Smashing my mountain-sized, flaming bo-staff from reentering the planet's atmosphere onto Imu, a humongous explosion resounded throughout the world as I was met with something halting my advance, causing me to furrow my brows as I rapidly shrunk Naga-sa until it returned to normal size.
With my bo-staff having returned to normal, I stared at the protective dome surrounding Imu formed of beasts, diamond, stone, steel, and wood, which helped stop my attack, but the real pain in the ass was the fact she was using multiple devil fruits to offset the force of my attack, such as diffusing it into the ground or absorbing it into her body.
However, I wasn't going to so easily give up, and instead, I rapidly began to kick the air above me, gaining an ever-increasing force as I pushed against Imu, causing the Redline to shake aggressively.
'C'mon, break! I know it's close.' Thought Diddy with a feral grin as he stared at the seemingly indestructible dome that was reflecting the damage back to him, which only served to increase the strength of his own attack thanks to his seventy-two Bian.
While pushing against the rubbery dome, which only increased the difficulty on my part, several tree roots suddenly emerged from the ground in a circle formation around us, only for the tips of the roots to transform into razor-sharp knives enhanced by who knows what devil fruits. Without any hesitation, Imu controlled them to quickly lunge at me as they began to slice my skin, leaving behind hundreds of tiny cuts; although they did hardly any damage, given their sheer number, it wouldn't take long before they cut me in half as they somewhat behaved like a saw that slowly chewed away at my body.
Chuckling to myself, I took a deep breath, inhaling all the air I could before using the technique 'Advance' forcefully increasing my heart as I began to output more strength; it wasn't comparable to Luffy's technique, but given my non-rubber-like body, it was pretty good, though I doubt it had positive effects on my body. Still, I was here for a good time, not a long time.
Raising my bo-staff, I released a roar, one containing pure strength, as I violently slammed it onto the protective dome, timing the attack with the pulsing of my heart, further increasing my power as I smashed right through the dome before hitting Imu into the ground, tearing a massive chunk right through the Redline.
Landing on the ground beside the newly formed canyon, bigger than any I've ever seen, I leaned against Naga-sa while the smoke that emitted off my body from using 'Advance' quickly receded.
"Heh, I'm really pushing my body right now… I love it." Muttered Diddy with a feral grin as he took deep breaths while clutching his chest, feeling the rapid beating of his heart.
Glancing down at my body, I winced a little when I saw the extent of my injuries; they weren't too serious, but I had lost a decent amount of blood, which obviously wasn't good. Since I didn't know how long this battle would last, I used my lightning to cauterize my wounds; I could heal them properly later, but right now, I needed to make sure I wouldn't die from blood loss.
'Speaking of that, does there happen to be any mink around me so I can drink their blood?' Thought Diddy lightly as he looked around, searching for any corpses, though before he could even fully turn around, a massive, monstrous arm comprised of various zoan and paramecia devil fruits suddenly punched him.
Quickly redirecting the force through my bo-staff, I smacked Imu in the stomach, launching her off into the distance, only for the ground I was standing on to suddenly erupt into a violent explosion.
"Hehehe, what a sly bitch; that fucking hurt." Said Diddy with a ferocious grin as he fell through the sky, his body a wreck from the explosion, burning most of his fur off his body, leaving only a little bit on his tail, causing Trenza to cry in distress.
"NO! My fluffy pillow!" Yelled Trenza loudly in both anger and sadness as she stared at Diddy's burnt figure.
Ignoring Trenza's words, I flipped in the air, dodging two beams that shot from what I could only assume was Imu's eyes before kicking the air and lunging towards her like a missile, leaving behind arcs of lighting as I swung my bo-staff, meeting her every attack with one of my own while dodging, blocking or deflecting her numerous other attacks meant to interrupt me, which were annoying honestly.
"Hehe, you're actually a pretty good fighter, but I must say, I'm incredibly disappointed if this is all you have to show; weren't you alive since the prehistoric era?" Remarked Diddy with a grin, licking his fangs as he moved through the air like a snake with wings, his incredible agility and reflexes making it almost impossible to touch him.
Leaping off an air platform that suddenly exploded, I emerged from the smoke only to see hundreds of different Imu's surrounding me; quickly overwhelmed by their constant and neverending barrage of attacks, I flashed through the air, leaving behind after-images to confuse them as I searched to find the real Imu, yet after a few seconds, I stopped as I realized it was pointless since each one of them was Imu.
'Wait, if each one of them is Imu?' Thought Diddy with a grin as he suddenly changed directions and lunged directly toward the closest Imu, placing his bo-staff in front of him to block the numerous attacks.
Outstretching my hand, I clenched my fist and punched the air, using Fish-man Karate as my punch traveled through the water molecules before reaching the closest Imu, who, along with the hundred others, stumbled backward from the attack.
Smirking at the success of my plan, I clenched my fist and converged lightning around it before once again punching the air, using Fish-man Karate once more as I violently zapped several other Imu's in the process. There were many of them, but they were weaker than just a single Imu; however, they made up for that with the sheer number of devil fruits, which made it seem like their strength wasn't much weaker than when it was just one of them.
'However, I think I can work with this.' Thought Diddy with a smirk as he flashed through the sky, using godspeed to swiftly avoid the thousands of attacks.
Landing at the bottom of the canyon, I stuck my bo-staff into the wall and forcefully tore off a massive chunk that dwarfed even the largest mountain; leaping out of the canyon, which was even bigger now, I swung my bo-staff, throwing it at the group of Imu's, quickly concealing their figure behind the island-sized piece of stone.
Though unsurprisingly, with a powerful attack that blasted the island-sized stone into billions of tiny pieces, a single Imu appeared on the other side, standing entirely unfazed as she faced me, causing me to grin as I swiftly lunged towards her.
"Hehe, seems you realized that approach wasn't going to work; it just made you a bigger target." Said Diddy with a chuckle as he threw his bo–staff at Imu, who deflected with a swat of her hand, only for Diddy to spin in the air before violently kicking her from overhead.
Pushing off her arm as she blocked my kicks, I punched the air above me and turned around as I rapidly kicked Imu in quick succession, using one of my seventy-two Bian, though she was able to block each one, causing me to snarl as I grabbed her arm with my foot before yanking her towards me; though that proved to be a mistake as her head suddenly transformed into something akin to dragons.
Crossing my arms, I blocked her fire breath just in time as it engulfed me, pushing me far away while burning away whatever fur remained on my body.
Once my bo-staff finally returned to me, I used its momentum to escape the attack, only to dig my hands and feet into the ground, stopping myself as I raised my head and looked back at Imu.
"Heheheh, this is fun." Muttered Diddy softly with a ferocious smile as he pushed off the ground, his figure vanishing from his spot.
___
___
"Ugh! I-Is Diddy almost finished!? Fighting against these five is beginning to take its toll!" Exclaimed Freyja in annoyance as she faced down three of the five elders by herself, struggling to fight off their relentless attacks.
"Thunder Bagua!" Yelled Kaido loudly as he violently swung his kanabo into Mars, Warcury, and Peter, knocking them off Freyja.
"Hmph, your help would've been appreciated much earlier. Now, c'mon, let's trade; I've been fighting three of them for a long time; I need a break." Said Freyja lightly as she wiped the blood off her cheek while glancing at Kaido, who chuckled with a nod, their wounds quickly healing since they had awakened their devil fruits.
"Alright, boys, go easy on me; I'm a little hurt." Said Freyja with a wicked smirk as she lunged towards Saturn and Nusjuro while Kaido dealt with the other three.