"I'm not going to let you bastards catch me that easily!"
As the battle came to an end, the storm clouds gathered once more, sealing up the hole in the sky. Fine rain drifted down in threads, soaking the earth.
Shaking slightly as he walked down the street, Golden Lion's blood mixed with the rainwater and ran along the road.
The golden figure limped toward the harbor.
Pain spread through every inch of his body. After being pounded back and forth by Garp and Sengoku, the strength Shiki could still bring out now was less than a hundredth of what it should have been.
He had no intention of being picked off by some returning Marine in this condition.
He needed to find a ship first!
Through the curtain of rain, the outline of the sea gradually became clear, and a faint light glimmered in Shiki's eyes.
For every pirate, the harbor had always been a way out.
And the place to rise again.
And he…
He was the legendary great pirate, Golden Lion!
Golden Lion Shiki
Sin: Red (500)
Combat Level: Second Tier Intermediate → First Tier High (still declining)
Talents: Lion's Heart, Float-Float Fruit
Skills: Omitted, all three forms of Haki (still declining)
Once Mo Wu locked onto Shiki, a vague sense of guidance led him straight to the fallen lion.
He observed quietly, his expression calm.
But his movements were brazenly open as he approached the lion, without the slightest attempt to hide himself.
Because…
No matter how much force he used, no matter how heavily his boots splashed down into the rain-filled puddles, not a single sound came out.
Even when he pulled the Nichirin Blade from his waist with force, the ringing of the sword could not alert the lion ahead.
That was the confidence the Calm-Calm Fruit gave him!
Now, the opportunity was right in front of him.
His grip tightened around the hilt. Pitch-black Armament Haki rapidly coiled around the Nichirin Blade, dyeing its snow-white steel completely black.
The mark on his forehead began to burn, and the power sleeping within him gradually awakened.
Mo Wu's heartbeat quickened. His blood roared in his veins. An unstoppable force began rising inside him.
But it still wasn't enough.
This power was still far from enough!
Dragonblood!
A muffled groan, unheard by anyone, escaped his lips. Blood spilled from the corner of Mo Wu's mouth as visible changes swept through his body. His muscle lines grew even sharper. His skin flushed like heated metal, glowing with a crimson sheen.
He could feel his strength still climbing, every inch of muscle now filled with explosive power.
Combat Level: First Tier Intermediate → First Tier High (temporarily rising)
The rain poured down in torrents. The drops striking Mo Wu's body turned into pale white steam.
The sky was weeping.
But Mo Wu…
"Shiki!"
His eyes burned red. His mind was nearly dizzy.
The mental pressure of Dragonblood had left him on the verge of losing clarity, his rage surging to the point of bursting.
A silent breath came from his lungs, compressing air like a furnace and driving its energy through every part of his body!
Power flowed from his arm into his hand, then into the body of the Nichirin Blade.
Under that terrifying force, even the sword itself seemed to feel the greatest pressure it had ever known since the day it was forged!
That relentless grip, that ceaseless pressure, was like magma before a volcanic eruption.
Constantly building.
Waiting to explode.
At first it was only warmth.
But soon that warmth became scorching heat.
It was as if flames were burning inside the blade.
As if the blade itself were being forged anew.
Energy circulated within it, heat condensing crazily into a single point.
The Haki-wrapped steel began changing under that high temperature.
Its color shifted from deep black to dark red, like iron pulled fresh from a furnace.
In Mo Wu's hands, the Nichirin Blade came alive.
Its crimson glow beat in time with his violent heartbeat and breathing.
Every pulse was preparing to release an even more ferocious heat in the next instant.
A Crimson Blade!
Invisible waves of heat spread out around him.
Every raindrop that touched the scarlet blade was instantly vaporized.
Now!
Under the Transparent World, Golden Lion's body was completely exposed.
The blood vessels in his neck. The position of his spine. Even every nerve connected through his body…
Mo Wu saw them all clearly!
"Shiki!"
"Mixed Breathing: Scorching Thunder!"
A silent roar exploded in the rain-soaked night. The Nichirin Blade's crimson radiance reached its peak as Mo Wu swung, the blade carving through the air and leaving behind a red streak like a meteor tearing across the heavens!
