BOOM!
The thunderous explosions never stopped. The battle in the sky had grown increasingly intense. Before anyone realized it, Nao and Golden Lion Shiki had been fighting in midair for hours.
Compared to when the battle had begun—
Nao now had no upper clothing left, reduced to ash in the ferocious combat. His bronzed, muscular chest was exposed, black hair whipping wildly in the wind. His body was covered in countless wounds.
As for Shiki, though his body bore fewer injuries, he was clearly panting heavily, and sweat dripped from his furrowed brow.
On the surface, it might've looked like Shiki had the upper hand during their prolonged duel.
But at this point, only the two of them knew the real truth—the situation remained a complete stalemate.
Though Nao had clearly been at a disadvantage, constantly suppressed and pushed back, the longer Shiki fought, the more shocked he became—this young upstart, barely out of his teens, had seemingly endless stamina. He didn't show the slightest hint of fatigue.
And his body's durability, combined with an inhuman regeneration speed, was so terrifying it made even Shiki's heart pound in disbelief.
Those slash wounds that had carved across his chest—before the blood could even spill—were already closing up, healing visibly right before his eyes...
What the hell is this monster?!
While Shiki was reeling from this unsettling realization, Nao was becoming increasingly composed, almost fluid in his movements. His fighting spirit was soaring. His gaze was sharp. His entire body radiated unbreakable resolve.
"No wonder they call you a legendary pirate, up there with Roger and Whitebeard."
CLANG! Another fierce clash—blades met in a locked cross.
Facing Shiki above him, Nao grinned and said:
"Out of all the bastards I've fought—Katakuri, Dugalio… none of them gave me this much trouble."
It was technically praise.
But in Shiki's ears, it sounded like the ultimate insult.
"Don't you dare lump those junior nobodies together with ME, brat!!"
Shiki exploded with fury, his hair and beard bristling as he swung both swords downward with all his strength!
Above them, the vast clouds suddenly twisted like being sucked into a tornado, condensing into countless giant arrows of mist, which rained down on Nao from the sky.
A storm of arrows. A downpour of death.
"Still flashy as ever,"
Nao muttered as he looked up at the sky, eyes calm.
"But useless against me."
SWOOSH!
His gaze flashed sharply, and he swept his blades in a wide arc. The wind howled fiercely—and before him, a wall of wind dozens of meters wide formed instantly.
Wind Barrier!
The mist-arrows swarmed toward him, dense and overwhelming. But the moment they touched the barrier of wind, it was like they had entered a different dimension—vanishing instantly, erased without a trace.
Silence fell upon the sky.
"..."
Shiki's eyes widened, filled with disbelief—How did that little punk do it? He easily broke my ultimate attack with a single casual sword slash!
There was no time for him to think about it, because at that moment, Nao's figure below him flickered and disappeared.
"Behind me!"
Shiki's eyes flashed red as he spun and slashed into the empty air—right where Nao appeared a split second later.
But Nao had long since adapted to Shiki's battle instincts. He parried the incoming strike with a grunt and drove his blades toward Shiki's right side, aiming to ram into his waist!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The offensive and defensive flow between them continued, back and forth, escalating again into another ferocious exchange of slashes!
...
On the ruined platform above the sea—
The battlefield was in chaos.
Jailers and Jailer beasts, led by Aokiji, were locked in a brutal fight against the descending Flying Pirates.
As night quietly fell and the sun dipped below the horizon, the moon rose high into the sky.
The battle still showed no signs of ending.
Both sides had suffered losses—but thanks to Aokiji's phenomenal strength, who alone was tying up several of the Flying Pirates' top officers, Impel Down's side was slowly regaining momentum.
Magellan, with his Poison-Devil Fruit abilities, had supported Aokiji at first.
But as word of the deepening riot in the lower levels spread upward, he had no choice but to retreat from the surface battlefield and descend to help stabilize the prison interior.
This, in turn, placed even more pressure on Aokiji.
And yet…
"Yours is the greater burden, Nao…"
THWACK! Aokiji froze a pirate sneaking up behind him into an ice statue.
Turning his gaze toward the sea in the distance, he saw Golden Lion—frenzied, relentless—driving Nao back, blow after blow.
Nao's body kept being hurled into the ocean, and each time he emerged again from the exploding water, lunging back into the sky to fight on.
Hoo.
