The natural system started off strong, but the navy finally reached its peak!

"Roger! Stop playing dumb!"

I'm giving you one last chance... Join me and become my right-hand man!

His voice boomed like thunder, shaking the sea to its core.

"With your strength and knowledge of the whereabouts of those weapons, plus my fleet, if we join forces, the whole world will be ours!!"

Roger's smile faded as the words of the Golden Lion echoed in his ears, replaced by a cold expression.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze piercing: "Shiki, I'm sorry..."

The next second, her voice suddenly rose, carrying an undeniable domineering air: "I'm going to reject you again!"

Because I have absolutely no interest in ruling the world!

Hearing Roger refuse him even under these circumstances, Shiki instinctively gritted his teeth, his tone icy.

"Roger, do you even know what's going on?!"

"I know."

"Knowing all this, you still decided to reject me?"

“Because I know, therefore…” Roger stepped forward with a serious expression, his hand holding Ace tightening slightly.

"I don't want to kill you here, Shiki!!!"

"Kill me?" The golden lion's eyes suddenly darkened, and a ferocious grin spread across his lips.

Hahaha! You mean to say...

"You can kill me anytime, Roger?!"

Before the words were even finished—"Boom!!"

Two terrifying Conqueror's Haki clashed violently!

Roger's dark red aura surged forth like a raging torrent, while the Golden Lion's aura roared like a mad lion!

In an instant, the sky was torn apart, dark clouds rolled, and thunder exploded!

The Oro Jackson and the Golden Lion flagship rocked violently, and the crew on deck grabbed onto fixed objects, while the weaker ones fainted!

"Attack!!!" Golden Lion roared, drawing out a single finger from Wood Dry and Sakura Ten.

"Kill!!!" The Flying Pirates roared as they charged forward, cannons roaring and swords flashing!

In an instant, Roger Ace's blade crackled with Haki, and he leaped forward, aiming straight for the Golden Lion!

"God avoids!!"

Golden Lion grinned, his twin swords radiating an aura of power, and the power of his Float-Float Fruit activated, propelling him into the air!

"Lion - Thousand Cut Valley!!!"

Countless golden slashes rained down like a storm, colliding violently with Roger's sword light!

"Boom!!!"

The sea surface exploded, and giant waves surged!

The duel between two legends has officially begun!

……

Above the Sea of ​​Edvard, the dark clouds were forcibly torn open by two bursts of Conqueror's Haki, creating a massive rift.

The sunlight pierced down like a sharp sword, casting dappled light and shadow on the sea.

On the deck of the reconnaissance ship, Gern and Kizaru stood atop the lookout tower, watching from afar this epic showdown that would go down in history.

Roger's Conqueror's Haki is as exaggerated as ever...

"No wonder he reached the pinnacle with sheer domineering presence!" Gern narrowed his eyes.

Feeling the overwhelming pressure, even though they were several nautical miles apart, the oppressive feeling still stung his skin.

"Oops~" Kizaru pushed up his sunglasses, cold sweat beading on his forehead, but his signature lazy smile still lingered on his lips.

"Is this the power of a 'legend'? How terrifying!"

On the sea, Roger and Shiki's figures had transformed into two streaks of light, each collision triggering a deafening explosion.

Roger's Ace was wreathed in dark red lightning, each strike carrying the power to cleave the heavens and the earth.

The Golden Lion's twin swords are like the lion's claws, with golden sword energy crisscrossing and cutting the sea surface into pieces.

"boom!!"

Another collision, the shock wave spread out in a ring, and the seawater within a radius of a kilometer was forced into a huge dent, with spider web-like cracks covering the exposed seabed.

"Is this... a true battle of kings?" Gern's pupils contracted slightly, and his fingers unconsciously tightened their grip on the hilt of the Black Blade Eight Desolations.

Unlike when he fought Roger before, Roger was now holding nothing back, and every strike carried devastating power.

Gern suddenly realized that when Roger fought him, he couldn't even withstand a single blow like that, while the Golden Lion dealt with it with ease.

"The gap... is so huge..." Gern murmured to himself, as if a huge rock was pressing on his chest.

"Hey, stop spacing out." Kizaru suddenly patted him on the shoulder and pointed to the other side of the battlefield. "Look over there."

Following the direction Kizaru pointed, Gern saw Rayleigh being attacked by three members of the Flying Pirates.

One of them was covered in steel-like scales, another had hands that transformed into giant cannon barrels, and the third floated in mid-air with jet-black wings spread behind him.

“Those are… ‘Ironscale’ Groot, ‘Gunner’ Barrest, and ‘Blackwing’ Morris?” Gern recognized these notorious pirates from the New World.

"They're all monsters with bounties exceeding one billion..."

"Not only that~" Kizaru whistled, "Look over there, Jabba."

Jabba was wielding his double axes, locked in fierce combat with a massive murloc.

The merman was covered in deep blue scales, with exposed fangs, and every punch it threw could create towering waves.

“It’s ‘Deep Sea Tyrant’ Dog, the former Royal Guard captain who defected from Fishman Island, with a bounty of 730 million.” Gern’s brows furrowed even more deeply.

