After Leno's round of intimidation, everyone quickly regrouped with Kuina and the other two, then took up defensive positions.
"Come on, then. You make the first move!"
The moment Leno's words fell, Uta began to sing. As her voice spread, the power of the Sing-Sing Fruit activated, and silver armor quickly formed over everyone's bodies.
At the same time the armor appeared, several figures shot forward from the opposite side, charging straight at Leno.
Leno swung his blade, rapidly parrying the incoming attacks. Once he got a clear look at their movements, he understood their tactics almost immediately.
Yamato, Kuina, Nojiko, and the others were engaging him in close combat, while the people in the rear were clearly preparing long-range attacks.
Leno casually praised them. If this kind of coordination was executed smoothly, the results would be pretty impressive.
Since someone was already tying him down at close range, the backline should be making their move as well.
Sure enough, just as the thought crossed his mind, a sharp shout rang out from the opposite side.
"Mero Mero Mellow!"
In an instant, everything below Leno's knees turned to stone. He instinctively activated Ryo.
Crimson lightning crackled as the petrification slowly receded, but before he could breathe easy, more attacks came crashing in one after another.
"Take this—my club!"
That sudden petrification had thrown Leno off for a split second. He hurriedly raised his blade to block the incoming strike.
Wiping the cold sweat from his cheek, Leno clicked his tongue. Damn it—there really was no room for carelessness.
His expression sharpened, Observation Haki spreading rapidly as he carefully tracked every movement on the battlefield.
Looking up, he saw Hancock staring straight at him, her eyes transformed into serpentine pupils glowing with a faint purple light.
Alright, alright. You all hide your tricks normally, but the moment it's against me, the captain, you bring everything out, huh?
As time went on, the fighters around him kept weaving in and out, attacking and covering for one another. Their coordination grew smoother by the second.
Leno tried several times to push the battlefield forward toward the enemy lines, but each attempt was met with fierce sniping. Repeated waves of petrification made him miserable.
Then, purple snowflakes began drifting down from the sky. As they fell, they transformed into all kinds of weapons and flew straight at Leno.
Even with Leno's normally steady mindset, he was starting to lose his composure.
The three original teams had each found a dedicated shield bearer to block the scattered sword slashes and shockwaves, while the others hid behind them to cast their abilities.
The three shields were the massive Urouge, Chopper transformed into a ball of fur, and Carmen, who had formed a shield out of layered sheets of paper and coated it in Armament Haki.
At that moment, Nami was hiding behind Carmen, releasing clouds above Leno's head.
Reiju continuously injected poison gas into them, and finally Kaya—transformed into a snow woman—controlled the "poison snow" as it descended toward Leno.
Watching the three of them carry out their "attack" in perfect order, Leno grew irritated. Who the hell came up with this awful idea?
He had imagined plenty of ways Nami might fight, but this was the one thing he never expected.
He had originally planned to use this chance to observe their individual strengths, but now they were all holed up in the back, not even showing their faces. At this rate, the trial wouldn't achieve its intended effect at all.
With that in mind, Leno suddenly increased the force behind his swings, blasting the surrounding attackers back in an instant. He flashed forward and appeared right in front of Carmen's shield.
With a single slash, a sharp crack rang out as Carmen's shield split cleanly in two. Leno stepped in, grabbed Carmen by the collar, and hurled her away.
With her startled scream, Carmen's figure vanished from sight.
Just as Leno was about to deal with Nami and the others as well, a furious shout erupted behind him.
"Physical Prowess!"
Urouge had spotted the breach in their defenses. Hugging his massive club, he leaped forward and smashed it down at Leno.
Facing the incoming blow, Leno raised his pitch-black left hand and caught it head-on.
The ground beneath his feet shattered under the impact, violent shockwaves kicking up clouds of dust.
Leno tightened his grip. With a harsh crunch, deep finger marks were carved straight into the thick club.
"What?!"
Urouge stared in disbelief. Catching his attack with one hand was already shocking enough—now even his weapon had been damaged.
That club wasn't ordinary steel. It was made from a unique Skypiea alloy, ten times harder than steel itself.
While he was still reeling, Leno didn't pause for a second. He yanked hard with his left hand, and Urouge's body was dragged helplessly toward him.
"Let me see just how far your power of karma can go."
Leno drove a kick straight into Urouge's abdomen. The burly body instantly doubled over, the force blasting through him and sending ripples through the air behind.
A moment later, Urouge was sent flying like a cannonball, vanishing from view in the blink of an eye.
That entire sequence looked fast, but in truth it wasn't rushed at all. After kicking Urouge away, Leno smoothly turned and blocked a slash coming from behind.
Shattering the attack in front of him, his voice then echoed clearly into everyone's ears.
"Anyone who tries to slack off—I'll be giving her some special attention~"
As he spoke, his gaze intentionally—or perhaps unintentionally—swept toward Nami, who was hiding off to the side.
Damn it, petrified again. He had to admit, Hancock's timing was impeccable.
Just as Leno circulated Flowing Sakura to break free, he had no idea that the others were waiting precisely for that moment of pause.
"Phantom Blade!"
"Dark Night!"
The incoming attacks were fierce and had clearly been prepared for a long time. Blocking everything was impossible. Left with no choice, Leno activated his dragon transformation.
He managed to deflect two slashes with his blade, but his towering, dragon-scaled body was frozen solid by Yamato's attack. This exchange was truly brutal for Leno.
Of course, the freezing effect lasted only an instant before he violently shattered the ice covering his body.
Yamato cheered. After fighting for so long, they had finally forced him to use his power. Kuina, Nojiko, and the others also showed subtle changes in expression.
They knew winning would be extremely difficult, but none of them wanted to lose too badly.
Now that Leno had begun using his abilities, it meant their attacks had indeed put real pressure on him.
Leno could understand their feelings to some extent. Looking at everyone, he slowly exhaled.
"Yeah. You all did well!"
"In that case, our trial… enters the second half~"