Wang Shi climbed step by step to the top of the Execution Platform, looking down at the crowd as a bold, unrestrained aura poured from him.
"Roger, this height of yours is far too low!"
Wang Shi grinned. His ambitions were far greater.
He was preparing to seize Imu's position as King of the World.
A short-lived Pirate King, with a title that was worth little, was hardly someone Wang Shi would envy.
Wang Shi stood above the crowd, his aura surging. Then he suddenly spotted a figure in a green cloak atop a building.
The green cloak fluttered in the wind, and Wang Shi's rising aura abruptly faltered. His eyes grew grave.
That man was in the East Blue!
Had he come to see his son?
Wang Shi's gaze met the green-cloaked man's.
The Leader of the Revolutionary Army, Monkey D. Dragon!
The greatest enemy of the World Government and the Affiliated Nations.
"Goa Empire's emperor..."
"What is your conviction...?"
A voice rode the howling wind to Wang Shi, heavy with pressure. His platinum-colored cloak snapped in the gusts.
Dragon, his face expressionless, had only been passing through Loguetown. But when he sensed a faint, elusive aura, curiosity brought him over to investigate.
And there he found the recently infamous emperor of the Goa Empire.
The new ruler of his homeland.
He knew of Wang Shi, the King of Exile.
Wang Shi could become one of the Revolutionary Army's powerful enemies.
Dragon was considering whether to eliminate this emperor, who seemed on the verge of awakening Conqueror's Haki.
However, he had learned about the Goa Empire's current policies. They were not tyrannical; in fact, they were more lenient than those of other Affiliated Nations, and the people's lives would only improve.
That made Dragon hesitate.
For now, this kind of king was not a tyrant the Revolutionary Army needed to overthrow.
Besides, if he killed the widely renowned Goa Emperor Wang Shi now, the World Government's retaliation against the Revolutionary Army would likely be fierce.
So he wanted to know what conviction lay behind Wang Shi's Conqueror's Haki—and whether it posed a threat.
"Just because you ask, you think I have to answer, Monkey D. Dragon?"
Wang Shi stared fixedly at Dragon. An unprecedented sense of danger made every hair on his body stand on end.
Yet the threat and pressure only thrilled him. The aura bursting from him grew even more formidable.
"So you do know who I am. Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
Dragon looked coldly at Wang Shi. Like the Four Emperors, this was another monster who feared nothing and broke every rule.
He had seen that look on the faces of those domineering, arrogant pirate overlords.
And now this Goa Emperor had the same look in his eyes.
"Too many what-ifs make people lose the will to defy fate!"
At that moment, Wang Shi stopped thinking and relied on instinct to resist Dragon's pressure and killing intent, staring back at him without restraint.
He knew his moment had come.
He might die!
"Interesting! I have no wish to kill a king. But showing contempt for a strong man comes at a price, Goa Emperor!"
"Let me see your limits—and your fate!"
Conqueror's Haki erupted from Dragon. A solid Wind Blade, gleaming with a metallic sheen and brimming with killing intent, hurtled toward Wang Shi.
The sky churned with wind and clouds. Darkness suddenly swallowed the world, and torrential rain came pouring down.
A bolt of lightning lit up the heavens and crashed toward Wang Shi on the Execution Platform.
The sudden change in the weather threw everyone in Dragon Plaza into a panic.
"Not good!! An assassin! Protect His Majesty!!"
Van Augur appeared without warning and shouted in terror. He was the first to spot the terrifying Wind Blade and dazzling lightning striking at Wang Shi.
"What!!"
Eric, El Drago, and the others cried out in alarm.
But a savage aura suddenly crushed down on them, leaving them dizzy and forcing them to their knees.
Saka braced himself with Yubashiri and dropped to one knee, his eyes filled with shock and panic.
Even Zoro had to prop himself up with both swords. The veins bulged on his forehead, and he clenched his teeth so tightly that blood seeped from them.
He refused to kneel.
He forced his head up and looked toward Wang Shi, who was being attacked on the Execution Platform.
"My attitude is my answer!"
Wang Shi didn't choose to exile himself to escape Dragon's killing blow. Instead, he unleashed his Time Domain, forcibly exiling Dragon's terrifying Wind Blade and raging lightning.
"Ha!!!"
Wang Shi roared at the sky. The terrifying Wind Blade and lightning slowly faded away.
Even Dragon's eyes narrowed at the sight. He hadn't expected Wang Shi's Exile Power to be so formidable.
It could even exile his attacks.
"Impressive, but not enough!"
"If you survive this next attack, I'll admit you have the right to look down on me!"
Black-red lightning crackled around Dragon, coiling around a second solid Wind Blade.
The Conqueror's Coating Wind Blade tore through Wang Shi's Time Domain and came crashing toward him.
"So the Time Domain's long-range exile really can't exile Conqueror's Coating attacks!!"
Watching the solid Wind Blade fly toward him at terrifying speed, Wang Shi's eyes blazed with madness.
Once again, he refused to exile himself to escape the attack.
"Ahahaha! Let me test the power of Conqueror's Coating!"
A madness unlike anything before flared in Wang Shi's eyes. He actually drew his sword and swung at the Conqueror's Coating Wind Blade.
A tremendous aura erupted from Wang Shi and swept outward in every direction.
The people below the Execution Platform were crushed by another indiscriminate wave of pressure. One by one, their eyes rolled back as they collapsed.
"Crack!"
Wang Shi's long sword shattered. The terrifying force of Conqueror's Coating reduced his sword and clothes to dust. Horrifying wounds opened across his body, spraying blood in every direction.
"Boom!"
The Conqueror's Coating Wind Blade obliterated Wang Shi and the Execution Platform, reducing them to dust.
The towering Execution Platform had vanished from the middle upward. Wang Shi had disappeared completely.
"Dead?"
A glint of red flashed in Dragon's eyes, and his expression turned grim.
This was troublesome!
It seemed he had really killed the Goa Emperor.
He used Observation Haki to glimpse the future a few seconds ahead, but he couldn't see Wang Shi anywhere.
Observation Haki couldn't detect any sign of Wang Shi's life, either.
Wang Shi had truly disappeared—or he really was dead.
"How could this be..."
Dragon murmured softly. He had clearly seen the confident, arrogant look in Wang Shi's eyes.
And when Wang Shi had faced his Conqueror's Coating Wind Blade head-on, he had indeed awakened Conqueror's Haki.
Dragon couldn't believe that Wang Shi, who had awakened Conqueror's Haki through him, could die just like that.
"Ah!! His Majesty Wang Shi is dead!!"
"It was the Revolutionary Army!!"
"It's over! Captain Smoker isn't coming back either!"
After enduring two waves of Conqueror's Haki, Tashigi shakily pushed herself upright with the Ryo Wazamono Shigure.
She looked up at the green figure and screamed in terror.
Endless fear and despair filled her heart.
The Goa Empire's emperor had been assassinated by the Revolutionary Army in Loguetown!
Even Captain Smoker, exiled by His Majesty Wang Shi, had been forced to die with him.
Tashigi couldn't accept it. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
She had withstood two waves of Conqueror's Haki, only to faint from fright.
As more and more people spotted him, and even news reporters began taking pictures, Dragon furrowed his brow. He had no choice but to turn into a storm and leave Loguetown.
He truly hadn't come to the East Blue intending to kill Wang Shi.
But for some reason, he had a feeling Wang Shi wouldn't die just like that.