Splash.
Blood splattered in the icy pool.
Caesar lifted the unconscious Shiki and tossed him directly into it.
Watching Shiki slowly sink to the bottom, Caesar blinked.
"Shiki, whether you live or die is up to you now. I've done all I can."
If Shiki were still conscious, one wonders if he would leap up and shatter Caesar's knee with a punch.
Was that really doing all you could?
Even slaughtering a pig isn't as brutal as that, okay?
In the distance, the pirates who heard Shiki's screams abruptly cut off exchanged uneasy glances, sensing something was terribly wrong.
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the blood pool, Shiki himself, though unconscious, was undergoing astonishing changes.
First, his head.
The gaping holes in his skull were being nourished by the vibrant, life-filled essence-blood, slowly beginning to regenerate new bone tissue.
Then, his legs.
Th wounds from where Caesar had severed them had long since healed, but the freshly bleeding surfaces were now being compressed by the mercury-like essence-blood in the pool, forcing his own blood to flow backward into his body!
For some unknown reason, Shiki's original blood was being squeezed out and expelled from his body, replaced by Caesar's blood.
Caesar's blood was taking over Shiki's own.
His physique was transforming into that of the Oni tribe!
Caesar's gaze pierced through the viscous blood, witnessing the dramatic changes in Shiki's body, and he couldn't help but click his tongue in astonishment.
"Oh no, oh no. When this guy wakes up, he might just grow a pair of demon horns. I wonder if he'll come at me with everything he's got. BORORORO."
Shiki, still unconscious, twitched occasionally as if electrocuted.
His mind was traveling through the past, recalling fragments of his life over the decades.
....
Fifty years ago, on Hachinosu.
"Get out of my way! I am the Golden Lion Shiki, the man who will slay Rocks! How dare he claim to be the King of the World? I am the one who will rule this world!"
"Borororo, you're quite the arrogant one, you blond weakling—get past me, Barbarossa Caesar, first!"
....
Forty-five years ago, in a certain sea of the New World.
"Run for your lives! It's the Rocks Pirates! Leading them are the Three Calamities: 'Sea-Quake' Edward Newgate! 'Lion-Demon' Golden Lion Shiki! 'Demon' Barbarossa Caesar!"
"Help, help! Don't leave me behind, Mom! The New World is too terrifying!"
....
Thirty-eight years ago, at God Valley.
"Shiki, Rocks said he's about to meet his destined end. He told us not to help him fight off the enemies. He plans to face them alone and fall in his most glorious moment!"
"What kind of joke is that? As long as I'm still a commander of this crew, how could I betray him at the last moment? Where's Newgate?"
"He defected to the enemy's side."
"What? That bastard Newgate, I'll tear him apart! Who are we up against?"
"The Roger Pirates, and the Marines, including Garp and others."
"Just Roger and Garp? The two of us are enough! Let's go! Face the enemy!"
....
Twenty-seven years ago, in the Edd War.
"How many times have I said this, Roger. Though we had our share of conflicts in our youth, let bygones be bygones. With the world-ending weapon whose location you know, my military forces, and the perfect plan I've spent years devising, we could rule this world instantly. Become my right-hand man, Roger!"
"I have no interest in ruling the world, Shiki. What's the point of being a pirate if you can't do what you want?"
"So you're telling me to kill you now? Roger."
"It means I'll crush all of you!"
....
Twenty-five years ago, Marineford.
"How could Roger be captured by trash like you? He's a man I acknowledge!"
"Roger is the Pirate King. He already defeated you and withdrew from your battle."
"Pirate King? So what? Though we never got along, we shared an era. If he's here, bring him to me! If he's to be executed, I'll do it myself!"
"The execution will be in one week, at Roger's birthplace - the beginning of the East Blue, Loguetown."
"The legend of Pirate King Roger ending in that weakest sea, the East Blue? What a joke! This is the final insult to that man!"
....
Twenty-two years ago, Impel Down.
"Jihahaha! Why do all the men I value - Rocks, Caesar, Roger - keep leaving me one by one! This New World is just letting those weak star-chasers strut around, it's so boring!"
Shiki grinned ferociously, snapped off his own legs with his bare hands, and flew out of Level 6.
"Jihahaha! Consider those legs as thanks for these two years, Jihahaha!"
....
Same year, somewhere in the New World, aboard the Moby Dick.
"It seems this has become your era now, Newgate."
"Now that Rocks and Roger are dead, and that guy Caesar has disappeared, I'll let bygones be bygones about your betrayal back then. Live well, I hope we meet again."
...
The blood pool's water level kept decreasing.
The massive 500 cubic meters of viscous essence blood had completely entered Shiki's body, transforming into boundless, tremendous vitality.
Whoosh!
A pair of sharp, gleaming eyes opened.
Shiki rose into the air while lying flat, floating out of the instantly shattering ice pool.
His body hovered slowly, righting itself.
Shiki was completely naked, the wrinkles on his face smoothed away, his long golden hair flowing all the way down to his heels, radiating a brilliant golden luster.
His body was powerful, muscles full and robust, his entire being brimming with vigorous blood and energy, looking no more than forty or fifty years old.
"Heh, this feeling... truly... SUBARASHI!"
Shiki stretched his hand before his face, gazing at this palm filled with abundant blood and energy, feeling the pulsing blood within.
"Hmm? Could it be??"
Suddenly, Shiki sensed a familiar feeling.
He could feel his calves, his ankles, his toes!
"My legs, they've returned!!"
Overwhelmed with ecstasy, Shiki hurriedly looked down.
There, on either side of his dangling little Shiki, were two powerful, swift legs.
Two thick, sturdy thighs extended downward.
Below the knees, where it had once been empty and he could only use Oto and Kogarashi to replace his feet, two legs had miraculously grown!
The ecstatic expression on Shiki's face gradually froze.
His gaze became vacant as he stared down at his knees, where two pale, slender, and delicately shaped legs—resembling those of an infant—were now attached.
These doll-like legs, barely a foot long, looked utterly bizarre and incongruous growing from Shiki's body.
Shiki's body trembled, the imposing aura he had been suppressing finally bursting forth like a mountain flood!
RUMBLE!!!
A vast, wild, and domineering crimson Conqueror's Haki erupted from Shiki's body, spreading outward in all directions!
In an instant, the void trembled, the sea sank dozens of meters, and waves surged upward, breaking away from the ocean's surface and soaring into the sky, forming massive waterspouts like dragon-shaped whirlwinds!
The pirates who had already retreated to Udon, thousands of meters away, couldn't withstand the pressure of Shiki's Conqueror's Haki.
One by one, their eyes rolled back, foam spewed from their mouths, and they collapsed face-up with thuds!
"Grah!! Caesar! You bastard, I'm going to kill you!"
Shiki's roar echoed across the sky.
On the deck, Caesar wore a smile and remarked with a sigh.
"Ah, Shiki, you seem quite spirited. Bororororo!"