Faced with the onslaught of attacks from the Gods, Ray casually unleashed another Wind Scar.
BOOM!
The collision erupted, space trembled, and violent winds raged outward like a hurricane.
Everyone on the Sabaody Archipelago witnessed the intense tremors radiating from Grove 13.
The pirates who had barely escaped the Marines' pursuit reacted most strongly.
Feeling such a massive shockwave, they panicked: 'Could it be that the Marine Admirals have returned?!'
Most ordinary residents, however, initially remained in a state of spectatorship.
After all, the Sabaody Archipelago was considered the backyard of the Celestial Dragons.
Troublemakers would inevitably be captured by the Marines. Every couple of days, some rookie pirate caused trouble here—they were used to it.
But today... the troublemaker seemed a bit different.
'Why does it feel like that island over there is about to sink into the sea?!'
Residents of the groves closest to Island 13 finally began fleeing in sheer panic.
An old man, leaning heavily on his cane, hobbled unsteadily toward the outskirts of his village.
There was no helping it—Island 13 was currently teeming with monsters.
Each one more terrifying than the last.
In the old man's eyes, that island three kilometers away was nothing short of a demon's lair.
"God... save us," he whispered.
Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed through the air.
The old man turned to look.
Following his gaze, an earth-shattering golden sword beam descended from the sky, crashing into the ground and engulfing the monstrous horde that loomed like mountains.
…
While using the Wind Scar to repel Saturn and Nusjuro, Ray also had to keep an eye on his crew below.
As Luffy closed in on his target, Killingham unleashed over a dozen giant monsters from the pirates' dreams—enormous mosquitoes, cockroaches, dung beetles, centipedes, and more.
Dozens of hundred-meter-tall insects swarmed in front of Luffy, completely blocking his path.
Seeing this, Ray casually unleashed a Wind Scar from the sky with a flick of his wrist.
SLASH!
The golden light cleared the battlefield instantly, vaporizing the giant bugs and creating an unobstructed path for Luffy to advance toward the Qilin.
Then, Ray swung his blade again, closing in on Nusjuro in the air.
Nusjuro was indeed skilled—his offensive cutting power far surpassed that of Saturn's Ushi-oni form.
He had to be dealt with first.
Conqueror's Haki infusion, Ryuo and pure Demonic Power—three devastating forces converged on Tessaiga all at once.
"KONGOSHOHA!"
Thousands of diamond blades surged forward, wreathed in rolling red-black lightning, hurtling toward Nusjuro like a meteor shower.
Nusjuro responded with freezing, icy sword energy, slashing wildly and causing nearly a thousand of the diamond blades to plummet from the sky.
But at least half of them continued their relentless assault.
Nusjuro frowned grimly—Ray's power far exceeded his expectations.
Advanced Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki enveloped his legendary blade, the Shodai Kitetsu.
Channeling all his strength into his gaunt arms, he slashed out another massive wave of chilling sword energy.
CLANG!
Finally, he managed to halt the remaining Diamond Spears.
But in that exact instant, Ray bypassed the clash and appeared right in front of him.
"WIND SCAR!"
A devastating point-blank slash struck firmly against the skeletal horse body of Nusjuro.
"Gah—!"
Nusjuro coughed up a mouthful of blood uncontrollably, his ten-meter-tall frame crashing heavily into the ground below.
Just as Ray prepared to swing Tessaiga again to finish the job, the twelve-meter-tall hybrid form of Saturn appeared right behind him.
Swish! Swish!
Spider legs, tipped with highly corrosive venom capable of melting absolutely anything, shot toward Ray's head.
Ray had long anticipated this ambush.
"You can try to sneak attack me... but using poison against me? That's just foolish."
Without even using his sword, Ray curled his left hand slightly.
His sharp claws brimmed with Demonic Power and Haki.
"Poison Flower Claw!"
His claws flashed through the air.
Saturn's eyes widened in absolute shock.
His prideful venomous claws not only failed to melt Ray, but were instead shredded to pieces by Ray's own overpowering toxic strike.
Sensing the massive gap in their close-combat strength, Saturn frowned and quickly retreated toward the fallen Nusjuro to regroup.
But unfortunately for him, his speed was no match for Ray's.
