Hachinosu Island.
The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder and blood, the irritation in their nostrils making people frown involuntarily.
This pirate island, once fairly scenic, was now a complete wasteland. As far as the eye could see, not a single building remained intact.
At the center of a stretch of ruins no one dared approach, the battle between Shiki and John was gradually nearing its end.
With both sides tacitly choosing to end things quickly, the intense clash rapidly drained their stamina while consuming vast amounts of Haki. This life-or-death struggle was about to reveal its outcome.
Finally, after another clash of blades, the scales of victory completely tipped toward one side.
"Lion's Might: Imperial Ground Scroll!"
Golden Lion sent John flying with a single sword strike, then immediately used his ability to sweep up the earth and swallow him whole.
Under his control, the solid, boundless ground churned, twisted, and tightened like liquid, eventually forming a towering pillar of soil and stone that trapped the exhausted John tightly within it.
"Shihahahaha! Finally run out of places to escape, John?"
Breathing somewhat heavily, Shiki looked at the captured John and could not help laughing loudly in midair.
"Cough! Hehehe~ Yeah, not everyone is a monster as strong as you.
Your strength now probably isn't much worse than Rocks's was back then, huh~"
His limbs were wrapped up and torn at by immense twisting force, with only his head exposed, yet John still forced himself to answer Shiki in that frivolous tone.
"So, can you tell me where the treasure is now?"
Shiki floated before John and raised the pair of famed blades in his hands.
One side of the chillingly gleaming blades reflected his fierce, arrogant face, while the other reflected the corner of John's mouth, still