A Conqueror's Funeral!
The hand covered in a spiraling black vortex silently pressed down on the Golden Lion's head.
It was as if at that moment, the entire space suddenly froze, and time stopped flowing.
"Buzz--!"
An indescribable power of nothingness erupted from his palm in an instant, devouring, tearing apart, and stripping him of his existence like a bottomless abyss!
Haki, sensory abilities, the power of the Float-Float Fruit... all of them were as if thrown into a black hole, completely annihilated!
The Golden Lion's pupils contracted violently, and his consciousness trembled violently!
"This is...!!"
"My abilities... are... disappearing?!"
"No... that's not right!!"
"They've been completely suppressed!!"
He struggled violently, his roar caught in his throat, only to find his body pressed down into the void by an immense weight, unable to move even a finger!
The power of the Float-Float Fruit completely vanished, as if it had never existed.
"Whoosh--!"
The surrounding buoyancy field instantly disintegrated, and his body lost its support, falling slightly!
Those wings that were once so proud and invincible... now seem to have been snapped by reality!
The body, already exhausted and on its last legs, was now completely powerless to resist.
And all of this did not bring pain—
It was a familiar fear.
It felt like being sentenced to an end by fate.
"This power..."
The Golden Lion's eyes were glazed over, and his chest heaved violently.
"I... once..."
That hazy memory awakened deep within my mind.
That was in the distant past, on "Hachinosu," where that man's figure seemed so familiar.
He remembered that man—
The Dark Lord who suppressed all kings and instilled fear in all the crew members.
"This power... is so similar to his?!"
"Roy... what exactly are you...?"
But before he could utter a word, his throat was already filled with blood.
He spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse like the murmur of the dead, as if what seeped from his throat was no longer language, but the last vestige of his will.
A response to him--
But it was those icy eyes that seemed to freeze the heavens and earth.
Roy spoke calmly in a low voice, his tone completely flat:
"Shiki."
You lost.
"Puff--!"
The next instant, blood gushed out from his seven orifices like a spring!
The Golden Lion's body trembled violently, and the brilliance in its eyes collapsed!
Consciousness, like Reef being eroded bit by bit by the waves, crumbles inch by inch in the shadows.
"I... lost?"
"Lost to... a brat from the New Era..."
Or perhaps...
"We lost to... the era itself?"
At this moment, the Golden Lion's pride, obsession, and anger all subsided.
He stopped struggling and roaring, gazing up at the gradually blurring sky.
In that final chaos, he seemed to see streaks of light piercing through the darkness—
The legendary ship, flying the skull and crossbones flag, sailed through the waves in the morning light.
Gol D. Roger stood at the bow of the ship, a broad smile on his face, raising his glass. "Hey! Shiki, come on, have a drink!"
Whitebeard Newgate, carrying the "Murakumogiri" on his shoulder, walked silently in the setting sun, his back as majestic as a mountain.
But the clearest figure was --
He himself.
Blond Hair danced wildly, long robes billowed, twin swords crossed, riding the myriad islands into the air, laughing arrogantly at the heavens!
That was standing at the pinnacle of the era, looking down upon the world—
"Sky-Pirate" Shiki the Golden Lion.
He looked at his former self, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Turn out to be..."
"I've already died once in my memories..."
His thoughts drifted away like mist, and in the Golden Lion's eyes, the last glimmer of light quietly died out.
The shattered Floating Island trembled violently in the wind, yet it did not collapse or fall.
Because Roy had already used his abilities to stabilize the last remnants of this Battlefield.
He stood silently among the rubble, the wind howling behind him, and on the rocks beside him lay the body of Shiki the Golden Lion.
This "Sky-Pirate," who was once on par with Pirate King Roger and Whitebeard Newgate, has finally fallen silent.
He stopped roaring and cursing; his eyes were slightly closed, and a faint smile even lingered at the corners of his mouth.
That smile—it wasn't one of resentment or madness, but rather a sense of relief, as if one had finally broken free from obsession and anger.
Roy looked down at him, his brows twitching slightly, a complex emotion flashing through his mind.
"In the final moments of his life, did he actually... find peace?"
But this emotion was fleeting; Roy quickly regained his composure, his gaze sharp as a blade once more.
He waved his Right Hand, causing the space to tremble.
In an instant, all the remaining fruit on the Floating Island was forcibly gathered together, forming a pile of fruit in front of him.
He slowly raised his hand, a black Spiral slowly rotating in his palm, and the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit quietly activated!
"Capability extraction."
"Buzz--!"
An invisible yet immense devouring force suddenly erupted from Roy's hand, directly extracting a wisp of pale golden energy from the Golden Lion's corpse.
That's the original power of the Float-Float Fruit!
As this energy flew into one of the fruits in the pile, the surface of that fruit immediately underwent a strange change!
The fruit peel is swollen, with a highly recognizable spiral pattern on its surface, and a faint aura of buoyancy surrounding it.
At this moment, a new "Float-Float Fruit" was born!
Roy stared at it, a rare flicker of emotion crossing his usually icy gaze.
"Float-Float Fruit..." he murmured.
"This is a genuine 'Four Emperors- level' Devil Fruit power."
He slowly reached out and put the fruit away, his movements so gentle they were almost solemn.
Then he turned around, his gaze falling once again on the Golden Lion's corpse.
After a long silence, he spoke softly, "Since you've let it go..."
"Then I'll give you a funeral... befitting your status!"
His gaze sharpened, and his right fist slowly clenched.
"Dark Star - Heavenly Prison!"
"Boom--!"
With a deep bang, a small, jet-black gravitational sphere appeared in the air, resembling a miniature black hole, Air Quake!
The next second, a terrifying gravitational pull spread like a tidal wave!
Fragments of more than a dozen Floating Islands, scattered rocks, shattered debris, broken armor and dust around the Golden Lion, and even the surrounding air were all spinning, gathering, and crushing wildly under this gravitational force!
"Rumble--!"
Amidst the roaring sounds high in the sky, all the fragments spun and merged at high speed, compressing in concentric circles around the Golden Lion's corpse!
Final,
These fragments coalesced into a giant rock sphere with a diameter of over 1,000 meters!
The Golden Lion's corpse rested steadily in the center, like a stone coffin for a sleeping king.
Roy raised his hand and waved it, causing the space to twist slightly.
Rest in peace, Shiki.
"Whoosh--!"
Space shattered like a mirror, and the black sphere vanished without a trace in an instant!
The next moment, the giant rock sphere had Teleportation to the deepest part of the ocean— the Abyss of No Light.
Ten thousand meters below, darkness reigns eternal, and pressure is boundless.
That was the deepest silence of the sea, and also the place where Shiki was buried.
--No coffin, no inscription, only rocks, seawater, and darkness.
This burial was more solemn and dignified than any grand funeral.
The curtain has fallen on the reign of a hegemon of an old era, finally drawing to a close amidst the tides of New Era.