"What is that?" Akda also looked up at the massive sword in the sky, his mouth agape in shock.
"That's a sword that will judge you."
Shirakawa didn't elaborate further; he didn't know how to explain it even if he tried.
He immediately launched a rapid attack at Akda. His speed was incredible, leaving behind only afterimages.
"So fast!"
Akda was stunned, then suddenly felt a surge of force from the impact of blades, pushing him back several meters.
"And his strength has increased too…"
Akda's expression grew serious, and the killing intent radiating from him became even stronger.
"This is getting interesting. More and more interesting, hahaha!"
By the end, Akda was laughing madly, his laughter wild and maniacal.
"Ever since I left the front lines, I haven't experienced such an exhilarating fight. Come! Defeat me if you can!"
His eyes burned crimson.
"Oh no… This guy's lost it," Buggy clutched his head in panic.
"Relax. Trust Shirakawa. Right now, no one here can match him."
Compared to Buggy, Shanks remained calm and composed.
As the fight between Shirakawa and Akda grew more intense, Shanks felt worse and worse inside. He secretly vowed to himself: "I'll train harder from now on."
He clenched his fists tightly.
"Shanks," Buggy suddenly called out.
"Hmm?"
The voice snapped Shanks from his thoughts.
"You'll become stronger too."
Hearing this, Shanks was momentarily stunned, then broke into a confident grin.
"Of course I will. I'll be as strong as the captain."
Though Buggy usually appeared carefree and timid, he was surprisingly sensitive, especially after spending so much time with Shanks. He understood what Shanks was thinking better than anyone else.
It could be said that Buggy and Shanks knew each other best.
Meanwhile, the battle between Shirakawa and Akda continued, but it was clear that Shirakawa now had the upper hand.
There wasn't a single wound on him, or rather, any wounds he sustained had already healed.
In contrast, Akda bore massive gashes across both his chest and back.
"Damn it…"
After a bout of madness and a lot of blood loss, Akda slowly calmed down. Though his eyes were still bloodshot, he no longer looked as vicious.
"Are you… immortal?" Akda gritted his teeth, hardly able to believe it.
"Oh? Didn't expect you to be this clever. You figured it out. That's right, I am immortal."
Shirakawa had been holding that in for a long time. Finally, he could say it openly.
"Damn it…"
Even though he got the answer he wanted, Akda still felt like Shirakawa was mocking him. The casual tone made it hard to believe.
But Shirakawa was genuinely innocent; he'd felt an incredible sense of relief finally saying it out loud.
"You're lying!"
Akda was desperate to expose what he believed was a lie.
"Hey, what's with you?"
Shirakawa asked in disbelief. "If you didn't believe me, why ask in the first place?"
"There's no such thing as true immortality. There has to be a limit. If I break that limit, you'll die too!"
Akda shouted, seemingly realizing something.
"Is that so? Then I'd like to see where my limit is."
Truthfully, now that he was fighting at full power, Shirakawa felt almost no pressure from Akda at all.
The two clashed again. The screeching of blades filled the air, joined by Akda's wild howls.
"What's wrong with this guy's head? He's in this state and still yelling like a lunatic,"
Buggy muttered, baffled.
"Who knows, maybe, like you said, he has brain damage,"
Shanks replied, clearly agreeing.
In Shanks's view, there were only two kinds of people who acted fired up when gravely injured:
The first was the passionate type who refused to give up.
The second, complete fools.
To both him and Buggy, Akda was the second type.
After taking a few more wounds, Akda retreated a few steps, trying to create distance.
"What, not attacking anymore? Come on, I'm not done having fun yet."
Shirakawa taunted.
But Akda didn't respond; he just stared at Shirakawa warily.
"If you won't come to me, then I'll come to you."
"Wait."
Just as Shirakawa was about to move, Akda suddenly spoke.
"What is it?"
Shirakawa paused, curious what trick Akda had left.
"Spare me. Let's pretend we never met."
Akda spoke with shameless desperation.
"Heh… Hahaha!"
Hearing such cowardly words, Shirakawa burst into laughter, bright and unrestrained.
Akda tried to laugh along, but his forced chuckle was downright pitiful.
"If it were us begging for mercy right now, would you spare us?"
Shirakawa didn't answer. He threw the question back at Akda.
"This…"
Akda hesitated. That alone told Shirakawa all he needed to know.
"No? Then I won't either."
Shirakawa's voice turned cold.
"With all that blood on your hands, killing you is practically a public service."
"If that's how it is, then I'll drag you to hell with me!"
Akda exploded with energy and launched a desperate final attack, clearly aiming to chop off Shirakawa's head.
"How straightforward… You've lost all reason because you know there's no hope."
Shirakawa shook his head slightly, visibly disappointed.
He soared into the air and looked down at Akda.
"Have you ever seen a sword technique that descends from the heavens?"
"Didn't think so. Well, I'll show you today."
Without waiting for a reply, Shirakawa extended his left hand toward Akda.
In an instant, Akda felt a massive pressure; it was as if gravity had locked him in place.
"This move's easy to dodge, so I had to hold you down first."
"Damn it… You can manipulate gravity, too?!"
Akda struggled to speak under the crushing weight.
"There's plenty more you didn't expect."
Shirakawa dove from the sky, blade first.
With a powerful slash, his sword cleaved Akda clean in half, from head to toe.
He glanced at the bisected corpse and casually flicked the blood off his blade.
With a dramatic tone, he said,
"Not that impressive after all."
With that, the great sword above vanished into white light.
"Looks like the battle's over."
From within the city, Rayleigh and Roger also saw the Sword of Damocles disappear.
"Yeah. But did you notice? I think there was a crack in that sword."
"Really? I didn't see it."
"Maybe I saw wrong," Roger said.
But in his heart, he wasn't so sure.
"Is something wrong?"
Roger couldn't shake the faint feeling of unease growing inside him.