Shamrock, being the twin brother of Yonko Shanks, also possessed formidable combat power.
The sheer intensity of his Conqueror's Haki alone slightly surpassed even Ray's natural Haki.
Back at Whole Cake Island, Ray had to combine his Conqueror's Haki with his Demonic Energy just to suppress Katakuri's Future Sight, barely achieving the effect of absolute Observation Haki negation.
When Conqueror's Haki reaches a certain peak level of intensity, simply releasing it can suppress the Observation Haki of weaker opponents.
In Ray's view, so-called "Observation Haki Killing" means flooding the enemy's senses so completely that their foresight is rendered useless.
And this red-haired guy standing before him could probably achieve that effortlessly.
It could be said that Shamrock was the strongest pure Conqueror's Haki user among all the enemies Ray had encountered so far.
Of course, Garling might possess even stronger Conqueror's Haki, yet to be revealed.
The Figarland family was renowned for their devastatingly powerful Conqueror's Haki.
However, although Shamrock's Conqueror's Haki was exceptionally strong, it was definitely impossible to suppress Ray's perception entirely.
Conqueror's Haki primarily targets the spirit and consciousness, and Ray firmly believed no one in this world could break him in that regard.
Similarly, Shamrock was also shocked by Ray's Haki.
He couldn't understand why Ray's Conqueror's Haki felt... mutated.
Its invasive, chilling nature was even stronger than his own Haki.
KRA-KOOM!
The two frequently exchanged high-speed blows, and the thick, jagged black lightning generated by their sword collisions shook the sky, splitting the clouds above.
In terms of pure aura, Shamrock's Conqueror's Haki was slightly weaker than Ray's unique blend of Demonic Energy combined with Conqueror's Haki.
In terms of raw physical power, he was also a step weaker than Ray.
CLANG!
The two pulled apart, skidding backward.
They now stood a hundred meters apart among the ruined, smoldering trees, intermittently locking eyes.
"As expected of someone capable of slaying a Yonko and the Five Elders... you're quite strong." Shamrock muttered, sounding almost praising.
But the corners of his mouth curled upward, his fighting spirit boiling over.
Shamrock had long wanted to compete with the true masters of the sea, but his own father, Garling, had always strictly forbidden it, forcing him to reign supreme only in the safety of Mary Geoise atop the Red Line.
However, the essence of Conqueror's Haki lies in absolute self-confidence.
And true self-confidence must be forged and tempered through life-or-death battles.
Today, he would defeat this Demon God, Ray, and make his Conqueror's Haki even stronger!
'Then... hmph. Someone like the great one would be nothing to me.'
Thinking this treacherous thought, Shamrock raised his rapier.
Suddenly, the weapon transformed.
ROAR!
The blade morphed into a terrifying, massive three-headed hellhound made of pure Haki and energy that charged frantically at Ray.
The three-headed hound's aura was overwhelmingly powerful, like a demon lord summoned from the underworld, lunging with gnashing teeth to bite at the already severely wounded Ray.
...
On the other side of the battlefield.
Luffy, Rayleigh, and the rest of the crew were also under immense, suffocating pressure.
While Shamrock went to intercept Ray, Saint Garling and the Killingham attacked the rest of the Straw Hat faction.
At this point, the situation had escalated to a point where reconciliation or escape was no longer possible.
With four of the Five Elders dead, if the Celestial Dragons didn't completely annihilate the Straw Hat Pirates right here, right now, how could they possibly continue to rule the world in the name of "Gods"?
Garling, as the absolute strongest of the Celestial Dragons from the old era, was naturally exceptionally powerful.
Only Rayleigh had the skill to hold him off in a blistering, high-speed sword duel, while the rest of the crew swarmed Saint Killingham.
With their stamina not yet recovered from the previous waves, they faced immense pressure against Killingham, who was nearly at the level of an Admiral himself.
Especially because during this brief lull, that bastard had unleashed a massive number of fresh nightmare monsters.
Eager to prove himself before his Commander and Vice-Commander, Killingham released his absolute trump card nightmares.
All of them were legendary, mythical beasts extracted from the deepest terrors of the unconscious pirates.
Each one was the size of a massive Sea King.
Unlike the previous "Poverty" monsters that were just a hundred meters tall and clumsy, although there were only twenty of these new beasts, each stood around two hundred meters tall.
Their power, speed, and defense were on a completely different, apocalyptic level.
ROAR!
Ten massive, heavily armored black dragons instantly intercepted all the officers of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, breathing oceans of fire.
The other ten monsters were no less formidable: mountain-moving rock giants, three-legged monstrous birds wreathed in lightning, one-eyed tentacled horrors, floating sea leviathans, and even some devilish creatures with razor-sharp teeth resembling hellish messengers.
However, these ten didn't target Luffy and the others. Instead, under Killingham's orders, they rushed toward the other populated groves of the Sabaody Archipelago and began a mindless, brutal massacre.
Today's events absolutely had to be buried in the dust of history.
