"Gremmy, who are you calling useless?"
Gerard's roar shook the heavens.
He paid no heed to Kaido and the others in front of him, instead turning his head with a foul expression toward the newly arrived Gremmy.
Gremmy looked up, his eyes narrowing, a look of natural superiority flashing across his face.
"You, of course."
"What else could a weakling like you be but useless?"
Hearing this, Gerard's face instantly filled with rage as he clenched his fists.
"What did you say!"
With a thunderous shout, Gerard swung his fist down toward Gremmy, completely disregarding the enemies before them.
But Gremmy's ability was faster than his movements.
Gremmy's smile grew increasingly arrogant as he looked at Gerard with a gaze full of contempt.
Without any visible movement, several iron pillars suddenly erupted from the ground in front of him.
They moved so quickly that, in an instant, the iron pillars slammed into Gerard.
BOOM!
Gerard's fist was forced to a halt. His massive body was pinned by the iron pillars, leaving him unable to move.
"Gremmy, you're always relying on these petty tricks!"
"It's nothing!"
Gerard's muscles bulged as he exerted sudden force, bending the iron pillars and breaking free.
He swept his arms across, stirring up a rolling gale. His sheer strength pulverized the iron pillars into dust!
Rumble!
Gerard was completely unharmed as iron shards and debris flew everywhere.
Gremmy waved away the dust in front of him.
He showed no surprise at Gerard's destruction, maintaining his light smirk.
"What a barbaric way to fight. Gerard, you really are weak."
"If I truly wanted to kill you, I wouldn't even need to lift a finger. I could make it happen just by thinking it. Do you understand the gap between us?"
Gremmy pointed a finger at his own head, circling it gently.
Hearing this, Gerard's fury only intensified.
Just as he was about to strike again, a deep purple orb shimmering with an eerie light suddenly appeared between him and Gremmy.
It hovered in the air, radiating a sense of lethal danger.
"The Gift Ball!"
Gerard froze in his tracks, a look of wariness crossing his face.
A nonchalant, teasing voice drifted from behind the two of them.
"You two, we're facing a major enemy right now. Could you please stop for a moment?"
"If you keep fighting each other, we really won't have any hope of winning. That would be quite fatal."
Gerard and Gremmy both turned to look as a slender silhouette entered their vision.
The man was somewhat thin and had a lazy posture. His upper clothing was gone, and his skin was covered in dust, making him look rather disheveled.
The Deathdealing, Askin Nakk Le Vaar!
Seeing him intervene, Gerard temporarily put aside his hostility toward Gremmy.
"Askin is right. I'll let you off this once!"
He turned to Askin and asked, "What are you doing here? What about the situation below?"
Askin walked over and casually dispersed the Gift Ball.
His expression darkened, and his tone was full of regret.
"Regrettably, our defeat is certain. Most of our comrades have either died or surrendered."
"The enemy is powerful and well-informed about us. Even I... if I hadn't run fast and luckily caught a ride on the 'movement' Gremmy created, I would have been killed!"
Askin stood on his tiptoes and tapped the high platform beneath their feet.
He thought back to the opponent he had encountered—a man who was truly like a phoenix. No matter what attacks were used or how badly he was wounded, he would eventually be reborn from the flames.
On the contrary, Askin had been completely helpless against those blue flames.
The blue fire had a healing effect. He had even been hit by it several times, resulting in 'over-recovery' and an extreme boost in immunity that nearly killed him!
Even now, thinking about it made Askin feel a wave of lingering fear!
"How useless!" Gerard spat in contempt. "One after another, all of you are so weak."
"Yes, yes, you're right. We're all just that weak. Not everyone is as 'special' as you."
Askin responded with a look of exhausted indifference.
'What kind of teammates am I stuck with?'
The Empire was on the verge of being wiped out, yet none of these people seemed to care. Instead, they were still preoccupied with their internal bickering.
'How did the Empire end up like this!'
He sighed inwardly and pointed a finger at the enemies ahead.
"Rather than worrying about that, the enemy is right there, watching us like we're a comedy act."
"Is that really okay with you?"
Gerard and Gremmy looked in the direction he was pointing.
They saw a man and a woman, both seven or eight meters tall, sitting on the ground with their weapons set aside, drinking.
It was Kaido and Linlin. The two looked quite bold, letting out occasional bursts of loud laughter.