Aokiji let out a cold breath, eyes solemn.
More than anyone, he knew—no matter how large the skirmishes on the surface, how many pirates or prisoners were involved—they were all distractions.
The outcome of this war… would be decided by the clash between Nao and Golden Lion.
"Just believe in him, Vice Admiral Kuzan!"
A familiar voice called out behind him.
Aokiji turned—it was Magellan, covered in blood, somehow back on the upper level.
Clearly, the riot below had been brought under control—at least temporarily.
"We just need to handle our part,"
Magellan grinned as he smashed two incoming pirates into pulp with his fists.
"And Nao-sama… has always been half an idol of mine. The miracles he's pulled off already—aren't they enough proof?"
But that's Golden Lion, though…
Aokiji thought instinctively.
Yet when he met Magellan's firm, unwavering gaze, he fell silent for a moment… then slowly nodded.
That's right.
That kid was only twenty years old, yet he had already created so many amazing miracles..
From the strongest rookie in the history of the elite training camp to the youngest Vice Admiral in the history of the entire Marines…
That guy's future was destined to be brilliant beyond their imagination, so how could it end in a place like this!
"Let's put in more effort, Magellan!"
He casually summoned an ice shield to block a surprise attack from two pirate officers on his right side. Aokiji's lips curved into a slight smile, and his tone was light:
"We've gotta hold the line too. If Nao takes down Golden Lion and turns around to find us half-dead... that'd be super embarrassing!"
"Haha, no worries, Kuzan-san!"
Magellan laughed heartily as poison surged over his body, forming a dragon-shaped torrent that swept toward the surrounding pirates…
...
The battle between Nao and Shiki was ultimately more of a stalemate than anyone had imagined.
Three days and three nights.
Their great battle lasted for three full days and nights.
On the first day, Nao was struck down into the sea countless times, and countless times he soared into the air, gritting his teeth and desperately holding on under Shiki's various methods of manipulating the weather and environment.
On the second day, the same scene continued to unfold on the sea.
From dawn to dusk, the two of them were like tireless gods of war. The intensity of their clash turned the world upside down, and roaring waves crashed everywhere.
By the third day, the prisoners' riot inside Impel Down was completely suppressed. And after the jailers paid a heavy price, the Flying Pirates' invasion was also declared a failure, and a large number of pirate officers were captured.
Aokiji, battered and wounded, collapsed onto the rubble without caring about appearances, eyes locked on the sea.
Out there—once again—Nao was blasted into the ocean. A few seconds later, he burst out of a whirlpool, swords gleaming, lunging at Shiki.
His eyes were still fierce, his aura unshaken from days before.
But—
Though Nao still stood strong...
Golden Lion was weakening.
He still hovered in the air, still swung his blades with enough force to split the sea.
He could still summon storm and sky with a wave of his hand.
But everyone—even regular jailers—could now feel it.
His aura… was fading.
His power, once overwhelming, was slipping.
Despite all his efforts to conserve energy with the Float-Float Fruit, after days of nonstop battle, his body—aged and worn—couldn't keep up.
And the longer it dragged on, the faster his strength waned.
"He won't be able to hold Nao back much longer…"
Aokiji muttered, eyes dark and deep. "The lion… has grown old."
CLANG!
Another massive explosion of sword energy—Nao only slid back a few steps this time, no longer crashing into the sea like before.
Instead, it was Shiki who was blasted back, flipping dozens of times in the sky before managing to stop himself using his Devil Fruit powers.
"Cough!"
He coughed violently, his chest heaving. Before he could even adjust his breathing, Nao below him was already slashing his swords again, his face expressionless.
Swish!
Shiki quickly swung his two swords to meet him, but his speed was much slower than when they had first started fighting.
His Oto sword was blocked by the Azakana Sword, but his other sword, Kogarashi, failed to intercept the Wind Blade, which easily bypassed it and, instead of a slash, turned into a thrust, piercing his lower leg.
SPLAT!
A spray of blood bloomed in mid-air. The Armament Haki that Shiki had subconsciously condensed was completely useless as a defense against the sharp sword blade.
When the Wind Blade was pulled out again, it had already carved out a large portion of Shiki's entire leg muscle, revealing the white bone underneath.
