"Is this truly the power of the Pirate King?"
"I thought it was some incredible ability."
"So that's it?"
Faced with Im's stunned and disbelieving gaze, Rosen reached out and patted the rising black flames from his body, as if brushing off a speck of dust. With a simple motion, the terrifying black fire—the power that could reduce Satan to ash—vanished like a snuffed candle.
"You!"
"Impossible!"
"Even Joy Boy back then..."
Im watched Rosen casually extinguish the black flames. The godlike arrogance in his eyes was shattered, replaced by raw shock.
"It's simple," Rosen said, his voice flat. "Because I'm strong. Stronger than anyone else—stronger than you, stronger than Joy Boy."
He stared directly at Im, a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
"What sort of look is that?" Im snarled. "Who gave you permission to look down on me?"
The King of the World felt a sharp pain in his chest. He knew that gaze. For eight hundred years, he had stood atop the Red Line, looking down on all living things with that same cold indifference. The Pirate King, the Four Emperors, the Marines, the Revolutionary Army—all beneath him.
And now, he was the one being looked down upon.
"As the one who bears the burden of ruling the world, I gave you ample time," Rosen stated. "Too bad. You're nothing more than trash."
Rosen shook his head. Before Im could erupt in rage, a surge of Armament Haki erupted like a mighty river, flowing ceaselessly from the ground and soaring into the sky.
100 meters.
300 meters.
500 meters.
700 meters.
900 meters.
Under Im's increasingly shocked gaze—and the wide-eyed horror of the Five Elders, Sengoku, Garp, and the others—a pillar of black light, over a thousand meters long, pierced the sky above the Red Line. It tore through the endless sea of clouds, stirring up violent winds and dyeing the sky a dark purple.
It was as if a black curtain had been draped over the world, blotting out the sun.
BOOM!
A deafening roar resounded, like Zunesha's foot stomping the earth. Mary Geoise trembled violently, unleashing a shockwave that spread across the holy land.
As the black light shot into the sky, a war god materialized. Clad in armor, with the universe above his head and the Red Line beneath his feet, he exuded an aura of supreme dominance. He stood proudly atop the land, unmoving, yet his very presence was like an ancient continent—unapproachable, overwhelming.
"One thousand meters!"
Imu involuntarily looked up. He had forgotten the last time he had to crane his neck to see something.
Now, as the King of the World, he had to look up to take in the entirety of this Susanoo that pierced the clouds.
"How is this possible?"
"It's too big!"
"Just how much Haki does this require?"
"Humans could never possess such Haki!"
Both the Marines and the World Government were utterly stunned. They knew well that Susanoo, a product of Armament Haki, experienced a massive increase in strength and defense with every additional meter of height.
A 500-meter Susanoo could crush the Five Elders like flies. And now? One thousand meters?
Severing all things in the universe was no longer an apt description of its power.
"Junior," Borsalino murmured, his eyes flashing with amusement behind his glasses. "You've finally gotten serious."
When Susanoo had shattered and Rosen was engulfed in black flames, many assumed the battle was over. Only Borsalino remained calm. As someone who had witnessed Rosen's rise from the academy to the pinnacle of power, no one knew Rosen's strength and growth better than him.
"I was truly underestimated," Im growled, his voice trembling with fury.
Who was he? The one who defeated Joy Boy eight hundred years ago and became the world's supreme ruler. Now, he was being underestimated. Right against him, Rosen hadn't gone all out from the start, but instead casually summoned a 500-meter Susanoo to toy with him.
How could he not be enraged?
"Underestimating you?" Rosen shook his head. "No, I just didn't want to cause too much of a commotion. After all, the land in this world that I can use to become King is far too small. If I could, I wouldn't want to turn the Red Line upside down."
A hint of helplessness entered his voice.
"Fine. I'll show you. The ultimate form of Susanoo."
As soon as he finished speaking, Im was slightly taken abacked. Not only him, but everyone who knew Rosen was stunned.
"The ultimate form?"
"Isn't that just the Perfect Form?"
"Could there be a form that surpasses the Perfect Form?"
Zephyr, Garp, and Sengoku were filled with doubt.
Soon, everyone in Mary Geoise understood what Rosen meant by the ultimate form.
Rosen, standing atop Susanoo's brow, slowly raised his hand, palm upward, facing the celestial sea of clouds.
BOOM!
A deafening thunderclap resounded through the heavens, like the thunder god striking a drum. It echoed throughout Mary Geoise, and even the Marines at Marineford could hear the roar.
At the same time, the sky—stained black by Rosen's Haki—suddenly unleashed nine crimson lightning bolts. Like blood-red dragons, they swooped down from the heavens and sea, merging into Susanoo's body.
At this moment, Susanoo, originally formed from Armament Haki, seemed to transform into black armor. The crimson bolts descending from the sky converged, forming a majestic, thunderous figure that donned the Susanoo armor and helmet.
Armament Haki as the armor of a war god.
Conqueror's Haki as the body of a war god.
The two were combined.
"This is the ultimate form, Susanoo," Rosen stood between Susanoo's brows, bathed in crimson lightning, like a god descending to earth. He radiated a pressure that distorted the universe, causing Mary Geoise to tremble and crack.
"Also," his voice carried a mountain-like pressure, roaring like thunder across the Red Line, "the World Government's undertaker!"
"Arrogant!"
Im's shock was instantly suppressed by rage. He had once again experienced a long-lost fury.
