The Giant Dragon circled high in the sky, its peach-colored Scales reflecting the blinding morning light. Pale golden Flame Clouds writhed like living creatures around its draconic form, each breath exhaling scorching heat waves.
Golden Lion hovered mid-air, his initial shock frozen on his face, pupils slightly contracting under the Giant Dragon's oppressive presence.
But within moments, he suddenly chuckled lowly, the laughter growing louder until it transformed into his signature "Jie ha ha ha" roaring laughter that echoed between sea and sky.
"So that's it... Jie ha ha ha! So that's it!" The Cherry Ten and Withered Tree in his hands trembled with his laughter. "Your ability truly shares the same origin as that guy Kaido's! How interesting!"
When he first met Ryan, he had detected an aura identical to that old dragon Kaido's.
But back then, Ryan's Dragon Scales were as thin as brittle shells, his transformed state merely a few meters long - he could barely overturn a sailboat. Compared to Kaido's sky-obscuring Giant Dragon form, he was practically like an unweaned Hatchling Dragon.
Golden Lion had once thought this was just a defective product, possessing the dragon's form but lacking the Dragon Soul.
But he never expected... this kid could break through his constraints in such a short time.
The Giant Dragon that Ryan had transformed into didn't respond, only slowly turning its neck, pale golden Vertical Pupils locking onto that insignificant figure. The Flame Clouds around the dragon's body churned more violently, pressing the sea surface below into a massive depression.
Facing this former legend, he couldn't afford the slightest carelessness.
Golden Lion's laughter gradually faded, his face showing unprecedented gravity, yet mixed with excitement.
He slowly raised his hand, gripping the ship's rudder piercing through his skull, knuckles turning white from the force: "Since you're a dragon, you should taste what it's like to be severed by a true conqueror!"
Before the words faded, he violently ripped out the rudder!
"Pfft—"
Blood gushed like a fountain from his head, staining his golden hair crimson.
But simultaneously, a Conqueror's Haki far more violent than before exploded from within him, ink-black air currents shooting straight into the sky, actually coalescing mid-air into a sky-obscuring Lion Phantom.
"ROAR—!"
The Lion Phantom collided with the Giant Dragon's Dragon Roar high above, shockwaves of intertwined Conqueror's Haki and Dragon's Might spreading outward, pulverizing the clouds into dust, even causing the seawater to recoil.
Ryan felt a rumble in his mind, his dragon body actually shaking slightly from that Haki's impact.
This was the first time he had experienced such pure pressure, as if he wasn't facing a person, but the entire Golden Era's storms and waves.
Golden Lion hovered at the Lion Phantom's center, and despite blood pouring from his head, his eyes shone startlingly bright: "Come!" Let me see if you have the qualifications to shatter legends!"
Just at this sword-drawn, bow-bent moment—
"Ugh..."
Golden Lion suddenly grunted, his body lurching forward violently. The intensely concentrated Lion Phantom receded like tidewaters, the Conqueror's Haki instantly dispersing.
Clutching his bleeding head, the excitement in his eyes rapidly replaced by gloom, his entire person plummeted downward like a severed kite.
No earth-shaking collision, no tragic roars, only the heavy sound of a body out of control falling.
Ryan was stunned.
That momentum that could shake the heavens and the earth had vanished so abruptly, like a burnt-out candle flame, leaving not even a trace of residual warmth.
He circled in the air, watching that golden figure trace a parabolic arc, crashing heavily onto the deserted island below, stirring up a cloud of dust.
After a moment, the Giant Dragon slowly descended, the Flame Cloud carrying it to the edge of the island. The peach-colored Scales faded away as Ryan returned to human form, the old wound on his chest completely healed, leaving only a faint scar.
Gripping Wind Splitter, he walked step by step toward the dust-filled center.
Golden Lion lay sprawled amidst the rubble, his golden hair matted with blood and dirt, the wound on his head still bleeding profusely.
He struggled to lift his head but could only manage a futile twitch. The blades from his severed legs had long since fallen aside, leaving him devoid of any imposing aura.
Ryan stopped before him, looking down at the man who had tormented him for two years and fought him for four days and nights. The sea breeze swept past, stirring the sand around them, yet unable to disperse the deathly silence.
"Burned out to the last drop."
