"Go wild, rookies!"
"This sea is far too boring!"
"Hatred, grudges, destiny, revenge—"
"One day, we'll drown this ocean in chaos and topple the Celestial Dragons' dynasty!"
Kurozumi Semimaru pressed his fingers together—two fingers on each hand crossing in mirrored seals.
Twin transparent barriers shimmered into existence, spreading outward from his feet.
They expanded, sliding across the ground until they reached Sharn and Kaido, rising before each of them as gleaming walls of air.
"Hey! Don't block my fight!" Kaido bellowed. "You wanna die, Semimaru?"
He hated anyone interrupting a good battle.
To him, every fight against a strong foe was a step toward becoming stronger—
and Glengus Saint, though heavily wounded by Rocks, was still strong enough to push him further.
If Semimaru ruined that, it would wreck his path to power.
"Just fists and blood—that's what matters," Kaido growled.
"These barriers might be handy, but I'd rather brawl head-on!"
"The recovery of a Zoan-type is the limit of life itself," Sharn added, also refusing the barrier's protection.
"What's the use of a wall that only stops you from getting stronger?"
"Fuffuffuffu!" Semimaru laughed shrilly.
"I never said I was helping you, nor that I take orders from anyone!"
"My code is simple—profit over honor!"
He coated the barrier in Armament Haki, reshaping it into a massive fist of invisible glass.
With a booming rush, it shot toward Glengus Saint and Saturn Saint.
"Again with that damned fruit!" Glengus spat.
Even half-dead, his rage flared.
It was Semimaru's barriers that had turned the tide when Rocks crushed them earlier—
the Dark-Dark Fruit devoured them, and the barrier arts sealed their escape.
If not for his freakish endurance, he'd have been left face-down in the mud forever.
"Fuffuffu! I love that look—hating me but unable to kill me!"
Semimaru was true to his clan's creed.
Unlike the noble Kozuki, the Kurozumi worshipped Devil Fruits as salvation.
At home in Wano they called their powers witchcraft, used to terrify commoners; abroad, they were their lifeline.
That's why the siblings ate the Clone-Clone and Barrier-Barrier Fruits—
a pair built for survival above all.
Among Zoans, the Mythical beasts were the hardest to kill:
the Phoenix and the Eight-Headed Serpent stood at the top.
Semimaru's clan sought such fruits endlessly, dreaming of revival and vengeance.
Whether it was Kaido, Sharn, or Rocks himself—
they would serve any master who might return their name to glory.
Ironically, both siblings would die in Wano:
one by Kaido's club, the other of age and failure.
Revenge—nothing but a fleeting dream.
BOOM!
Glengus Saint met Kaido's club head-on while keeping one eye on Semimaru's sneaky attacks.
Blood dripped from his lips; each burst of haki drained his life further.
"Still standing?" Kaido smirked, cracking his neck.
"I told you—don't interfere in my fight!"
SWISH!
Before Glengus could answer, Kaido struck again,
his Conqueror's Haki roaring through the air.
Even wounded, the red-haired Holy Knight fought like a beast—
and Kaido grinned wider.
"So boring, Kaido," Semimaru muttered, turning away to watch Sharn's duel instead.
Unlike Kaido's overwhelming presence, Sharn was younger, rawer—no haki yet, but violet lightning crackled through his veins, stirring his bloodline and multiplying his power.
"I hate that look in your eyes!" Saturn Saint snarled, his voice shaking the valley.
If not for Rocks' cursed darkness suppressing him earlier,
he'd never have fallen so low—
and he would not endure the shame of losing to an intern.
"I am one of the Five Elders!" he roared.
"They call me the God of War in Science!"
His Oni-beast form unfurled—six limbs flexing, one hand gripping a cane, the other coated in jet-black haki.
Twin horns burned with awakened black flame.
"Die!"
His glare alone sought to erase Sharn's will—
and normally, anyone he looked at simply died.
SHING!
But as their gazes locked, sharp spikes burst from Saturn's back—
solid barriers formed by Semimaru, each one hardened with Armament Haki.
Blood sprayed. Saturn staggered, teeth clenched, glaring back at the laughing barrier-user.
"Filthy rats! Every one of you Rocks scum are vermin!"
Blood trickled down his back—but the wounds sealed instantly as he stepped forward.
He thrust one clawed hand toward Sharn, the other stabbing his cane toward Semimaru.
