"Hmm?!"
Ron's casual offer of a future upgrade hit Shiki like a bolt of lightning.
The fog of indecision in his mind cleared instantly, and his eyes lit up with a renewed, ferocious fire.
That's it! Of course!
How had he not seen it? He was so focused on what he was losing that he failed to see the bigger picture.
This wasn't a permanent loss; it was a temporary transformation!
A necessary step!
Once his body was restored to its prime, once his full strength returned, what was a mere ten billion Berries? Or a hundred billion? With his power, his ambition, and his intellect, he could plunder the entire world and make that kind of money in a year!
It was a piece of cake!
The agonizing choice was no longer a choice at all.
It was an investment in himself.
With his mind made up, the Golden Lion's hesitation vanished completely.
He gave Ron a firm, decisive nod, a grin spreading across his face.
"Thank you for the clarification, Ron. I've made my decision—I'll eat it!"
Without another word, he shoved the entire Devil Fruit into his mouth.
A wave of the most revolting flavor he had ever experienced assaulted his senses—a taste like a mixture of rotten eggs, old socks, and week-old seawater.
He didn't care.
He chewed twice, the texture rubbery and vile, and swallowed the whole disgusting mess in one go.
The effect was instantaneous.
He felt it not as a warmth, but as a surge of pure life force, a thousand tiny streams of liquid sun flowing through his veins.
The energy appeared from nowhere, a primal power that began to nourish every cell in his body, repairing decades of damage and neglect in mere seconds.
It felt like waking up from a long, terrible nightmare.
"This feeling...!" Shiki gasped, his eyes wide with wonder.
"It's incredible! Absolutely incredible!" He could no longer contain his ecstasy.
A wild, uninhibited laugh erupted from his chest, echoing in the confines of the pocket dimension.
It wasn't just a laugh of joy; it was a roar of triumph, of rebirth, of a king reclaiming his throne.
Then, the flames came.
Golden, ethereal flames bloomed into existence all across his body.
They weren't hot; they didn't burn or singe.
Instead, they felt like a comforting embrace, a physical manifestation of the life force now coursing through him.
They seemed to infuse him with a newfound power, making him feel stronger and more alive than he had in over twenty years.
The Golden Lion reveled in the sensation, a look of pure bliss on his face as his entire body was gradually enveloped in the shimmering golden fire.
The glow grew brighter and brighter until he was a blazing, human-shaped sun.
Even Ron, standing just a few feet away, felt no heat, only a strange sense of vitality radiating from the spectacle.
"The Flames of Rebirth!" Shiki roared, his voice filled with uncontrollable excitement.
He reached out a trembling hand, gently touching the flickering golden aura that surrounded him.
"Hahaha! The legends were true!"
He watched the flames dance on his fingertips, muttering to himself, "These flames can heal others too, but the effect is just a drop in the ocean compared to this!"
It was clear he had obsessed over the Phoenix Fruit's abilities for a very long time, studying every scrap of information he could find.
He wasn't just receiving a power; he was meeting an old friend.
Completely absorbed in his own world, Shiki slowly began to guide the radiant golden flames.
With a conscious effort, he directed the shimmering energy downward, toward the lifeless, scarred stumps where his legs used to be.
For the first time in two decades, he felt a tingling sensation in those dead ends.
As the seconds stretched into a minute, the impossible began to happen.
Fresh, vibrant tissue started to sprout from the scarred flesh, knitting itself together in a miraculous display of regeneration.
Taking the opportunity, Shiki reached down and unstrapped the two famed swords that had served as his crude prosthetics for so long.
He held Oto and Kogarashi in his hands, their cold steel a familiar weight.
These weapons were not just tools; they were companions who had been with him through countless storms, loyal witnesses to his rise and fall.
"Jihahaha!" he laughed, a tear of genuine emotion tracing a path down his weathered cheek.
"Oto! Kogarashi! Soon, I'll be able to wield you with my hands again, not just my feet!"
He let the swords clatter to the floor.
As he did, his Float-Float Fruit power, the very ability he was about to lose, held him suspended in mid-air.
He looked down at the miracle unfolding below his waist.
The tingling sensation was growing, a maddening itch of creation that filled his heart with unbearable anticipation.
