Chapter 244: Judgment of Light!!
"Hm—?!"
Luffy's brows suddenly tightened as his gaze locked onto the abruptly appearing golden light.
Kizaru shouldn't have been here.
And he had even less reason to interfere now.
Anyone could tell that Golden Lion Shiki had already reached his limit.
His ruined body was crumbling apart like weathered stone. Cracks spread across his flesh while his organs failed one after another, as though even the sound of time running out could be heard.
In that condition, even the slightest extra blow could become the final push toward death.
To interfere recklessly now was equivalent to placing oneself against two top-tier monsters simultaneously.
One mistake could trigger an unpredictable joint assault.
It was not a wise decision.
But the instant that doubt surfaced—
Luffy's Observation Haki spread outward like a tide across the edge of the floating islands.
His pupils shrank sharply.
The distant battlefield had already descended into smoke and chaos.
Under the hoarse commands of officers, Marine soldiers formed a wall of flesh and blood, desperately battling the savage beasts pouring from the islands.
Their uniforms were soaked with blood and dirt.
Their arms trembled from endlessly swinging swords.
Every breath burned through exhausted lungs.
Fear clung to them like a shadow.
Beneath their feet lay endless sky.
Before them stood monstrous fangs.
All around them echoed the cries of civilians and the roars of beasts.
It was hell itself.
Yet when that tiny but unwavering golden light pierced through the darkened heavens—
Every pair of eyes looking upward ignited with hope.
"It's Admiral Kizaru…!!"
A young Marine staggered backward while blocking a beast claw, shouting the words with blood splitting his cracked lips.
Yet his voice became a spark that instantly reignited the collapsing battlefield.
"The Admiral's here! He really came—!!"
"Hold the line! Get the last civilians onto the ships!!"
"The sky belongs to the Admiral! The ground belongs to us!!"
Something awakened within those roars.
A fighting spirit dragging itself back out from the abyss of despair.
The Marines gripped their weapons once more and charged toward the shadows ahead.
The clash of steel against bone.
The screams of comrades.
The thunderous beating of their own hearts.
All of it fused into one undeniable certainty.
This battlefield was absolute despair.
Legends of the old era roared in the heavens.
The new generation fought desperately below.
The world itself seemed on the verge of collapse.
And precisely because of that—
The golden figure standing in the sky had become an anchor for everyone present.
—The Admiral is up there!!
And so the line that had nearly collapsed stabilized once more.
The Marines used their battered bodies as shields, escorting trapped civilians toward the evacuation warships one by one.
Every slash became fiercer.
Every step more steadfast.
Because they knew—
Under this mad sky, they were not fighting alone.
That golden light represented the strongest pillar supporting justice upon this raging sea.
"…Sigh."
Luffy slowly emerged from his brief daze.
His gaze swept across the Marines fighting desperately in the distance.
Their bloodstained faces were filled with fear and exhaustion.
Yet whenever they looked toward that golden light in the sky, stubborn flames reignited within their eyes.
Luffy didn't understand it.
Why could these people entrust their faith entirely to someone else?
Why could a distant light make them forget life and death?
But he did understand one thing.
At this moment—
He shouldn't interfere anymore.
"Tch… what a drag."
Luffy clicked his tongue and loosened his clenched fist.
The black-red lightning around it faded like a receding tide, leaving only a few faint sparks dancing between his fingers before disappearing entirely.
As though that devastating power had never existed.
"I finally found a punching bag tough enough too…"
Even so, there wasn't much regret in his eyes.
The moment he looked toward his crewmates, the irritation faded into a knowing grin.
"Let's go!!"
His voice rang out loudly as always.
Yet as his eyes passed over the battlefield below, they paused briefly.
He gave one final glance toward the floating islands filled with rage, hope, and sacrifice—
Then turned away without hesitation.
"Zoro! Sanji!!"
"Jihahahahaha—!!!"
Shiki's laughter exploded like thunder.
The Golden Lion stood proudly in the sky, his broken body still radiating terrifying pressure.
His eyes locked onto the increasingly brilliant golden light, and a flicker of realization mixed with even greater battle intent flashed within them.