Like scarlet lightning, it split the rain and went straight for the neck of the fallen lion!
But that inescapable strike—
That strike that should have taken Shiki's head—
Stopped?
When the edge bit in one centimeter, cutting countless capillaries in the lion king's neck and just about to slice through his throat—
A flash of light appeared in Golden Lion's eyes. His body shuddered violently, and Armament Haki instantly flooded over his neck, forming a steel-like barrier that halted the blade's advance.
And then—
Boom!
Conqueror's Haki wrapped itself around his right fist, black-red lightning leaping wildly!
Bang!
In a single instant, Mo Wu's body was blasted away like a kite with its strings cut. At the same time, something like the shattering of glass echoed across the surface of his body.
"I… almost died just now?"
"That was your Devil Fruit ability?!"
The smell of charred flesh rose sharply from his neck. Covering the slightly split, rapidly carbonizing wound left by the heat, Shiki's forehead bulged with veins, fear spilling uncontrollably into his eyes.
What kind of Devil Fruit was that?!
It had even bypassed his Observation Haki?
Thinking back to how he had walked slowly toward the harbor just now without sensing anything behind him, Shiki felt a cold terror in his heart.
If he'd been even a little slower—
Even a little slower to gather the tiny bit of strength he'd recovered and coat himself in Haki—
He would have died!
If this Marine had been just a little stronger, if he'd had Conqueror's coating—or no, even just advanced Armament—
Then Shiki's head would have already been rolling on the ground.
"So it was you, you little rat?!"
As he watched Mo Wu rise from the ground and looked into his eyes, Shiki suddenly recognized him—
The very same eyes that had peered at him while he was fighting Garp and Sengoku!
Boundless fury flooded his chest.
He had almost had his head taken off by an ant?!
"Shiki, I figured from the start that this slash probably wouldn't kill you."
"But don't tell me…"
"You're thinking of running now?"
Holding his sword, ignoring the pain ripping through his body, Mo Wu approached with mockery written across his face.
Rainwater swirled into little whirlpools around him under the pressure of his power, and the ground trembled faintly beneath his steps.
"Damn it!"
Looking at the crimson blade radiating heat in the rainy night, and at the Marine steadily closing in—
The cold rain cooled the fury in Shiki's heart. He steadied himself, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and stared icily at the man before him.
"Marine… do you know whose direction you're swinging that sword toward?"
Mo Wu let out a cold laugh.
"Nothing more than an old lion."
"First Form: Dance!"
A wave of heat smashed into his face. Though Shiki was burning with rage at the taunt, his swords did not dare slacken for even an instant.
"Lion Slash!"
Spitting out another mouthful of dark blood, he raised Kogarashi high and brought it crashing directly into the Nichirin Blade.
Boom!
At the sound of steel colliding, the red glow on the Nichirin Blade flared even brighter!
"What kind of sword is this?"
Shock flickered across Shiki's face. He could clearly feel some of his own power being absorbed by that blade.
"The finest long blade from my village."
"Brat! Are you mocking me?!"
With a furious roar, the two forces clashed again in the rainy night, kicking up waves of water and clouds of violent steam.
The Nichirin Blade, heated to a crimson blaze, was like red-hot iron. Every swing carried scorching waves of heat.
Though Shiki was heavily injured, on the verge of collapse, and could barely use his Devil Fruit anymore—
Even so, with sheer swordsmanship and monstrous physical strength, he still fought Mo Wu to a standstill.
"Not bad, brat."
"You're not bad either, old man."
"I'd love to fight you fairly."
"But the fire in my chest won't let me wait that long."
"And besides, why should anyone bother talking about fairness with a man like you?"
No one had ever spoken of fairness to the civilians buried under the rubble.
Not the Marines.
And certainly not pirates.
Three blades met in the air, the sharp ring of steel echoing through the rainy night.
"I don't know why you hate me this much."
"But brat, the fact that you had the courage to swing your blade at me is already something you should be proud of!"
Kogarashi and Oto pressed together, pinning the blazing Nichirin Blade between them. With a violent shove, Shiki blasted both Mo Wu and the sword backward.
Shiki let out a harsh, grating laugh as blackness began spreading over his arms.
Armament Haki coiled around Kogarashi and Oto.
"Lion Slash!"
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