"Foxfire Style!"
As Kozuki Oden advanced deeper, Kin'emon and Kanjuro also rushed onto the shore. The two rode on a painted bird that wobbled precariously as if it might fall into the water at any moment. They had originally intended to go help Oden, but they were shot down midway.
Kin'emon used a sword technique wreathed in flames to drive back the attackers surrounding them, then complained: "Kanjuro, that bird you painted is completely useless!"
"I'm terribly sorry..." Kanjuro's face was covered in thick white powder, making him look like a ghost. He stood back-to-back with Kin'emon, defending against enemies attacking from behind.
"Kin'emon-san, what should we do now?" Kanjuro looked worriedly at the pirates continuously gathering around them—their numbers were simply overwhelming.
"Let's first try to meet up with Denjiro and Raizo," Kin'emon said after thinking for a moment. His gaze unconsciously drifted further away, where tremendous commotion could be heard, with rows of houses collapsing one after another.
"That's Oden-sama over there, isn't it?" Kanjuro asked.
"Yes, don't worry about Oden-sama. From the looks of it, that Golden Lion's strength isn't as fearsome as those sailors claimed. Oden-sama can handle him completely. Let's go find Denjiro and the others, then take this chance to retrieve that stolen Sorcery Fruit."
Kin'emon's thinking was simple—their current objective was to recover the Sorcery Fruit. As long as they obtained that, even with overwhelming numbers of pirates, they could immediately withdraw.
Otherwise, they would have to actually fight to the death against what might be thousands of pirates on this island, which would be incredibly foolish. However, like Oden, he had misunderstood something—he had mistaken Kaido for the Golden Lion.
On the other side, Denjiro and Raizo worked together, and after some effort, they finally managed to eliminate that Kangaroo Fruit user.
"This guy was really strong," Denjiro said, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. Just then, he heard Kin'emon's shout from afar.
"Denjiro! Raizo!"
"Kin'emon-aniki!" Denjiro immediately turned his head with joy, saying to Raizo at the same time, "It looks like Kin'emon and the others have come to the island to help. With the two of them here, things will definitely be much easier."
"Easier?" Raizo's crab-like hairstyle had wilted, and his ugly face showed a shocked expression, as if he were witnessing a nightmare.
Denjiro looked in the direction Raizo was staring. First, he saw Kin'emon and Kanjuro running toward them continuously. But before he could show a happy expression, his gaze was drawn to the plume of dust rising tens of meters behind Kin'emon.
Denjiro's mouth twitched, wishing he could swallow the words he had just said.
At this moment, the pirates following behind Kin'emon were too numerous to count—at a glance, there were at least several hundred of them.
"Denjiro! Raizo!" Kin'emon's expression and voice gradually became clearer. Denjiro saw him with snot running down his face, looking utterly terrified. "Run!"
He didn't need to say it—Denjiro had already started sprinting toward the island's interior. In this situation, hesitating for even a second would be disrespectful to the plastic friendship between him and Kin'emon.
However, Kin'emon and Kanjuro ran even faster, quickly catching up to run alongside them.
Meanwhile, Big Mom and Shiki, who were observing this farce, both sensed through their Observation Haki these four fellows constantly moving toward the center of the island.
"We have little mice coming this way, mamamama."
"You don't need to remind me." Shiki lowered his eyes and raised his hand slightly. In an instant, the ground of the entire island began to tear apart. Under his careful control, this disturbance only occurred on the path where Kin'emon and his group were advancing.
The four of them were still running inward when suddenly they felt their feet stumble, and all four pitched forward.
"Ouch! What just happened?" He clutched his head, eyes of different sizes wide as he shouted.
At this moment, the street began to tear apart as if an earthquake had struck. The ground beneath their feet, the houses and walls around them—all split open without warning. This made him realize something was happening, because even the pirates who had been chasing them relentlessly had stopped far behind.
"Is it an earthquake?" Kanjuro asked strangely.
"I'm afraid... it's not an earthquake..." Denjiro watched as the shattered rocks from the ground and houses floated into the air, surrounding the four of them, and immediately showed a terrified expression.
"Is this also a type of sorcery?" Kin'emon asked in disbelief. The sorcery he had seen before seemed to be mostly useless techniques, like Kanjuro's paintings and Raizo's scrolls, but this ability made him feel amazed.
"Be careful, those rocks are about to attack!" Denjiro warned.
But with their skills, trying to resist the Golden Lion was far too naive. They had just attempted to swing their swords to cut through some rocks when the ground beneath their feet tilted and rose. They couldn't even stand steadily, and in the next moment, they were submerged by the earth and stone waves that swept up to cover the sky.
From afar, Shiki clenched his hand. Kin'emon, who in the future would be able to catch Advanced Conqueror's Haki-coated attacks with his forehead, was now completely trapped by him. Although the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi (Float-Float Fruit) made rocks float in the air, the nature of the rocks hadn't changed. The hard stone blocks continuously crushed together under his control, as if trying to grind every bone in their four bodies to dust.
However, the Golden Lion didn't kill them directly. He wanted to recruit Kozuki Oden under his command, and he might need these four people's lives as bargaining chips.
Thinking of this, Shiki said with displeasure:
"Has that fellow Kaido still not dealt with his opponent? He's really slow."
"Don't say that—that fellow's strength is quite impressive too, mamamama." Big Mom laughed. "If that weren't the case, you wouldn't want to recruit him either, would you?"
"You saw through me?"
"I have similar thoughts myself. Hey, Shiki, after you recruit him, let him be my husband for a while, okay?"
"What's wrong? Haven't you had enough children yet?" Shiki rolled his eyes. He couldn't even remember how many children Charlotte Linlin had given birth to—the number was so large that even her own figure was starting to slowly lose shape.
On top of that, her uncontrolled eating of sweets...
"Be careful you don't become an old, ugly fat woman in the future, Linlin!" Shiki mocked.
"Shut up, Shiki! Do you want to fight me?" Big Mom shouted angrily.
Shiki knew when to stop. After all, if two major executives fought, it would be hard to hold back, and the one suffering would be this pirate island.
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