Shiki exhaled hard.
His twin blades — Oto and Kogarashi — were stabbed into the shattered ground as he leaned on them for support. For the first time since the battle began, the Golden Lion's tall frame looked slightly bent.
He had just chained together Slash Waves, Lion — Senkiri Valley, Lion Threat: Earth Scroll, and a full Conqueror's Haki clash.
Even someone like Shiki needed a breath.
Across from him—
Romu looked far less strained.
The life essence absorbed through his Wood Fruit granted him absurd stamina. His chest rose steadily, eyes still sharp.
Blood dripped from his right arm.
Drip… drip…
But the wound sealed itself at a visible pace, flesh knitting together in seconds.
Shiki's eyes narrowed.
"…Interesting. You really do have commander-level strength…"
Romu cut him off.
"So…"
"You surrender?"
Smoke curled from the cigar Shiki had just lit.
His grin widened.
Romu had exceeded every expectation — smashing apart Senkiri Valley, countering Earth Scroll, matching Conqueror's Haki… and doing it all with that strange crimson armor.
But what shocked Shiki most wasn't the techniques.
It was stamina.
After all that, Shiki felt the drain.
Romu?
Still eager.
Still fresh.
And his wounds healed instantly.
A monster.
Even among Rocks' monsters.
But surrender?
That word didn't exist in Shiki's vocabulary.
He straightened.
"Young man… don't get ahead of yourself."
He bared his teeth.
"Warm-up's over."
He sheathed both blades.
Then roared—
"Lion Threat — Imperial Earth Scroll!!"Fifty lions descend
The ruined island trembled again.
This time—
the sea shook too.
Mud exploded skyward.
Tsunami waves rose like walls.
Shapes formed midair.
Fifty colossal lions.
Twenty earth lions.
Thirty sea lions.
Shiki snapped his fingers.
"Go."
The heavens darkened.
Even the air seemed to recoil.
From the distant ship, pirates stared in horror.
"It's that technique again?!"
"Romu's finished! The sea lions neutralize Devil Fruit users — once trapped, the earth lions devour them!"
"…But forcing Shiki this far… that kid's not even twenty?!"
Even Wang Zhi and the others were stunned.
Newgate's expression hardened.
He knew this move.
It was devastating.
He hurled a lifeboat into the water.
He intended to save Romu.
But before he could jump—
a new surge of power erupted from the island.
The awakening
BOOM!
The entire island shook.
Not just the island—
the sea within a kilometer roiled violently.
Water bubbled like boiling tar.
Then—
massive waves erupted upward in columns.
"What the hell?!"
"Sea Kings?!"
"Back the ship up!"
Even Newgate's vessel rocked violently.
At the epicenter—
dust and debris swallowed everything.
Then—
a silhouette rose inside the storm.
Two blazing orange lights glowed in the haze.
A roar echoed.
The dust spiraled inward—
and the shadow shot skyward like a comet.
In seconds, it coiled above the island.
Another roar—
and the dust blasted outward.
Silence followed.
Then—
they saw it.
A dragon.
A colossal wooden dragon spiraled through the sky.
Over one hundred meters long, its body lined with jagged spines. Its glowing orange eyes burned like twin suns.
A casual tail flick—
and a towering water pillar exploded from the sea.
Dragon might.
Terrifying.
The pirates' gazes climbed higher—
until someone shouted:
"…There's someone standing on its head!"
"That's him!"
"Romu!!"