One Piece: SSS-Rank Haki at Age Seventeen

The battlefield at the edge of the floating island had already been completely reshaped by wave after wave of devastating shockwaves.

The earth looked as though it had been plowed over repeatedly by some invisible giant force. Shattered bedrock and frozen soil had fused into a chaotic wasteland.

"—CLANG!!"

Yamato's kanabo, wrapped in icy blue frost and black-red lightning, was once again firmly blocked by the seemingly plain shikomizue.

Yet what surged from the blade was not merely strength—

It was an all-encompassing "weight" that crushed downward from every direction.

The air itself seemed to solidify into mercury, pressing against Yamato's body from all sides, making every breath unbearably heavy.

Yamato gritted her teeth as fine beads of sweat formed at her temples.

The Marine Admiral before her was monstrously powerful beyond imagination.

Her Conqueror's Haki Infusion, capable of splitting mountains apart—

Her freezing breath, cold enough to freeze the sea itself—

Before Fujitora's gravity domain, they vanished like stones sinking into the ocean, unable to stir even the slightest ripple capable of changing the battle.

"Hey, little lady."

Fujitora suddenly spoke, his deep voice cutting through the raging torrents of energy.

"Has your Observation Haki been focused solely on me this whole time?"

"It seems your companions have already fallen into a true crisis."

"What?!"

Yamato's eyes narrowed sharply.

A life-and-death struggle against an Admiral allowed no room for distraction. She truly hadn't had the luxury to focus elsewhere.

But now that Fujitora had pointed it out, she instinctively extended her senses toward the center of the island.

Then suddenly turned her head.

What she saw instantly made her blood run cold.

Far away, over half of the floating island fragments had transformed into countless gigantic stone lions, roaring as they surged across the sky, converging into a world-shaking apocalyptic scene.

And at the very center of that "lion pride"—

Golden Lion Shiki stood cloaked in black-red lightning, his cape whipping violently behind him like a god of destruction controlling the world itself.

Even from this distance, the overwhelming pressure of his Conqueror's Haki made Yamato's heart nearly stop.

Fujitora did not take advantage of her distraction.

Instead, he held his blade horizontally before him.

A solemn—almost savage—expression reflected along the sword's surface.

Massive waves of violet gravitational energy surged around him as ring after ring of condensed gravity spread outward from beneath his feet.

Then they rose into the sky like reverse meteors, shooting directly toward the airspace where Shiki stood.

The abnormal energy fluctuation snapped Yamato back to reality.

"Stop! What are you doing?!"

she shouted sharply, her fingers turning pale from gripping her kanabo too tightly.

"Nothing much."

Fujitora's voice returned to calmness, though his resolve was absolute.

"I am merely fulfilling my duty as a Marine Admiral."

"So tell me… will you continue standing in my way?"

A fierce struggle flashed across Yamato's face.

After several long breaths of silence, the hesitation in her eyes vanished completely, replaced by unwavering determination.

"Luffy's over there fighting Golden Lion!"

She slammed her kanabo into the ground as frost spread rapidly beneath her feet.

"My job… is stopping you right here!!"

"…Sigh."

A long, heavy sigh escaped Fujitora.

He slowly raised his shikomizue, the tip pointing toward the heavens.

An even denser wave of violet gravity erupted outward, mixed with crackling black Haki lightning that coiled around the blade like violent serpents.

The air groaned under the pressure as the ground beneath his feet cracked and sank.

"If that's your answer… then forgive me, little lady."

Fujitora's voice rolled like thunder.

"The remnants of the old era's legends must be ended and publicly judged by the Marines."

"That… is the order of justice."

The instant his words fell—

"Gravity Blade: Hell Journey!"

"Secret Art: Ame-no-Iwato Gate!! "

Neither side hesitated any longer.

Their strongest attacks erupted simultaneously.

The ultimate gravitational field collided violently with Yamato's guardian ice, and the resulting shockwave exploded outward in a massive ring, shaving away yet another entire layer from the already fractured floating island edge.

A new round of battle had begun.

Meanwhile, at the center of the battlefield—

Golden Lion Shiki's gaze pierced through the dust and violent Haki shockwaves, locking onto Luffy like a hawk staring down prey.

The wind whipped Luffy's black coat violently, yet his "slender" figure remained unmoving.

Within those crimson eyes that now resembled blazing furnaces, Shiki could clearly see an overwhelming rage that threatened to burn everything to ash.

Yet surprisingly—

That rage was being forcefully restrained by an even stronger will.

Luffy simply clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, like a silent volcano on the verge of erupting through the earth itself.

The next moment, Shiki's gaze instinctively rose higher—

Landing on the straw hat atop Luffy's head.

Time itself seemed to freeze.

Shiki's pupils shrank violently.

His blood surged to his head, only to freeze solid in the next instant.

Painful memories tore through the barriers of time and swallowed him whole.

Roger's carefree laughter.

The freezing agony of the ship wheel embedding itself into his skull during the Battle of Edd War.

The unbearable pain of cutting off his own legs to escape Impel Down.

Everything.

Every obsession.

Every madness.

Every hatred.

All centered around one man's name.

"ROGER…!!!"

His sky-reaching fury exploded into tangible black-red Conqueror's Haki lightning, erupting from his scarred body like an uncontrollable volcano.

