"What is that?!"
As Golden Lion Shiki's roar of shock and disbelief rang out, he witnessed something he would struggle to comprehend for the rest of his life.
The thousands upon thousands of terrifying shells, enough to destroy an entire fleet, did not erupt in earth-shaking explosions when they touched that gossamer-thin layer of black-and-red electricity.
Like ice cubes dropped into a furnace of unimaginable heat, they silently began to disintegrate, vaporize, and vanish from their foremost tips...
They did not produce so much as a spark or the slightest shock wave!
They simply disappeared from the world, cleanly and completely!
It was as though they had struck not an energy shield, but an invisible abyss that existed solely to devour matter!
"Th-this is impossible!"
On Merveille, every pirate who witnessed the scene screamed in utter terror, as though they had seen a ghost!
"The shells! Our shells disappeared!"
"What the hell! What kind of monster is that guy?!"
Panic spread through Golden Lion's fleet like a plague.
And the figure they had regarded as a "fly" did not slow in the slightest after silently "devouring" every shell. He kept charging straight up with brutal disregard!
His bearing made it seem as though that world-shattering barrage really had been nothing more than a breeze brushing his face!
"Bastard!"
Golden Lion Shiki's expression finally changed!
His initial contempt and disdain turned to gravity, then finally to towering rage at being challenged in public!
He knew he had misjudged him!
This brat was no upstart who had risen through luck and brute strength!
He was... a true monster!
An unfathomable monster countless times more terrifying than even the rumors suggested!
"Very good! Very good!" Golden Lion Shiki laughed in his fury. His towering figure suddenly shot skyward from the Throne, holding nothing