The desert giant did not remain idle either; it swung its massive fists, each strike kicking up a fierce gale as its fists clashed with the air, producing a roaring "whoosh" sound.
The power of these giant fists was astonishing; wherever they went, sand and stone flew, and the ground was pummeled into one enormous crater after another.
Under the desert giant's relentless assault, the wooden dragon sustained more and more wounds, and its green glow gradually dimmed.
Crocodile's figure slowly emerged within the desert giant, a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, his body trembling slightly from the strain of overexerting his power.
But his pride was immense; at this moment, he was willing to exhaust every last ounce of his strength to completely destroy these three wooden dragons, just to prove his might and defend his dignity in this desert.
"Heh, heh, you two bastards, don't you dare ignore me, Crocodile."
Crocodile bellowed in his raspy voice.
He looked toward Roy and Hashirama Senju, who were facing off in the distance, his heart burning with resentment.
In his mind, this desert was his absolute territory; he was the undisputed king, and he would not tolerate being looked down upon by anyone.
"In the desert, I am invincible." This thought swirled relentlessly in his mind, becoming his sole conviction at that moment.
He thought to himself, as a Warlord of the Sea with absolute dominance over this desert, how could he allow these two to ignore him?
He decided to intervene in this battle and prove his strength to them.
Yet, in the next instant, Roy's casual yet utterly contemptuous words fell like oil on his blazing fury, sending him into an instant rage.
"Crocodile, this is not a fight you can meddle in."
Roy had his hands casually tucked into his pockets; he hadn't even considered Crocodile a factor.
He tilted his chin up slightly, a faint, mocking smile on his lips, a smile that cut into Crocodile's heart like a sharp blade.
Crocodile's face flushed crimson instantly, veins bulging on his forehead.
He roared inwardly, how could he be so belittled? He was determined to show these two his power, even if it cost him everything.
But Roy had already run out of patience with Crocodile; in his eyes, Crocodile now seemed like a madman consumed by obsession.
As a Warlord of the Sea, Crocodile's Haki was so weak that Roy found him utterly beneath notice.
Roy turned his head slightly, his gaze sweeping past Crocodile, and then ignored him, refocusing all his attention on Hashirama Senju.
"Make your move," Roy said calmly.
Hearing this, Hashirama Senju burst into hearty laughter, the cheerful sound echoing like a bronze bell across the desert.
His eyes gleamed with excitement, the anticipation of battle, the craving for a clash of titans.
As the laughter faded, his expression became instantly serious, and the aura around him surged dramatically.
He slowly raised both hands and clapped them together.
"Deep Forest Emergence." At his deep, powerful voice, a wave of chakra so immense it was suffocating erupted from within him.
In an instant, the ground began to tremble violently, and countless massive trees burst forth from the earth, spreading in all directions at an astonishing speed.
Their trunks were as hard as steel, their branches thick and dense, swiftly transforming the surrounding desert into a sea of green.
"Wood Dragon Jutsu." Following that, Hashirama Senju roared again, and a colossal wooden dragon came roaring out of the forest.
Its body coiled and twisted, radiating a mysterious and formidable aura; its eyes glowed with a spectral green light, its maw gaping wide.
"Heh." Roy let out a soft snort, and countless tiny particles of light around him began to converge frantically, as if drawn by some mysterious force.
These particles glowed with a brilliant radiance, weaving and coalescing behind Roy, gradually forming spears of light that radiated a terrifying presence.
Each spear was uniquely shaped, its shaft crystal clear, as if forged from the purest light in the world.
They hovered behind Roy, arrayed in perfect formation.
Roy raised his arm slightly, and with a casual wave, these spears of light transformed into streaks of brilliance, shooting toward the charging wooden dragon and the vast expanse of the tree forest.
Their speed was beyond extreme, nearly too fast to blink, leaving only fleeting, illusory afterimages.
"Boom." A deafening explosion erupted instantaneously, a sound like the collapse of heaven and earth, shaking the very air around them.
The light spears, moving at unimaginable speed, carried irresistible force and pierced through the wooden dragon's sturdy body in an instant.
The light spears did not stop there; they continued hurtling forward, plunging deep into the dense forest.
In that moment, a fierce explosion detonated within the forest.
Massive mushroom clouds billowed into the sky, flames shot up, and countless splinters and branches were blasted into the air.
A powerful shockwave radiated outward from the blast center, snapping trees in its path and churning up thick layers of sand and earth, creating a sky-filling sandstorm.
After the successive impacts of several light spears, the wooden dragon was obliterated in an instant.
"So strong." Crocodile stood not far away, witnessing this awe-inspiring scene.
His pupils contracted sharply, his expression freezing instantly.
He had exhausted his power to deal with the wooden dragons, yet Roy had effortlessly obliterated them in a flash. The sheer gap in strength extinguished the fury in his heart, replaced by a deep, sobering calm.
He realized that in this clash of titans, the disparity between himself and Roy and Hashirama Senju was immense; his previous blind arrogance now seemed utterly ridiculous.
"Hahaha, this is a real fight!"
Hashirama Senju threw his head back and laughed, his face radiant with exhilaration.
In that moment, his thoughts drifted involuntarily back to the passionate days of battle with Madara Uchiha.
Back then, they had raced across the battlefield; every clash of power, every exchange of techniques had been a fight for life and death.
And now, that same surge of adrenaline coursed through him once more.
Hashirama Senju's laughter still echoed as his hands came together in a powerful clap.
In that instant, a surge of colossal chakra burst forth from him like a raging tide, spreading wildly in all directions.
Along with this wave of chakra, a seemingly endless number of wooden constructs rose from beneath the desert sand.
This wooden figure was immense and towering, blotting out the sky and casting the entire battlefield into shadow.
Under its immense weight, the once-solid desert began to buckle, the ground sinking rapidly.
Sand roiled, dust filled the air, as if the apocalypse had arrived, like a primordial deity awakening from a bygone era.
Beside it, the desert giant that Crocodile had formed shrank into insignificance in an instant.
---