Golden Lion Shiki, his body broken and his pride shattered, plummeted into the churning sea. His ultimate fate remained unknown, lost beneath the waves.
The once-invincible Grand Fleet, which had dared to dream of absolute world conquest, was now reduced to a graveyard. Countless burning, twisted wrecks of steel and wood littered the surface of the ocean, slowly being claimed by the depths.
"Ugh—!"
Kane stumbled as he descended from the sky, his feet landing heavily on a large, jagged piece of floating wreckage. He could no longer maintain his composure. He bent over violently as a sharp, coppery taste surged in his throat, and he vomited a large mouthful of blood onto the wood.
His body felt completely hollow.
Controlling the global weather on such a massive scale and clashing head-on with a legendary Great Pirate had drained every ounce of his stamina. Every muscle screamed in protest. That final, precise maneuver to target Shiki's head had been the killing blow for his own energy and spirit as well.
Now, forget lifting a finger; he felt as if his very soul were swaying precariously with the rhythm of the ocean waves.
But he had won.
Kane forced himself to lift his bruised head, his bloodshot eyes sweeping across the devastated sea before locking onto the horizon. There, the clash between two true titans continued to tear the ocean apart.
Garp and Roger.
Those two monsters had been trading blows since the very start of the battle, seemingly immune to fatigue. Every collision between Garp's fist and Roger's blade made the sky change color and the sea wail in agony.
Kane's mind, though physically exhausted, began to race at an unprecedented speed.
Golden Lion Shiki was finished. The Battle of Edd War had been twisted and derailed beyond recognition by his interference. But the true core of this naval conflict—the man known as Gol D. Roger—was still there.
The Great Pirate Era.
It was this man's final words on the execution platform that would eventually drive countless ambitious schemers, villains, and scum to pour into the seas in search of a hidden treasure. The number of pirates would explode, shattering the peace of the Four Seas and the Grand Line. Countless innocent civilians would lose their homes and families, becoming displaced victims of a turbulent age.
Admittedly, Roger might have chased his own dreams and freedom, but he had undeniably brought a calamity upon the world. From the perspective of "Absolute Justice," Roger was the root of all future evil.
And from Kane's own perspective... what if he used the last sliver of his strength? What if, while his consciousness was still clear, he sent the Oro Jackson to the bottom of the sea right now?
Without his ship, Roger would be like a bird without wings, unable to escape the closing net. When Fleet Admiral Sengoku's main fleet arrived to join Garp, Roger would have no way to leave the Edd War sea area alive.
If he could end the future Pirate King here and now... would the Great Pirate Era even begin? Toward which direction would the future of this world shift?
At this thought, Kane's heart began to pound with a mixture of dread and excitement. This level of disruption, capable of altering the entire course of history for decades to come... how many discipline points would the system reward?
The figure would be astronomical. It might be so massive it would cause the system to crash and reboot.
Do it!
The moment the thought took root, Kane's gaze sharpened with a cocktail of greed and madness. He forcibly squeezed his dwindling life force, raising a violently trembling right hand. He aimed it directly at the distant Oro Jackson.
"Hey! Brat! What do you think you're doing?!"
On the deck of the Oro Jackson, Rayleigh's keen Observation Haki was the first to detect the shift in the air. The storm energy gathering once again carried a heavy, undisguised malice directed straight at their home.
"Nothing much," Kane managed to grin. The smile was as bright as the midday sun, but his words sent a genuine chill down Rayleigh's spine. "Just thinking that pirate ships are much more suited for the bottom of the sea."
Before his words had even finished echoing across the water, Kane moved.
He poured every last drop of strength he could wring from his marrow into the storm. The sea, which had briefly calmed after Shiki's fall, turned violent once more. A towering waterspout, connecting the black clouds to the churning waves, lashed out viciously toward the Oro Jackson.
"Men! Hold fast!"
On the deck of the pirate ship, Gaban, Shanks, and the others were thrown into a panic. It seemed as though the all-consuming vortex would tear the ship's hull apart.
"Captain!" Rayleigh cried out in alarm.
Roger, still locked in fierce combat with Garp, caught sight of the disaster from the corner of his eye. For the first time, the playful, adventurous smile vanished from his face. The ship was more than wood and iron; it was their only home. He could accept death, but he would not allow the ship to sink.
"Garp! That's enough for today!"
Roger pushed Garp back with a powerful slash, stomped down hard on the air, and leapt. He appeared instantly at the very front of the Oro Jackson's figurehead.
"If you want to touch my ship, you're a hundred years too early, Marine brat!"
Roger's voice was icy and devoid of its usual warmth. He gripped the Supreme Grade Blade, Ace, with both hands and raised it high above his head.
HUM————!!
An eruption of Haoshoku Haki far surpassing anything Kane had ever felt exploded outward. Centered on Roger, the pressure detonated in a massive, ring-shaped blast. This was no longer just a projection of spirit; it was a physical, tangible weight.
Dark red lightning bolts rampaged wildly through the air. Jet-black Haki, resembling a host of furious dragons, tightly infused the blade of his sword. The heavens seemed to crack under the strain, and the sea itself wailed.
Even Garp, standing behind him, saw his pupils constrict sharply. He instinctively tensed every muscle in his body, a grave expression appearing on his face.
This was the Pirate King's full-powered strike.
"—Divine Departure!!!!"
In that instant, Kane's sensory world was utterly stripped away.
A jet-black slash attack, spanning the entire horizon, flew from the blade. It was domineering beyond all reason, a force so brutally overwhelming it inspired only despair. In Kane's vision, only that expanding darkness remained.
He frantically urged the storm to move, trying to block it, deflect it, or do anything to survive. But it was useless. Wherever that slash passed, all laws of nature and all physical existence were forcibly made to "depart" before the blade.
RIIIP——!!
The waterspout connecting heaven and earth was effortlessly split clean down the middle by the jet-black wave. The momentum of the strike did not slow. It grazed the edge of the wreckage where Kane stood and continued toward the distant horizon.
The next second...
BOOOOOOOOOOM———————————!!!!
The entire expanse of the sea behind Kane was completely cleaved apart. The continuous surface of the ocean vanished, replaced by a bottomless, canyon-like chasm that stretched for miles. The seawater on both sides recoiled in terror, rolling back and refusing to close. The abyss emitted a deafening, thunderous roar as the world trembled beneath the divine might of a single strike.
"Ugh—!"
Kane felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning. The sheer backlash of the energy made him spew another mouthful of blood. The power within him was instantly extinguished. Darkness began to swim before his eyes, and he fell straight backward, plummeting into the icy seawater.
Is this... the true power of the Pirate King?
In the final moment before his consciousness was swallowed by the dark, Kane seemed to hear Roger's voice, carrying a hint of both regret and approval.
"What an impressive brat... Pity, you're still too young."
"Garp, for your sake, I won't kill this kid today. Until we meet again!"
"Men, set sail!"
Accompanied by a violent sound of gas propulsion, the stern of the Oro Jackson erupted with a powerful thrust, transforming the ship into a streak of light that vanished into the seam of the sea and sky.
The freezing water swallowed Kane completely. Just as his mind was about to fade into nothingness, a cold, mechanical voice rang out in his head.
[Ding! Host detected attempting to terminate the source of the Great Pirate Era. Historical process has been forcibly interfered with!]
[Worldline undergoing epic-level deviation! Disruption coefficient being calculated...]
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