The true, monstrous appearances of the Five Elders were never meant to be known to the public, let alone the fact that four of them had died here today.
Therefore, all living beings on the entire Sabaody Archipelago had to disappear.
Killingham took the lead to help his captain with some "pest extermination" tasks.
...
Facing the twenty terrifying giant dragons that remained to fight them, Luffy and the others were already struggling greatly.
Their ordinary attacks, even when imbued with basic Haki, could barely scratch the dragons' thick, nightmare-forged scales.
Even with the three main combatants going all out, they only managed to defeat two black dragons, while they themselves were repeatedly scorched, howling in pain from the dragons' relentless fiery breath.
Luffy endured the searing flames, biting his lip until it bled, and resorted to wildly swinging his King Kong Gun, heavily enveloped in Ryuo, just to shatter the skull of one dragon.
Zoro and Sanji coordinated seamlessly out of pure desperation.
Sanji used Sky Walk to launch Zoro high into the air like a human cannonball, while he himself leaped directly in front of a black dragon's maw, using his flaming legs to draw its attention and fire breath.
Seizing the perfect opening, Zoro unleashed Three Thousand Worlds from above, using all his remaining strength to cleanly sever the dragon's massive neck.
CRASH!
But before they could even catch their breath, two more ferocious dragons lunged at them from the smoke.
A single, massive tail swipe caught them off guard, sending the three main combatants flying over a kilometer away, crashing through multiple mangrove roots.
As for the other allies? They were also fighting desperately, pushing past their absolute limits.
This was undeniably the most despairing moment of their lives.
If they didn't fight with absolutely everything they had left, they would truly die here today.
Nami was violently awakened from her exhaustion by the intense commotion and heat.
She immediately grasped the dire situation, forcing herself to stand and join the battle without hesitation.
At that moment, Franky ran to her side, his metal chassis dented and scorched.
He urgently asked Nami to find a way to summon a dense thundercloud overhead.
If she could, he could use his Soul-Soul Fruit abilities to create a much stronger, sentient weapon for her to use.
Nami glanced at the chaotic battlefield where Ray, Luffy, and the others were fighting for their lives.
She gritted her teeth, nodded, and pulled Franky deep into the forest to prepare.
Robin, Chopper, and the others were also extremely busy, stretched to their breaking points.
They had to both fight the dragons and constantly rescue their slower comrades from being crushed or burned.
Usopp's fingers ached and bled from pulling his slingshot repeatedly, and the vital supply of Pop Green monster seeds in his pouch was rapidly dwindling.
Brook managed to contribute somewhat with his Yomi Yomi chill, freezing the joints of the beasts.
He hadn't yet learned to fully use his abilities to affect souls directly; otherwise, he might have been able to instantly destroy these dream constructs.
Just as Brook used his chilling aura to create a massive ice slick under a black dragon's feet to trip it... a dark, towering shadow silently materialized right behind him.
Usopp, scanning through his sniper goggles, noticed it first and screamed, his voice cracking in terror.
"BROOK! BEHIND YOU!"
At the same time, Usopp desperately pulled back his slingshot, firing a crimson explosive star seed straight at the shadow's face.
But it was too late.
A fierce, invisible glare flashed from the shadow.
CRACK!
Brook's skull was violently severed from his spine, sent flying through the air.
It bounced and rolled across the ruined ground, finally coming to a stop a hundred meters away, right at Robin's feet.
With the sudden, chilling reappearance of Saturn—who had finally scuttled his way back to the main battlefield after escaping Ray—the already difficult battle for the Straw Hat Pirates became utterly, suffocatingly hopeless!
Witnessing Brook's "death," Usopp cried out in sheer agony, falling to his knees.
Robin looked down at her friend's severed skull.
Her eyes widened, and she was instantly filled with an unfathomable rage.
A dense, dark brown aura began swirling violently around her body!
She coldly told Mikita beside her to take care of herself.
Then, she slowly turned to face the charging, spider-legged Saturn and activated her awakened ability.
"GIGANTESCO MANO: DEMONIO FLEUR."
Behind Robin, countless colossal arms gathered and twisted together like a blooming, nightmare flower bed.
They rapidly intertwined, ultimately forming a massive, dark brown, multi-limbed demon, dozens of meters tall, with bat-like wings sprouting from its back and glowing red eyes.
Robin raised her hands, her voice devoid of all warmth.
"FLEUR DE DRAGON."
Innumerable giant, black, Haki-coated arms emerged from the massive demon's body, raining down like a devastating meteor storm directly upon the charging Saturn.
"Gah—!"
Saturn's savage, confident charge was violently halted.
The massive Ushi Oni's body was forced back step by agonizing step under the relentless, crushing barrage of Armament Haki-infused fists.
His aged face contorted in pain, his spider body was heavily dented, and he vomited blood violently under the onslaught.
Robin's expression remained icy cold.
In her furious, awakened state, she truly resembled a demon descended upon the world, absolutely determined to crush the Ushi Oni into paste for touching her crew!