"Kaido!"
Monkey D. Dragon's voice boomed as he raised his hands. The Red Line itself seemed to alter, the atmosphere crackling with thunder and lightning.
"Tornado!"
Kaido understood the cue instantly. His body swelled, his Devil Fruit awakening fully unleashed, transforming him into a hundred-meter-long Azure Dragon. From his gaping maw, a colossal tornado surged into the sky, disappearing into the sea of clouds.
The difference between this and the chaotic, will-eroding tornado he'd unleashed at Marine Headquarters was night and day. Now, with his mind clear and his fruit awakened, the Beast Emperor's power was terrifying in its precision.
The world's most wanted criminal and the strongest creature alive worked in perfect synchronization. Their combined storm descended upon the Red Line like a divine judgment.
Crack! Boom!
The terrifying wind tore at the earth, splitting the ground with jagged fissures. Flying sand and stone became lethal projectiles. Even skyscrapers and mountain-sized boulders were ripped from their foundations.
Against this cataclysm, Rosen remained motionless. His scarlet eyes flashed. Armament Haki surged from his body, materializing instantly into the ultimate form of his Haki Construct—Susanoo. The towering, armored deity stood its ground, an immovable fortress against the raging storm.
"Mr. Rayleigh."
While Rosen held the line against Dragon and Kaido, Shanks and Rayleigh exchanged a glance. They drew their blades in unison. Armament Haki hardened the steel into pitch-black swords, and Conqueror's Haki erupted, wrapping the blades in crackling black lightning.
Then, they moved.
Whoosh.
Like lightning tearing through the sky, the two legends closed the distance instantly. They struck simultaneously, their blades finding the reach of Susanoo's defense.
"Divine Severance!"
The twin swords, wreathed in the supreme power of Conqueror's Haki, unleashed a slash wave that rose like a mountain peak, engulfing half of Susanoo's massive torso.
It must be noted: Rosen's Ultimate Susanoo, fully coated in Haki, stood over a thousand meters tall. The fact that Shanks and Rayleigh's combined attack could engulf half its volume spoke volumes about the sheer destructive force unleashed.
Bang!
A deafening thunderclap shook the Red Line. The pressure of the Haki was immense, failing to breach the Susanoo's absolute defense but nonetheless blasting the towering avatar backward.
Monkey D. Dragon. Kaido. Shanks. Rayleigh.
Each stood at the pinnacle of the sea. An Admiral or Yonko could not withstand a single blow from any one of them. Yet, working together—Dragon and Kaido controlling the battlefield, Shanks and Rayleigh delivering the strike—Susanoo only skidded back two or three steps before grinding to a halt.
"His Haki… it's incredible."
Rayleigh gasped, retracting his blade. Even the combined might of the Red Hair Pirates' captain and the Dark King couldn't break through Rosen's defense. He had reviewed the intel, heard Kaido's warnings, but the reality was far more overwhelming.
Roar!
Im, the ruler of the world, abandoned his celestial arrogance. Seeing the four kings fail to crush Rosen, he joined the fray. With a dragon's roar that shook the heavens, he spread his wings and ascended.
Boom!
The sky turned a bloody crimson. Hundreds of fireballs, each as large as a mountain peak, rained down from the heavens like a meteor shower, aimed directly at Rosen.
Compared to Akainu's Meteor Volano, this was a cataclysm.
Clang.
Rosen manipulated Susanoo with a mere thought. The avatar drew a longsword materialized from Haki, the blade coated in crackling black lightning.
With a casual swing of its arm, the greatsword swept upward, cutting through the void.
Bang!
The shockwave extinguished the descending fireballs instantly, shattering them into harmless ash before they could touch the Red Line.
"Heat Breath!"
Kaido leaped into the air, unleashing a torrent of azure dragon fire capable of piercing mountains and evaporating oceans. This was the awakened Azure Dragon's full might.
Rosen didn't dodge. He didn't even flinch. With a thought, Susanoo raised its empty left hand and swatted the dragon fire aside as easily as one might dismiss a fly.
"Is the Ancient Weapon ready yet?" Im bellowed, turning his gaze toward the Roger Pirates.
Behind them, the Pluton Battleship—teleported here by Im—powered up. Only those who had reached Laugh Tale knew the secrets to awaken it.
"Almost! We're ready!" Scobba Jabba yelled. The sheer power Rosen displayed made the gravity of the situation clear.
The ancient warship, a behemoth of steel, locked its main cannon onto Rosen. Dozens of secondary cannons hummed with energy.