Golden flames erupted from his stumps, coalescing and effortlessly extending downward, shaping themselves into the form of two perfect legs.
The fire swirled, molding bone, weaving muscle, and laying down sinew and skin with breathtaking speed.
When the golden flames finally dissipated, two legs, flawlessly formed and whole, were in their place.
"My feet..." he whispered, his voice trembling.
"I... My feet are back!"
As his body completed its miraculous recovery, he felt a strange, hollowing sensation.
The innate connection to his Float-Float power, a feeling as natural as breathing for decades, quietly faded away, severed completely.
He was no longer the Flying Pirate.
He landed on the ground with a solid thud. He stood there for a moment, stunned, feeling the hard floor beneath his own two feet for the first time since his escape from Impel Down.
He took a hesitant step.
Then another.
He stomped.
He jumped.
"I, THE GOLDEN LION, AM WHOLE AGAIN!" he bellowed, his voice cracking with emotion.
He was so overcome that he started running, excitedly lapping the small room seven or eight times, laughing like a madman the entire time.
Finally, his exhilaration settled just enough for him to form a coherent thought.
"Jihahaha! Ron, I don't know how to thank you!" He strode forward, attempting to grab Ron's hands in a powerful grip of gratitude, but Ron deftly sidestepped the gesture.
"Your gratitude is more than enough, Shiki. No need for formalities," Ron said with a faint smile, completely unfazed by the display.
Feeling the surging vitality and raw power thrumming through his restored body, Shiki couldn't help but curse in awe.
"I knew Zoan types had insane regenerative abilities, but I never imagined it could be this insane!"
Satisfied, he grandly extended a hand toward Ron, his old bombastic personality returning in full force.
"Here! Bring another big bucket! A deal's a deal! I'll give you the other five pounds of blood right now!"
Ron just stared at him blankly for a second before pointing a single finger at the top of Shiki's head.
He didn't need to say a word.
The hint was clear: you're not quite done yet.
"Oh?" Shiki reached up, his hand brushing against the hard, wooden spokes of the ship's rudder still embedded in his skull.
"Jiahahaha! I was so overjoyed I completely forgot about this old thing!"
He motioned for Ron to step back.
"Stand clear, kid, unless you want a face full of skull fragments."
Ron obediently took several paces back.
The Golden Lion placed both hands on the rudder, his expression turning nostalgic.
"This damn thing," he said, his voice lowering. "It's been stuck with me ever since that battle... Who'd have thought decades would pass in the blink of an eye."
He gripped the wood, his knuckles turning white.
A flash of memory: a raging sea, the clash of steel, the face of Gol D. Roger, a freak wave, and a moment of blinding, world-shattering pain.
"If it weren't for those quack doctors telling me I'd die if I removed it, I would've torn it out years ago!" he snarled.
"It weakened me, suppressed my Haki... a constant reminder of my single greatest failure."
He had tried to remove it before, but the agony had been too much, the blood loss too severe.
But today was different.
Today, he was immortal.
"Now, at last, I can finally be rid of it! Jihahaha!"
He took a deep breath, centered himself, and pulled.
Excruciating, white-hot pain exploded through his skull.
He felt as though his very brain was being torn in two.
He gritted his teeth, his vision blurring as he fought to stay conscious.
But just as the agony reached its peak, his new power answered his call.
Golden flames silently ignited atop his head, blanketing the wound.
The moment the fire touched the intense agony, the pain vanished, replaced by the soothing, warm sensation of healing.
"Hsssss...! It really works! No headache at all! Jihahahaha!"
With a final, triumphant roar, the Golden Lion exerted all his strength and yanked the ship's wheel clean out of his head.
SQUELCH!
Blood spurted from the gaping hole, but it was instantly cauterized and healed by the swirling golden flames.
The wound closed up in seconds, leaving behind nothing but smooth, unblemished skin.
The instant the wheel was free, Shiki's eyes rolled back in his head, and he nearly blacked out from the sheer shock and relief.
But he fought it, staying on his feet. He looked at the blood-soaked rudder in his hands, a symbol of two decades of humiliation, and then threw it to the floor with a contemptuous clang.
"Jihahahaha! Fuck you," he gasped, a wide, liberated grin spreading across his face.
"Finally free!"
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