On the God Valley battlefield—
the transparent tornado of fighting intent tore apart the storm clouds gathered by Romu's Conqueror's pressure, sweeping the heavens clean. Blood-red sunset light poured down, bathing Kong and the others—along with the Tsuru who had already fainted again—covering all nine of them in that crimson glow.
"So I made you laugh, Romu."
Roger's voice rang like steel.
"In that instant just now… I actually abandoned myself."
"So now I'm going to defeat you—"
"—and reclaim myself!"
He raised his Supreme Grade Blade Ace, its edge wrapped in blood-red light, pointing straight at Romu atop the boulder.
"Let's reclaim ourselves together, Captain."
Rayleigh also lifted his famed blade. The usual lazy ease in his eyes was gone—replaced by something steady, something unshakable.
Roger's gaze sharpened.
"For ourselves—"
"for the future of the world—"
"we will defeat you!"
"HM!"
Sengoku reformed into his golden Buddha. His golden eyes fixed on Romu, expression solemn, his aura surging forward.
Who could've imagined…
that there would come a day when he fought side-by-side with pirates.
Kong glanced at Roger's side, exhaled a thick breath, and his muscles swelled inch by inch.
At the sea's edge, the sinking sun cast its final crimson beam, lighting up the eight of them in a straight line like statues carved in history.
Time—
seemed to freeze at that instant.
Kong. Sengoku—two future Fleet Admirals.
Zephyr, the black-armed Admiral with purple hair.
Garp, a legend who wasn't an Admiral, yet might as well be.
Roger—the only man to conquer the Grand Line.
Rayleigh, the Dark King.
Gaban, the twin-axe monster.
Bullet, the Devil's Heir.
A News Coo hovered in midair and snapped the shutter—
capturing this photo like it was being etched into a Poneglyph.
With this image…
history would never forget.
On the boulder—
Romu folded his arms and smiled faintly.
"Not bad."
"Looks like you've still got some energy."
He paused.
Then slowly spread his arms, letting the chaotic, violent Conqueror's currents frame his body like an ancient Greek statue carved from perfection.
His gaze was cold as he looked at the eight whose fighting spirit had reignited.
"But good."
"A lineup like this…"
"is worthy of being my first battle after absorbing Rocks."
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Bullet wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, eyes wide like a beast about to devour.
"CAPTAIN!"
"LET'S GO!!"
With a low roar, a terrifying suction erupted from him.
Rubble and broken stone screamed through the air, slamming into his left arm, wrapping it in layers—then dyeing it black with Armament Haki, forming a monstrous, wolf-like giant fist.
"HAHAHAHA!"
Roger laughed.
"My blade's been starving!"
"DIVINE STRIKE!!"
BOOM—
In a single second, Roger slashed Ace dozens of times.
Dark-red Haki-laced shockwaves formed a crisscrossing grid in the air—an entire web of cutting intent.
The moment it fully formed, it launched toward Romu, tearing spiderweb fractures into the sky.
Romu's eyes narrowed.
His terrifying Observation Haki blanketed the island.
The world turned black and gray—
and that "airtight" attack instantly revealed weak points everywhere.
"Is that all?"
Romu snorted.
His body flashed—
and vanished.
Right then—
a figure appeared behind him.
Bullet!
In a blink, Bullet's giant stone arm—wrapped in dense Armament—came down like a falling mountain.
A brutal shockwave detonated outward.
Romu's body flew back like a kite with its string cut.
"Fast…"
Romu's eyelid twitched.
But he didn't panic.
Yet before he could stabilize in midair and counter—
Rayleigh, who'd been waiting for this exact beat, sprang up behind Bullet.
"Dark King—"
With a clean, cold motion, Rayleigh released sword-light.
Several dazzling blue slashes—carrying storm-like force—shot out, sealing Romu's line of movement.
And it wasn't just that—
At the moment Rayleigh's blade-light closed in, Romu's back went cold.
He snapped his head around—
The dark-red Divine Strike grid that he had dodged earlier…
had somehow bent its trajectory and reappeared behind him.
There wasn't time to think about how Roger did it.
"Armored Awakening—Rashomon Demon Mask!"
