After the sixteenth consecutive Hakoku Sovereignty struckâ
Shiki finally felt it.
His body grew unbearably heavy.
Each breath became torture.
Blood poured uncontrollably from his mouth, nose, eyes, and earsâ
the terrifying phenomenon known as bleeding from the seven apertures.
His internal organs were already on the verge of collapse.
If not for his physiqueâone that far surpassed ordinary humansâ
his organs would have burst like fragile balloons under the relentless pressure of sixteen overlapping Hakoku Sovereignties.
Shiki was still holding on.
But the steering wheel embedded in his skullâ
could not.
That object had been lodged in his head for nearly twenty years.
It was nothing more than ordinary metal, worn down by time.
And nowâ
it had reached its limit.
Cracks spread rapidly.
Thenâ
CRACK!
Like shattered glass, the steering wheel exploded into countless fragments.
A violent jet of blood shot outward, forcibly ejecting the object that had imprisoned Shiki's mind for two decades.
At that momentâ
a legend reached its end.
Unless a user of the Op-Op Fruit appeared immediatelyâ
even if Shiki somehow survived this battle, death was inevitable.
BOOM!
But Shiki refused to accept it.
The instant the steering wheel was torn free, unbearable pain surged through his skullâ
and yetâ
for the first time in twenty yearsâ
his mind became clear.
The Conqueror's Haki that had vanished long agoâ
was never gone.
It had been sealed.
Blocked.
Crushed beneath that wheel.
And nowâ
it erupted.
An incomparably violent Conqueror's Haki burst forth from Shiki's body.
Dark-red lightning tore through the sky, its pressure overwhelming, its presence tyrannical.
This was not ordinary Conqueror's Haki.
It carried power from an entirely different dimension.
An invisible barrier formedâ
forcibly separating the sixteen Hakoku Sovereignties that had imprisoned him.
El's ability to read intent screamed in warning.
His expression changed instantly.
Without hesitationâ
he vanished.
Retreating at full speed.
The very next secondâ
Shiki finally broke free.
Raising his left prosthetic sword, Kogarashi, he slashed toward El.
Dark-red lightning wrapped around the bladeâ
and with itâ
a Conqueror-Coated Flying Slash (Tobu Zangeki) was unleashed.
The slash stood nearly two hundred meters tall.
Like the scythe of a death god, it screamed through the skyâ
its speed surpassing even El's Hakoku Sovereignty.
If not for El's ability to read intentâ
he would have died instantly.
Barely escaping its trajectory, El watched as the slash passed his previous positionâ
and struck the mountain behind him.
BOOMâ!!
The mountain was cleaved cleanly in two.
The slash continued onwardâ
striking another islandâ
carving a trench that stretched for dozens of miles before finally dispersing into countless wind blades.
Only after thatâ
did the dark-red Conqueror's fluctuations slowly fade.
Silence fell.
El stared.
Carina and Kuinaâalready in Asura Form, observing through radio-wave-amplified Observation Hakiâ
fell completely silent as well.
This redefined Flying Slashes.
El could destroy mountains.
Whether through Flying Slashes or Hakoku Sovereignty.
Butâ
he could not yet produce a slash that:
split a mountain
crossed islands
and carved land for miles afterward
This was power from a higher realm.
Shiki hovered weakly in the air.
His aura had collapsed.
That slashâ
was his final Conqueror's Coating.
El did not pursue.
Because he knewâ
Shiki had already burned everything he had left.
"JihahahahaâŠ"
Blood still flowed from Shiki's seven apertures as he laughed in admiration.
"Even your Observation Haki can predict the future?
What a terrifying little devilâŠ"
He touched his head.
Looked at the blood on his palm.
Then stared into the distance.
"âŠDid I really lose to someone from the East Blue again?"
As death approachedâ
memories resurfaced.
Faces from the Rocks era.
From the age after it.
All flashing through his fading mind.
"I possess an Observation Haki that can read inner thoughts."
El walked forward and spoke calmly.
"A gifted one⊠like Redfield?"
Shiki looked at El.
There was no bitterness.
No despair.
Only exhilaration.
"You're not just talented.
That physique⊠at this age⊠you monsters are unfair."
El nodded, his sword already sheathed.
"Correct.
I was born with abnormal Observation Hakiâand a body different from ordinary people."
"Redfield's perception⊠and Linlin's bodyâŠ"
Shiki laughed weakly.
"âŠThen I suppose I have no excuse for losing."
He was like a candle in the wind.
Flickering.
About to go out.
"BoyâŠ"
Shiki spoke again.
"I'll give you my head.
But spare my subordinates."
"This is the last thing I can do⊠as their captain."
"I will."
El nodded without hesitation.
After a brief pauseâ
El finally spoke his true purpose.
"I came here for your Devil Fruit, senior.
I have the means to take it."
Shiki froze.
Thenâ
"JIHAHAHAHAHAHAâ!!!"
A roar of laughter echoed across the sky.
At the end of itâ
he smiled the same smile he once wore facing Roger.
With anticipation burning in his eyes, he looked at El.
"Then take it."
"Take my power."
"And let the sea once again rememberâ"
"The terror of the Flying Pirates."
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