That shockwave was enormous—so loud and violent it dragged nearly everyone's attention toward the center of the battlefield.
A gust of wind swept through.
The rolling dust slowly thinned, revealing the faces of the three figures standing there.
"Ugh… that fall hurt like hell—wait, that's Roger, Kong, and Garp!"
"Then the one who crashed down just now… was Rocks?!"
"Who else could it be? If those three were fighting someone, it could only be Rocks!"
The people who'd been blown into the air earlier bared their teeth in pain, staring at Roger's trio with disbelief as they whispered among themselves.
Farther away, the captains' expressions tightened at the same time.
"This is bad…"
Whitebeard's brows furrowed. His dodge was half a beat slower—he nearly got clipped by that woman's Wash-Wash Fruit attack.
Shiki too.
For a split second his grip on Oto and Kogarashi loosened, almost getting his swords knocked away by Zephyr and the other elites.
He took a hard drag of his cigar, forcing himself back into focus.
As for Wang Zhi, John, and Silver Axe—their reaction was even more dramatic.
Their next strikes nearly landed on the wrong targets.
"I knew it! No matter how strong he is, he can't beat Roger, Kong, and Garp together!"
"Damn it, Roger—does he even deserve to call himself a pirate?!"
"Shut up and deal with what's in front of you! Rocks won't die that easily. If you can't even get past your own fight, you won't be worth licking the blood off his boots!"
They cursed Roger—then gritted their teeth and stabilized, continuing to fend off their enemies.
With Gaban, Bullet, and multiple Vice Admirals and Admirals in the mix, the lineup on the Marine side was absurdly stacked. They were close to breaking.
Even farther out—
Sengoku had fully switched from offense to defense.
He abandoned any aggressive moves just to reduce consumption—because he genuinely felt that if he kept trading, Romu might literally bomb him to death with skills.
Even then, it was still only barely holding.
So when Sengoku saw Kong's group gaining ground and starting to suppress Rocks, an honest-to-god sense of relief rose in his chest—like surviving a disaster.
He opened his mouth, ready to go back to "strategic persuasion"—
Only to get hammered again by Romu's nonstop barrage, unable to lift his head.
"Worry about yourself first."
Romu's voice was cold.
"Sengoku."
Then his gaze slid toward the crater Rocks had been smashed into, as if calculating something.
At the crater's edge, Roger, Kong, and Garp stared down into a black hole at least dozens of meters deep.
They stayed rigid, on full alert.
No one relaxed.
It was pitch-dark inside, but with Observation Haki, they could still sense it:
Rocks' presence was there.
Sure enough—
A deep rumble shook the pit.
Ten seconds later…
Rocks stepped out.
Hair flaring, he exhaled twice—long and hard—then calmly brushed the dust from his torn cloak.
Crackle—crackle!
Black Conqueror's Haki roared across his skin, wild and violent.
He still looked like the same terrifying overlord.
But in truth—
The right side of his lower abdomen was already bruised dark.
He lifted his head, eyes locking on Roger, Kong, and Garp.
A cold smile twitched at his mouth.
No speeches.
No delay.
He moved.
The instant his foot hit the ground—
A brutal invisible pressure burst outward, pulverizing loose stones into powder.
Then his body flickered and vanished.
Roger's trio's eyelids jumped at the same time.
No hesitation—only instinct.
They attacked the spot their Observation Haki screamed at them.
"Divine Departure—!"
"Six Styles Secret Art—Steel-Bone—!"
"Falling-Iron Palm!"
Their attacks detonated—shattering air, smashing rock—
And hit nothing.
Rocks had already appeared right in front of Roger.
Even though he always looked reckless and arrogant, he wasn't careless here.
Roger, Kong, Garp—
Each one was a top-tier monster.
If Rocks wanted to win, he had to do one thing:
Pick one. Break one.
Once one pillar fell, the fight would tilt.
"The world will belong to me!"
His killing intent spilled out like ice.
"Whoever blocks me dies!"
Roger reacted instantly, raising Ace across his body.
Clang!!
Rocks' strike slammed into the blade—forced Roger into a defensive lock.
And Kong and Garp—of course they wouldn't waste the opening.
They attacked together from the side.
Rocks' mouth curled, black mist of breath slipping out.
His left arm moved.
Black Conqueror's Haki burst outward—forming a dense pressure wall that stopped their blows dead.
His right arm never loosened.
Then his left arm snapped again—another surge of Haki blasted into Ace's blade.
Roger's eyes widened.
A massive force travelled through the sword into his entire frame.
He couldn't hold it—
He was blasted backward, blood spraying from his mouth.
Rocks' thin body followed like a shadow.
The Conqueror's Haki on his arm changed shape—
Not coating.
Not flowing.
It condensed into a blade-like edge in midair, stabbing straight toward Roger.
"ROCKS!!"
Kong and Garp roared, throwing two pitch-black fists forward—
But Rocks didn't dodge.
He didn't even try.
He kept driving toward Roger.
Same plan.
Break one pillar.