Tessaiga swung again.
The Wind Scar reappeared, instantly engulfing the Ushi-oni.
SHRED!
Saturn's massive body was caught in the brilliance of the attack, gradually disintegrating into minced flesh.
Afterward, Ray simply turned and flew toward where Nusjuro had crashed.
Sensing the remnants of Saturn gradually bubbling and reassembling behind him, Ray snorted coldly in his heart.
Perhaps Saturn was secretly pleased, thinking that Ray was entirely unaware of his automatic, immortal recovery ability.
But he didn't know that Ray already had a solid understanding of the Five Elders' tricks.
(He simply didn't know the specific abilities of the God's Knights like Gunko and Killingham).
Right now, what Ray needed was to play along with their scheme.
Since the Five Elders were determined to encircle and eliminate him, why should Ray settle for just fighting two of them?
'Let Saturn and Nusjuro realize the gap in our strength. Then... they'll have to call a few more teammates into the fray.'
Although their strength might roughly hover at the level of Admirals and Yonko, compared to natural disasters like Big Mom and Kaido, Ray felt there was still a significant gap.
Facing these two Five Elders together gave him almost no real pressure.
If Ray had fought Kaido and Big Mom at the same time, he might very well have lost.
But this? This was manageable.
However, while Ray appeared to be handling things with ease in the sky... Luffy and the others below were in a completely different situation.
They were under immense pressure.
…
With Ray's help clearing the bugs, Luffy successfully closed in on the Qilin and without a word, launched a massive Haki-coated punch.
"GOMU GOMU NO... KONG GUN!"
He had expected the bubble-wearing Celestial Dragon to exchange blows with him, allowing Luffy to gauge the opponent's physical strength and adjust his strategy accordingly.
Instead, what greeted Luffy was another swarm of nightmare monsters.
But this time, it wasn't giant bugs or beasts.
It was a crowd of faceless figures, all dressed in tattered clothes and holding broken bowls.
Ninety-nine 100-meter-tall "poor bastards" materialized before Luffy, brandishing massive wooden sticks and cracked bowls as they charged toward him.
They even moaned as they advanced.
"So hungry... so hungry..."
Hearing these agonizing voices, Luffy halted mid-air, canceling his attack.
He could sense that the hunger described by these giant phantoms felt incredibly real and deeply painful.
"If only you weren't enemies... I'd really like to treat you to a meal," Luffy muttered to himself, his compassional shining through for a brief second.
After this brief reflection, he faced reality.
Gripping his giant bouncing fists, he charged toward the swarm of starving giants.
…
After releasing these specific monsters, Killingham had no other usable nightmares left to extract from the unconscious pirate crew.
After all, the number of dream monsters he could summon and maintain at once was limited.
The reason he hadn't released these "Poor" monsters from the very start was simply that he found it too embarrassing.
For a dignified, godly Celestial Dragon to fight using a bunch of ragged, starving poor people?
How utterly disgraceful.
But he also absolutely refused to engage in physical contact with Luffy.
He considered anyone other than Celestial Dragon to be filthy lowly livestock—touching them would dirty his hands.
For the Straw Hat Kid, a mere ant, to attack him was like a toad trying to kick a human.
Could you easily defeat the toad? Of course.
But wouldn't touching such a gross thing physically disgust you?
So, Saint Killingham preferred the mild embarrassment of releasing these poor dream monsters to keep Luffy at bay.
He absolutely did not want to have physical contact with ordinary people!
Ninety-nine 100-meter-tall giants couldn't fit entirely on Grove 13; their towering, ragged figures were visible across most of the Sabaody Archipelago.
Saint Killingham watched safely from his high vantage point as the monsters surrounded Luffy.
Using his bizarre mental powers, he extracted a pristine teacup filled with hot tea from his "mind" and began to savor it elegantly.
"The dreams of lowly pirates are so remarkably crude," he mused, taking a sip. "So many people fear not ferocious beasts, but mere poverty and hunger? I simply cannot understand the minds of these pathetic insects."
Just as he was enjoying his tea and his own superiority... a shadow fell over him.
"If we are all livestock or insects..." a cold voice echoed.
"...Then what does that make you?"
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