"Sandstorm!"
Crocodile opened his palm, conjuring a hand-sized whirlwind that he promptly hurled. The attack exploded outward, transforming into a hundred-meter desert tornado that ripped across the battlefield. The massive vortex lifted an entire pirate crew from their ship's deck, spiraling them into the sky.
As a Logia user, Crocodile's sandstorms lacked the raw destructive force of Akainu's magma or Kizaru's lasers, but his mastery of area control made him devastating against massed enemies. With each gesture, he spawned new tornadoes that tore through pirate lines.
Beside him, Gecko Moria lashed out with shadow spears. "Horned Shadow!"
Black lightning pierced a pirate ship from bow to stern, splitting it clean in two. Among the Seven Warlords, Moria's raw power ranked at the bottom, yet against the mooks of Emperor crews, his shadow manipulation proved brutally effective.
Initially, the Whitebeard and Big Mom alliance had rallied, but the Warlords' intervention shattered their momentum. Especially Dracule Mihawk—one man, one blade, single-handedly overwhelming the Sweet Commanders. When Hancock and Kuma joined the fray, it took entire squads of commanders and ministers just to hold them back.
High above, Charlotte Linlin and Shiki observed the crumbling battle. The Golden Lion's expression darkened. "Big Mom. We're running out of time."
They both knew the stakes. If the Emperor forces fell, the Admirals, Douglas Bullet, and the top Warlords would be unleashed. The Grand Line would become Rosen's playground. The era of the Four Emperors would end.
Shiki glanced at Edward Newgate, still kneeling and broken. "We need to move."
Linlin nodded grimly. She leaped from Zeus's thunderclouds and landed beside Whitebeard, slamming her palm against his chest.
Newgate met her gaze, understanding passing between them. He remained still, allowing her to work.
BOOM!
Shiki attacked. Using his Float-Float Fruit, he summoned a tidal wave and shaped it into a mountain-sized sea lion that crashed down toward Rosen.
Rosen's scarlet eyes flashed. Armament Haki erupted from his fist, wreathed in crackling Conqueror's lightning. A single punch shattered the massive construct, blasting it back into the ocean.
At the same time, his Observation Haki perceived Linlin's true intent.
"I see," Rosen murmured, watching soul fragments flow into Newgate's damaged body. "You're using the Soul-Soul Fruit to repair his organs."
He looked at Shiki, whose skull was miraculously intact—no ship's wheel embedded within.
"So the wheel is gone," Rosen realized. "And you've recovered your Haki."
"Heh heh heh." Shiki's grin never wavered. "Too late, Rosen. Even if you're strong, you can't face us all together."
"Arrogant relics." Rosen's voice dropped to glacial cold. "Whether it's the Four Emperors or the Rocks remnants, you'll all die here. The Great Pirate Era ends today."
His fingers curled. A Zanpakutō materialized in his hand—unsheathed, yet radiating overwhelming pressure. Shiki's smile froze. Sweat beaded on his forehead as his instincts screamed danger.
"GRUHAHAHA!"
Newgate's booming laugh shattered the tension. The fallen Whitebeard pushed himself up, legs trembling but stance unshakable. He gripped Murakumogiri's hilt, Armament Haki flowing through the broken Supreme Grade blade.
"You won't take my family or Roger's legacy so easily."
Rosen's eyes narrowed. "Then defend them with your life."
"Hey, Shiki." Newgate glanced at the Golden Lion's missing legs. "Still got fight in you?"
"Heh." Shiki reached for his two fine-grade swords. "I gave my legs to the Marines as souvenirs. But my hands? I kept those."
The moment steel cleared his scabbards, his dormant Armament Haki erupted, turning the blades black.
"Here's a gift for you, Whitebeard!" Linlin shouted. Her hand seized Murakumogiri's hilt. Soul fragments poured into the fractured blade.
The Supreme Grade Sword screamed.
Weaponized by a born destroyer's soul, tempered by decades of Newgate's Haki, Murakumogiri transcended from steel to living entity. The broken end sprouted eyes and a mouth. A tail grew from the fracture like a regenerating gecko.
The strongest Homie was born.
---
### Rosen's Arsenal: Zanpakutō Manifestation
"Scatter, Senbonzakura."
