He simply could not fathom what had just unfolded before his very eyes.
Those bizarre shadowy homunculi were terrifyingly strong—impossible to touch in combat, unbothered even by Armament Haki.
Yet adversaries so nightmarishly difficult had been swept away in a single instant, discarded as effortlessly as common trash. Was this real?!
The Golden Lion, a veteran grandmaster of the seas, was so utterly thunderstruck that he momentarily forgot the searing agony coursing through his body.
He stared dumbly at the spectacle before him.
He could scarcely believe such a thing was possible in this world. Having that horde of shadowy figures possess such terrifying combat prowess was shocking enough.
Yet now an even more monstrous presence had stepped onto the field, obliterating the very horrors that had just subjected him to tenth-degree torment with little more than a wave of a hand.
Since when had such a terrifying anomaly emerged in this world?
Just who was he?!
"Hey! Old man, if you don't take control of this rock, we're going to plunge straight into the sea," Kenshin called out, glancing down at Shiki, who was frozen like a wooden chicken.
Though Shiki had regained consciousness, the massive slab of bedrock was still locked in a rapid freefall—a perilous reality the old pirate was clearly oblivious to.
"Huh?!"
Shiki snapped out of his daze, whipping his head around to take in their surroundings before finally realizing their dire predicament.
"Halt!"
Slapping a single palm flat against the stone, the plummeting bedrock was caught by the authority of the Float-Float Fruit, grinding to a dead stop.
Having halted the freefall, Shiki let out a ragged breath of relief. His expression immediately hardened once more as he forced his battered body upright, his gaze locking intently onto the Demon Warder.
"Just who in the world are you?!"
He truly could not identify the entity behind this colossal mechanical construct. The closest resemblance his memory could conjure was that man from Roger's ship who possessed the Clank-Clank Fruit.
Douglas Bullet!
Yet Kenshin's voice sounded markedly different from Bullet's. Suspicious as he was, he had no way of knowing whether his guess held any truth.
"Me?" Kenshin paused briefly. "If I must name an identity, there is only one that matters... I am Kenshin of the Dragon Flag Pirates!"
"The Dragon Flag... Pirates..." Shiki murmured in a faint daze, turning the name over on his tongue.
He was certain he had heard it somewhere across the seas.
Suddenly, Shiki's eyes snapped wide, his jaw dropping so violently that it pulled at his wounds, making him grimace and bare his teeth in agony.
Only after drawing several ragged, desperate gasps of air did he manage to settle the pain.
He finally remembered where he had heard that name.
Across the current seas, the roster of the veteran Four Emperors had undergone a colossal upheaval, with only the Red Hair Pirates remaining untouched.
Kaido's Beasts Pirates and Charlotte Linlin's Big Mom Pirates had been forcibly stripped of their Emperor status. The Whitebeard Pirates, though retaining their sovereign standing, had seen a changing of the guard at the helm.
Earth-shattering shifts had redrawn the map of power everywhere.
Yet the most staggering anomalies of all were the two newly ascended Emperor crews: the Dragon Flag Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates.
The Straw Hats boasted barely ten members in total, yet they had ascended to the throne of Emperors.
Initially, he had felt nothing but disdain for the claim.
What genuine strength could a pirate crew numbering a mere ten men possibly possess?
And if that development was barely within the realm of bitter tolerance, the other had been a sheer insult to his intelligence, treating the people of this world like utter fools.
A pirate crew consisting of only five people had somehow become an Emperor-level fleet?!
The seas were truly becoming more absurd by the day.
At the start, he hadn't spared these two upstarts a second thought. At such an absurdly young age, whatever achievements they could claim were bound to be superficial.
True mastery among the supreme powerhouses was forged only through the deep accumulation of time.
As far as he knew, the captains of those two crews were only twenty and nineteen years old respectively.
Thus, even as the names of Drake and his brother echoed ever louder across the world, the Golden Lion had never truly taken them seriously.
He had merely written them off as remarkably capable rookies.
Only today had he truly borne witness to the real face of the Dragon Flag Pirates.
This man named Kenshin actually possessed such terrifying power!!