"The Flying Pirates have brought out their entire fortune..."

The battle situation was extremely unfavorable for the Roger Pirates.

Although Rayleigh, Jabba, and others were powerful, the Flying Pirates' numerical advantage was simply too obvious.

Almost every member of Roger's pirate crew had to face enemies many times their size.

Barrett was surrounded by five officers, and even with his monstrous physique, he began to show signs of fatigue.

Young Shanks and Bucky fought back-to-back, both already wounded.

Even the ship's doctor, Crocus, joined the battle wielding a trident.

"The Roger Pirates... are going to lose," Kizaru suddenly said, his tone unusually serious.

Gern turned to look at him: "Why do you say that? Roger and the Golden Lion are clearly evenly matched..."

"Because war isn't a one-on-one duel, Gern." Kizaru interrupted him, his gaze behind his sunglasses sharp as a knife.

"Roger might be able to go toe-to-toe with the Golden Lion, but his crew won't last long."

As if to confirm Kizaru's words, a scream came from afar.

One of Roger's crew members was hit head-on by a cannonball from "Gunner" Barrest.

“The first one,” Kizaru said softly.

Then came the second, the third... one after another, Roger's crew members fell injured, their blood staining the deck of the Oro Jackson.

"Damn it!!!" Roger roared, trying to rush back to help, but he was held back by the Golden Lion.

"Hahaha! Roger!" The Golden Lion laughed wildly, his twin swords flashing with golden light.

"Now do you know the price of rejecting me?!"

Roger's eyes turned icy cold, and Ace's domineering aura surged dramatically: "Shiki...you're asking for death!!!"

"God avoids!!!"

A crimson blade of light tore through the heavens and earth, and the golden lion hastily parried.

He was blasted hundreds of meters away and crashed heavily into the cabin of his flagship, the Flying Lion.

Chapter 137 Crossroads of History

Meanwhile, on the other side, on the deck of the reconnaissance ship...

Genn's fingers unconsciously caressed the hilt of the Black Blade Eight Desolations, his gaze fixed on the distant battlefield.

“Something’s not right…” he suddenly murmured.

"Hmm?" Kizaru leaned lazily against the mast, a recording Den Den Mushi appearing in his hand again. "What's wrong?"

Gern didn't answer, but instead looked up at the sky.

The sky was a clear, deep blue, without a single cloud in sight, with only the air above the distant battlefield distorted by the clash of their powerful forces.

Then he looked down at the sea on his side.

It was as calm as a mirror, with only the occasional small ripples stirred up by the aftershocks of the battle.

“The weather…” Gern frowned more and more deeply, “It’s too quiet.”

"Quiet?" Kizaru followed his gaze, looked around, and shrugged.

"Isn't this great? At least we don't get wet in the rain."

Gern's pupils contracted slightly as images of the Battle of Adwall, which he had learned about from comics and anime in his previous life, flashed through his mind.

Before the war even began, there were already raging storms and towering waves, followed by the super tsunami that changed the course of history.

“No…not at all…” Gern’s voice trailed off, almost as he was talking to himself.

"According to 'history,' it should be now..."

On the distant battlefield, Roger was once again forced back by the Golden Lion, and the deck of the Oro Jackson was already filled with wounded soldiers.

Rayleigh's long golden hair was stuck to his face with blood, and Jabba's double axes showed obvious cracks.

Even Barrett was panting heavily, and blood was seeping from his wounds.

"The Roger Pirates... are really going to lose." Gern's breathing became rapid.

If it weren't for that sudden storm and tsunami, the Roger Pirates would have been severely damaged or even wiped out here today.

This would completely change history—there would be no Pirate King, no Onepiece, and no Great Pirate Era.

"Hey, Gern? You've been acting strange since the beginning!" Kizaru noticed his unusual behavior, his eyes behind his sunglasses narrowed slightly, and he silently shut down the video bug in his hand.

"You're not thinking about something dangerous again, are you?"

Gern abruptly turned to look at Kizaru, a complex light flashing in his eyes: "Borsalino-senpai, if..."

I mean, if the Roger Pirates were wiped out here today, what do you think the world would be like?

Kizaru paused for a moment, then gave a thoughtful look: "Hmm... Whitebeard didn't have any grand ambitions. If the Roger Pirates were defeated..."

The Golden Lion will be unstoppable, and the balance of the new world will be completely shattered.

Of course, there's an even more serious possibility... like what you said in the meeting room earlier.

Roger might choose to surrender or be killed to save his crew, and everything in Roger's pirate crew would be taken over by Shiki.

"But that would be terrifying." He paused.

"Because the navy may be facing an unprecedentedly powerful enemy."

“That’s not all.” Gern’s voice was terrifyingly low.

"The Golden Lion will find those ancient weapons, and he will try to expand his ambition to rule the entire world..."

Kizaru's brow furrowed for the first time: "What weapon? What are you talking about? From the very beginning..."

“So…” Gern took a deep breath and turned his gaze back to the battlefield.

"I'm wondering, where did that storm and tsunami that changed everything go?"

The moment he finished speaking, a strange feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.