That brat… he'd forged his Indestructible Body during his rampage through Wano.
Golden Lion's breath came ragged, his eyes narrowing in fury. He didn't know the exact method, but he knew enough. Kaido had known. Kaido had seen—and Kaido had lied.
That bastard had deliberately concealed Darren's true strength from him.
A boundless rage boiled in Shiki's chest, but beneath it gnawed something worse: dread.
No.
He couldn't drag this out.
If Darren truly had mastered the Indestructible Body, then all the wounds from their chase—the blood, the weakness—had been nothing but an act. A ruse to lure him here.
And Shiki himself?
He was exhausted. The rudder in his skull pulsed agony through his nerves, making Conqueror's Haki impossible to unleash. His stamina was bleeding away with every passing heartbeat.
He couldn't finish Darren quickly anymore.
And the longer this fight went, the greater the danger became.
I have to get out—
Boom!
Darren's foot shattered the ground as he blurred forward like a cannonball, speed surging to its peak.
So fast!
Golden Lion's pupils constricted. Pure, explosive power… strength like a giant, speed like lightning… what kind of hell did this brat go through to achieve this?!
"Dragon's Claw!"
The Vice Admiral's hand blackened with Haki, fingers curling into talons as he slashed for Shiki's skull.
Clang!
Oto and Kogarashi swept up just in time, locking against the claw. The impact cracked the earth, sparks spraying in a storm of force. Darren grinned through the blaze, eyes alight with mockery.
"Chased me day and night, cut me to ribbons—now you think you can just run? Dream on, Golden Lion!"
Shiki's eyelid twitched, but then he barked a laugh. "Jihahahaha!!"
Stone pillars erupted at his command, jagged spikes spearing for Darren's chest. They shattered uselessly against the Marine's frame, and Shiki leapt back to gain distance—
Too slow.
Darren's claws clamped down on his swords, arcs of magnetism crawling along the steel. Shiki felt his blades drag toward the Marine's grip, the weight of an unseen force pinning him in place.
His heart lurched. No…!
"Momonga," Darren called with a grin.
Shiki's eyes went wide. Don't tell me—
"Fifty million volts—Thunder Dragon!!"
The sky split with light.
A serpentine beast of storm and lightning coiled above, its roar shaking the heavens as it plunged toward them.
"You lunatic!" Shiki snarled. He saw it—the brat had no intention of dodging. He meant to tank the dragon's fury with his Indestructible Body and drag Shiki into the blast with him.
The Thunder Dragon struck.
For a heartbeat, the world stilled.
Then—
BOOM!!!
Lightning devoured the island. The ground buckled like waves beneath the storm, forests splintered, mountains split. A sea of fire and smoke consumed all.
Two figures were hurled from the heart of the blast.
Darren brushed ash from his chest, his eyes glittering cold.
"Damn it…" Shiki staggered upright, smoke rising from his blackened flesh. His golden mane was singed into twisted knots, blood dripping from his lips.
He stared in disbelief. "That lightning… had no effect on you?!"
Even an Indestructible Body shouldn't have shrugged it off. Not like this.
Darren only smirked, silent, already surging forward again. He'd spent months training Momonga, tempering his own body beneath endless strikes of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. That crude thunder wasn't enough to faze him.
"Get out of my way!!" Shiki roared, blood vessels bursting red in his eyes. His blades slashed in a frenzy, unleashing a storm.
"Lion's Thousand-Cut Valley!!"
Boom!
The island split beneath the golden barrage. Dust and earth exploded skyward as Shiki seized the moment, his body rising, flying—fleeing.
This is unbearable.
He was burning out. A day and night spent chasing, Haki draining endlessly to shield the rudder in his skull. Now this demon-brat with his cursed body barred his path.
If this continued, he would fall.
Not here. Not in the North Blue.
He had to escape.
Whoosh!
A streak of black steel tore through the air.
"Momo: Tenfold Slash!"
The tip of Enma stopped a hair's breadth from his eye, vibrating with lethal intent.
Shiki's face twisted. He caught it on his twin blades, but the strain made his arms quake.
A laugh echoed cold behind him. "Your reflexes are slowing, Golden Lion. And if I'm right… your Observation Haki's already burned out, hasn't it?"
Shiki's pulse spiked.
Claw!
Three blackened fingers lunged for his skull. He twisted at the last instant, instincts alone saving him, and countered with a desperate slash—
Clang!
The dragon claw seized his blade—but the Haki-hardened tip pierced Darren's abdomen, blood spilling hot.
Darren didn't flinch. He seized Shiki's arm, flipped, and brought his heel down in a brutal axe kick.
Boom!
Shiki coughed blood, his body hammering into the earth. The crater yawned wide, a hundred meters across, the island itself shuddering from the impact.
"I won't let you escape," Darren said, landing lightly, though blood seeped from his wound. His eyes were steady, unyielding.
Shiki's laughter rasped from the pit, low and broken—then rising into hysteria.
"Jihahahaha!! You think you can cage me?! If I choose to leave, no one on this ocean can stop me! Wasn't that the truth at Marineford?!"
He staggered out, blood dripping from his twin swords, his eyes wild with defiance.
Darren sighed. His voice was calm, almost weary.
"Yes. That's the truth. If you truly want to run, I can't stop you."
His gaze hardened.
"That's why I chose this place… to be your burial ground."
He looked aside.
"Doffy. It's your turn."
"As you wish, Godfather…"
The mocking drawl slithered from the shadows.
Golden Lion's face drained of color. Horror twisted his features.
The sky split with a hiss as countless threads surged upward, gleaming white in the storm, unfurling like a tidal wave.
To be continued...