"Tch!"
Shanks spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva. The flash of frustration in his eyes vanished in an instant—replaced by resolve—as he drew his blade again and surged forward!!!
This time, he abandoned ambushes entirely.
All of his Haki poured into the blade!
With a single step, the ground beneath him shattered. The dark-red arcs of Conqueror's Haki no longer merely wrapped around Gryphon—they engulfed the entire sword.
"Blade of the Other Shore!!"
He roared, unleashing the slash he had learned from Rayleigh himself!
No flashy techniques.
No tricks.
Only the purest, most extreme Conqueror's Haki–infused strike!
A dark-red torrent split the horizon, carrying an all-crushing will as it surged toward Gern!
Where it passed, space warped, and the earth was plowed open by invisible pressure, gouging deep scars into the land!
Facing this supreme Haki-clad slash, a trace of admiration finally flickered in Gern Reginald Sigmar's eyes—
But far stronger was the thrill of meeting overwhelming strength head-on.
"Good!" he barked.
As the word fell, he stepped forward as well—advancing instead of retreating!
Eight Desolations swung violently in his right hand, its pitch-black blade instantly layered with high-frequency vibrations.
"Heavenquake · Sky Rend!"
"CLANG—BOOOOM!!!"
The slashes collided—far more violently than before!
Black-red Conqueror's lightning and pale vibration shockwaves intertwined in a frenzy!
Blinding light swallowed everything. The explosive force expanded outward in a spherical blast, shaving yet another layer off the already devastated ground!
And at the very center of that collision—
Gern flashed forward, lifting his leg and striking straight at Shanks!
Shanks' pupils shrank.
This seamless fusion of Gern's swordsmanship and physical combat forced him to divide his focus in two!
He snapped his leg up, dark-red Haki surging over his shin, and blocked head-on!
"BAM!"
The impact rang out like a war drum.
Shanks felt the vibration force punch straight through his Haki defense, agony ripping through the bone in his lower leg.
"Damn it… physical techniques combined with Devil Fruit power—there's no blind spot at all!"
That fleeting hesitation was enough.
Against top-tier power, even an instant of imbalance meant losing ground!
Gern seized that microscopic opening.
His offensive accelerated—exploding forward in a relentless storm!
Eight Desolations cleaved and slashed in his right hand, every strike carrying annihilating force, forcing Shanks to pour everything he had into blocking with Haki.
Each collision detonated in showers of red-and-white lightning sparks, thunderous booms echoing without pause.
But Gern's physical combat was just as monstrous!
He discarded his blade without hesitation.
Left hand. Knees. Elbows.
Moves prefixed with Black Quake were unleashed as naturally as breathing.
In a blink, Gern hurled Eight Desolations aside once more, his right palm clenching into a fist that drove straight toward Shanks' core, forcing him to twist aside—disrupting the rhythm he was already struggling to maintain with one hand.
The moment the punch missed, Gern pivoted sharply, unleashing a spinning kick infused with vibration and Armament Haki, whipping toward Shanks' neck!
Shanks was forced into a frantic backward lean. His blade position faltered—
And in that instant, Gern recalled Eight Desolations and brought it down in a brutal overhead cleave!!
Even when one downward strike was caught by Gryphon, Gern grinned—
Lowered his head—
And slammed forward with a savage headbutt straight into Shanks' face!
"CRACK!"
Blood streamed down as Shanks' vision blurred.
"This bastard… he's not human at all," Shanks thought in horror during that brief daze."He's a combat monster wearing human skin!"
Gern had fused supreme physical techniques, intermittent swordplay, and the power of the Quake-Quake Fruit into a flawless whole.
If described kindly, his fighting style was adaptive.
Put bluntly—
It was utterly unpredictable.
And Shanks' famed Conqueror's Haki–infused defense, once his greatest weapon, was being smothered under this all-encompassing, relentless assault.
Every block left his arms numb.
Every impact sent violent tremors through his internal organs.
Though he clung on through sheer will and overwhelming Haki—avoiding instant defeat—the situation had already become perilous!
Gern's gaze turned icy, his attacks growing even sharper.
"What's wrong?" he shouted coldly."Is this all the strength the great Red-Haired Shanks has?!"
Eight Desolations rose once more as even more terrifying vibration energy began to gather.
"How much longer can your Haki hold out?!"
Shanks clenched his teeth.
Dark-red Haki still boiled around him as he locked his eyes on Gern, searching desperately for even the smallest opening.
"I can't… fall here!"
And so—
As Gern's slash came down once again, the vibration sphere ripping through the air—
Shanks made his decision.
Rather than defend until failure…
He would gamble everything!!
Instead of blocking or dodging, he kicked off the ground with explosive force and charged directly into the oncoming slash!
"Hm?" Gern's brow lifted slightly, surprised by this near-suicidal move.
"CLANG!"
Gryphon collided violently with Eight Desolations' vibrating blade once more!
But this time, Shanks didn't try to overpower it.
At the instant the blades touched, he skillfully borrowed the overwhelming momentum of Gern's slash—flowing with it!
"Pff—!"
Blood surged into his throat. He swallowed it down by force as his body was hurled backward like it had been smashed by a colossal hammer—flying away even faster than he had advanced!
But this wasn't defeat.
It was intentional displacement!
Once Shanks confirmed he'd reached a distance where Gern couldn't immediately close in, he twisted his body midair.
The instant his feet hit the ground—
"BOOM!"
Two deep craters exploded beneath his soles as he dispersed most of the impact.
One knee bent slightly. His stance stabilized.
He lifted his head—
And his eyes burned with near-maddened ferocity!
"GERN—!!!"
A pressure far more terrifying than anything before erupted from Shanks' body!
Dark-red Conqueror's Haki no longer merely wrapped around him—
It erupted skyward, centered on his form!
The golden heavens, dyed by Enel's thunder domain, were drowned beneath a sea of raging crimson!
Both hands clenched Gryphon's hilt as Shanks poured every last fragment of his Conqueror's Haki into the legendary blade—without restraint!
Gryphon screamed under the strain, its blade humming violently as dark-red lightning lashed wildly outward.
The sheer pressure alone made Beckman and the others—still fighting Enel in the distance—turn pale!
"SCREEEEE—!!!"
A cry filled with regal dominance and savage brutality echoed from nothingness!
Behind Shanks, the boiling crimson Haki condensed violently—
Taking the shape of a massive, wing-spread griffin phantom!
The symbol of Conqueror's Haki—of will itself—fully manifested!
This was Shanks' ultimate strike.
Everything on the line.
Gern stared at the colossal griffin behind him, feeling the kingly pressure that locked onto the soul itself.
For the first time, the calm on Gern Reginald Sigmar's face gave way to utter seriousness.
"…Interesting," he murmured."That's about eighty percent of Roger at his peak."
At that moment—
The ground beneath Shanks detonated.
His body transformed into a dark-red meteor that tore through the sky!
The roaring griffin phantom fused into him completely, carrying an unstoppable sovereign might as he rocketed toward Gern!
"Then show me!" Shanks roared."Show me the strength that Captain Roger and Mr. Rayleigh both praised—the face of power that belongs only to the truly strong!!!"