As for their leader, Ren sat casually on an auspicious cloud, one leg dangling off the edge. His toes gripped his wooden geta sandal, swinging it back and forth.
In his hand, he held a large sake bowl the size of a basketball.
Beside him, Shisui was carrying a sake gourd nearly as big as himself, carefully pouring wine into Ren's bowl. The character for 'Heaven' was written largely on the gourd.
On the other side, Mayuri Kurotsuchi's eyes were vacant as he stared at the small sake bowl in his hand.
The aroma of the wine wafted from the bowl, but his expression remained blank, his thoughts unknown.
"That's enough, Shisui."
After stopping Shisui, Ren raised the sake bowl and drained it in one go, a faint flush appearing on his face from the alcohol.
He raised an eyebrow, looking relaxed as he turned to Kaido sitting on the ground, his voice full of praise.
"Kaido, this sake is quite sweet. It tastes excellent."
"Of course. This is the staple I've been drinking since I took over Wano. The fermentation process is top-notch," Kaido said with a look of pride.
Beside him, a hint of tipsiness appeared on Linlin's face as she smiled. "It is good, Kaido. Sweet, like honey water."
Ren held the sake bowl out to the side, and Shisui respectfully refilled it.
Seeing that the three Quincies across from them had stopped bickering and were looking his way, Ren appeared quite lax as he gestured toward them.
"A fine bit of comedy. It makes for a perfect side dish to go with the wine. The flavor is exquisite."
"Please, continue your performance."
Ren's arrogant, spectator-like attitude thoroughly incensed Gerard.
"You insect, what did you say!"
With that, he raised his fist, intending to charge forward.
Askin hurriedly fired a Gift Ball to block him, stopping his reckless move.
"Calm down. The enemy is clearly trying to provoke us."
"Rushing in blindly like that is exactly what they want!"
"Tsk!"
Gerard stopped again before the Gift Ball, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
Beside him, the smile vanished from Gremmy's face, replaced by a look of indignation.
He considered himself the strongest, so being dismissed so lightly naturally filled his heart with rage.
However, compared to Gerard, he was still able to maintain a basic level of composure.
"To treat the strongest like me as a joke... you people really are arrogant."
"I'll crush you right now!"
Having just stopped Gerard, Askin turned his gaze toward Gremmy, fearing he might also do something irrational.
Although Gremmy's words were harsh, he didn't actually launch an attack, which allowed Askin to breathe a sigh of relief.
Right now, they were the only top-tier combatants left in the Empire. They couldn't afford any reckless moves.
Ren took a small sip of wine and placed the sake bowl on the cloud beside him.
He looked over the three Quincies and slowly reached out a hand toward them. "Yhwach was just killed by me. The King you swore loyalty to is gone."
"I see that you three have decent strength. I'll give you a chance to live. How about switching sides and joining me?"
"The benefits are negotiable."
Hearing this, Askin was slightly stunned.
"His Majesty... is dead?"
'I thought His Majesty died long ago—nine hundred years ago!'
Askin suddenly thought of something, and the look of bewilderment on his face instantly dissolved.
'Wait, he must be talking about that guy who was impersonating His Majesty, right?'
Hearing this, Gerard burst out laughing. "Hahaha! You mean the 'His Majesty' who just fought you?"
"That wasn't him! He was just a body double. He wasn't the real King!"
Hearing this, Askin's expression softened slightly, and he let out a secret sigh of relief.
But Ren's next sentence caused his heart to instantly plummet to the bottom.
"I obviously knew the one I was facing earlier was a fake. But that's not what I'm talking about."
Ren swung his foot gently, and his wooden geta accidentally slipped off.
Shisui set down the sake gourd and vanished in a flash, leaping off the auspicious cloud.
Catching the sandal before it could hit the ground, Shisui tapped the air and leaped back onto the cloud.
Ren stood up and extended his foot slightly toward Shisui, revealing his clean white tabi socks.
He turned his head and said to the three Quincies, "After killing that impostor, I found another body of Yhwach in a secret room."
"There was also one of your comrades who was planning to flee with that corpse. Unfortunately, he was found by my subordinates before he could escape."
Shisui knelt on one knee, carefully holding the geta, and personally put it back on Ren's foot.
Ren tapped his toes to find a comfortable fit, the geta making a crisp 'clack-clack' sound.
