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The outcome was never in doubt.
Commander-in-Chief Kong and Fleet Admiral Sengoku could have taken Shiki down by themselves. It was just a matter of time. Add in the two Admiral candidates, Momousagi and Chaton, and it was overkill.
In just twenty-four hours, these four had pushed the Golden Lion to the brink of death.
And now, the cleanup crew had arrived. The three Admirals—Akainu, Kizaru, Aokiji—fresh from slaughtering the pirate fleet, joined the fray. Against this lineup of seven legends, the war entered its final, inevitable phase.
Of the thousands of pirates who had followed Shiki into hell, only two remained clinging to life: Dr. Indigo and the gorilla, Scarlet. They lay broken on the ground, staring up at the whitening sky.
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The sun rose slowly from the East Blue.
The first rays of dawn struck the ruins of Mary Geoise, perched atop the Red Line. It signaled the end of the long, dark night. A new day was dawning.
Darkness fades, torn apart by the light.
"Jieahahaha! Is that it? Is that all you have?!"
Shiki's golden hair was a chaotic mess, his skin flushed a deep, unhealthy crimson. A faint mist of blood surrounded him like an aura.
His breathing was ragged, his movements sluggish. He bobbed unsteadily in the air, looking like he might fall from the sky at any moment.
After a day of suicidal combat against the world's strongest, his body was failing him. Everyone could see it. He was running on fumes.
"LION: THOUSAND CUT VALLEY!!"
He swung his legs, unleashing a massive wave of sword energy. But it was weak, a shadow of its former glory. The Marines dodged it with contemptuous ease.
"Pew!!"
A beam of yellow light pierced Shiki's left shoulder, spraying a fan of bright red blood into the air. Kizaru materialized silently behind him, the light fading from his fingertip. He lowered his hand slowly, looking bored.
"Oh my... still fighting against these odds? Do pirates just enjoy being stubborn? Surrender, and it might hurt a little less."
"Hey, Kizaru!"
Arthur emerged from the dust clouds, stopping a thousand meters from the battlefield. Violet lightning danced wildly across his skin, threatening to explode. He looked at Kizaru with cold, murderous disdain, like a man watching a monkey dance.
"Keep running your mouth, keep insulting the Golden Lion, and I'll show you a death that is anything but painless."
"Surrender." That word was an insult to a true pirate. A powerhouse fights until the end, even in the face of certain death.
"Thunder Emperor! Do you want to join him?!" Sengoku roared, his eyes wide with fury. "Mary Geoise is big enough to bury two legends today!"
"ARTHUR, STAND DOWN!!"
Shiki ignored the blood pouring from his wound. His expression grew even more manic. He refused Arthur's help. He chose to defend his own dignity. He didn't care about the wound—or maybe he was just too slow to dodge it anymore.
"The flashy brat who used to follow Zephyr around?" Shiki slowly raised his head, looking at Kizaru with utter contempt. "Who do you think I am? I AM THE GOLDEN LION!!"
Even at death's door, he was still the king of beasts.
"Shiki. Your legend ends today!"
Kong closed his eyes for a moment, then snapped them open, his gaze sharp enough to cut glass.
He leaped from the ground, using Geppo to vanish, reappearing instantly at Shiki's side. He brought a fist of absolute, crushing power down on the pirate's head.
"STEEL FIST!!"
"BANG!"
Shiki was swatted out of the sky like a fly. He slammed into the ground with the force of a meteor, cratering the earth.
"CRASH!"
Rubble collapsed inward, burying him.
"To reduce Mary Geoise to this state... you can be proud," Sengoku muttered. He was furious at the invasion, but his emotions were complex.
No one likes watching their contemporaries die, even if they were enemies.
"Boss Shiki..."
Seeing Shiki unable to even block Kong's punch, seeing him smashed into the dirt, Indigo couldn't hold back a cry of despair.
"ROAR..."
Scarlet, the gorilla, struggled to his feet, trying to crawl toward his captain.
"Respect a pirate's choice. He chose Mary Geoise as his grave," Aokiji said quietly. He extended a hand, forming a sharp icicle spear, and drove it through Scarlet's arm, pinning the beast to the ground.
"ROAR!! ROAR!!"
Scarlet screamed, struggling wildly, furious and in pain, but it was useless. He couldn't overcome an Admiral's strength.
Clatter.
Stones shifted. A hand reached out from the debris.
Shiki pulled himself out of the crater, inch by inch. His manic energy was gone. His blood-red eyes had faded to a dull, murky color, filled with the shadow of death.
One of his sword-legs was missing, left behind in the hole. He stood on one leg, teetering.
No one attacked. The Marines stood silent, watching. They knew.
Shiki was no longer a threat. His vitality was completely spent, likely the backlash of the forbidden drugs he'd taken.
Across the world, everyone watching felt a wave of profound sorrow.
Regardless of his crimes, regardless of his evil, Shiki was a titan of the era. His achievements, his power, his sheer presence... it was all ending here.
A hero's dead end. A legend's curtain call.
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Indigo lay in a pool of his own blood, gasping for air. He reached out a trembling hand towards Shiki, so close yet so far away. On his clown-like face, the corners of his mouth turned up in one final smile.
"Boss Shiki... bloom!!"
"ROAAAAAR!!!"
Shiki, who had been teetering on one leg, seemingly finished, heard the call. He exploded.
Blood burst from every pore on his body as his blood vessels ruptured under immense pressure. He became a man made of blood, a crimson demon standing in a gale of his own making. The metallic tang of iron filled the air. His golden hair, now dyed red, whipped wildly in the wind.
"ONE LAST STRIKE! I DIE WITH NO REGRETS!!!"
He roared at the sky, a berserk lion challenging god. The pressure radiating from him was terrifying. Gravity reversed, and massive chunks of stone began to float into the air.
"WHOOSH!"
He swung his arm, and a hurricane force wind blasted the floating rocks outward like cannonballs. The storm was so intense that Arthur, a kilometer away, had to squint against the gale.
"I AM... THE GOLDEN LION!!!!"
The roar shook the world, literally scattering the clouds in the sky.
Fueled by Indigo's berserker drug, Shiki burned the very last of his life force for one final, glorious moment. The blood spraying from his body coalesced around him, forming the avatar of a colossal, blood-red lion.
With the speed of lightning, he launched himself at the seven Marines.
"Futile resistance!"
Kong, Sengoku, Akainu, Kizaru, Aokiji, Momousagi, Chaton. The seven legends didn't flinch. They combined their strength, unleashing their ultimate attacks against the blood lion in the sky.
"BOOM!!!"
The explosion was apocalyptic. The remaining structures of Mary Geoise were leveled instantly, the ground scoured clean.
Far away, Kaido, Garp, and Zephyr stopped fighting. They turned, silent witnesses to the Golden Lion's final brilliance.
Blood-red mist filled the air, painting the sunrise over Mary Geoise in a gruesome, beautiful crimson hue.
The world went silent.
After a long time, the mist cleared.
Shiki had completed his final bloom in the blood-light. There was nothing left. Not a bone, not a shred of flesh.
He was gone.
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