"Gurararara~"
Golden Lion Shiki's laughter echoed across the sky.
"Whoever you are, since you dared to find this place, do not even think about leaving alive!"
He stood amid floating islands, radiating overwhelming dominance. The three figures who had intruded today were far from ordinary, especially the man standing before him. Dragon carried the presence of a Logia user and possessed mastery over all three types of Haki. He was not someone to underestimate.
Shiki spread his arms wide.
In an instant, the surrounding floating islands trembled, then surged toward him, orbiting like celestial bodies. With a sharp gesture, he sent them hurtling toward Dragon like massive meteors.
The sky roared.
The pressure was suffocating.
Dragon's expression remained solemn. He raised his right hand and countless wind blades materialized, rotating like massive gears grinding against the air itself.
A blinding white light tore through the battlefield.
Boom. Rumble.
The collision detonated in a catastrophic explosion. Shockwaves shattered rock formations and sent fragments raining toward the sea below. The heavens and earth seemed to fracture.
Dragon burst through the smoke like a streak of light and appeared before Shiki. His kick carried crushing force.
Shiki reacted instantly. One of his sword legs flashed upward, colliding head on.
The impact blasted him backward regardless. He pierced through several floating islands, coughing blood mid flight.
Dragon pursued relentlessly. A ten thousand meter wind blade split the sky and chased after Shiki, who twisted his body and launched an equally massive slash to intercept it.
The two attacks collided in midair.
Before the smoke cleared, Dragon appeared at Shiki's flank and drove another kick into his ribs. A cracking sound echoed as Shiki's body changed direction violently and smashed into another island, sending debris cascading downward.
Shiki's expression shifted sharply.
Without hesitation, he rolled away.
Dragon descended like a meteor. His feet struck the island and the entire landmass collapsed beneath the impact.
From the right, two sword slashes screamed toward him.
Dragon waved his hand. A wind blade collided with the incoming attacks. Even so, he tilted his head just in time, yet a thin cut appeared across his face.
Blood trickled down.
He wiped it away calmly.
White mist began to swirl around his body. An invisible hurricane enveloped him entirely.
His aura surged.
At that moment, Dragon resembled a god commanding storms. The surrounding air twisted violently, the atmosphere itself trembling beneath his will.
"Life Return," Shiki muttered, his face grim.
Dragon had not even gone all out until now.
Dragon stepped forward.
To Shiki's eyes, it was as if he teleported.
"Pfft."
Shiki doubled over like a shrimp, blood erupting from his mouth. A dazzling streak of light cut across the battlefield. Islands shattered one after another as he was driven into a larger floating mass.
The storm followed instantly.
"Damn it."
Dragon's speed was overwhelming. Even with advanced Observation Haki, Shiki could barely track him. Wind had no shape. It could not be grasped.
Dragon was the wind.
Intangible. Formless. Able to disperse and reassemble at will.
Shiki's eyes darkened. He activated his Float Float Fruit again. The surrounding islands trembled violently and converged toward Dragon from all directions.
Dragon frowned slightly.
As the islands crushed inward, his body dissolved into wind and vanished.
Purely physical attacks, lacking Armament Haki, had no effect on a Logia body.
"Logia users are troublesome," Shiki growled. "You leave me no choice."
His aura flared dangerously. He was forcing more power out of himself, disregarding the ship's rudder embedded in his skull. If he pushed too far, death was possible.
But retreat meant defeat.
Dragon appeared before him and threw a punch that rippled the air.
In a flash, Shiki blocked it with his hand. A blade flashed immediately afterward, forcing Dragon to withdraw.
Now Shiki advanced.
The two became afterimages, appearing and disappearing across the sky. Floating islands trembled and cracked under the pressure of their clash.
Boom. Rumble.
The battlefield descended into chaos. Smaller islands lost balance and plummeted into the sea of clouds below. Their fight dragged downward as gravity reclaimed shattered landmasses.
Shiki looked up at Dragon descending steadily. He swallowed the metallic taste in his throat and swung both hands.
Two falling islands flanked Dragon in a crushing pincer.
Amid endless dust, Dragon burst through, still descending with unstoppable force.
Twin slashes rose from below, cutting through cloud and debris.
Dragon remained expressionless. He lifted his hand and formed a colossal wind blade.
The sea below detonated with explosions as their attacks collided. Shiki stabilized himself above the ocean's surface. Dragon followed, crashing down in pursuit.
Sword light and wind clashed repeatedly, dazzling and violent.
Moments later, the sky split once more. Their afterimages chased each other relentlessly, each collision destroying everything nearby.
Suddenly, the heavens seemed to tilt.
A massive tornado erupted, connecting sea and sky. The ocean spiraled upward into the clouds, forming a vortex of devastating force.
The atmosphere tore apart layer by layer.
From afar, both sea and sky revolved around the monstrous tornado. Nearby deserted islands were uprooted and pulverized into dust.
At the center of the ocean, a bottomless abyss opened, as though leading to hell itself.
Shiki was trapped within the vortex.
Even wrapped in Armament Haki, he could not control his body. He spun violently, battered by crushing pressure from every direction.
This was not a simple tornado.
This was nature itself weaponized.
Dragon remained within the vortex, untouched.
"Rise."
He raised both hands.
The tornado responded as if alive. Seawater surged upward from the depths, blending into the vortex. It transformed into a massive water tornado.
Shiki's vision blurred. His balance vanished. He unleashed slash after slash, attempting to carve an opening.
It was futile.
The vortex only intensified.
As seawater engulfed him, his Devil Fruit weakness took hold. His aura dropped instantly.
That weakness compounded the devastation. The crushing pressure of wind and water struck him repeatedly, each impact like a mountain slamming into his body.
Half an hour later, Dragon slowly lowered his hands.
The tornado gradually dissipated.
The world regained clarity.
Shiki floated in the air, barely conscious, his body mangled and soaked in blood. Invisible currents held him aloft.
His stamina was depleted. His Armament Haki nearly exhausted. His body was shattered.
The fact that he remained alive at all proved the monstrous level he had once occupied. A lesser fighter would have been torn into fragments long ago.
Dragon's face was pale. His breathing was uneven. Controlling such overwhelming natural force had consumed immense energy, especially dispersing it before it spiraled out of control. Had he allowed it to continue, the tornado could have evolved into an uncontrollable natural disaster, destroying the entire sea region.
Elsewhere, the battles had ended.
Marco and King stood victorious.
Shiki's subordinates, including Dr. Indigo, Scarlet, and the others, were severely injured and unconscious. The ferocious beasts enhanced by the IQ substance were also captured, creatures capable of forming a tide strong enough to flatten nations.
Without the outside world knowing, the legendary Golden Lion and all his forces had been defeated and taken.
^_________^
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