...
Inside and outside the light screen, time seemed stretched and frozen.
Everyone held their breath, hearts gripped tight by an invisible hand, eyes locked dead on the three figures about to collide.
The demon Rocks flapped his pitch-black giant wings like a world-ending demon descending, carrying terrifying might capable of destroying everything, and slammed down in front of Roger and Garp!
The ground cracked and caved beneath his feet, dust and smoke rising in clouds.
In the smoke, Garp narrowed his eyes, his brows furrowed into a deep "chuan" shape.
He stared at the figure before him—so familiar yet utterly alien—with its ferocious fangs, burning hollow eye sockets, and twisted black patterns covering his entire body…
Where was even a trace left of the once wildly arrogant, high-spirited overlord of the seas?
"You bastard…"
Garp's voice was low, carrying an indescribable complexity: "How did you end up like this…"
He recalled not long ago, when Rocks was pierced through by those black tendrils, writhing in agony.
Back then, he had wanted to intervene, but a moment of hesitation amid the chaos of the battlefield had stopped him from acting in time.
Roger gripped the hilt of Ace tightly, his gaze sharp as a blade: "We can't let you keep rampaging and hurting my comrades!"
The "comrades" he spoke of referred both to the Roger Pirates members currently evacuating and, more broadly, to every life on this battlefield that shouldn't be indiscriminately slaughtered.
Even knowing the current Rocks was no longer in control of himself, allowing this demon to run wild would likely mean no one could leave God Valley alive.
Facing the questioning and locking from these two old rivals and "acquaintances," the demon Rocks' grotesque face showed no expression—he simply raised the demonic blade in his hand.
However, just as the battle was about to erupt…
"Roger... Garp..."
A painful, hoarse voice, as if squeezed from the deepest depths of the soul, rang directly in both their minds!
Roger's pupils contracted; he instinctively clutched his head, his face showing stunned shock.
Garp's entire body shuddered, his eyes instantly filling with indescribable complexity as he stared fixedly at the demon before him.
That voice… it was Rocks! His lingering consciousness!
Then, an even more shocking scene unfolded!
From the demon Rocks' hollow eye sockets… scalding tears actually welled up!
The tears carved two clear trails down his face.
That terrifying, grotesque visage was now filled with extreme pain, unwillingness, struggle, and… pleading!
"Please…"
The voice echoing directly in their minds was weak yet clear.
"What kind of expression is that?!"
Roger also noticed the tears on Rocks' face. The battle-hungry glint in his eyes was instantly replaced by an indescribable mix of emotions.
The bloodthirsty, tyrannical "Demon King" was now trembling all over, weeping bitterly!
This stark contrast struck harder than any ferocious attack ever could.
Rocks D. Xebec—this man proud to his very bones—even in the absolute despair of being completely eroded by darkness and transformed into a demon…
was still using his last shred of will to resist the manipulations of fate!
"Please…"
The voice grew fainter, yet carried an ironclad resolve: "Please… kill me!"
The final request was not for rescue, but for death!
The demon Rocks knew that the only ones who could free him completely from this endless pain and sin were the two men before him.
Only they possessed the power to end this polluted, twisted existence!
Though so many ambitions remained unfulfilled, so many dreams incomplete, so much guilt and reluctance toward his wife and child…
At this moment, Rocks had only one thought!
He would rather die with dignity as a "human" than live on as a "monster," continuing to serve as Imu's tool of slaughter and harming everything he cared about!
The instant the words fell, the last flicker of his conscious fluctuation vanished completely.
Tears still streamed from the demon Rocks' eyes, but the expression of agony was replaced by cold emptiness.
A bloodthirsty growl rumbled from deep in his throat. The demonic blade moved, and his entire body turned into a streak of destructive black lightning, lunging fiercely toward Roger and Garp!
"Your words, your attitude… and that expression! They don't match at all!!!"
Roger roared, both in response to Rocks' final plea and to vent the complex storm raging inside him!
He gripped Ace with both hands. The moment the famous blade was drawn, red-black lightning of Conqueror's Haki coiled around it. Facing the descending demonic blade, he unleashed a full-powered slash!
"CLANG!!!!"
The deafening clash of blade against blade, Haki colliding! A visible spherical shockwave exploded outward, violently shoving aside ruins and rocks for a hundred meters around!