Ryan's voice was soft but carried an extreme coldness—no triumphant joy, no vengeful satisfaction, only the calm of a settled outcome.
He had expected a life-or-death struggle, but... it seemed age had truly rendered him useless.
Golden Lion's eyelids trembled with effort, his murky eyes reflecting Ryan's figure. He parted his cracked lips and, after a long moment, managed to squeeze out a few muddled words: "I... I've lost..."
Those three words, light as they were, fell like a stone into a still lake.
Ryan raised an eyebrow, his tone devoid of any fluctuation. "Lost? You lost long ago—the moment you thought you could bind me with favors and reputation, you had already lost."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Golden Lion's pale face. "Your era ended the moment you were locked away in Impel Down."
Golden Lion's fingers twitched suddenly. He lifted his hand as if to grasp something, but could only clutch feebly at the empty air.
The sea breeze tousled the disheveled hair on his forehead, revealing eyes that had once looked down upon the world, now filled with an unprecedented confusion. "So that's it... So... my era... ended long ago..."
He murmured to himself, then suddenly turned his head, straining to look at Ryan. A complex light flashed in his eyes—something like liberation, yet also regret.
"Is this... the monster... I created..."
Before his words faded, his fingers twitched again. In the distance, "Cherry Ten" and "Withered Tree" broke free from gravity, transforming into two streaks of light that landed steadily on the ground before Ryan.
The blood on the hilts had not yet dried, but their former ferocity was gone.
"Your... spoils of war..." Golden Lion's voice grew weaker, his breath faint as a thread. His gaunt finger trembled as he pointed at the two blades. "Cut off my head... inherit... my name... Go... make a name for yourself across the seas... Ryan."
Ryan looked at the two blades gleaming coldly in the sunlight, then glanced down at the dying Golden Lion, his expression unchanging.
Golden Lion's murky eyes shifted suddenly, as if catching the refusal in Ryan's silence. He let out a few broken laughs. "You think... you can escape?"
Coughing up bloody foam, his voice abruptly gained a sharp edge. "You are a monster raised by pirates—fighting, plundering, making a name for yourself... This is your fate!"
The sunlight fell upon his pale, paper-like face. Those eyes that had once looked down upon the seas were gradually losing focus, yet they remained fixed on Ryan: "Stop pretending... You... I taught you... You were born to be a pirate."
As his last breath faded, Golden Lion's hand remained outstretched toward the sky, as if trying to grasp one final glimmer of the era that belonged to him, his fingers frozen in the lingering echo of the word "fate."
Ryan stood in silence for a moment, the sea breeze tousling the strands of hair on his forehead, revealing a clarity in his eyes that had never been there before.
He spoke slowly, his voice soft yet sharp as a blade cutting through the dead silence of the clearing: "I have no interest in inheriting any title, nor in making a name for myself across the seas."
He sheathed Wind Splitter and fastened it at his waist, his movements crisp and decisive: "Who taught me doesn't matter."
His fingers unconsciously traced the old marks on the hilt, scars left by two years of torment. "I just want to be my own master, nothing more."
With that, he spared no further glance at Golden Lion's corpse and turned toward the sea. When he reached the edge of the cliff, his body began to transform. Peach-colored Scales rapidly spread across his skin, his bones cracked and popped, and his form swelled once more, transforming into the hundred-meter-long Giant Dragon. Pale golden Flame Clouds billowed around him, lifting him as he spiraled into the sky.
The moment the Giant Dragon took flight, the entire island began to shake violently.
Without the support of Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit ability, the floating island was like a kite with its string cut, slowly descending.
The earth cracked, boulders tumbled, and the beasts and birds in the jungle fled in panic, their desperate cries echoing through the air.
Ryan circled in the sky, looking down at the island that was about to plunge into the sea.
Once, this place had been his hell, where he endured torment day and night. Now, with Golden Lion's death, it too would meet its end.
He felt no attachment. Swinging his Dragon Tail, he rode the pale golden Flame Clouds and flew away from the island. Behind him, the island continued its descent, a collapsing past.
And ahead lay the vast, boundless sea—a future that was his alone, just beginning.
The wind howled in his ears, carrying the scent of freedom. Ryan's Dragon Pupils reflected the distant horizon—no confusion, no fear, only calm and resolve.
He knew that from this day forward, his fate would be written by his own hand