Golden sparks exploded as Oto clashed violently against the purplish-black Reiatsu coating Sandai Kitetsu, completely reducing the massive boulders floating around them to fine dust under the crushing shockwave.
Shiki, who had initially worn a look of pure disdain, suddenly narrowed his eyes.
A tremendous, heavy force traveled right through the blade of Oto.
It didn't feel like being cut by a sword, but rather like being struck head-on by a heavy mountain crashing down straight from the sky.
"Such raw brute strength… how could a mere brat possess a strength like this?!"
Shiki's heart shook violently, and his previously unshakable stance was thrown entirely off balance by this single, heavy strike.
Boom!
He was sent flying backward over a dozen meters in the air.
Though he quickly regained his footing, his supporting right leg trembled faintly, highly numb from the heavy impact.
'I was forced back?'
Golden Lion Shiki—the man who once rivaled Roger and stormed Marine Headquarters entirely alone—had actually been pushed back by a single slash from a sixteen-year-old boy in their exchange?
This almost imperceptible tremor did not escape Zaraki's sharp notice.
This wasn't just the falling of ash, it was solid proof that a crack had formed right in Shiki's defenses.
For Zaraki, whose pure fighting spirit burned fiercely under the heavy influence of the Kenpachi template, this was the best signal to attack.
"Old man, if your legs aren't steady, don't push yourself!"
The ground beneath Zaraki's boots shattered instantly, the heavy recoil propelling him forward like a cannonball as he charged once more.
Clang—!
Another grating clash of heavy metal rang out.
Though Shiki raised his famed sword Kogarashi to block, the monstrous force transmitted right through the blade made his arrogant expression shift again.
This was no ordinary human muscle density.
Every single strike felt exactly like being rammed by a full-sized warship.
Zaraki swung his blade relentlessly, giving him no chance to catch his breath.
His heavy attacks were fast and utterly ferocious.
Shiki was forced to retreat continuously through the air, his once-elegant kimono torn into countless shreds by the sharp, heavy gusts of wind.
His proud, refined swordsmanship seemed almost clumsy under such highly unreasonable, overwhelming force.
Finally, with one powerful horizontal sweep from Zaraki, Shiki was sent flying backward, crashing hard into a massive pile of floating debris right behind him and stirring up a thick cloud of dust.
"Enough… you infuriating brat!"
Shiki's low, gloomy growl echoed straight from within the heavy dust.
Immediately after, Zaraki felt the ground beneath his boots change.
The once-solid rocky surface now writhed as if completely alive.
Not just beneath him—all the massive floating rocks and palace ruins entirely around them began to rumble in unison.
Within sight, countless heavy rocks and thick earth gathered wildly, completely blotting out the sunlight.
"Lion's Roar: Earth Roll!"
With Shiki's furious roar, the thick earth and stone twisted and transformed in mid-air, morphing in an instant into several colossal stone lions, each as large as a Marine warship.
They opened their massive jaws and lunged straight at Zaraki from all directions, carrying the overwhelming, crushing force to destroy absolutely everything in their path.
This was the true power of the Flying Pirate Fleet's grand commander.
Not mere swordsmanship, but absolute dominion right over the entire environment.
Faced with this cataclysmic spectacle, Zaraki did not retreat a single step.
The fierce wind whipped his black hair wildly, but he instead tightened both hands around Sandai Kitetsu.
In that exact instant, the purplish-black aura around him suddenly contracted, then erupted skyward exactly like an active volcano.
In his vision, there was absolutely no rock lion—only a pathetic pile of obstructive dirt clods!
He raised the cursed blade high with both hands and brought it down in a straightforward, brutal slash right toward the rock lion about to engulf him.
Boom—!
A massive slashing wave that seemed to pierce right through heaven and earth erupted instantly!
The ferocious rock lion, unable to even make a single sound, was cleanly, perfectly split in two right along its central axis.
The raging sword energy did not cease, entirely carving a bottomless trench straight into the ground behind it.
Countless shattered stones poured down like a heavy, torrential rain, and the billowing thick dust instantly swallowed Zaraki's figure.
In that very moment when his vision was totally obstructed—
A golden figure pierced straight through the thick curtain of dust exactly like a phantom.
This battle-hardened overlord of the old era keenly seized the absolute exact moment when Zaraki's old strength had faded and his new strength had yet to fully emerge.
Relying entirely on the ultra-high-speed movement granted by the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, he instantly closed the exact distance to less than half a meter right in front of Zaraki.
The famed swords Oto and Kogarashi carved two highly deadly crosses straight through the air, aimed directly at Zaraki's throat.
"This is the true brutality of the battlefield, brat! Go straight to hell and regret—"
A cruel, highly ferocious grin curled right at the corners of Shiki's mouth.
He could already picture the exact scene of this prodigious youth's blood totally spraying forth.
At this close range, he would utterly shatter this arrogant rookie's courage.
However.
The exact moment his gaze pierced straight through the thick dust and smoke and clearly saw Zaraki's face, Shiki's pupils abruptly contracted right down to the absolute size of pinpoints.
There was none of the expected panic.
Nor any fear right in the face of death.
On that young face now hung a maniacal, crazy grin way more savage than a pirate's, much more ferocious than a true demon's.
What burned brightly in those dark eyes was not a will to survive, but a joyous, highly extreme craving for absolute slaughter and heavy bloodshed.
As if having two famed swords pointed right at his throat wasn't a crisis, but a massive feast highly worth celebrating.
Even in Shiki's Kenbunshoku Haki perception, the figure standing right before him was no longer a human youth, but a primeval beast that had totally broken its heavy chains, baring its sharp fangs right at its prey.
A cold chill shot straight up Shiki's spine right to the crown of his head.
'This kid... is laughing?'
It was in this brief, totally stunned moment of hesitation that the heavy situation shifted again.
Shiki was, after all, a highly legendary-level powerhouse.
His astonishment lasted only a single second.
The pure killing intent in his eyes intensified even further. The highly deadly slashing attacks from his legs held absolutely nothing back now, descending with a sharp shriek that completely tore straight through the atmosphere.
Meanwhile, the red light in Zaraki's eyes blazed right to its absolute peak.
His right wrist twisted, and thick Busoshoku Haki instantly flowed exactly like molten iron, tightly coiling entirely around the cursed blade Sandai Kitetsu in his hand.