The ground beneath Roger's feet instantly collapsed into a massive crater!
His arm muscles bulged to their limit, veins popping on his forehead—he was actually pushed back slightly by the demon Rocks' ferocious strike!
The power… had surged several times over!
"ORA!!!"
Garp seized the opening. His right fist had already gathered the utmost Armament Haki!
No flourishes, no tricks!
The iron fist tore through the air with the terrifying force of a meteor crashing down, smashing squarely into the demon Rocks' undefended face!
"BAM!!!"
A direct, solid hit!
The demon Rocks' head snapped violently backward, the ground beneath his feet exploding once more!
Garp could feel it—his punch, powerful enough to shatter a small mountain, had landed solidly.
However…
The demon Rocks was merely forced back… three steps.
Garp continued pushing forward, trying to blast him away completely, but the demon Rocks' demonized body rooted itself like it had grown into the earth, steadying itself.
Then, he slowly turned his head. On that empty face, a cold, mocking smile curled up—as if sneering at the two for overestimating themselves.
Immediately after, the demonic blade in his hand suddenly swelled dramatically!
A wave of terrifying Haki far surpassing before erupted!
"Not good!!!"
Roger and Garp both sensed danger at the same instant!
The demonic blade swung down!
No sound.
Only a pure slash sweeping horizontally!
"BOOM——!!!!!"
This time, the massive roar came from the sound of them being blasted backward and smashing through the rock walls behind!
Like cannonballs, the two flew in reverse, crashing through several thick rock barriers before barely coming to a stop, embedded deep in rubble.
Blood seeped from their foreheads and the corners of their mouths. Their internal organs churned violently, excruciating pain flooding their bodies.
In the sky above God Valley, the clouds were brutally torn apart by the aftershock of that slash, revealing a hideous "wound"!
"Mon-monster—!!!"
"Run! Get out of here!!"
"Leave this island—!!!"
Witnessing this world-shattering strike, the last shred of hope in the surviving Marines and pirates was completely extinguished.
This was no battle they could participate in—or even spectate!
Staying here meant only being crushed to dust by the shockwaves!
Panic spread like a plague.
"Grab a ship! Get off this island—!!"
Silver Axe roared hoarsely at the pirates under his command.
He was clearer-headed than anyone: the Rocks Pirates… were finished.
The captain had become a monster, the officers harbored their own schemes—disintegration was inevitable. The priority now was to preserve strength and survive!
Facing his subordinates' tearful cries of "Aren't we going back to help the captain?", Silver Axe's face turned livid. He gritted his teeth and bellowed: "Help my ass!
Going back is suicide! That's no longer the captain! It's a monster! I won't go back and die for a monster!"
In the sky, Golden Lion Shiki spat out his cigar and shouted toward the chaotic battlefield: "The Rocks Pirates are done for!!! Everyone, save yourselves!!!"
He took one deep look at the distant figure radiating demonic energy, complex emotions flashing in his eyes.
Then, he activated his Float-Float Fruit ability and flew straight toward the coastline without looking back.
Meanwhile, Roger and Garp—buried deep in the rock wall—endured the searing pain and struggled to pull out the Den Den Mushi from their pockets.
"Hey! Can you hear me!"
Roger's voice came through gasps: "I already made it clear! You guys go first—!!!"
"Once Rayleigh and the others reach you… leave this island immediately!!! Then wait for me in safe waters far from the coast!!!"
"Take the civilians and Marines with you!"
Garp also issued orders to the Marine officers.
"We…"
Roger took a deep breath, wiped the blood from his mouth, his eyes blazing with unyielding fire: "We will definitely come back!!!"
"Cut the chatter! Execute the order!!!"
Garp barked sharply at his subordinates who still wanted to protest.
"Click"
Almost in unison, the two tossed their bloodstained Den Den Mushi aside onto the rubble.
Then, they performed the same action: unfastening the clasps of their capes.
The dust- and blood-stained capes fluttered down slowly like battle flags.
No words.
Only two pairs of eyes, locked dead on the demon ahead radiating an aura of destruction.
A resolve to fight to the death!
Inside and outside the light screen, everyone knew what came next would no longer be probing or holding back.
It would be true… no quarter given!
...