Air currents surged in and out of the deep crater, carrying a suffocating mix of sulfur and the heavy scent of blood.
Suddenly, a low, rumbling laughter emanated from the depths of the earth.
It started as a faint wheeze but quickly grew into a deafening roar.
"Jihahahaha! That hurts... It's been a long time since I've felt such pain!"
Rocks exploded as a golden figure stepped onto the air, rising once again.
Shiki, the Golden Lion, was covered in blood.
The deep, bone-revealing slash on his chest exposed torn flesh, yet his aura at this moment was even more ferocious than before.
Shiki stared fixedly at Zaraki, his gaze locking on like he'd finally found a kindred spirit.
"Brat, I take back what I said earlier. Making you my subordinate would be a waste! A natural-born monster like you could never bow to anyone."
But Zaraki only frowned.
The Sandai Kitetsu in his hand was still trembling with a bloodthirsty desire, but the blazing red light in his eyes had dimmed slightly.
"Disappointing."
Zaraki casually flicked the blood off his blade, his tone flat. "This is the legendary Golden Lion? I thought I could cut more freely. But all you think about is throwing rocks and crushing people with gravity. Old man, where's your sword slash? The one who once rivaled Roger—have you forgotten how to fight?"
Not a single curse word was spoken, yet the words were sharper than any blade.
Shiki froze, his blood-stained face twisting as if a raw nerve had been struck.
"Forgotten? I've forgotten how to fight?"
Shiki slowly raised his hand.
His rough palm gripped the half of the ship's helm still embedded in his skull, and blood immediately began to trickle again from the old wound.
Black-red lightning burst from the Golden Lion's body.
Haoshoku Haki.
A tangible spiritual shockwave carrying an aura of total destruction. Under this pressure, the clouds scattered, revealing a pale, empty sky.
"If you want to witness true hell, I'll grant your wish!"
Shiki tore his hand away from the blood-slick helm and pressed both of his palms downward.
"Lion's Might: Infinite Earth Roll!"
At that moment, the world went mad.
The entire floating main island—a colossal mass spanning dozens of kilometers—let out a mournful roar.
Billions of tons of earth and stone churned, folding and compressing endlessly.
The ground vanished, replaced by a ten-thousand-meter-tall lion's head formed from the entire island.
Every rock, infused with Haki and compressed by the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, turned a pitch-black, metallic hue.
It lunged down to devour the insignificant human in its path.
There was no escape.
An attack of this magnitude was impossible to evade through ordinary movement.
"Now this is more like it..."
Faced with this apocalypse, Zaraki's mouth curled into a savage grin. Every cell in his body cheered.
The template resonated completely with his soul.
He did not shut out the pain.
He welcomed it!
The cuts, the torn muscles, the exhausted lungs, the trembling bones—every sensation only sharpened him further.
Hum!
The Sandai Kitetsu sensed his resolve.
The cursed blade screamed in his grip as Zaraki poured all his Haki and all his rampaging golden Reiatsu into it without holding back.
The black-red edge began to crack.
Not from weakness.... but from overload.
"Since you turned the island into a lion..." Zaraki's voice dropped into a growl. "Then I'll turn this blade into fangs capable of slaying a lion."
He gripped the sword with both hands and brought all of his power down in a single line.
The materialized golden aura around him compressed violently onto the blade.
Busoshoku Haki coiled over it in thick black layers. The cursed aura of Sandai Kitetsu howled as those forces merged.
A massive black-gold sword light erupted from the edge.
It was no longer a normal slash.
It was a fang stretched across the heavens!
"Carnage."
The black-gold blade light and the stone lion collided.
For an instant, all sound vanished. It was a momentary vacuum caused by the sheer density of the energy.
Immediately after, a white ring of light swept outward. The clouds evaporated. The sea far below was pressed into a vast depression.
BOOOOOOM!
The delayed explosion shook the sky. A fine black line appeared right down the center of the ten-thousand-meter lion's head.
The next moment, the lion shattered.
Billions of tons of rock turned into a sky full of fine dust, drifting down like a grey blizzard.
And at the end of that swirling blizzard, Shiki appeared exceptionally small.
He still floated there, but the two famed swords attached to his legs were covered in deep, gaping cracks.
At the same time, Sandai Kitetsu let out one final shriek.
Crack.
The cursed blade shattered from the middle outward.
Fragments burst away in the wind, leaving only the broken hilt and a short ruined section of blade still clutched in Zaraki's hands.
Pfft!
The Golden Lion spat out a mouthful of blood and internal fragments. His body swayed, yet a smile appeared on his face.
He looked at the youth emerging from the dust—blood-drenched, gripping only a broken hilt, but still standing tall.
The madness in Shiki's eyes faded, replaced by a strange calm. He knew his era had finally closed.
"You won... kid."
The Golden Lion gasped, his voice weak but still arrogant.
"My Earth Roll... was split head-on. That bastard Roger died too early, it's a shame he didn't get to see this."
Zaraki tossed aside the remnants of the hilt and took a deep breath of the turbid air.
Though he had won, both of his hands were spasming uncontrollably.
"Stop talking to yourself," Zaraki said coldly. "If you still have strength, let's go another round."
"Another round? No... even a lion, when old, will have its throat bitten through by a young wolf king."
Suddenly, the Golden Lion reached out and grasped his own legs—the two swords that had replaced his feet.
Click.
With the grating sound of twisting metal, he released the force holding them to his ruined stumps and forcibly tore the swords free.
Blood dripped profusely, yet his expression barely changed.
He waved his hand, and the two Famous Swords plunged straight into the rock before Zaraki.
"Oto. Kogarashi."
Golden Lion's voice grew fainter. "Though they may not compare to the highest blades in the world, they've followed me for a lifetime. They've tasted the blood of the strongest."
Zaraki gazed at the two trembling blades, then looked up at the old man who was slowly beginning to descend toward the sea.
"What do you mean?"
"Take them."
Shiki lay back, allowing his body to fall toward the waves below.
His eyes gradually lost focus, fixed on the vast expanse of the sky he once ruled.
"Take them to the New World... stir up this sea. Turn it upside down. Let me see just how far a monster like you can go."
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