Battle of Ten Thousand Meters (Ticket)

"Boom!"

The sea churned, waves rising and falling. In an instant, enormous walls of water surged upward, gradually forming the head of a massive, mighty lion made of seawater. In moments, it stood level with Norse, who was a hundred meters above the surface.

"Roar!"

The gigantic wave-lion head was like a towering mountain, like an indestructible tidal wall. It opened its huge, bloodthirsty maw formed from seawater and unleashed a lion's roar that seemed to shake the four seas, its thunderous sound blasting across the sky.

Norse frowned as he watched the Kuja Pirates' ship continue to float higher into the air, and he roughly understood what they were planning.

They simply could not let Golden Lion Shiki die. Once Golden Lion Shiki died, his floating ability would vanish, and the Kuja Pirates' ship would lose its ability to remain airborne and plunge from the sky into the depths of the sea.

"I see! Then I'll have some fun with you."

A cold gleam filled Norse's eyes as he looked at the wave lion roaring toward him. The Flamewoven Light Swords in his hands immediately dispersed, and he began drawing the explosive power from his body into his hands, compressing it into a sphere. The move was somewhat like a Tailed Beast Bomb as he shoved it into the waves of Lion's Majesty.

"Boom!!"

Like water and fire, the two forces could not coexist. In an instant, they erupted with unimaginable power, and a vast expanse of sea was shrouded in mist.

At the same time, the enormous wave lion was completely blown apart. The seawater that shot outward in all directions was evaporated like rain, turning into dense vapor in midair.

"Whoosh!"

Golden Lion burst through the mist and rose into the air. He truly had not expected his opponent to be this formidable.

This man's methods were clearly even more powerful than Kizaru of Marine Headquarters. He just did not know what kind of Logia Devil Fruit ability the man possessed. In any case, he was dangerous and troublesome—possibly one of the most difficult ability users Shiki had encountered in his entire career.

"Shiki, you still tried to screw me over? Then I'll stomp on you and make you submit!" Norse immediately gave chase.

Fortunately, Norse could fly freely through the air. If it had been anyone else, they truly would have had no way to deal with Golden Lion's ability.

"Fuck you! What storms haven't I weathered? Give me a few more moves, and I'll figure out your strength and tricks in no time. Brat, just wait to die by my hand!"

Shiki was an exceedingly arrogant and temperamental man. Anyone who dared to talk about stepping on him and making him submit had touched the reverse scale in his heart. No matter what, they would suffer his retaliation.

"Lion Thousand-Slice Valley!"

As Shiki's two sword-legs carved two perfect arcs through the air, space suddenly twisted and rippled in the next instant. Dozens of enhanced golden sword waves appeared as incomparably sharp crescent slashes, like keen blades cutting out from the void, and flew directly at Norse behind him.

"You really underestimate me! Then today, I'll split your back open!"

Norse halted in midair and faced Shiki's swordsmanship head-on. From within the endless blazing radiance and flames, he drew out an enormous amount of energy once more. A super-sized greatsword immediately condensed in his hand, forty meters long and ten meters wide.

"Ahhh!!!"

Norse raised the sword with all his strength and brought it down.

"Boom—whooo!!!"

The sky roared so violently it seemed as though one's ears would go deaf.

The streak of light cast by the greatsword pierced through clouds stretching for thousands of miles. Like a meteor crossing the heavens, it illuminated the night, while the sea a thousand meters below was split apart for hundreds of miles by the descending sword-light, unable to close for a long time.

"Hmph! Just a clumsy move made flashy for show. You youngsters are getting more and more obsessed with spectacle!"

Yet, through his use of Observation Haki, Golden Lion Shiki easily dodged Norse's greatsword attack at the first opportunity. He even had ample time to watch as his Lion Thousand-Slice Valley slashes were completely shattered by that single enormous sword.

But he showed no surprise at all, as though everything had gone exactly as he expected.

Instead, he wore an arrogant, disdainful expression and said openly, "Looks like it's truly necessary for you juniors to recognize yourselves. I'll show you what a man's true strength really is. If you've got the guts, follow me!"

In truth, Shiki's fighting spirit had surged at that moment. He had vanished from public view and hidden himself away more than a decade ago, meaning he had not fought seriously for over ten years. He had once been a wildly battle-hungry pirate, and now that he had found an opponent in the sky, he did not mind playing with him properly before killing him.

"A man's true strength? Hmph!"

Norse sneered inwardly. Was Shiki finally going to fight him head-on?

Above the clouds ten thousand meters high, the starry sky was even more brilliant and beautiful. The Kuja Pirates' ship and Golden Lion Shiki's island ship had both floated above that height, resting upon a thick bed of clouds.

"Norse, be careful!"

"I'll be waiting for you to come back and eat noodles!"

"Don't worry. This guy may have plenty of schemes, but in a head-on fight, I'll definitely stomp him to death!"

"Brat, getting to fight a battle for supremacy in the sky against me, Golden Lion Shiki—you really stepped in dog shit, you know that? But it seems you admire my swordsmanship quite a bit?

"Jihahahaha... Then before you die, I don't mind using the true power of the famed blades Sakura Ten and Withered Wood to deal with you. Feel what the true essence of swordsmanship is!"

Golden Lion Shiki had no fear of Norse's power.

In his eyes, that greatsword attack just now was nothing much. At full power, his Lion Thousand-Slice Valley was far more powerful than that. He could split the sea for a thousand miles with a single strike, and atop this bed of clouds stretching ten thousand miles, he could likewise cut through a thousand miles. What did splitting a mere few hundred miles amount to?

"Arrogant, aren't you? Too bad only weaklings laugh so unrealistically!"

Norse stomped through the thick cloud layer and shot upward, his entire body swaying as he rose.

A blazing sun emerged from his body. Once it reached high above his head, it instantly drowned out the brilliant stars and illuminated every corner above the clouds stretching for thousands of miles.

Norse looked down arrogantly at Golden Lion Shiki atop the endless cloud layer and said:

"Didn't you want to know my ability? And who was it that said I wouldn't live to see tomorrow's sun? Hmph! My ability is the Sun-Sun Fruit: Sun. Even the deepest night cannot devour my sunlight. What right do you have to say I won't see tomorrow's sun?"

"The sun? Jihahahaha! Who the fuck would believe that little ball burning so brightly only because it's tens of thousands of miles up in the sky is the sun?"

Golden Lion Shiki clearly did not believe Norse's words at all. He only thought that young people these days were too impetuous, developing abilities that were all flashy and colorful, no different from the burning fireball before his eyes.

"Brat, true swordsmanship is formless. It can cut through everything ahead. I'll split that lousy ball of yours with one slash."

At that moment, Shiki unleashed the power of Conqueror's Haki. The thick clouds beneath his feet began to churn and surge endlessly, vaguely gathering into the shape of a cloud lion.

Great Lion Thousand-Slice Valley

Bolstered by the power of Conqueror's Haki, the world in Shiki's eyes became incomparably silent, as though he were the master of everything around him.

In such an environment, his strength, speed, ultimate sword techniques, and even his invincible confidence were all unprecedented.

This was the kingly power possessed only by those above all others.

P.S.: Thank you all for your tips and support. Seeing that more than a dozen people have been following along on the fan list, I'm deeply touched and truly motivated.

So there won't be much more for now—I'll keep up the two updates a day, but I'll try to go all out next week. At the same time, I hope everyone can send more votes.