
Even if they couldn't defeat Ray one-on-one, joining forces would surely give them the upper hand.
Especially since Ray was now in a heavily damaged state.
The scales of victory seemed to have tipped decisively back in favor of the Celestial Dragons!
…
In the forest.
Shakky had already caught up with Bonney, who was desperately trying to go assist Ray.
She grabbed Bonney's hand and spoke to her very seriously.
"The Toshi Toshi no Mi's ability is absolutely ineffective against the Five Elders. Don't go over there and cause trouble for Ray."
"Trust Ray. If he says he can kill Saturn, then he definitely can."
After hearing this, Bonney frowned, her bottom lip trembling as she looked worriedly at Ray hovering in the distance.
"But... Ray-san is too severely injured right now! He's covered in blood!"
Shakky didn't deny this.
She puffed her cigarette, equally concerned.
She was also curious how Ray, injured so badly, would deal with the fresh terrifying enemies that had just arrived.
...
But Ray actually felt like laughing at this moment.
These two old men, Saturn and Nusjuro, were so frightened by him that they were standing there completely motionless, trying to catch their breath.
'Heh.'
'The wounds beneath my bloody exterior had already healed.'
Three seconds of them staring at him in fear was more than enough time for him to seamlessly use his Demonic Power to repair his torn flesh and muscle beneath the gore.
'Two idiots.' Ray scoffed inwardly. 'Tch...'
Originally, Ray had prepared to be immediately swarmed and attacked by these two the exact second after slaying Mars.
He had really overestimated their courage.
Shaking his head slightly, Ray casually raised Tessaiga again.
Seeing Ray begin to move, Nusjuro and Saturn broke out in full-body goosebumps.
'Damn it! He really still has fighting capability left!'
'RUN!'
'Run toward Garling and Shamrock's direction!'
Nusjuro took the lead, his skeletal horse hooves blurring as he moved at an insanely fast speed away from Ray.
He didn't dare to fight anymore.
What if Ray chose to kill him next?
That golden sword aura's range was too large, and he wasn't 100% confident he could completely dodge it.
Moreover, he didn't have enough Haki left to unleash a slash that could block the Wind Scar and prevent the stun.
You could say, in the next wave, whoever Ray chooses to kill will die!
Saturn also took off running, scuttling on his eight spider legs, cursing Nusjuro in his heart for being a heartless coward.
'If you run away, doesn't that mean I'm doomed to die?! Ahhhhh!'
Terrified to the extreme, Saturn's spider legs moved so fast they left afterimages as he scrambled over the ruined terrain.
Just then, Saturn saw a white silver light flash right past him, clearly about to catch up with Nusjuro ahead.
'Wow! Ray actually chose to kill him instead of me?!'
Though surprised and relieved, Saturn didn't stop running, still sprinting frantically toward the two powerful newly arrived fighters.
And Nusjuro naturally met a tragic end.
Because his cowardice in turning his back gave Ray the perfect opportunity.
Since Ray could only cleanly kill one person in the next wave, naturally, he would choose to kill the stronger, faster one first.
"WIND SCAR!"
After unleashing the golden wave to completely cover and stagger Nusjuro... without another word, Ray fired the Meidō Zangetsuha.
SWOOSH!
The black moon snapped shut, very quickly.
The old Swordsman, Saint Nusjuro, disappeared into the void forever.
But Ray felt no excitement from defeating the enemy.
Because an overwhelmingly powerful aura rushed right before his face.
CLANG!
Shamrock's rapier slash, infused with intense suffocating Conqueror's Haki, arrived at light speed.
Ray responded instantly with a similarly Conqueror's Haki-coated slash from Tessaiga.
Their weapons collided violently mid-air, red and black lightning shooting straight up into the demonic energy black clouds above.
The clouds trembled and the earth cracked beneath them.
A true, fresh Yonko-level battle had descended upon the Sabaody Archipelago!
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator