The Embodiment of Despair

"Ah!"

Two dazzling slashes, brimming with Haki power, instantly shattered the thunderclouds in the sky, and with one strike, along with Prometheus's flames, destroyed the Red Hair Pirates' flagship.

Shanks rushed to the bodies of Ben Benn Beckman, Snake, and others, but was always a step behind the God Slayer.

He could only watch helplessly as his companion breathed his last.

Enraged, he no longer held back and unleashed a devastating attack.

Even Zeus and Prometheus, who were manifestations of souls, were harmed. What was even more astonishing was that all the corpses controlled by Oboro seemed to have 'gone offline' at the same time... because Shanks' Conqueror's Haki swept in all directions, and his powerful Haki was even able to destroy the faint soul flames within each corpse.

In fact, Oboro had already discovered this point. After becoming familiar with the power setting of Haki, he realized that cultivating Haki to its extreme could not only affect the mind, but also break through that invisible 'barrier' and reach the realm of soul energy.

Among the Yonko, in terms of sheer Haki, Shanks and Whitebeard are definitely top-tier... Guy is even slightly inferior.

Kaido is terrifying not only for his physical body but also for his Devil Fruit powers.

As for Charlotte Linlin, she was a "waste of her time" and later focused all her attribute points on Devil Fruits... Compared to the other three, she was not only a step behind in terms of Haki.

Of course, Whitebeard was getting old and no longer in his prime, but Shanks was different.

However, these four are indeed the Yonko, and in terms of overall strength, they undoubtedly stand at the very top of the sea.

Zeus and Prometheus are not only soul beings, but also possess elemental characteristics. However, they are still unable to resist the damage when faced with the Shanks's Haki swordsmanship.

But the time created by the two 'little things' was enough for Oboro to act.

The flames were torn apart, turning into streaks of fire that flew towards Oboro. Zeus, shrunken and weakened by the slashing and bombardment, was also present.

The sea instantly returned to calm, and the scene became clear.

A light drizzle began to fall... This rain was caused by the Shanks's surging and domineering Haki, which caused the seawater to surge and the water vapor to splash in the air.

Shanks was soaking wet, water droplets dripping from his hair, and his expression and eyes were incredibly ferocious.

At his feet lay Lucky Roux, lying on floating debris, his body riddled with bullet holes.

Not far away, Yasopp's body was also floating in the sea.

There was no time to deal with the remains of his two companions. In the instant that the flames, lightning, and corpses were 'cleared', he saw, nearly a kilometer away, on the edge of the naval battle, combatant Limejuice wielding his weapon and roaring as he attacked the God Slayer had his back to him.

In front of the God Slayer, Bonk Punch and his monkey companion Monster both had blood spurting from their foreheads, as if their heads had been pierced by bullets, and fell backward.

The weapon that shot and killed the man and the monkey was not a real Pistol, but rather Oboro's outstretched finger.

Just as Limejuice was about to strike, taking advantage of his companions distracting the enemy, the lightning-infused weapon was about to fall.

Suddenly, his body was 'imprisoned' in mid-air by a force.

Unable to move.

After killing two more Red Hair Pirates officers, Oboro slowly turned around and looked at the man wearing a black headscarf who was suspended in the air.

He snapped his fingers lightly.

With a bang.

Under Shanks' gaze, Limejuice exploded like a bursting watermelon...

"Ah!"

Shanks, Shanks, usually so composed, lost his temper and let out a loud shout.

With a sudden burst of power from his feet, he soared into the air like a cannonball, skimming across the sea at an astonishing speed. The force he generated was like a sharp knife, splitting and cleaving the seawater.

On his way there, he had already raised his sword, Gryphon.

Just as he made his move, the last member of the Shanks Executive Corps, taking advantage of the fact that Oboro had just dealt with Limejuice and the battlefield had finally cleared up, rushed over from another location closer to the target in order to cooperate with his captain, and appeared beside Oboro in the blink of an eye.

It is the Roaring Gab with a mouthful of sharp teeth.

Gab opened his mouth wide, as if about to unleash a roaring attack on the man in front of him.

However, before the power of the sound waves could even leave his mouth, Oboro's large hand forcefully grabbed half of his face, covering his mouth and nose.

"Captain..."

In that instant, Gab had already 'foreseen' his fate.

His gaze swept toward Shanks, silently 'telling' a story.

Finally, Gab roared, but his head was crushed by Oboro's giant hand.

The sound waves only shredded half of Oboro's sleeve; nothing more.

Thanks to this fleeting opening, Shanks finally managed to get close enough to reach him.

His eyes were bloodshot.

The raised sword, along with the area behind him, intertwined into a vast spectacle caused by his Haki —a 'spider web' of red lightning... Then, a sword slashed down on Oboro's shoulder, the blade pressing down forcefully, attempting to slice Oboro's entire body in two, cutting it cleanly.

I don't know if it was intentional or unintentional.

This swordsmanship, or rather, this move, is exactly the same as the one used during the Summit War... but its power is undoubtedly more terrifying than the slash that cut off half of Oboro's body during the Summit War. This was a slash from Shanks, one of the Yonko Shanks held nothing back in a state of extreme rage.

It was his... all his power! But unlike the Summit War, this slash did indeed penetrate Oboro's body again, causing him to bleed.

However, the blade only penetrated less than ten centimeters before it could not go any deeper.

He was trapped in Oboro's indescribably hard muscles and bones.

Despite being injured, Long remained unmoved, his expression not even changing.

He glanced down at the spot where he had been cut by the blade and smiled.

Seeing Shanks's astonished and shocked expression so close to him, he said, "I won't let the same mistake happen again."

"I didn't expect you to slash me like that in Marineford..."

"And this time, I want you to hit me... I want to see if you can still cut through my body like last time."

As she spoke, Oboro's hand had already grasped the Shanks's blade.

Start applying force.

Shanks' pupils contracted.

He instinctively used the Overlord's Entanglement technique, infusing the blade with an incomparably powerful and Haki force.

However... it was completely useless.

With a single twist of his hand, Oboro's Gryphon snapped instantly.

"Look at yourself now..."

After destroying Shanks' blade, Oboro did not attack; he simply pulled the blade from the wound and casually threw it into the sea.

His wounds also healed at the same time, as if he had never been hurt by the Shanks.

"Anger, embarrassment, helplessness... and despair..."

Yes, despair.

This emotion, which shouldn't have appeared on Shanks' face, appeared at this moment...

Roger, Shanks, and Luffy share very similar personalities: optimism, strong will, extraordinary charisma, and emotional charisma. In short, they are full of positive energy. No matter what situation they encounter, none of them seem to think they will fail, and they are very calm when facing life and death.

Therefore, the word "despair" is inherently incompatible with this type of person... because they themselves tend to represent 'hope'.

But at this moment, Shanks felt those two words with absolute clarity.

His despair did not stem from himself, but from the fate of the world.

With that one strike, he understood... no one could stop the God Slayer's advance, not even himself.

And this world will eventually become a 'Asura'.

They became... playthings of God Slayer.

Perhaps the Celestial Dragons could fight against the God Slayer, but... he is most likely 'unable to see' them.

"Exactly one minute later, all your officers... are dead."

"Now you're the only one left."

Long murmured softly.

"Guess... how long will it take me to kill you?"

"..."

Shanks.