The twin legendary blades in his hands—Oto and Kogarashi—trembled violently as if responding to their master's hatred.

Even denser, more violent black-red lightning wrapped around the swords, distorting the very space around their blades.

"If not for him…!! If not for HIM!!"

Shiki's golden hair whipped wildly as the ship wheel embedded in his skull gleamed coldly beneath the Haki lightning.

He stepped forward—

And the entire floating island tilted with a pained groan.

"Since you wear the same straw hat as him…"

"Then you can die in his place!!"

Murderous intent solidified into reality.

His twin swords rose high, ready to unleash a devastating slash that would erase everything before him—

Including the unbearable past itself.

But at that exact moment—

—BOOOOOOM!!!

A deep, soul-shaking roar descended from the heavens above.

At first, it sounded impossibly distant—

Yet it approached with absurd speed, instantly filling the entire world.

Shiki.

Luffy.

Every surviving fighter on the battlefield instinctively looked upward.

The edges of the dense cloud sea were violently torn apart and dyed crimson as an unimaginably enormous black shadow emerged slowly from the heavens, dragging behind it a flaming trail stretching for kilometers.

The thunderous roar created by its friction against the atmosphere drowned out every sound in existence.

Before the object itself even arrived, its terrifying heatwave had already descended, causing the very sky to boil and distort.

The shadow rapidly expanded—

Like the eyelids of death slowly opening.

In an instant, it loomed over the battlefield, swallowing nearly half the main island—

Along with both the legends of the old era and the rising generation beneath it.

It was—

A meteor.

A natural disaster descending from the heavens.

"…Fujitora's power, huh…"

Luffy muttered quietly.

His gaze flicked toward the edge of the floating island.

Purple gravitational force and icy Haki clashed violently there, staining the sky with dangerous colors.

His eyes lingered for less than half a second before moving away.

Yamato's presence was suppressed, but still stable.

There was no way Fujitora could defeat her quickly.

In fact…

The outcome was still uncertain.

Luffy's gaze then swept farther away toward two silent ruins.

The mountain of rubble pinning down Sanji.

And the massive canyon where Zoro had fallen.

Luffy's chest rose slightly as he exhaled the violent emotions boiling within him.

In a voice only he could hear, he muttered toward the ruins:

"If you idiots don't wake up soon…"

"…I'm seriously not gonna be able to hold back anymore."

Meanwhile, despair had completely consumed the battlefield below.

"A-A meteor—!!"

The surviving pirates stared upward blankly as though invisible hands had gripped their throats.

The flaming shadow covering the sky grew larger and larger within their eyes.

The crushing pressure was so immense that the air itself seemed to solidify into Tekkai .

"T-This can't be real…"

"You've gotta be kidding me… how can humans fight something like that?!"

"Are… are we all gonna die?"

Trembling whispers spread through the deathly silence.

Some pirates collapsed to their knees.

Others dropped their weapons without even realizing it.

More simply stood frozen in place, their minds wiped blank by pure terror.

"What did we even do to deserve this?!"

One blood-covered pirate suddenly screamed hysterically, tears mixing with blood across his face.

"We just robbed a few towns! Killed a few people!"

"Yesterday we were drinking and partying!"

"So why the hell are we caught in an Emperor-level war today and getting smashed by a damn meteor?!"

"You're not even leaving us a way to survive?!"

Before a true natural disaster, all past cruelty and greed seemed pitifully small.

How could human power possibly resist destruction falling from the heavens?

The answer seemed obvious.

They could not resist.

Only perish.

Yet the scene in the sky was completely different from the despair below.

Golden Lion merely glanced sideways at the descending meteor and let out a dismissive snort.

As for Luffy—

He didn't even fully raise his head, merely glancing upward from the corner of his eye as though the object falling from the sky wasn't a world-ending meteor, but an insignificant pinecone.

"Tch."

Shiki clicked his tongue in irritation.

He had intended to use this disaster to force Luffy to reveal more of his true strength.

But the brat was even calmer than he was, acting completely unconcerned.

"Whatever… if it's in the way, I'll just cut it down."

Shiki's eyes sharpened as both arms swung violently.

SWISH SWISH SWISH—!!!

In an instant, dozens of dazzling golden sword slashes burst from his twin blades!

They rapidly intersected, multiplied, and expanded in the sky until they formed an enormous crescent-shaped network of slashes covering nearly half the heavens.

The air itself split apart soundlessly wherever the slashes passed, leaving behind lingering vacuum trails as they shot toward the meteor at speeds beyond vision.

"Lion's Thousand Slice Valley!! !"

BOOOOOOOOM—!!!

Before this destructive net woven by a legendary swordsman, the gigantic meteor was sliced apart like a soft cake.

The next second—

Under the stunned gazes of countless pirates, whose despair instantly transformed into disbelief and ecstasy—

The massive meteor exploded into countless flaming fragments that still carried terrifying momentum.

Like a catastrophic rainstorm, they poured toward the earth below.

Though still deadly, it had fallen from "world-ending destruction" to merely a "disaster."

And Golden Lion Shiki didn't even spare the falling debris a second glance.

From beginning to end—

His eyes remained locked onto the straw-hatted boy standing below him.

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