Romu roared low.
Two savage, oni-faced Rashomon shields appeared—one in front, one behind—closing around him like a coffin.
At the same time—
Bullet's monstrous fist.
Rayleigh's peerless sword-light.
Roger's eerily locked, looping grid strike—
all arrived together.
BOOM!!
The center point exploded.
A violent storm of energy tore outward.
The coffin-like double Rashomon masks were blasted away—
but Roger, Rayleigh, and Bullet did not relax for even a second.
Roger turned and roared toward the Marines behind him:
"GARP!!"
"ARE YOU READY YET?!"
"ABOUT TIME!!"
The answer came with an equally savage shout.
Garp snapped his head toward Kong.
"KONG!!"
No words.
Kong simply nodded hard.
Muscles swelled.
Haki hardened.
Garp did the same.
The two of them became living forged iron.
Next—
both "iron giants" bellowed, stamping down.
The rock beneath them cracked and split.
They bent—
and seized the golden Buddha Sengoku between them.
"SENGOKU!"
"IT'S YOUR TURN!!!"
"GO!!"
With a thunderous throw, they launched Sengoku like a cannonball.
So fast the air ignited.
Sengoku drew a gold flame-trail across the sky.
Ignoring the violent sonic booms screaming past his ears, he reached the blast center—right in front of where the Rashomon masks had been—
and his golden eyes flared.
His arms snapped together.
All four fingertips aligned.
"ROMU!"
"FEEL JUSTICE'S JUDGMENT!!!"
His roar tore through the battlefield.
Even with stamina far from peak, Sengoku forced out everything he had left.
Behind him, a blazing golden wheel of Buddha-light formed.
"MAXIMUM WHEEL—BUDDHA'S PUNISHMENT!"
All the Buddha-light condensed into the tip of his fingers—
and fired.
BAAAM!!
Glassy brilliance erupted.
Space shattered.
Dust spiraled.
Sengoku's body trembled in midair as his golden aura flickered violently—
but he raised his numb arms anyway, teeth clenched, eyes filled with madness.
"Not enough!"
"Not even close!!"
"We finally got a close-range opening—"
"We're going to erase this damn monster completely!!"
"MAXIMUM WHEEL—BUDDHA'S PUNISHMENT!!"
Again.
Again.
Again—
Nearly ten consecutive blasts.
God Valley, already dim under the falling sun, was swallowed whole by golden Buddha-light, shining like a burning sea.
The surrounding space was first ground into fragments—
then outright blasted into powder.
Even the coffin-like Rashomon masks—
melted away under the glassy brilliance, inch by inch.
The roaring lasted tens of seconds before it finally died.
Sengoku's exhausted body smashed into the ground.
His mouth hung open as he gasped.
Each breath came with a mouthful of blood.
His face was darkened with strain.
Both arms were soaked red—torn and ruined by backlash.
On the Marine warships at God Valley's edge—
watching Roger's triple-layer assault…
watching Kong and Garp throw Sengoku into point-blank range…
watching Sengoku turn the battlefield into a gold-lit apocalypse—
the Marines were stunned into silence.
Even the three young monsters—
Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan—
couldn't speak.
Borsalino pushed his glasses up with a finger, voice unusually slow.
"So scary…"
"I think…"
"We really shouldn't be here…"
Kuzan exhaled a stream of cold air, eyes wide.
"The mask got destroyed…"
"That monster…"
"…should be dead, right?"
At the front of the ship, Sakazuki slammed his fist into the steel hull, jaw clenched.
"Damn it!"
"This kind of battlefield…"
"I must become stronger!"
"I will wash away today's disgrace—"
"—the disgrace of Marines having to fight beside pirates!!"
On the distant barren island—
Red Count gripped the handle of his purple umbrella so hard it squealed.
His eyes were stretched wide.
"Impossible!"
"Absolutely impossible!!"
"How could Romu die?!"
"Didn't he see this danger coming?!"
"Why didn't he dodge?!"
Hearing that—
Whitebeard's group froze.
"Lederfield…"
Whitebeard asked heavily.
"Was your mark just triggered?"
