"Divine Departure?"
"Why do you know that too!"
Two Aces crashed together, both blades wreathed in a tyrannical storm of Conqueror's Haki. Black and crimson lightning ripped out from the point of impact, shredding sky and stone alike.
Divine Departure versus Divine Departure. Ace versus Ace.
Power rolled off the two of them in great waves. The ground howled and the clouds tore as half of Narcissus Star Isle began to crack apart. The Roger Pirates braced themselves against the shock, eyes fixed on the duel between two top Sovereigns who had met blade to blade.
What is going on?
"Beat me and I might tell you."
"Still as cocky as they come."
Roger was not yet the shaggy uncle with the two wild tufts in his nose. Cloaked in red, he moved with the ease of a born king. Red light flickered through his eyes. Conqueror's lightning danced madly about him. This was no longer the laughing middle aged captain Ozz remembered. This was one of the living legends of the age.
Ace sang in Roger's hands. His cape snapped in the gale. He swept out a slash even more domineering than before.
"My name is Gol D. Roger. If you plan to challenge me, try not to die."
A hum like a world being cut in two. Conqueror's Haki on par with peak Shanks locked onto Ozz like fate itself.
And Ozz knew. If his Warp Fruit had never awakened, there would be no evading this cut.
"Which is exactly what makes it fun."
Even now there was still the thinnest gap between him and the absolute peaks like Roger and Whitebeard. Stay in this time long enough and that gap would be gone.
Explosions rolled across the island. Ozz did not dodge. He met Roger's peak strike head on, wanting to feel the difference with his own body.
The blade fell.
Narcissus Star Isle trembled. Scarlet radiance boiled across the broken earth.
Watching from afar, the crew knew Roger had gotten serious.
"It has been a while since Roger swung with everything he had."
"The last time was that bastard Garp."
"Kid, do not die on us now."
The scene was obscene. A peak Sovereign's slash really could tear heaven and earth. Half the island lay in pieces. The cloud deck had been ripped to shreds.
"No."
The blond man with a sword stepped forward, face tightening. Beside him Scopper Gaban and the sniper Bittam, whose forte was Observation Haki, wore the same grave look. They stared at the crater Roger's cut had carved as if a monster were about to climb out.
Roger's strike was monstrous. Even with everything thrown into defense, Ozz's chest had been opened deeply. Blood poured. He smashed through a mountain, gouging out a crater hundreds of meters wide.
Divine Departure? I am not departing. I hit harder than gods.
Stone rattled loose as he moved. Through the drifting dust, Ozz walked out one slow step at a time.
"He took it clean and he is fine?"
"What a monster."
Anyone sharp with Observation Haki could feel it. Ozz's vast presence was climbing fast, his aura knitting back together with unnerving speed. As his footsteps carried him forward, the wound across his chest sealed. Organs shifted back into place. Blood flowed in reverse. Flesh met and reknit.
Dust still veiled his face, but not that unhurried gait or the pressure coiling off him. More startling was the cross shaped crimson radiance gathering around his right fist, growing brighter and brighter.
"That looks familiar."
"That technique?"
The hum deepened.
When the dust finally thinned, Ozz stood whole. One hand in his pocket, the other clenched around a point of Conqueror's Haki compressed to its limit. It had hardened from lightning into a lance of light. Space itself seemed to warp around his fist as if he were palming a small sun.
His expression did not change. He only sank a little at the knees, settling into a short puncher's stance. The cross of light on his knuckles blazed still brighter, too harsh to look at directly.
"Hell of a cut. My turn, Roger."
"What?"
Roger's eyes went wide. He knew that technique. Was this man Navy? How else would he know that move?
Danger licked up his spine. Roger reached reflexively for the future with Observation Haki.
Ozz did not allow him the moment. The instant red light began to gather in Roger's pupils, Ozz vanished.
In the time it took to blink, the man was simply there. A sun bright cross was already on Roger's face.
"Too slow."
The moment the blow landed, Roger's eyes rolled. Blood sprayed. His body twisted at wrong angles under the force.
"Bone Fist. Galaxy Impact."
Ozz put everything behind the blind side punch. Only because this was Roger at his peak did Ozz dare throw it at all. Short of that, killing blow would have been unavoidable.
All in. That is the respect owed to Captain Roger.
"Hey."
"Roger."
"You bastard."
This time it was Roger's turn to go skidding, plowing a ravine through the shattered ground. Rayleigh and Gaban blurred in, catching him before he could splash into the sea. Even with both bracing, the carried momentum made their arms thrum and ache.
How terrifying was that punch.
They glanced down the hundred meter furrow carved in the earth and felt their hearts sink. Roger had not lost the will to fight, but he was bleeding and marked. He spat red and wiped his mouth. Then he grinned, brilliant and unbothered.
"Strong. You are damned strong."
"Not only do you use my Divine Departure, you can throw Garp's tricks too."
"I am absolutely going to beat you and drag you aboard my ship."
Rayleigh and Gaban traded a helpless look at their captain laughing through blood. They grabbed him by the collar.
"Roger, not now. His ability is strange."
"And you do not even know who he is. Stop inviting people at random."
"Come on, Rayleigh, Gaban. Do not be so stiff."
Ozz did not mind their bickering. These were the mentors and elders he respected most. He lifted a hand and Ace snapped back into his grip.
If I am here to push my limits, I may as well go big.
"Since we are doing this to the extreme, let us make it a real game."
"Hey, Roger Pirates."
"All of you, come at me."
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The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
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