Pain stimulates the brain.
Shiki's body was embedded into the street, forming a crater.
"That one hurt, brat."
Smiling while cursing inwardly, the ground around the Golden Lion suddenly came to life.
The streets of Logue Town were like a mother's gentle palm, caressing his back and helping him rise.
Shiki first glanced at Luffy in the sky, then lowered his eyes to his right arm.
There was a strange bend in it.
Crack!
Forcing himself through the pain, he straightened the arm.
"What are you doing?" His face was dark as his body floated upward.
"The meaning should be obvious."
As soon as the words left him, Luffy shot toward Shiki like a flash of white light.
"Of course, it's Observation Haki."
This time he was mentally prepared, and Shiki moved immediately.
He extended his right palm and swung it through the air.
With his movement, the ground of Logue Town suddenly rose, and a massive lion's head opened its jaws.
Then, his five fingers clenched into the void, and the earthen lion lunged forward, trying to bite Luffy.
Boom!
Unable to pin Luffy for even a second, Lionhead collapsed instantly.
Shiki's expression shifted drastically.
"Just the impact of his Haki disrupted my control?!"
Aerial combat was supposed to be his advantage, yet he had never imagined Luffy's speed in the air would surpass his own so greatly.
The white figure drew closer in an instant.
An open hand appeared in his field of vision.
"!"
Shiki's words were cut short as his face was seized by that palm.
Luffy gripped Shiki's face, shifted direction in a blink, and flew straight toward the floating Sky Island above.
The sunset lit the floating island in a breathtaking glow, even more beautiful than the true Sky Island.
Seawater still clung to its edges, wrapping the whole landmass like jelly.
In the span of a heartbeat, Luffy reached the top of the floating island and hurled Shiki away with brutal force.
It was like throwing a sandbag that instantly broke the sound barrier.
The momentum slowed under air resistance, but even so, Shiki could hardly believe it.
"What kind of ridiculous strength is this?!"
Crash.
The Golden Lion smashed into the island.
Snow and ice blasted into the air, filling hundreds of meters around.
"That's it? Are you too old to even stand?"
Luffy hovered in the sky, gazing down at the blizzard with a calm expression.
Suddenly, the snow that filled the air was sliced apart by sword energy.
Shiki launched a flying slash like a kick—
Only bigger and faster than a Tempest Kick!
It resembled Mihawk's casual slashes, an attack that could tear the sea itself.
But Luffy had already read Shiki's movements.
Faced with the strike, he merely extended his right hand, enveloped in Armament Haki, and grasped the attack.
Shiki's pupils dilated, his face freezing in shock.
"Impossible! He blocked my slash with bare hands?" He was so stunned he couldn't accept it.
Boom!
Suddenly, Luffy squeezed, and the slash shattered instantly.
The fragmented energy flew past his sides, vanishing into the sky.
"You can do that?"
Luffy had plenty of time to rest—enough to even mock his opponent.
Shiki's only real skill was flight; if he didn't want to be caught, tracking him down was difficult.
But as long as he showed himself before Luffy, the outcome was set.
In this world, a fighter's peak usually lies between their 30s and 50s. By their 70s, reaching even half of that peak is considered well-preserved.
"I don't understand."
Shiki's expression was twisted as he stared at the figure above. "I have no grudge against you—why must we fight?"
"Do I need a reason to fight a pirate?"
"What meaningless nonsense!" Shiki spat coldly, floating out of the snow. "You moved the battlefield up here just to protect the city below? What a joke. A pirate protecting ordinary people?"
To this, Luffy neither denied nor confirmed.
He only gave a faint smile.
"Killing without meaning is meaningless."
"What does that even mean?"
Shiki still didn't understand.
Their environments were different, their education different—their worldviews and values were oceans apart.
Luffy had no interest in wasting words.
"I thought you had something worthwhile to say. If those are your last words, then this ends now."
As he spoke, his Conqueror's Haki surged downward, crashing toward Shiki.
Shiki released his own in response.
The two territories collided in midair.
After several seconds of deadlock, Shiki's Conqueror's was shattered with a thunderous blast.
"What the—?!"
Shiki couldn't believe it.
He knew well: the Conqueror's attribute can't be trained or polished—it only grows with the user's own willpower and courage.
What oceans of blood and mountains of corpses had this Straw Hat man crossed to raise his Conqueror's Haki to such heights?
It was comparable to the young Roger himself!
The same straw hat, the same supreme Conqueror's!
"I see! You're from the East Blue too…!!"
In that moment, Shiki suddenly understood.
But what greeted him was a massive fist descending from the heavens.
"Giant Pistol!"
A colossal fist, entwined with Conqueror's Haki, plummeted toward Shiki.
Shiki countered instantly.
Countless golden slashes filled the sky, each one trying to sever the Conqueror's energy.
Yet under that punch, everything shattered—it was impossible to stop.
BOOM!!
The fist struck the Golden Lion's body, smashing him to the ground in an instant.
Snowy mountains collapsed, the land fractured, and the snow blasted thousands of meters high, turning the entire world into a vast white plain.
Boom!
The deafening impact echoed through the skies above Logue Town.
Uta and the others still in the city looked up in shock.
---
(End of Chapter)
"Hmph. If you really want to be useful, then entertain me, try to throw those pathetic power stones at me. Let's see if even your insolence can amuse a king."