Boom!
Like Thor beating a drum, dozens of pillars of magma and piercing laser beams erupted from the ship. From a distance, they looked like azure dragons soaring across the sea of clouds.
Susanoo, having effortlessly brushed off the attacks of Im and the four kings, finally shuddered under the barrage. The avatar's feet sank into the Red Line's crust as it was driven back, its mountain-sized form skidding kilometers across the stone.
"It's moving!" Shanks shouted, a spark of hope in his eyes.
"Don't celebrate yet," a man resembling Shanks—save for the lack of scars—said coldly. "Susanoo isn't damaged."
Rayleigh analyzed the situation instantly. "Jabba! The main cannon! Fire now!"
"I'm trying!" Spark Jabba roared, sweat beading on his forehead as he piloted the ancient weapon.
The largest cannon on the Pluton locked on. The energy discharge was blinding.
Boom!
A beam of golden light erupted—a rainbow piercing the sun, a sword of lightning. It was an attack said to be capable of obliterating an entire island.
Facing the Ancient Weapon's full power, Rosen raised his left hand. Susanoo mimicked the motion, manifesting a massive shield of dense Armament Haki.
The island-destroying beam struck the shield. Shockwaves rippled out, shattering the clouds for miles around, but the shield held. The beam dissipated against the impossible defense.
This was the difference between a duel and a war. If Im faced Rosen alone, even with the secrets of the throne, he would fall. But with the combined might of the Roger Pirates, Kaido's crew, Shanks' fleet, the Revolutionary Army, and two Ancient Weapons, the tide was turning.
"My national treasure is stronger than any of Joy Boy's relics," Im hissed, watching Rosen stabilize Susanoo. "Yet it couldn't breach his defense. Pluton alone isn't enough."
"Then add Uranus!" Monkey D. Dragon's voice thundered from the sky.
The second Ancient Weapon activated.
BOOM!
A roar equal to Pluton's cannon fire rolled down from the clouds. Simultaneously, thousands of lightning bolts—thick as pythons—tore through the void. They didn't strike randomly; they coalesced, striking Rosen and Susanoo simultaneously.
One cannon destroys islands. The other controls the storms of the world.
With the combined might of two Ancient Weapons and the support of the Four Kings, Susanoo buckled.
Under the gaze of pirates and Celestial Dragons alike, the shield of Armament Haki cracked. The lightning and lasers pierced through, hammering the avatar's chest.
"Now!"
The Kings seized the moment.
"Divine Annihilation!"
Shanks, Rayleigh, and Spark Jabba unleashed their ultimate strike. A Conqueror's Haki slash wave, shaped like a black crescent moon, tore through the air, striking Susanoo's chest with the force to split seas.
"Rising Dragon: Flame Bagua!"
Kaido unleashed his heat breath, forming a fire dragon larger than Onigashima itself. In his awakened state, this fire dwarfed the power of a Mythical Zoan Nika user. The Monkey God Spear was nothing compared to this inferno.
"Rising Dragon: Twin Dragon Bagua!"
Simultaneously, Kaido unleashed a roar of pure lightning, creating a plasma dragon of catastrophic power. Fire and lightning—two elemental dragons of immense size and destruction—coiled around Susanoo, squeezing with crushing force.
"Lord Im!"
A flash of movement. Figarando Gringuchi arrived. Garp, meanwhile, was held in check by a red-haired swordsman resembling Shanks—an agent of the God's Knights.
As the Supreme Commander of the God's Knights, Gringuchi was a swordsman of supreme skill, favored by Im. If a seat among the Five Elders were open, he would have sat there long ago.
"In the name of the Creator," Im declared, a cloud of black flame manifesting, "I grant you the mantle of a Warrior. The seat of Saturn is vacant. I grant you immortality and the power of the Revenant Form."
The black flame entered Figarando Gringuchi's body. Saturn, one of the Five Elders, had fallen, and his seat was now filled by the ancient swordsman.
"Thank you for your grace, Lord Im."
Gringuchi's face lit with ecstasy. Though he appeared elderly, he felt his aging body revert to its prime. His strength and Haki, previously waning, surged to their peak. For a swordsman, a youthful vessel and immortality were gifts beyond any Devil Fruit power. He had waited centuries for this moment. C
—-
Enjoying the story? You can read 3-5 chapters ahead right now on Patreon!
New chapters drop there much earlier than Web Novel.
Join P@treon & Read Ahead → https://[email protected]/c/Ren_Saga
Thank you for your support! ❤️