It was as if they could feel the determination of Roger and Garp.
Opposite them, Rocks—over ten meters tall with demon wings on his back and fangs in his mouth—his eyes entirely white and no longer weeping, gripped his greatsword and charged straight at the two.
The tip of his blade, wreathed in top-tier Haoshoku, whistled through the air, aimed directly at Garp's face!
"Boom!!"
Garp stomped the ground and leaped up; the rock wall behind him shattered instantly, pierced through by Rocks' greatsword.
The moment Rocks made his explosive move, Roger moved as well.
Between him and Garp, though one was a pirate and the other a Marine...
...their coordination at this moment was seamless, as tacit as old comrades who had fought side-by-side for years.
Just as Rocks attacked Carlo, Roger had already flashed behind Rocks, gripping his sword with both hands and unleashing a powerful slash!
A slash wreathed in thick Haoshoku lightning flew out as a Sky Break, striking Rocks' demon wings squarely on his back.
The massive impact left Rocks no time to pull his sword from the rock wall; he was sent headfirst into the cliffside by Roger's strike.
Almost simultaneously.
Garp, who had jumped into mid-air, suddenly plummeted, reaching out with both hands to grab Rocks' left leg. Exerting sudden force, he swung him toward a collapsed peak on the other side.
"Rumble!!"
Rocks had barely finished smashing through the rock wall on one side before he was swung by Garp and slammed heavily into the mountain on this side, causing Rocks to shatter and fly everywhere.
Before he could crawl out from the broken mountainside...
...Roger and Garp had already rushed forward, one from the left and one from the right, both unleashing their Haoshoku-infused ultimate moves toward Rocks in the center.
Thick Haki, like black flowing fire, surged wildly from within Garp, wrapping around the surface of his right fist and compressing rapidly. In an instant, it turned into a pitch-black mass of Haki that, along with his thrusting right fist, headed straight for Rocks' face like a black comet!
Before that pitch-black fist even touched Rocks, the shockwave rippling from it had already blasted open the mountain before him, as easily as if it were blowing through fragile tofu.
"Fist Bone!! Comet Impact!!"
As the pitch-black heavy punch came crashing down, the tyrannical aura on Rocks' body climbed frantically.
He actually didn't dodge or avoid it, instead using his own forehead to ram straight into Garp's incoming fist!
Seeing his actions, Garp shook his head.
"He's completely fallen into a state of frenzy and bloodlust; he can't even use combat techniques anymore."
While sighing, his fist didn't stop, exploding forward and colliding with Rocks' ramming forehead.
But in the next moment, Garp's expression changed.
"This power..."
"Rumble!!"
Black and red Haoshoku lightning flashed violently between his right fist and Rocks' forehead, collapsing the very void.
It was only a brief moment of stalemate.
Garp's body, which was striking down from the air, was sent flying by Rocks' headbutt like a whistling cannonball, passing over Roger's head and smashing through the rock wall behind them with a roar, falling hundreds of meters away!
"Idiot! Who told you to clash with him head-on? Are you a fool, Garp?!"
"Rocks' current state is clearly wrong!"
"Right now, both his strength and Haki have been boosted significantly."
"But fortunately, the increase in power doesn't come without a price. This out-of-control state where he only knows how to use brute force and lacks any of his previous skill—isn't that his biggest weakness?"
"In a normal state, it would take us quite some time to defeat him. And now you're thinking of clashing head-on?"
"He's not using his brain, are you not using yours either?!"
Roger grumbled as he unleashed a swift-as-lightning Gods Repel. The magnificent blade light, shining like an aurora, sliced across and struck Rocks' wide-open chest.
A sharp ripping sound rang out.
On Rocks' chest, a horizontal wound appeared, nearly splitting him in two.
The wound was so deep that even the white bones within were exposed.
Seeing his successful strike, a smug smile couldn't help but appear on Roger's face.
"Ah, sorry Rocks, but this is all to take you down. So, I hope you won't blame me for being too heavy-handed afterward."
He turned back, looking at Garp boastfully.
"See that? Killing requires skill, not just brute force like you..."
"Idiot! Watch your back!"
Before he could finish boasting, he heard Garp's explosive shout.
Roger's heart jolted, and he hurriedly turned, instinctively swinging his long sword.
A massive blade slashed down, striking heavily against the sword he had swung in haste.
"Clang!!"
Amidst the deafening explosion, Roger let out a muffled groan and followed in Garp's footsteps, his body flying backward as blood leaked from the corners of his mouth from the shock.
Even as he was in mid-air, his eyes were fixed on Rocks.
When he saw a large amount of black gas emerging from the massive wound he had slashed across Rocks' chest, and it healing rapidly at a pace visible to the naked eye, his mouth twitched.
"Damn! An Immortality Trait!"
He had been wondering why Rocks hadn't blocked his Gods Repel at all.
Although Rocks had fallen into a frenzy and his moves were disorganized...
...his physical instincts should still be there; things like reflexively defending should be possible.
Yet Rocks either counterattacked directly or didn't dodge at all.
So it was because of this!
An Immortality Trait!
In his mind, the giant spider from before surfaced—the one they couldn't kill even with the combined power of all seven of them.
Roger's expression had now darkened to the extreme.
"After demonizing, not only have Rocks' strength and Haki increased significantly, but he even has an Immortality Trait now... How the hell are we supposed to fight this?"
High above, Garp had already streaked across like a meteor, his fist descending.
"Fist Bone! Galaxy Impact!!"
A black and red fist wave dozens of meters in diameter, like a falling meteorite, enveloped Rocks entirely.
The violent power was like the legendary Dynamite Rocks being detonated, causing even the Demonized Rocks to bleed from his seven orifices, his tall frame sinking deep into the shattered ground as if under a hundredfold pressure.
Facing Garp's fierce punch from the heavens, Rocks' arms suddenly braced outward, and his fanged mouth roared at the sky.
"Roar!!"
Rolling sound waves erupted from his mouth, carrying a massive amount of flashing Haoshoku lightning, turning into a physical sonic cannon that blasted toward Garp.
Red light flashed in Garp's eyes.
Images of the future surfaced one by one.
A moment before the sonic cannon struck.
He stepped on the air, his figure like Z-shaped lightning, refracting and advancing through the sky, dodging Rocks' roar in advance.
He rushed behind Rocks' head, his large hand striking down...
...grabbing the back of Rocks' head and pulling it down heavily!
"Fist Bone! Undersea Drop!"