"The same power that Imu-sama granted me?" Nusjuro muttered to himself, squinting as he observed those 'resurrected' Devils.
But Yu heard him.
"Don't compare us to the abilities of you lowly lackeys—"
Yu's head snapped towards Nusjuro. The gun barrel in his forehead suddenly lit up.
Boom!
A laser beam erupted from his forehead, carrying destructive energy directly towards Nusjuro.
Nusjuro raised his sword to block.
The blade of the Shodai Kitetsu blocked the laser, but the powerful force still pushed his body back wildly… his feet plowed two deep trenches in the ground, and he seemed about to crash into the Marine base behind him.
At the critical moment, Nusjuro's body underwent a rapid change.
The bones of his lower body reorganized and deformed. Flesh peeled away and was reborn… his legs transformed into the body of a horse with no skin or flesh, just a skeletal frame.
Four white bone hooves stomped on the ground, making a 'click clack' sound.
Zoan-type, Mythical Zoan.
With the blessing of his Zoan-type ability, Nusjuro's power surged.
He suddenly exerted force, his bone hooves digging deep into the ground, forcing himself to stop.
Then, he swung his sword back.
The sword energy crushed back.
If it were before, Yu would have chosen to tank the hit with his Devil Body… since he couldn't die anyway, it didn't matter.
But this time, he chose to evade.
Yu sidestepped, the slash flying past barely a hair's breadth from his nose.
He fired a shot back at Nusjuro.
After his fight with Roger, Yu had done a lot of thinking.
He had to keep evolving.
He couldn't rely too much on his Devil Body's immortality.
If he kept fighting with the mentality of 'I can't die anyway', he would never truly get stronger.
However —
Having been in the One Piece World for less than two months, his growth was ultimately limited.
The moment he fired again, Nusjuro was still a step faster.
A flash of sword light appeared.
Yu's right gun-arm was severed at the root, flying into the air.
After all, not everyone has a 200x effort buff.
Seizing the opening, Nusjuro, in his beast form, moved his white bone hooves and charged in front of Yu with astonishing speed.
After closing the range, Nusjuro released another slash.
Click.
Nusjuro frowned.
The feel from the blade was wrong.
He looked down, and found Yu's mouth had deformed. His upper and lower jaws had grown fangs highly similar to those of Makoto's Chainsaw Man form and Reze's Bomb Girl form, biting down hard on the blade of the Shodai Kitetsu.
"Don't underestimate me, old man." In his Gun Devil form, Yu grunted indistinctly.
The gun barrel on his head erupted for a second time.
Boom!!!
The laser exploded at zero range.
The huge shockwave spread outwards, the entire Grove 66 trembling.
Dust and smoke shot into the sky, gravel flew everywhere, and a deep crater dozens of meters in diameter appeared on the ground.
Amidst the gunsmoke, the attacks of the Four Gay Bros and Beam did not stop.
They continued to wreak havoc among the crowd, launching indiscriminate attacks.
The Gorilla Devil tossed Marine soldiers around like toys. The Dolphin Devil's sonic attack sent countless people to the ground in agony. The Rabbit Devil shuttled through the crowd, each landing taking a life.
Although the Marines had an overwhelming numerical advantage, countless blades and flashes of sword light slashed at their massive bodies—
But whenever these Devils landed, their bodies coming into contact with the flesh and blood on the ground, their wounds would heal at a visible rate.
"They're healing by drinking blood." Tsuru had also figured out the trick by now.
Her pupils suddenly contracted.
She finally understood… why Makoto had struck that indiscriminate slash just now.
It was to create a terrain advantage.
Blood covered the earth... the entire battlefield was their 'blood pack'.
"Sengoku, destroy this place." Tsuru made a quick decision and shouted to Sengoku.
Sengoku didn't hesitate.
He raised his palms, golden light gathering in them, then slammed them down onto the ground.
Boom!!!
The earth shattered.
Mud flew.
The soil soaked with blood was churned up from underground, flying into the air along with the flesh and stump on the surface.
The bedrock layer was exposed, and faintly, seawater could be seen gushing from the cracks.
The flesh and blood that had allowed Beam and the others to recover was sent flying into the sky by this attack.
"Good!" Kong couldn't help but praise inwardly.
Although quite a bit of blood remained on the ground, at least… those monsters wouldn't recover so quickly now.
However…
"Heh."
Makoto, standing far in the rear and watching the battle coldly, chose this moment to laugh.
It was a very light laugh.
But Tsuru noticed it.
Her instincts screamed an alarm… a strong sense of foreboding welled up in her heart.
She saw Makoto raise both hands, his ten fingers crossed, forming hand seals.
His speed was so fast that only blurs could be seen.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."
The moment his voice fell, the seawater surging from the underground cracks rapidly gathered.
The water swirled in the air, gathered, compressed —
Turning into a gigantic water dragon.
The size of this dragon far exceeded the Water Release of Yukino and Marina. It was even several times larger than the ones Makoto himself usually used.
The water dragon circled once in mid-air, its head held high, emitting a deafening roar.
The faces of the Roger Pirates in the prison cart turned pale again.
They had fought with Makoto's group on Malad Island and had encountered opponents like Yukino and Marina who could use Water Release.
But that amount of water was nothing for people at their level.
Moreover, the entire Roger Pirates were non-ability users... they weren't afraid of water.
But—
The Marines were different.
Within the Marines, ability users ran rampant.
Sengoku, for one, was an ability user.
Boom—
The water dragon charged howling towards the Marines' camp.
"He can control seawater?!" Kong's expression changed dramatically.
It was an ironclad rule in the One Piece World that ability users feared not ordinary water, but 'seawater' and [Seastone].
And what Makoto was controlling now was precisely the seawater surging from underground!
"Sengoku, retreat!" Kong shouted, leaping into the air.
His right fist was wrapped in dense Armament Haki, his entire arm turning pitch black like iron, and he smashed it heavily into the water dragon's head.
Boom!!!
With one punch, the water dragon's head exploded.
But the Water Dragon Bullet's attack was not completely neutralized… countless droplets of seawater turned into a rainstorm, pouring down on the Marines' camp.
Sengoku was drenched.
His body instantly went limp, the golden light of his Daibutsu form dimmed, and he stumbled to his knees.
Fortunately, Kong had helped weaken the Water Dragon Bullet's power.
Otherwise, if this attack had landed fully, Sengoku wouldn't even be able to maintain his Daibutsu form.
Not only Sengoku-
All the ability users within the Marines, the moment they were hit by the seawater, felt their whole bodies go weak, their movements sluggish, and their Devil Fruit powers difficult to exert.
"An opening!" Beam, in his beast form, seized the opportunity and bit down on Sengoku's shoulder.
"Ugh—" Sengoku gritted his teeth, one hand holding down Beam's lower body.
With his enormous size advantage, he forcibly pulled Beam off his body and threw him away.
But Beam's mouth had already taken a chunk of Sengoku's flesh.
Blood poured from Sengoku's shoulder.
And on the other side—
"Devil Power, 100,000 HP! Heaven-Penetrating Exploding Fist!"
The Teddy Devil let out a strange cry and suddenly threw a punch.
His fist carried a strange brown energy, smashing into the Marine ability users who had collapsed to their knees, weakened by the seawater.
Boom!!!
Flesh and blood flew everywhere.
Those ability users didn't even have time to scream before being blown to mincemeat by this punch.
Blood once again spread across the earth.
For Makoto's group, human wave tactics were meaningless.
In fact, the more people, the happier they were.
Because that meant more blood.