The three Quincies no longer looked confident. Their expressions had turned dark and grim.
Ren crossed his arms and continued, "The outcome was predictable. Even if it was Yhwach, what use is a lifeless corpse? I've completely destroyed it!"
Hearing this, Askin's brow furrowed tightly, his face turning incredibly grim.
Beside him, Gerard's fury erupted.
He took heavy strides that made the ground tremble with dull thuds as he charged toward Ren.
"Then you can all die too!"
This time, neither Askin nor Gremmy tried to stop him.
Because at that moment, they too had prepared their own attacks.
Looking at the giant charging toward him like a beast, Ren's voice remained calm.
"Do you know why I didn't strike while you were bickering earlier?"
"I was waiting for my teammates. What exactly were you waiting for?"
As Ren finished speaking, a massive figure suddenly descended from the sky, landing right in front of the giant.
He had a magnificent stature and a vibrant, heroic aura.
The massive bisento in his hand was enveloped in a shockwave as he swung it straight at the giant's head.
"Gurararara! Looks like I've arrived just in time!"
Whitebeard, Edward Newgate!
The heavy blade slammed into the top of the giant's head, instantly triggering a massive vibration!
Crack!
Crack, crack, crack!
The crisp sound of shattering glass rang through the air.
The power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, combined with the immense strength behind the blade, erupted in that instant, splitting the giant's head in two.
It destroyed the giant's entire body along with it. His frame seemed to lose its bones, collapsing into a heap.
Under Whitebeard's strike, Gerard was sent flying backward, his limp body smashing into the ground of the high platform.
Rumble!
At the same moment Whitebeard appeared, a streak of blue flame arched gracefully through the sky. With a booming sound, it pierced through the air toward Askin.
Askin pulled his bow from his wristband and was about to attack Ren when he suddenly realized the threat.
Detecting the blue flame heading for him, Askin's expression sharpened as he rapidly shifted the direction of his arrows.
"You immortal monster!"
With a low shout, he fired arrows laced with toxins, releasing several in a single breath toward the blue flame.
As the blue flame dove into a lower altitude, it suddenly unfurled its wings with a powerful beat, causing its speed to surge.
Phoenix Marco!
Seeing the eerie sheen on the arrows—clearly a sign of poison—Marco didn't even try to dodge. He met them head-on, letting the arrows strike him.
But he was too fast. After the arrows hit, they passed right through his body.
Blue flames emerged from his wounds, and in the blink of an eye, the injuries were fully healed.
By then, he had already reached Askin.
"Phoenix Brand!"
The Phoenix extended his talons, kicking at Askin.
Askin hadn't expected the opponent to be so reckless as to take his poisonous arrows head-on.
Seeing the Phoenix already upon him, Askin could only hurriedly raise his longbow to block.
But how could a rushed defense possibly be effective against Marco!
Boom!
The bow shattered under the bird's claw, and Askin was instantly sent flying!
He tumbled backward, leaving a bloody trail on the ground from the friction.
The Phoenix shed his beast form, his torso returning to its original state, though his arms remained feathered wings and his feet were still talons.
"Let's see where you'll run this time!"
With that, Marco flapped his wings and gave chase!
While Askin and Gerard were being attacked, Gremmy was imagining his own strike.
He ignored the fate of his two companions, staring intently at Ren with a crazed smile.
"Just get crushed to death!"
The sky suddenly darkened.
Ren sensed something and looked up.
Above him, a mountain appeared out of thin air, blotting out the sun as it hurtled straight toward his location.
BOOM!
The mountain tore through layers of thunderclouds, whipping up a massive gale and creating an unparalleled sense of pressure.
Ren estimated that this mountain, which was about to crash down, was roughly as large as the high platform below.
"It's huge."
Ren remarked softly.
Beside him, Shisui remained calm and agreed, "It is quite large."
Two massive figures leaped from the ground, wielding a kanabo and the sword Napoleon as they charged toward the mountain in the sky!
Kaido stepped on auspicious clouds while Big Mom was hoisted by a thundercloud, their momentum surging!
Standing on opposite sides of the mountain, they swung their weapons in unison!
"Don't get too ahead of yourselves!"
"Hakai!"
A massive shockwave erupted from their weapons, slamming into the mountain above!
Rumble!
The mountain crumbled!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]