"Sharn! Semimaru!" he roared, half in rage, half disbelief.
He—one of the world's highest powers—
being toyed with by pirates.
Sharn watched, eyes sharp.
"Without haki, your body's toughness can't beat mine," he murmured.
"But your healing's… impressive."
Indeed.
Saturn's fruit let him regenerate like wildfire,
but his base defense was weaker than Sharn's dragon scales.
It was like the Phoenix Fruit: if you could endure the pain, you'd survive anything.
The Serpent Fruit? Cut off one head, it grows another—unless you destroy them all at once.
Zoan awakenings—monstrous and miraculous.
The Oni-Beast form excelled at recovery;
the Azure Dragon, at defense.
And Sharn… envied the shockwave power of Sengoku's Buddha form—the way its aura crushed souls.
BOOM!
Thoughts flashed, fists moved.
Sharn's five fingers curved like blades as he lunged.
His tail whipped forward, lightning trailing, as he combined Geppo and Soru for speed.
Shigan struck straight, Tempest Kick dragged violet arcs through the air.
"What is haki, anyway?" he roared. "Wake up!"
Their auras collided—
invisible pressure meeting crackling lightning.
Three feet apart, his strike froze in place.
The unseen wall of Saturn's advanced Armament Haki—Flowing Ryou—
blocked him cold.
The counter hit from within.
Pain exploded through Sharn's chest—internal damage.
CRACK!
He poured every volt and ounce of strength into his claws,
sharp enough to pierce steel—
yet Saturn didn't even flinch.
"The Five Elders are Gods of War for a reason, fool!" Saturn laughed,
thrusting his cane again.
"Don't think a barrier will save you, either!"
The blow smashed into Semimaru's shield—
haki energy passed through the wall, grazing him like a phantom.
Semimaru only grinned.
"Sorry—my fruit's very well trained!"
A new barrier snapped up barely a meter ahead,
catching the invisible strike mid-air.
"Fuffuffu! Don't underestimate Devil Fruit users, Celestial pig!"
He was right—between Rocks' earlier assault, Kaido's brute force,
and Sharn's sheer durability, even the Five Elders' rage met resistance.
BOOM!
Sharn's lightning collided with Saturn's haki again.
The backlash hurled him through stone;
he crashed against the cliffs, rubble raining down.
He staggered to his feet, coughing blood—grinning wider.
"Thought I'd die there," he wheezed.
"Guess you're weaker than you look."
Bones snapped back into place.
Organs knitted together.
His body was healing mid-sentence.
If this were Saturn at full power, that strike would've been like Kaido's first Thunder Bagua against Luffy.
But Saturn was no longer whole.
"What did you say?" Saturn's face twitched, fury rising.
Yes—he was hurt, slower, less than divine.
And to fail to kill this same pirate a third time… unbearable.
"I'll just have to drag the haki out of myself," Sharn muttered.
"Even if it kills me."
He straightened, electricity coursing over his body.
Black hair streaked with violet light, dragon horns hidden in the storm.
Under his black scales, claws glowed red-hot.
His tail lashed as lightning fused with technique.
"Tempest Kick — Tailfang Slash!"
He struck, pain screaming through his nerves.
But pain meant life—and growth.
That was all he cared about:
to seize that invisible thread of haki buried inside him.
To keep fighting, to keep standing up,
again and again.
His body—twice-mutated human, mixed with Mink blood,
tempered by the Six Styles, boosted by a Mythical Zoan—
a devil's vessel forged in chaos.
"I've already foreseen your death!" Saturn spat.
"This time, there'll be no fourth!"
"Shigan — Violet Sixfold Burst!"
Tail, claws, head, limbs—every part of Sharn detonated with electric fury,
slamming into Saturn like a living thunder engine.
"You pathetic creature—die already!" Saturn howled,
his own fists blurring into afterimages.
Sharn's world turned hollow; blood filled his mouth.
Yet inside him, that fragile thread shivered—stronger each time he reached for it.
"I WILL NEVER DIE!"
He didn't know how many times he'd missed, or how many hits he'd taken.
Blood kept coming, pain long since vanished—
beyond sensation, beyond limit.
Only when strength pierces spirit,
when agony reaches the soul—
that is when the next level begins.
Each strike, a brush with death.
Each death, a step toward awakening.
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