Kegesi Island.
Inside the crater over a thousand meters across, Sakazuki leaned against the crater wall.
The wound across his chest, which looked as though it could have cleaved him in two, went deep enough to expose bone.
"Cough... cough..."
The moment he tried to get up, he pulled at the wound and began coughing up blood uncontrollably.
He covered his mouth with a large hand, its bones exposed, and suppressed the coughing.
Tap, tap, tap, tap...
Footsteps sounded, and Roger appeared, walking toward him.
He held the Supreme Grade Sword Ace in his hand, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth.
Burns covered his body, and one side of his chest was slightly caved in.
It looked as though his ribs had broken beneath it as he slowly approached Sakazuki.
Hum!
Conqueror's Haki flowed around the blade, giving off a dangerous, mesmerizing glow.
Roger looked at Sakazuki leaning against the crater wall and spoke in an indifferent voice:
"This ends here, Marine brat."
Sakazuki lowered the hand covering his mouth, having suppressed his coughing.
He looked at Roger's face and replied just as indifferently:
"You talk too much."
Roger said nothing in response to Sakazuki's taunt.
He turned the hand gripping his sword hilt and prepared to swing.
Crack!
It was like a sudden thunderclap.
After the deafening crash, the ground shook violently.
The fractured slabs of earth heaved up and down, and scorching heat surged from the cracks below.
Roger steadied himself, feeling that searing heat.
Warning signals kept hammering at his nerves. His gaze sharpened, and he slashed at Sakazuki.
Sakazuki watched the flying slash approach.
His entire body melted into a pool of magma and sank into the ground, vanishing without a trace.
Rumble!!!
The entire thousand-meter-wide crater turned into magma, becoming