At that moment.
On the battlefield—
Everything had changed.
—
"OHAHAHA!"
Rocks D. Xebec stood drenched in blood, laughing like a demon.
"So that's it? Is this all you worms can do?! Pathetic! Too weak! Far too weak!
You trash—tell me you're not out of tricks already!"
Across from him lay Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr—all collapsed, soaked in blood, gasping for air, faces twisted in exhaustion.
They had reached their limits.
"Ugh…"
"I'm not going down that easily!"
Garp forced himself upright, pale and trembling, nearly collapsing again.
But even so, the old Marine refused to yield.
"Monster… cough—he's a monster…"
Roger, Rayleigh, and Gaban were sprawled across the shattered ground as well.
Roger dragged himself to his feet, grinning weakly.
"Damn, what a beating…! We really got our asses handed to us this time, huh?"
Six of the strongest men in the world—
and all six lay defeated.
It was unbelievable.
Unacceptable.
Yet the truth stood before them:
Rocks D. Xebec.
the man called the world's strongest,
had proven he deserved that title.
Spitting blood, Fleet Admiral Dawn glared at him.
"Rocks! Don't think this is over! I'll make you pay, even if it's the last thing I do!"
He took one step after another toward Rocks, though his body shook and his vision blurred.
...
Nine warriors still remained standing:
Dawn, Kong, Gray, Garp, Zephyr, Sengoku, Roger, Rayleigh, and Gaban.
Even the weakest among them was of vice-admiral caliber.
Yet against Rocks D. Xebec, none could tell whether the blood on his body was his or theirs—
for the nine were all beaten within an inch of death.
The sight alone was enough to make even the bravest tremble.
Dawn clenched his fists, forcing himself forward.
He had to stand.
He had to fight.
This was his duty as Fleet Admiral.
If he faltered here, then justice itself would collapse.
He could not allow that.
—
Rocks grinned darkly.
"Hehehe… Not bad, Dawn."
"Your strength's worthless, but your guts—those aren't half bad."
"Fine, then. Let me send you off first. I'll see you in hell."
Crimson lightning—Conqueror's Haki crackling through his fists—Burst around him like a storm.
Each pulse of power felt ready to consume the world itself.
"HAHH!"
"AHAHAHA!"
Doen roared and charged.
Rocks met him head-on, fists colliding with thunderous force.
Bang! Crack!
They traded blow for blow, pure hand-to-hand carnage.
Neither guarded. Neither retreated.
But as the battle dragged on,
Dawn's body became a map of wounds.
Then—
BOOM!
Rocks' fist pierced straight through his chest.
A wet shock echoed as bones shattered and organs burst.
Dawn froze.
His vision dimmed.
The world grew distant.
He looked up one last time at that grinning face.
Then his gaze fell.
One by one, he saw the faces of his comrades—those who had died before him—and realized that in the end, he too would join them.
A faint smile touched his lips.
"…I lost… So this is the end after all…"
And the Fleet Admiral of the Marines fell.
—
"Admiral Dawn!"
"Fleet Admiral!"
"NOOO!"
The Marines' cries of grief rose in waves.
Meanwhile, the Rocks Pirates howled with insane delight.
The Fleet Admiral himself was dead.
How could they not rejoice?
But Rocks ignored both grief and jubilation.
He merely stared at the corpse before him and murmured,
"You were the last one… The old generation's finished."
"Guess it's time I joined you lot. Heh… wait for me in hell, you pieces of trash."
Then came a blur of motion.
Kong and Gray attacked from both sides—
but Rocks didn't even glance at them.
Thud! Thud!
With a lazy motion he blocked both strikes effortlessly.
Their combined assault amounted to nothing.
"Oi… Oi…"
He smiled, feral and amused.
"So you brats want revenge for that old man? Don't make me laugh—you're not even close."
Crash!
His fists blurred; the air cracked.
The two admirals were hurled aside like rag dolls.
"Now then…"
Rocks' eyes, sharp as a hawk's, fixed on his next target.
"Let's start with you."
He vanished.
Reappeared before Kong in a heartbeat—
and drove a punch down like the wrath of a god.
"Kong! Move!"
Gray flashed forward, kicking Kong out of the way.
A defiant grin twisted his face.
"Rocks! I won't die by your hand!"
BOOM!
The fist came down.
The earth split open.
When the dust cleared,
Gray was already gone—his body lifeless, smashed beyond recognition.
Kong crashed into a pile of rubble, unconscious.
Silence.
The entire battlefield fell still.
The impossible had happened in mere moments!
Fleet Admiral Dawn, Admiral Gray, and Admiral Vixen were dead, and Kong lay broken, barely breathing.
Only one sound remained—
Rocks' laughter.
"OHAHAHAHA!!!"
The demon king stood triumphant,
and every soul who looked upon him felt nothing but terror.
"Justice… can't end here…!"
The surviving warriors forced themselves upright—
Sengoku, Garp, Roger, Zephyr, Rayleigh, Gaban—
six battered figures who refused to fall.
Even faced with an invincible monster,
they would not yield.
This battle was not over yet.
Rocks turned as his crewmates returned, bloodied but grinning.
"Well?" he asked.
Shiki laughed wildly.
"Captain Rocks! All those Celestial Dragons are done for! Every last one!"
"Hahahaha! I can't remember the last time I felt so alive!"
The others—Linlkn, Kaido, Silver Axe, Ochoku, John—smiled just as fiercely.
They had done the unthinkable:
Slaughtered the Celestial Dragons,
killed admirals, and toppled the very symbol of world order.
And at the center of it all stood one man—
Rocks D. Xebec, the living embodiment of chaos.
...
In Galahad's eyes, however, his strength was fading.
The Holy Knight could see it clearly:
Rocks' soul was burning itself out.
Each passing second, his life force diminished.
The others sensed it too.
Arthur Pendragon watched quietly from the distance, Galahad at his side.
Neither moved to interfere.
No one did.
This was Rocks' final stage, and the curtain would fall only when he did.
Everyone—Marines, pirates, even the Five Elders—knew the script by now.
The Marines would be broken.
The Celestial Dragons would be culled.
And Rocks would die in his last blaze of glory, leaving his crew free to scatter and rise anew.
That was how the legend was meant to end.
Arthur watched in silence.
Rocks' figure was not especially tall,
yet the aura he radiated was overwhelming—the presence of a man who stood alone against the world.
Galahad spoke quietly.
"My lord, I despise darkness such as his…
but his darkness is pure."
"Unflinching,"
"He is a true demon king,"
"Compared to the filth that hides behind false light—even if I loathe him, I must still respect him."
Arthur nodded.
"Yes."
"A monster, yes… but a great one."
---------------------------///
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