One Piece: The user of the Nen-Nen Fruit, who overturned the sea.

Just before Sakura and Kuriki were about to merge, Roy's body leaned back at an incredible angle.

The blades of the two swords grazed the tip of his nose.

At the same time, he sprang up with his right leg, his knee slamming hard into Shiki's abdomen.

Shiki groaned as he was sent flying.

Before he even landed, Roy's slash arrived.

The slashing wave from Qiu Shui flew across the sea surface, cutting a deep, bottomless crack in the seawater, chasing after Shiki's flying figure.

Shiki twisted his body desperately in mid-air, crossing his two swords in front of him to block.

The moment the slashing wave struck the sword's edge, he felt as if his arm had been hit by a mountain.

The old wound on his hand reopened, and blood seeped out from the crack, flowing down his wrist.

But he gritted his teeth and blocked the attack.

The price was that his body was propelled backward hundreds of meters by the impact of the slash.

The swords on its feet carved two white tracks in the air.

"cough--"

Shiki coughed up a mouthful of blood, which drifted in the air.

He looked down at his trembling hands; the wound on his thumb and forefinger revealed the muscle tissue underneath, and every movement of his sword-wielding hand was accompanied by intense pain.

"I'm getting old, really getting old," he muttered to himself.

The golden lion raised its head and looked at Roy in the distance.

Roy did not pursue him, but simply stood there watching him, his black sword, Autumn Water, pointing diagonally at the sea.

"Shall we continue?" Roy's voice traveled hundreds of meters to reach Shiki's ears.

"Nonsense." Shiki spat out the blood and foam from his mouth and gripped his twin swords tightly again.

He knew why Roy was so patient; that kid was even trying to recruit him.

They even wanted him to be some damn transportation captain.

Just thinking about this makes Shiki angry.

At the height of his power, Shiki the Golden Lion commanded dozens of pirate crews and tens of thousands of followers. Even that old bastard Whitebeard had to give him some respect.

These days, a kid in his early twenties is being asked to work as a porter?

After a lifetime of hard work, is this all I'm worth?

Shiki grew angrier the more he thought about it, and his domineering aura surged uncontrollably within him.

The ship's rudder above his head began to throb again—every time he got emotional, that damned rudder would hurt like a nail driven into his brain.

But this time he did not suppress the pain. Instead, he used the stimulation brought by the pain to mobilize all the domineering energy in his body.

The Conqueror's Haki erupted suddenly.

Dark red lightning struck wildly in all directions from Shiki as the center.

This time, his Conqueror's Haki was even more ferocious than before, and closer to the level of his peak years.

Barrett, who was watching the game, raised an eyebrow: "The old man has this trick up his sleeve?"

"It's just a last gasp before the storm."

"Tesoro said coldly. But his eyes remained fixed on Shiki's movements, golden arcs of electricity dancing faster than usual at his fingertips."

Shiki roared and charged toward Roy.

The two swords were raised high, their blades simultaneously imbued with both Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki.

Although the Conqueror's Haki surrounding the ship's rudder above his head was not yet stable enough, at least for this moment, he had succeeded.

"Lion Cross Slash—!!!"

The two swords slashed down simultaneously.

A massive slash, crackling with black and red lightning, flew from the sword's edge.

This slash was larger than any before; where the slash wave passed, the sea was split in two, and a straight crack was torn in the clouds in the sky.

Roy's eyes flashed with surprise when he saw the sword.

This sword strike already represents seven-tenths of his peak level.

But it's only seven points.

The Autumn Water Blade also condensed with Conqueror's Haki lightning.

Black and red electric arcs danced wildly on the blade, growing 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.

He slashed out with a single stroke.

The two slashes collided fiercely in mid-air.

"boom--!!!"

The explosion was brighter than the sun.

The shockwave spread in all directions, overturning the sea surface within a radius of several kilometers.

The members of Beehive Island who were watching the battle had to retreat a distance to barely avoid the aftershocks.

The light dissipated.

Shiki was sent flying backward, his clothes completely torn at the chest, revealing his scarred skin underneath.

Blood was gushing from the corner of his mouth, and his hands gripping the sword were trembling violently.

Roy stood still, not taking a single step back.

But if you look closely, you can see that his fingers holding the knife are slightly white – he wasn't completely unscathed from that clash.

"That was a pretty good sword strike."

Roy glanced down at the small tear in his sleeve caused by the shockwave.

"If you can maintain this level of performance, you might actually get me to give it my all."

Shiki managed to steady himself a few dozen meters away.

He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving with alarming force.

He could feel his strength draining away at a visible rate—that sword strike had almost drained most of his power.

But he still grinned.

"You're going to go all out?"

Shiki wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"So, you've been holding back just now?"

"Of course," Roy did not deny it.

Shiki was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter, the sound echoing across the sea and causing the surrounding waters to tremble slightly.

"Hahaha—Roy, you're even more arrogant than your old man was in his youth!"

After laughing, he raised his twin swords again.

"But that makes sense."

If you didn't have that confidence, you wouldn't have been able to cut off Satan's head.

Golden Lion took a deep breath and crossed his two swords in front of him.

This time, he did not rush to charge, but slowly closed his one eye.

The surrounding air began to flow around him.

The Conqueror's Haki that had been mostly depleted began to slowly recover under his urging.

"In my entire life—"

When I was young, I felt like I wasn't afraid of anything.

Challenge Rocks, join his pirate crew, fight Whitebeard, and take over Roger's territory.

At that time, I felt that nothing on this sea could stop me.

"After Rocks was defeated, I formed my own flying pirate crew."

At its peak, it commanded dozens of captains and tens of thousands of men.

Whatever Lao Tzu says, the new world must listen to.

"Then—we encountered that damn storm in Etwall."

Shiki's voice suddenly turned low.

"My fleet, my brothers, my empire—all were destroyed by that storm."

Do you think luck is very important?

Roger was lucky; the storm helped him.

"I had bad luck; the storm ruined me."

"From that day on, my luck has been on a downward spiral."

The fleet was lost, the navy captured them, and after escaping Impel Down, they suffered one defeat after another.

Then, one by one, you new-age brats emerge and trample the old fogies of the old era down.

Sometimes I really envy that old white-bearded guy.

He died on the battlefield, on the way to the charge, dying like a true pirate.

His life may have started less glamorously than mine, but his ending will definitely be more impressive.

Shiki opened his eyes, a complex light flashing in his single eye.

"So—Roy, do you know why I rejected you?"