Inside the Demon Warder, Kenshin listened to Bell's counsel and nodded slightly. "Understood. We'll proceed as you suggested."
Switching to the external speakers, Kenshin spoke: "I know who you are. The legendary titan who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Roger and Whitebeard—Shiki the Golden Lion!"
"I have a proposal. How about hearing it out?"
Still attempting to digest his overwhelming shock, Shiki certainly hadn't expected Kenshin to open with such an offer.
"Hm?"
"Speak!"
"Regarding the alliance you proposed earlier—we have considered it and found your logic sound. To stand against Im, how about we form a temporary united front?" Kenshin laid out his terms.
"Oh? If I recall correctly, you lot were rather reluctant to join forces just moments ago," Shiki smirked.
Yet that smirk was an extraordinary spectacle in itself. With his face pummeled beyond recognition, the smile forcibly bunched all the swollen welts together.
What had already been an unsightly visage now looked hideous enough to scare a wailing toddler into petrified silence.
"If you want an alliance, that's fine. Have your captain step out and negotiate with me face-to-face." Shiki lifted his chin haughtily. Since you were the ones who came back to ask, he mused, you had better show proper sincerity—at the very least, your captain must speak with me directly.
That way, he wouldn't compromise his own standing.
"Out of the question! You negotiate with me, or not at all!" Kenshin answered flatly.
He could clearly tell that Shiki was already desperate to ally.
The old man had reached the end of his rope; heavily wounded as he was, refusing to cooperate was a virtual death sentence.
He had discarded the haughty airs of a legendary pirate long ago, especially right after being pulled from the jaws of death.
Demanding the captain's presence was merely a desperate bid to salvage the last shreds of his bruised pride.
Under normal circumstances, Kenshin wouldn't have minded accommodating him, as it benefited both sides.
But circumstances were different now.
Drake was not here.
And because Kenshin couldn't be bothered to waste breath explaining the details, he gave a blunt refusal instead.
"You—!" Shiki's face turned completely livid.
For a legendary pirate of his caliber to be treated with such utter disregard was infuriating, yet he was entirely powerless to push back.
His life force was practically on its last embers.
The armada of the Golden Lion Pirates he had brought with him had already been annihilated to the last man.
Without a doctor, he wouldn't last much longer—a stark reality known to both of them.
He hadn't anticipated Kenshin leveraging this advantage so ruthlessly, leaving him without a single alternative.
He had no choice but to cooperate!
Little did he realize that Kenshin had zero mastery of diplomatic negotiation; the blunt delivery was simply born of a swordsman who found lengthy explanations a nuisance.
BOOM!
The Demon Warder swung its greatblade, cleaving a vast, empty pocket through the surrounding black mist.
The dark vapors writhed violently—Im was clearly making her move.
The colossal bedrock shuddered once more under the shockwave. Shiki lost his footing entirely, crashing to the ground as a violent fit of coughing wracked his chest, spraying arcs of blood from his lips.
Ignoring everything else, Kenshin vaulted the vessel upward, swinging the blade in continuous arcs that sent broad swathes of lightning crashing through the gloom.
"Are we allying or not? If you refuse, I'm leaving!"
The Demon Warder shattered the encroaching darkness, turning away with every appearance of departing without the slightest lingering attachment.
Even Bell and the others inside felt their eyelids twitch, genuinely wondering if Kenshin was about to abandon the old man on the spot.
"I agree! I agree to the alliance! I'll accept whatever terms you have! I only have one condition—have your ship's doctor administer emergency treatment to me immediately!" Shiki screamed at the top of his lungs.
Tears of raw desperation even leaked from the corners of his eyes. In his entire life, the great Golden Lion had never tasted such profound despair!
Today, he had met his absolute match!
"Very well. I accept," Kenshin halted the vessel mid-turn, his voice calm and even.
Watching this unfold, Bell and the rest of the crew were left completely flabbergasted.
Kenshin was far too skilled at this; with just a few blunt sentences, he had thoroughly broken and handled a legendary figure of the Old Era.
He was practically a born prodigy in the art of negotiation!