The Golden Lion raised his twin swords once more.
This time, he didn't rush to charge, but instead mobilized all the Haki within him.
Armament Haki covered the sword, making it as black as ink.
Conqueror's Haki Coating around Armament Haki, and dark red Inazuma crackled wildly.
These two forces merged, compressed, and merged again on the edge of his sword, eventually forming a layer of black and red light film.
Shiki's breathing began to quicken.
He could feel his strength rapidly draining away.
The wound on his head was bleeding continuously, and each heartbeat was accompanied by a wave of dizziness.
The hand holding the sword had begun to feel slightly numb—a sign that excessive blood loss was causing peripheral nerves to malfunction.
He knew he couldn't hold on much longer.
Therefore, he would concentrate all his remaining strength into this one strike.
" Roy the Kid--"
Shiki's voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible.
"The last battle I ever fought in my life—and you were my opponent—was worth it."
Roy grasped Shusui with both hands and slowly raised her above his head.
The Conqueror's Haki Inazuma began to gather on the blade.
Black and red electric arcs spread from the handle to the tip of the knife, becoming denser and brighter with each press.
The color changed from dark red to deep red, from deep red to purplish red, and finally to a glaring blackish red.
The surrounding space began to distort and deform due to the convergence of this force.
Giant waves surged on the sea, and the clouds in the sky, after being dispersed, were re-condensed by the sword intent, forming a huge vortex above Roy's head.
Bullet watched this scene and muttered, "These two madmen—they're going to decide the outcome with the final blow."
"This is a true Conqueror's Coating!"
Tesoro's golden arcs of electricity pulsed wildly in his pupils.
On the sea, Shiki took a deep breath.
It almost stretched the chest cavity to its limit.
The wound on his head bled even more from the exertion, but he didn't care at all.
He raised his two swords, the tips pointing at Roy.
"Let's settle this with one blow, Roy! Let me see just how much the king of the new era really weighs!"
Roy sheathed Shusui.
On the blade, the black and red light membrane had condensed to its limit, and the space around the blade was constantly tearing and healing.
"That's settled then."
" Golden Lion, Shiki."
Shiki laughed loudly, his laughter filled with arrogance, untamed spirit, and the final pride of a former overlord burning his life.
"Lion, Twin Blades, Annihilation--!!!"
The two swords slashed down simultaneously.
" Conqueror's Coating - A Moment of Asura"
Shusui suddenly pulled it out.
Two slashes flew from the blades of both sides.
Shiki unleashed a golden slash crackling with black and red Inazuma, while Roy's attack was a pure black and red straight line.
Two slashes streaked through the air, their trajectories different, but both were incredibly fast.
Then, right between them on the sea surface, they collided violently.
The world fell silent for a moment.
The silence that moment was eerily quiet, as if all sound had been sucked away by something.
The sounds of waves, wind, distant birdsong, and the breathing of the spectators—all vanished.
Then—a burst of light erupted.
The light erupting from the center of the collision was even more dazzling than the sun.
The black-red and gold energies clashed wildly in mid-air, and the shockwaves spread in all directions, overturning the sea surface within a radius of several kilometers.
The seawater was shaken and surged back, forming several huge walls of water, each hundreds of meters high.
The members of Hachinosu who were watching the battle all stepped back at the same time.
Bullet transformed into a white tiger, standing in front of everyone and withstanding the residual force of the shockwave.
Tesoro deployed an electric grid barrier in front of him, and the golden lightning collided with the shockwave, producing a piercing hissing sound.
The light lasted for more than ten seconds before it began to dissipate.
After the light faded, a huge hole with a diameter of over a kilometer appeared on the sea surface.
The shockwave pushed all the seawater inside the cavity to the outside, exposing the silt and rocks on the seabed.
The surrounding ring of waves, hundreds of meters high, is slowly closing in.
Roy stood still.
A shallow knife mark appeared on his chest—the result of the residual sword energy from Shiki's final strike through the shockwave.
The cut was shallow, only breaking the skin, and there wasn't much blood.
And Golden Lion Shiki —has already fallen from mid-air.
His body traced a weak arc in the air as it plummeted toward the closing, enormous hole below.
Roy's figure disappeared from the spot.
The next second he appeared beside Shiki and reached out to catch the unconscious former overlord.
The two landed together on the floating Sky Island of the Golden Lion, which then began to slowly descend.
Roy placed Shiki on the ground and looked down at him.
At this moment, Shiki the Golden Lion's body was soaked in blood.
Blood was still seeping from the hole in his head, and several old wounds on his chest had reopened.
His breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible, but the arrogant smile still lingered on his lips.
The single eye, already covered in blood, twitched slightly and then slowly opened a crack.
"This feels—" Shiki's voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, "Fuck it."
Roy looked at him silently.
"When Roger surrendered to me back then, I thought to myself, 'This guy is really stupid to hand himself over.'"
Later, he died on the Execution Platform, and the whole world wept for him. Lao Tzu then felt—
That guy was actually pretty smart; at least he died a spectacular death.
Shiki coughed, and a mouthful of blood gushed from the corner of his mouth.
"I don't want to die in a hospital bed, I don't want to die in Impel Down, and I certainly don't want to die in some remote, unknown place."
"If I'm going to die, I want to die on the battlefield, in front of my enemy, and die like a true pirate."
He raised his bloodied fingers and grabbed Roy's clothes.
"Thank you for giving me this."
Roy lowered his head and looked at Shiki.
Do you have any last words?
Shiki was silent for a few seconds, then grinned.
"My last words—please keep Oto and Kogarashi safe. Those two swords have been with me for decades, don't throw them away."
Roy nodded. "Okay."
The curve of Shiki's lips slowly widened, and the light in his eyes gradually faded.
On the sea surface, the giant circular wave finally closed in.
Seawater surged into the kilometer-diameter cavity from all directions, colliding in the center and creating a towering column of water.
By the time the water jets fell, the sea had returned to calm.
Only the lingering shockwaves still created fine ripples on the sea surface.
Roy stood on the Sky Island, controlling its slow descent, looking down at Shiki's remains.
This old man, who had battled Roger and Whitebeard for decades, lay there quietly with a smile on his face.
"Luck," Roy muttered.
He recalled what Shiki had said before—that there was something more important than strength on this sea called luck.
Shiki's luck ran out at the Sea of Edd War, and his life went downhill ever since.
But at least, in his final moments, he chose to end his life the way he wanted.
It wasn't eliminated by the times, it didn't die of old age in a hospital bed, and it wasn't absorbed by Hachinosu.
Instead, he died by the blade of a worthy opponent, in the final, glorious moment of his burning life.
Roy straightened up and took an ordinary apple out of his pocket.