Shiki didn't ask, but his gaze pinned Red Count like a knife.
Their injuries were too severe. Even their Observation was blurred.
They couldn't confirm what they felt.
But among top-tier monsters—
no one spoke without reason.
"I'm certain!"
Red Count snapped.
"My perception cannot be wrong!"
"Romu was at the center of Sengoku's bombardment—"
"and his presence truly faded!"
Then his voice faltered.
Doubt swallowed him.
"Romu's Observation is above mine…"
"How could he not anticipate it?"
"Why didn't he—"
Suddenly—
Red Count's words cut off.
He whipped his head toward God Valley.
His eyes widened even further.
"What…?!"
"No way…!!"
"He's not dead??"
God Valley.
A scorched wasteland.
Charred earth.
A crater nearly a hundred meters deep, seawater slowly flooding in.
"SENGOKU!"
Garp rushed over, grabbing Sengoku's ruined, bleeding arms to steady him.
"It's fine…"
Sengoku gasped.
"As long as we killed the monster."
Everyone stood in stiff silence, doubt swirling behind their eyes.
Was Romu really dead?
Sengoku stared into the crater he had personally carved through.
His voice was low—absolute.
"There's no mistake."
"My shockwave locked onto him."
"At that distance…"
"no one can dodge or defend."
With those words—
the others finally released a breath, shoulders sinking with bitter relief.
"First Roger's feint…"
"forcing him to lock himself…"
"then Kong and me…"
"throwing Sengoku into the closest point…"
Garp muttered, analyzing with a grim calm.
"I think… the monster is gone."
Then—
clap. clap. clap.
Applause rang out.
Eight pairs of eyes snapped wide in unison.
They turned.
On a plant stem—
stood Romu.
Completely intact.
Smiling.
Clapping.
A salty wind blew.
All eight felt their throats go dry.
And strangely—
the "shock" only lasted a heartbeat.
Some part of them had always believed:
Romu surviving was the only "reasonable" outcome.
His strength had already carved itself into their instincts.
Romu raised his hand.
A pinch of brown wood dust scattered into the wind.
"First," he said calmly, "congratulations."
"You hit the target."
Then his eyes curved in amusement.
"But that…"
"…was just a piece of wood."
Substitution technique—
The term flashed through all eight minds at once.
Sengoku looked down at his shredded, bleeding arms.
Tsuru at least forced Romu to spend something.
But he…
had burned his life away…
to destroy a piece of wood.
The ground cracked—
as Roger stepped forward.
He stared at Romu with blazing eyes.
"Let me ask you something."
"You used a wooden substitute to dodge our combined killing technique—that's fact."
He lifted his head.
His eyes were manic—excited.
"But from another angle…"
"it means you were pushed to the edge—"
"and had no choice but to use substitution!"
"Am I wrong?!"
"Our attack absolutely reached a level that could kill you!!"
"ROMU!!"
Roger's eyes shone.
His battle lust grew even stronger.
The others snapped out of their daze—
and their excitement ignited too.
That's right!
He didn't tank it!
He avoided it!
He was afraid!!
Romu stared at the eight suddenly "motivated" opponents.
A faint trace of disbelief crossed his eyes—
This is the Pirate King's insane logic, huh…?
But his expression quickly returned to calm.
He clicked his tongue.
"Maybe."
"Or maybe…"
"It's just because eight versus one…"
"…is annoying."
Roger's eyes flashed—convinced he was right.
"Even if it's shameless…"
"we must win!"
"And don't call us despicable—"
"for the sake of the world!"
"At least we're admitting your strength this way!"
"You're a terror."
"A monster."
"There can't possibly be a second one like you in the entire world!!"
Romu smiled.
The ground beneath him churned.
One vine after another erupted upward—
not too many, not too few—
exactly sixty-four.
Romu looked at the eight with a half-smile.
"I won't call you shameless."
"Because eight versus one…"
"…sounds pretty fun."
The sixty-four vines twisted.
Warped.
Swelled.
And under Roger and the others' horrified eyes—
they took human shape.
Their faces sharpened.
Their posture settled.
Their aura rose.
One after another—
Sixty-four Romus.
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