"I remember now…"
"You're that little shining brat who used to hide behind Sengoku and fire cheap shots, aren't you?!"
"Twenty years later… and you actually became an Admiral?!"
His hoarse voice scraped like sandpaper, yet still shook the heavens.
With every word, the black-red lightning surrounding him intensified violently.
Like countless dragons of hell writhing around his ruined body.
The legendary blades Oto and Kogarashi—
The swords that once clashed against Roger himself—
Slowly crossed before his chest.
"You want the life of Shiki…?"
He bent forward.
Then dove.
His tattered cape exploded behind him as his entire body transformed into a sword tearing through the heavens.
"Then show me some REAL power in exchange!!"
Before the words even finished—
He launched forward.
Countless distorted afterimages trailed behind his descending form.
Every slight shift in trajectory birthed another massive golden slash from empty space itself.
Ten.
A hundred.
A thousand.
The slashes no longer obeyed physical laws.
They spiraled, multiplied, and intertwined like living dragons, rapidly spreading throughout the sky with Shiki at the center.
"My sword…"
His roar merged with the screams of steel as the heavens turned blazing gold.
"…can even carve the sky itself into pieces!!"
"Heavenly Cross: Void Scar!!"
The gigantic web of death woven from pure sword slashes descended toward the brightest point of golden light—
Carrying the final pride and madness of an old-era ruler.
"Ooh~ scary…"
Kizaru still wore his usual lazy expression.
He even had enough leisure to casually adjust his slightly slipping sunglasses.
But behind those lenses—
His eyes were fully open.
Cold.
Sharp.
Like compressed light before a supernova eruption.
"Honestly…"
he muttered softly.
"The echoes of the old era should quietly fade away already."
He calmly raised both arms and crossed them before his chest.
At the center of that cross—
Time itself seemed to stretch unnaturally.
The countless golden slashes raining downward—
Attacks capable of slicing apart entire islands—
Suddenly slowed visibly as though they had plunged into an infinitely dense ocean of light.
"This sky has become far too muddy…"
"…far too dark from all your blood and dreams."
For the first time, Kizaru's voice lost all traces of mockery.
Only divine emptiness remained.
His crossed arms slowly spread apart.
As though opening a gate of light leading toward a new era.
"So instead…"
"Why not shine forever?"
"Yasakani no Magatama: Eternal Day Kagura."
At the center of the cross—
A tiny point of compressed golden light was born.
Then—
It bloomed silently.
A gigantic cross-shaped star composed entirely of pure light expanded outward.
Perfectly symmetrical.
Perfectly structured.
As though built from countless divine prisms.
And wherever it spread—
Space itself began to glow.
Rock.
Dust.
Residual sword slashes.
Scattered blood and flesh.
Clouds.
The boundary between matter and non-matter dissolved completely, assimilated into eternal light.
It was a temporary rewriting of physical law itself.
Turning all things—
Into light.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!
White and gold consumed all vision.
Only a primordial roar remained.
The floating islands melted and evaporated within the brilliance.
And at the center of that destruction remained only—
The gigantic cross-shaped star of light.
And before it—
A golden silhouette standing with arms spread wide like a god of judgment.
The final laughter and slashes of the old era vanished soundlessly within the eternal daylight.
Drip.
Drip drip.
Sticky blood hit the ground.
The quiet sound was more piercing than thunder.
Slowly, it shattered the silence.
At the center of the ruins—
Two figures stood motionless several meters apart.
"Ooh~ scary…"
Kizaru slowly exhaled a scorched breath.
His trademark yellow-striped suit had already turned dark red with blood.
Two massive crossing wounds stretched from his shoulder to his abdomen, deep enough to expose bone.
Black-red lightning still lingered around the cuts—
The violent remnants of Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
"I was almost sliced apart by the old man there…"
"What a monster."
"Jih… hahahaha…"
Shiki's laughter sounded even drier than his broken body.
Half his body had turned completely charred black from the overwhelming heat of light itself.
Most fatal of all was the white-hot wound piercing nearly through his chest, the surrounding air still warped from unbearable heat.