"Your stamina is still so abundant after all this time, you little brat…"
Enduring the intense pain, Shiki suddenly exerted force, shaking Nao's dual swords away. At the same time, he pointed his finger, and the surrounding air gathered, squeezing violently towards Nao. "What kind of monster are you?!"
Nao's black hair was blown back and scattered by the strong wind, but his body remained firm and unmoving.
"I told you three days ago, Shiki…"
He spat out a mouthful of blood with a phlegm sound. His eyes were cold as he pushed Shiki's two swords upwards, inch by inch.
"You didn't listen when I told you to take your subordinates and get lost back then. Now you regret it, but it's already too late!"
"Do you really think you've got this, huh, you little punk?"
Instead of getting angry, Shiki laughed. Perhaps it was because of the intense pain in his leg, or because of Nao's words. His facial features became ferocious and twisted. He spoke, word by word:
"Regret?"
"The word 'regret' has never been in my dictionary!"
BOOM!!!
As Shiki's voice fell silent, a terrifying, soul-shaking aura suddenly erupted, sweeping out in all directions with a thunderous roar!
Conqueror's Haki!
In an instant, the high sky, which had returned to a state of calm, once again stirred with a catastrophic, violent airflow. The clouds churned, and lightning boomed, as the entire world changed color!
The sea also surged with monstrous waves.
As a legendary pirate of the old era, Shiki's Conqueror's Haki was no less powerful than that of the Pirate King Roger. It was far beyond what Nao had experienced when he fought Katakuri!
For a time, not only were there frequent anomalies between heaven and earth, but even in the sea ruins several kilometers away, a large number of jailers were affected. They fell down in droves like waves of wheat being blown by the wind, passing out and losing consciousness.
Only Aokiji and the few highest-ranking officers of the Flying Pirates who had been tied up were not significantly affected.
As for Nao—
Although his strength was also among the top tier, and in truth, only Aokiji could compare to him, his current situation was completely the opposite of these few.
After a long, hard-fought battle, even though his stamina seemed to be abundant, his mind had its limits. He was already in a state of considerable exhaustion.
Shiki was right in front of him, and with his Conqueror's Haki unleashed at full power, Nao took the full brunt of the frontal impact.
So, at that very moment, Nao felt every cell in his body tremble slightly.
That extremely domineering sense of pressure penetrated deeply from his body's surface all the way into his soul, making him clutch his head in pain, his face twisted and distorted.
If it weren't for his Brain Seal Technique as a last line of defense, he might have passed out on the spot and fallen into the sea.
"Conqueror's Haki…"
Nao mumbled in a voice only he could hear. Shiki in the distance became blurry, and multiple illusions appeared.
His consciousness was now infinitely close to a state of confusion and chaos. He didn't even notice that he had bitten his own lip in the constant repetition of the word.
He had carried the hopes of Aokiji and all the jailers, with his back to the deep-sea prison filled with criminals. He had endured all sorts of pressure and hardship, fighting for three days and three nights, only for it to end like this?
Conqueror's Haki?
Shouldn't the fight have continued with a head-on clash?
If that were the case, even if he was the loser in the end, he would have lost with dignity, lost with honor!
But now, after using every move he had and giving his all to push Shiki to this point, he was going to fall from a Conqueror's Haki shockwave, just like an unknown nobody?
How ridiculous!
"Conqueror's Haki…"
His eyes were bloodshot. In a daze, he unconsciously repeated the mumble again.
Is it over?
In this way?
No!
Absolutely not!
He was unwilling. Even if it was the end, it shouldn't end like this!
The family he needed to protect, the girlfriend who cared about him, the cute daughter he was about to start raising, and this dirty world that needed him to clean it up…
How difficult had it been for him to grow from an unknown young man in the East Blue, to fight his way through thorns and waves to reach this point! Natsuya Nao had too many things to do in the future. How could he possibly fall in a place like this?!
Suddenly, at the very moment a silent roar echoed in Nao's heart, a terrifying force that made one's soul tremble, erupted from his body!
Boom!
This force was not the result of his body breaking its limits in a desperate situation. It was something he was born with, but it had been deeply hidden. The moment it erupted, it perfectly fused with Nao's aura.
The entire world seemed to fall silent at that moment.
Then, this domineering aura that had burst from his body instantly swept away Shiki's Conqueror's Haki pressure that was around him!
And like a flash flood, under the shocked and stunned gaze of a visibly-changed Shiki, it surged out mightily in all directions!