The Tiger Demon sneered at the humans daring to challenge it, saliva dripping from its meter-long fangs.
After a bout of arrogant trash talk, the Straw Hats struck first, moving with a synchronization born of a week in hell.
It was the Tiger Demon and thirty low-tier yokai versus the Straw Hat Pirates.
Luffy and Sanji immediately engaged the Tiger Demon head-on, drawing its attention.
Meanwhile, Zoro, Robin, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper fanned out to handle the swarm of minions.
After seven days of brutal survival training, they had learned each yokai type's weaknesses and exploited them with lethal precision.
For those without deadly poison or corrosive skin, Robin activated her Hana Hana no Mi ability.
Dozens of arms sprouted from the monsters' bodies, directly targeting vital points—eyes, throats, joints.
When two hands weren't enough, she used ten.
Her clearing speed was remarkably fast, snapping necks with a sickening crunch before moving to the next target.
For those with toxic surfaces, Zoro took the lead.
Infusing Wado Ichimonji with Armament Haki, he became a whirlwind of steel, instantly slicing through their hardened carapaces without fear of contamination.
Nami and Usopp provided critical support from a distance.
Ordinary monsters couldn't withstand more than a few of Nami's high-voltage shocks before collapsing, twitching on the ground.
Usopp, meanwhile, had forgone his usual explosives.
Instead, he pulled out a modified large slingshot, loading it with ammunition crafted from the sharp parts they had collected over the past few days: claws, fangs, venomous stingers.
Sango had taught him the secret methods of the yokai slayers to eliminate the residual demonic energy from these parts, turning the monsters' own weapons against them.
Perched high at the cave entrance, Usopp rained down piercing death, making the monsters howl in pain as their own brethren's fangs tore into them.
As for Chopper, the little reindeer improve the most.
He single-handedly held off three monsters at once, engaging them in a brutal, back-and-forth brawl.
Everyone noticed that after days of constant fighting, his hooves had grown darker—shimmering with the telltale black sheen of Armament Haki.
In less than ten minutes, twenty-nine of the thirty minions were dead.
The last one was still fighting Chopper but was being relentlessly pushed back by the reindeer's Haki-infused hoof attacks.
This was a Chopper enhanced by Ray's Demonic Power, finally reaching his potential.
Usually timid, he needed this push to discover just how amazing a monster he could be.
Seeing the field cleared, the others moved to support Luffy and Sanji.
But Luffy stopped them with a raised hand.
"The two of us are enough."
Sanji lit a cigarette, the ember glowing bright in the dim light, signaling for the others to step back.
Balancing on one foot, he spun rapidly, friction igniting the air until his right leg was wrapped in roaring flames.
"Let's go, Luffy. Let's show this big cat some pirate-style shock and awe."
"Right!"
Sanji used Soru to vanish, reappearing in a blur of motion.
He unleashed a devastating series of kicks coated in Armament Haki—shoulder meat, neck meat, chest meat, abdominal meat—a continuous, explosive combo that battered the Tiger Demon relentlessly.
The beast howled in pain, stumbling back.
But its skin was like iron, its muscles dense as stone. Its health bar barely dropped.
In extreme agony and rage, the Tiger Demon roared—a sound that scattered all beasts in the mountains.
The sonic wave slammed into Sanji, briefly stunning him.
Seizing the opening, the Tiger Demon swatted him away with a massive paw.
Fortunately, Sanji had instinctively crossed his arms and coated them in Haki just before impact.
He skid across the ground but stood up, shaking off the dust, relatively unharmed.
The Tiger Demon grew anxious.
These humans weren't normal.
The pressure it felt now was suffocating, comparable to when it had fought elite Demon Slayers decades ago.
Above the cave, Sango and Miroku watched in awe, involuntarily applauding.
"These passionate young people are becoming increasingly skilled at fighting yokais," Miroku noted.
"That black armor not only increases attack power but seems very effective for defense too," Sango added, eyeing the Haki with envy.
"If only we could learn it... but we've tried without success."
They watched with great envy, but accepted the reality: natives of one world could rarely master the power systems of another.
...
Down below, the Tiger Demon prepared to lung at the recovering Sanji, intending to swallow him whole.
Suddenly, a sensation of impending death enveloped its entire body.
The fur along its spine stood on end.
"What is this?"
The Tiger Demon's pupils shook violently as a shadow fell over it.
It looked up to see a black fist, larger than its entire body, crashing down from the sky.
Luffy's full-power strike had arrived.
"Gear Third: Elephant Gun!"
BOOM!
The massive, Haki-coated fist smashed directly into the Tiger Demon's head.
In an instant, the skull of the creature that had dominated this area for a century cracked.
Internal bleeding began instantly, and its eyes rolled back into its head.
The impact sent the beast flying a hundred meters, crashing into a cliff face with enough force to dislodge boulders, burying it in a tomb of stone.
Almost simultaneously, the last minion monster had its chest pierced by Chopper's black hoof and collapsed.
The incident provoked by the local lord had been resolved by the Straw Hat Pirates alone.
Inuyasha showed a happy smile.
"Kagome, it seems we no longer need to provide protection for them."
"Yes, Inuyasha," she agreed softly. "They can survive here on their own now."
"Tomorrow morning, we should continue our own journey—searching for the Sacred Jewel fragments and defeating Naraku."
The Straw Hat Pirates began the grisly but necessary work of harvesting materials, preserving lethal parts for Usopp.
"If only this monster meat was edible," Luffy groaned, looking utterly dejected.
He hadn't eaten his fill for an entire week, and the massive Tiger corpse looks so juicy.
At this moment, Robin thought of something and turned to Sango.
"Sango-san, since you can remove the demonic energy from monster remains... could you also eliminate the evil demonic power lingering in the meat?"
Sango smiled slightly. "I didn't tell you earlier only to help you adapt faster to this survival-of-the-fittest environment. Once the evil aura is removed, it's definitely edible. It's just that monster meat tends to be tough and doesn't taste very good."
The moment these words were spoken, Luffy's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.
"AS LONG AS IT'S EDIBLE, THAT'S FINE! No matter what ingredients, Sanji can turn them into delicious feasts!"
On this point, Inuyasha and his group completely agreed.
Another important reason they had been reluctant to leave was Sanji's cooking.
Grilled meat, vegetable soup, stews—even simple dishes tasted like heaven.
Kagome felt like she was dining at a five-star hotel every day.
"Ah, I really wish Sanji-san could travel with us," both Kagome and Sango sighed wistfully.
Sanji happily danced circles around the two women, hearts in his eyes, looking ready to pledge his eternal devotion.
Inuyasha and Miroku watched with displeasure from the side.
'Tch, so what if he can cook? We'll learn it tomorrow!'
Amid their noisy banter, they remained unaware that deep in the forest, two kilometers away, a figure had been silently observing all along.
Ray had erased his presence completely.
Seeing how quickly Luffy and the others were progressing filled him with satisfaction.
'Keep this up,' he thought. 'I hope your overall combat strength can reach the level from two years later in the original story.'
By then, combined with Ray's newly acquired Admiral-level strength, their group could be considered a small Emperor-level crew.
If the World Government moved against them, they'd have to carefully consider the consequences.
...
The new week began.
Early in the morning, Inuyasha's group bid farewell to Luffy and the others.
Before parting, Sango taught Usopp her Demon Slayer Village's weapon-making techniques and the purification rituals for monster meat.
From this point on, the Straw Hat Pirates had completely adapted to life in the Monster Mountain Range.
They were improving every single day.