BOOM!
Enveloped in boundless fury, Im transformed once more into a terrifying black dragon. His wings unfurling, he stirred up a whirlwind of energy as he rose from the ground, soaring into the sea of clouds to stand level with Rosen.
"The Extinction of the Heavenly Dragon!"
The instant his eyes—gleaming with a ferocious, scarlet light—fixed on Rosen, Im opened his blood-red maw. A torrent of black dragon breath, like a fiery cloud, crashed toward Rosen, atop Susanoo's head.
Even wisps of that black fire could reduce Satan to dust. Let alone the full dragon breath unleashed now. Even more terrifying was that as the black dragon breath shot out like a drawn sword, streaks of Conqueror's Haki lightning followed closely, coiling around it.
It was like a heavenly dragon's fiery sword, a judgment upon the myriad races of the sea. Burning the heavens and piercing the seas.
However, facing the overwhelming dragon breath that surged forth like a mighty river, Rosen's eyes remained calm. With a mere thought, his Susanoo, towering like a mountain, raised its arm and thrust forward, suppressing the oncoming dragon breath.
BANG!
Rolling dragon flames, like a magma storm, spread across the sky tens of thousands of meters above, surging in all directions. They directly scorched and distorted the sea of clouds, creating terrifying craters.
"He blocked it?"
Im's eyes widened as he saw Rosen activate his Susanoo to withstand his overwhelming dragon breath with a single blow. A look of horror crossed his face.
As the King of the World, he not only possessed top-tier Devil Fruit abilities, but his three types of Haki also reigned supreme. Apart from Joy Boy eight hundred years ago, no one in the world could match him in this era.
That attack was a combination of Conqueror's Haki and Devil Fruit power. He was confident it could pierce even an island. He thought he could melt Susanoo in one strike, but unexpectedly, he couldn't even destroy a hand.
Snap.
Rosen raised his hand, clenching his fist. Susanoo, like a shadow, simultaneously raised its hand and clenched its fist.
Pfft.
As the Ultimate Susanoo's fingers—each larger than an adult giant—clenched into a fist, the Haki dragon breath spewed out by Im was instantly shattered. It exploded into a sky full of sparks that rained down on Mary Geoise a thousand meters below, igniting lawns, earth, and skyscrapers. The World Government headquarters, known as the Land of the Gods, was turned into a sea of fire.
Clang.
With a flick of its wrist, after dispersing the Haki dragon flames, the Ultimate Susanoo reached to its waist and grasped the mountain-like hilt of its sword.
"Rosen!"
Upon seeing this, Im's pupils constricted. A long-forgotten terror rose within him.
ROAR!
Before Susanoo could fully draw its longsword, Im took flight. With a thunderous roar that echoed through the heavens, the sea of clouds—previously distorted and perforated by intense heat—was first dyed fiery red. Then, dragon-fire balls, like meteors, tore through the red clouds, carrying temperatures exceeding ten thousand degrees Celsius and crackling with raging Conqueror's Haki, raining down upon Susanoo like a meteor shower.
Each fireball was comparable in size to a small island. Their descent was like a sea of fire crashing down.
Clang!
In response, Rosen calmly manipulated his Ultimate Susanoo, drawing a crimson lightning longsword constructed from Conqueror's Haki, and casually swung it.
A scarlet lightning storm spread out, like countless chains piercing the sky, transforming the universe into a vast pool of lightning. The dragon-fire balls, falling like meteors from the sky, first came to a halt above Rosen's head. Then, with a swing of the Ultimate Susanoo's sword, they all dissipated, vanishing into nothingness.
Not only Im's attack, but the boundless sea of clouds perched atop the Red Line also split in two the instant Ultimate Susanoo swung its sword. One half retreated toward the higher heavens; the other shattered into pieces until nothing remained.
A single slash.
The summit of the Red Line.
A cloudless sky.
This scene, falling into Im's eyes, caused his large, ferocious pupils to involuntarily contract.
"Im."
Rosen looked down at Im, his calm voice carrying an overwhelming pressure, like an invisible mountain bearing down on him.
"I'll send you on your way."
Sizzle.
The sound of lightning tearing through the air rang out.
The Ultimate Susanoo, towering a thousand meters tall and resembling a god, vanished into thin air.
The next second, Rosen and the Ultimate Susanoo appeared behind Im as if by spatial teleportation.
Then...
Thud.
Two tearing sounds rang out in succession.
The first sound. Im's eyes widened. He felt a lightness on his back as a blood-red centipede-like wound crawled from his neck, across his wings, and down to his tail. Crimson blood gushed out like a fountain from the deep, bone-revealing wound.
The world's King, who had stood at the pinnacle of the Celestial Dragons and reigned supreme for eight hundred years, had his wings severed. He cleaved in two and plummeted vertically from the sky.
The second sound. Mary Geoise trembled violently. A massive, surging cloud of dust rose in all directions, like a continuous mountain range, protecting this sacred land of the Celestial Dragons. When the mountain of dust, billowing like a sea, dissipated...
A chasm over a hundred miles long appeared at the summit of the Red Line, like a canyon in the sky, cleaving the World Government headquarters horizontally in two.
At the same time, this bottomless, enormous rift also swallowed Im, whose dragon wings had been severed and whose head had been separated from its body.
King of the World.
Creator.
Im.
Severed at the summit of the Red Line.
—-