Even if it meant eating two punches.
"Roger—die!"
That Haki blade pierced Roger's body with a wet, brutal sound—
And at the same instant, Kong and Garp's fists smashed into Rocks' back like twin meteor hammers.
Rocks' insides turned over.
For a full second his body stiffened.
"Damn it…!"
Pain twisted his face into something feral.
A spiral burst of compressed force erupted from his back, blasting Kong and Garp away.
Rocks forced himself to breathe, then flipped out and landed on a massive boulder.
He stood there.
Expression dark.
His mouth twitched.
A bead of cold sweat slipped down his forehead.
To the average fighters watching—
It looked like Rocks had just humiliated three legends in a blink.
Small-time pirates screamed themselves hoarse.
"As expected of Captain Rocks! He stabbed one and blew away two—invincible!!"
"Terrifying!"
"I saw it—he shaped Conqueror's Haki into a weapon! How the hell does anyone do that?!"
"He ignored Kong and Garp's iron fists—what kind of monster is he?!"
The Marines' faces, meanwhile, turned pale.
But that wasn't the full picture.
On the distant observation island, "Red Count" Baloirck Redfield withdrew his Observation Haki and muttered to himself:
"As expected… the Sea's Overlord."
"Rocks is beyond the level of top experts."
"…But the overlord is about to lose."
Because Redfield could see what most couldn't:
After taking Garp's earlier hit that buried him—
Rocks' aura had already started to wobble.
And just now, he forced a trade against Kong and Garp's fully-loaded punches.
Those two impacts—
They were heavy.
They were deep.
Rocks looked terrifying only because he was gambling everything on the last possible path to victory.
Meanwhile, two bubble airships headed toward the Red Line.
Inside, the Five Elders sat around a huge circular table, watching the battlefield via live projection.
"Just a cornered beast," the elder in the black suit said calmly.
"Rocks isn't worth worrying about anymore."
The red-suited elder nodded, eyes narrowing toward the figure who was still bombarding Sengoku.
"But that plant-man… he's still a problem."
"Relax," the green-suited elder said, voice steady.
"I noticed him early. I've already prepared a counter."
The elder in the white kimono adjusted the sheath of Shodai Kitetsu, eyes still troubled.
"The only question is… what exactly caused Im-sama's reaction…"
The room fell silent.
Back at God Valley—
Minutes passed.
The battle resumed at full intensity.
"Rocks! Stop resisting—this is meaningless!"
Kong roared, his body pitch-black, driving forward like an ancient beast.
"Six Styles Secret Art—Steel-Bone Shatter!"
Garp's fist ignited with deep black force.
"Fist-Bone Meteor Punch!"
Roger, clutching his still-bleeding abdomen with his left hand, swung Ace with his right—
A dark-red crescent slash flew out, chasing behind Kong and Garp.
Rocks' cloak was already shredded, bleeding from multiple wounds.
Just as Redfield and the Five Elders predicted—
After eating Garp's earlier blow, then failing his "trade" and taking Kong and Garp's two heavy hits…
Rocks was now fighting like a wounded lion.
Still deadly.
But no longer endless.
"Come on!!"
He roared.
Black Conqueror's Haki and Armament burst together, coating his strike—
He met them head-on.
Boom!!
Power crashed into power.
Only a few seconds—
Rocks' throat sweetened.
Blood surged out of his mouth.
His body flew backward and slammed into the ground, carving a massive crater not far from Romu.
This time—
There was no second rise.
Minutes passed.
He didn't come out.
The battlefield fell quiet.
The slaughter around Crack Mountain slowed… then stopped.
People stared.
John, Wang Zhi, and Silver Axe—covered in wounds from Gaban, Bullet, and the Vice Admirals—shouted in panic.
"Captain Rocks!!"
Whitebeard and Shiki both turned toward that crater, faces tense and disbelieving.
That invincible Rocks…
Was he really down?
Tsuru's eyes widened until they looked round.
"Did… did Kong and Garp really defeat Rocks?"
Every pirate and every Marine had the same thought:
No way.
It felt impossible.
Rocks' legend had been too overwhelming.
The man who forced monsters like Whitebeard, Shiki, Linlin, Wang Zhi, John, and Silver Axe into one crew.
The man who dared to massacre Celestial Dragons.
The only pirate with a bounty above two billion—the Sea's Overlord.
His "aura" had become synonymous with "invincible."
Even Romu paused.
He stopped pressuring Sengoku for a beat, staring at the crater, eyes narrowing.
"So the timeline didn't change that much after all…"
"Rocks… still fell."
Then he swept his gaze across the battlefield:
Kong. Garp. Zephyr. Tsuru. Roger. Rayleigh. Gaban…
Romu's pupils tightened almost imperceptibly.
He looked at the crater again, distracted—thinking.
"So it really comes to this?"
"Do I have to use my trump card… like this?"
And then—
In the instant Romu's focus slipped—
A white blur flashed like a ghost.
CP0's captain struck. A sneak attack—straight at Romu.
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