The blade dissolved into a thousand cherry blossom petals that swirled around Rosen's form. Each petal hummed with Haki-infused killing intent, sharp enough to sever steel from a kilometer away.
Shiki's eyes widened. "What kind of Devil Fruit—"
"Shinsō."
Rosen didn't answer. He shot. The blade extended at impossible speed, a lance of death that Shiki barely parried with his twin swords. The impact shattered his stance, sending him skidding backward across the water.
"Impossible!" Shiki spat blood. "That's not a Devil Fruit ability!"
Observation Haki flared from Newgate. "It's... something else entirely. Not Paramecia, not Zoan, not Logia."
"Ryūjin Jakka!"
Rosen shifted. The cherry blossoms transformed into roaring flames. A heat wave vaporized the ocean surface, creating a wall of steam and fire that engulfed the Emperor forces. Linlin screamed as the thermal blast scorched Prometheus, forcing her to retreat.
"Hyōrinmaru!"
Instantly, the fire died. Ice exploded outward. A crystalline dragon formed from frozen vapor, its jaws snapping shut around Shiki's floating platform. The Golden Lion barely escaped, but his swords were encased in ice that crawled up his arms, freezing his Haki flow.
"Mother!" Perospero's candy armor shattered under the cold. "My abilities—"
"Kyōka Suigetsu."
The world shifted. Colors inverted. Shiki found himself standing on the Moby Dick, surrounded by Whitebeard's crew. His swords were gone. Rosen stood before him, smiling.
"When were you under the impression... that this was real?"
Shiki's blood ran cold. Illusion? Complete hypnosis?
He forced his Observation Haki to maximum. The world snapped back to reality—just in time to see Rosen's Zanpakutō slash downward.
"Getsuga Tenshō."
A crescent moon of black energy bisected the ocean. The shockwave split the horizon. Shiki's twin swords disintegrated. His chest bore a wound that reached bone.
"GAH!"
Newgate roared, swinging Murakumogiri—the Homie screeched and lashed out with its tail, creating a shockwave that cracked the air itself. "WAVE!"
Rosen crossed his blade. The impact cratered the seafloor, throwing up a mushroom cloud of water and debris. He skidded back, expression unchanged.
"Jakuhō Raikōben."
From his palm, a hornet-shaped energy coalesced. It shot forward, accelerating to relativistic speed. The attack pierced through the combined defenses of Linlin's Zeus shield, Shiki's float-powered barrier, and Newgate's quake bubble.
It detonated inside Linlin's stomach.
The explosion launched her through three separate islands. The shockwave flattened the surrounding seas.
"LINLIN!" Newgate bellowed.
"I'm... still here..." Her voice rasped through the smoke. Prometheus and Zeus reformed, flickering weakly. "But... my soul... it's damaged..."
"Damn you!" Shiki's eyes were bloodshot. He channeled everything—every ounce of Float-Float Fruit power, every drop of Haki—into a final, desperate counterattack. "GOLDEN LION'S—"
"Bleiche: Arterie."
Rosen's voice cut through the chaos. His veins glowed blue. Haki flowed backward through his circulatory system, turning his blood into pure offensive power. He moved faster than observation could track.
His blade passed through Shiki's swords, through his guard, through his chest.
The Golden Lion stared down at the hole in his torso. "Oh."
"Haki Core: Susanoo."
Rosen didn't stop. A mountain-sized avatar of blue energy manifested behind him, mimicking his every move. The construct's fist—each finger a blade—hammered down on Newgate's position.
The Whitebeard Pirates' captain raised his trembling arms. Armament Haki flared, but it was like holding back a tidal wave with his hands. The quake bubble popped. His ribs shattered. He slammed into the seabed, creating a crater visible from space.
Silence.
Rosen stood amid the devastation, his Zanpakutō still shimmering with power. Across the battlefield, pirates fell. Warlords advanced. Marines secured the perimeter.
Charlotte Linlin struggled to rise, blood pooling beneath her. Shiki's body lay motionless, his Float-Float Fruit flickering out. Newgate's breathing was shallow, his Homie Murakumogiri weeping tears of blood.
"Justice," Rosen said, his voice carrying across the dead sea, "demands the eradication of vermin."
He raised his blade. The Admirals moved in for the kill.
"Finish them."#
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