"I never thought…"
"An underhanded brat like you… always hiding in the distance and firing cheap attacks…"
"…would actually choose to block my blades head-on with your own body."
His cloudy eyes stared at Kizaru's horrific wounds in confusion.
Perhaps even disbelief.
"Well~"
Kizaru shrugged lightly.
Though the simple movement caused his brows to twitch almost imperceptibly.
"If I didn't finish things quickly…"
"…you probably would've died on your own first, wouldn't you?"
Shiki froze.
The madness and mockery within his eyes slowly faded away.
He stared deeply—
Very deeply—
At the blood-covered Marine Admiral still standing straight before him.
Then suddenly—
"Jihahahahahahaha!!!"
Shiki burst into wild laughter once more.
Blood poured from his mouth as the laughter shook his ruined organs apart.
Yet he laughed even harder.
Even more madly.
As though he had discovered the greatest joke in the world.
"Interesting! Too interesting!!"
"Someone like you… Borsalino!!"
"A bastard preaching 'Unclear Justice' and acting impossible to understand…"
"…actually has something you NEED to personally finish quickly?!"
"What exactly is your justice supposed to be, huh?!"
He no longer looked at Kizaru.
Instead, his blood-covered head slowly tilted upward toward the crimson sunset beyond the battlefield.
Blood dripped from his chin and hair onto the ground.
And in that moment—
Time became distorted.
Roger's final words at the execution platform.
The Edd War storm that buried his ambitions and legs.
The determination of cutting off his own feet in Impel Down.
The countless mad blueprints he spent twenty years drawing and discarding atop the sky islands.
Countless memories exploded through his collapsing mind like flickering lanterns.
Until finally—
Everything froze upon one image.
A man wearing a straw hat.
Smiling freely.
Gol D. Roger.
His greatest rival.
The only man he acknowledged as standing at the summit of the seas.
"Heh… hehehe…"
Shiki's laughter quieted into something unreadable.
"So in the end…"
"Roger…"
"After conquering the seas my whole life…"
"My ending…"
"…turned out exactly like yours."
"Dying at the hands of the Marines."
"What a damn joke!!!"
The final words exploded from him with every last ounce of strength remaining.
He spread both arms wide once more.
The burning wound across his chest split open again, blood pouring like a waterfall.
Yet he acted as though he felt nothing.
His dull golden hair whipped violently in the smoke-filled wind.
Like an aging lion refusing to lower its head even at death's door.
"Come on then, brat!!"
he roared.
No fear remained in his eyes.
Only exhausted peace.
"Kill me!!"
"With your light—!!"
"…Yeah."
Kizaru seemed to sigh softly.
"Even if you didn't ask…"
He slowly raised his right hand.
One finger extended.
At its tip—
A single point of incomparably compressed light silently gathered.
The surrounding space warped slightly beneath its density.
Shiki stared at that light.
Then slowly grinned.
A twisted grin of satisfaction.
—SHING.
There was no overwhelming explosion.
Only a faint sound almost too quiet to hear.
The thin beam of concentrated white light fired instantly.
It pierced directly through the center of Golden Lion Shiki's forehead.
A spray of hot blood scattered through the final rays of sunset.
His wildly dancing hair froze.
His towering body trembled slightly.
And the rebellious gaze that had burned across an entire era—
Finally went dark.
No unwilling screams.
No final struggle.
Still wearing that complicated expression—
Golden Lion Shiki slowly fell backward.
THUD.
Dust drifted gently down over his unmoving chest.
The "Flying Pirate" who once made the World Government tremble—
The legendary pirate who stood alongside Whitebeard and Roger at the summit of the seas—
Golden Lion Shiki—
Passed into eternal silence beneath the dying sunset and drifting ruins.
Kizaru slowly lowered his hand.
The light at his fingertips faded away.
He stood there quietly.
Looking at the corpse slowly losing warmth.
Then toward the blood-red sunset finally sinking beneath the horizon.
His sunglasses reflected the fading light, hiding his expression completely.
Only his bloodstained suit fluttered softly in the evening wind.
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