The high-speed rotating rudder deeply and fiercely pierced Shiki's skull right through the center.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Shiki's body suddenly stiffened, and his forward momentum came to an abrupt halt. His eyes bulged, bloodshot, as he raised a hand in disbelief and touched the top of his head.
What his fingertips felt was warm, viscous brains and blood, along with the cold, hard texture of wood.
This strike was deeper, straighter, and possessed a more absurd yet perfect sense of symmetry than the image on the newspaper in Tatsuki's memory.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
A harrowing scream, distorted by pain, burst from Shiki's mouth.
The intense agony was unbearable even for his battle-hardened body.
Haki, will, and power instantly collapsed at this moment.
His consciousness rapidly drained away, and the world before his eyes began to spin.
Through the haze, he saw the Marine brat, who had appeared before him unnoticed, sporting a genuine smile.
"Shiki-senpai."
The brat's voice clearly entered his last moments of consciousness.
"Your era is over."
Shiki, the man who stood alongside Roger and Whitebeard at the pinnacle of the sea, could no longer maintain his ability to fly and plummeted straight down from the high altitude.
He crashed into the cold graveyard below, formed by the wreckage of his own fleet.
A maritime overlord of an era.
With that, his fighting strength collapsed.
The legend ends.
"Ugh!"
Tatsuki stumbled down from the sky, his feet landing heavily on a large, floating piece of wreckage.
He could no longer hold back, bending over violently as a coppery taste surged in his throat, vomiting a large mouthful of blood.
His body felt completely drained.
Controlling the weather on a large scale and clashing head-on with a legendary pirate had nearly exhausted all his stamina.
Especially that final maneuver to target Shiki's head. It had drained the last vestiges of his energy and spirit.
Now, forget lifting a finger, he even felt his very soul swaying with the ocean waves.
But he had won.
Tatsuki forced himself to lift his head, his bloodshot eyes sweeping across the devastated sea before locking firmly onto the distance.
There, the clash between two figures continued to tear the ocean apart.
Garp and Roger.
Those two true monsters had been fighting since the battle began, as if they knew nothing of fatigue. Every collision of fist and sword still made the sky change color and the sea wail.
Tatsuki's mind, though utterly exhausted, was now racing at an unprecedented speed.
Shiki was finished.
The Battle of Edd War had been twisted beyond recognition by his interference.
But the true core of this naval battle, that man, Gol D. Roger, was still there.
The Great Pirate Era.
It was this man's final words before death that drove countless ambitious schemers, villains, and scum to pour into the seas, chasing that elusive treasure.
The number of pirates exploded, shattering the peace of the four seas and the first half of the Grand Line. Countless civilians lost their homes and families, becoming displaced.
Admittedly, he might have had his own dreams and freedom, ushering in a turbulent era, but he had indeed brought endless calamity to this world.
From the perspective of "justice," Roger was the root of all evil.
And from Tatsuki's own perspective...
What if, while he still had a sliver of stamina left and his consciousness remained clear, he sent that ship, the Oro Jackson, to the bottom of the sea as well?
Without the Oro Jackson, Roger would be unable to escape even with wings.
When Sengoku's main fleet arrives, with Garp and Sengoku joining forces, plus himself capable of controlling the weather, Roger will absolutely not leave Edd War alive today.
If he could end the future "Pirate King" here and now, would the "Great Pirate Era" even begin?
Towards which direction would the future of this world then shift?
At this thought, Tatsuki's heart began to pound uncontrollably.
This level of "disruption" capable of altering the world's course for decades to come...
How many Violation Points would the system reward?
How incredibly rich would the system's reward be?
It would absolutely be an astronomical figure he dared not even imagine, one that might even cause the system to crash and reboot.
Do it!
The moment this thought surfaced, Tatsuki's gaze sharpened once more, intertwined with greed and madness.
He forcibly squeezed out his dwindling life force, raising his violently trembling right hand, aiming it at the distant Oro Jackson.
"Hey! Brat! What do you think you're doing?!"
On the Oro Jackson, Rayleigh's keen Observation Haki was the first to detect Tatsuki's intent.
That storm energy gathering once again carried undisguised malice, directed straight at their ship.
"Nothing much."
Tatsuki grinned, a smile as bright as the midday sun, but his words sent chills down Rayleigh's spine.
"Just thinking that pirate ships are more suitable at the bottom of the sea."
Before his words even finished echoing, Tatsuki moved. He poured every last bit of strength he had wrung from his body into controlling the storm.
The sea, having just calmed, turned violent once more. A towering waterspout connecting sky and sea, churning up hundred-meter-high waves, lashed out viciously towards the Oro Jackson.
"Men! Hold fast!"
On the Oro Jackson, Gaban, Shanks, and the others were thrown into chaos.
It seemed the all-consuming waterspout would tear the ship apart.
"Captain!" Rayleigh cried out in alarm.
Roger, locked in fierce combat with Garp, caught sight of this shocking turn of events from the corner of his eye. For the first time, the playful smile vanished from his face.
The ship was their only home on the vast seas. He could die, but the ship must not sink.
"Garp! That's enough for today!"
Roger pushed Garp back with a slash of his sword, stomped down, and leapt high into the air, instantly appearing at the forefront of his ship.
"Want to touch my ship? You're a hundred years too early, Marine brat!" Roger's voice was icy, devoid of any emotion.
That Supreme Grade Blade named "Ace" was gripped in both hands and raised high above his head.
HUM!
An eruption of Conqueror's Haki far surpassing any before exploded forth. Centered on Roger, it detonated in a ring-shaped blast. This was not just spirit, it was a tangible pressure of a king.
Dark red lightning bolts rampaged wildly. Jet-black Haki, like a host of furious black dragons, tightly infused the blade of his sword.
The sky seemed to crack, the sea wailed.
Even Garp behind him now had his pupils constrict sharply, instinctively tensing every muscle, a grave expression appearing on his face.
This was the Pirate King's, full-powered strike.
Divine Departure!
(End of Chapter)
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