Facing Shanks' all-out strike, Gern Reginald Sigmar saw the annihilating crimson torrent and the griffin phantom reflected in his pupils—and the corner of his mouth slowly lifted.
"So you're putting it that nicely just to tell me not to dodge, huh? Sigh."
"But you know… I can say nice things too."
Even as he spoke, Gern—who had never intended to retreat in the first place—began forcibly drawing his dark-purple Conqueror's Haki inward!
With one hand gripping Eight Desolations, the dark-purple lightning that had been raging around his body no longer exploded outward—
Instead, like rivers flowing into the sea, it let out a deep hummm and was actively drawn, siphoned straight into the blade.
In an instant, the pitch-black body of Eight Desolations seemed to come alive.
It greedily devoured Gern's Haki. Dark-red fissures lit up one by one, radiating a deep, eerie violet glow.
Not just the sword—
Gern's entire body began to tremble faintly.
The surrounding space emitted dense cracking sounds, like glass fracturing under unbearable pressure!
"Strong?" Gern said softly. "What does true strength even mean?"
He drew in a deep breath. Eight Desolations lifted slightly as his left foot slid half a step back. Behind him, the ground collapsed in a fan-shaped spread.
"Is it purity—like Rocks or Roger—pushing Haki and swordsmanship to their absolute limits?"
"Or is it like Kaido, Whitebeard, Big Mom—dominating the seas through Devil Fruit power combined with Haki?"
Gern moved.
His entire body transformed into a meteor, charging straight ahead.
"Or is it like Garp and Zephyr—mortal flesh, yet using peerless physical techniques and Haki to clash head-on with everything?"
"No." Gern's gaze sharpened abruptly. The hum of Eight Desolations skyrocketed beyond anything before.
It was exhilarated.
It was roaring.
It saw that presence again—the aura of the man it had once followed, the one it had yearned to clash with—
Even if this was only eighty percent of that man's power!
"The path to true supremacy is never obsession with a single extreme!"
"It is integration!"
"Using a top-tier Logia as the foundation—to pry open the power of heaven and earth!"
On Eight Desolations' edge, vibration particles exploded in number. The quake force made the surrounding space buzz violently.
"Using the Supreme Great Grade Blade Eight Desolations as the edge—granting this ultimate destruction the property of cutting anything!"
The blade sliced through the air, leaving warped scars behind, dragging out a violet-black torrent that seemed to split heaven and earth!
"And then, driven by peak physical techniques, honed beyond human limits through countless refinements—allowing that power to erupt in the most efficient, most ferocious, most unpredictable way possible!"
"Finally—using the Three Colors of Haki, refined to their pinnacle and standing above all others, as the dominion that unifies everything—perfectly fusing Devil Fruit, swordsmanship, and physical combat into an absolute power that belongs to me alone, without flaw!"
"The intimidation of Conqueror's Haki!The defense and offense of Armament Haki!The insight and foresight of Observation Haki—统合一切!"
"Top-tier Devil Fruit support!A blade that cuts anything!Overwhelming physical techniques!Haki that reigns above all!"
"All four—indivisible!"
"This is the power that truly stands at the very peak of this sea!"
"This… is the 'strongest' that I, Gern, pursue!!!"
"Do you understand now, Shanks?!" Gern roared, his assault detonating with even greater ferocity.
"Reaching the extreme in a single field might let you become a ruler of one corner of the world!"
"But against someone who has fused everything into one—"
Gern suddenly lowered his stance, facing Shanks head-on, and swung with absolute resolve!
"Your defeat was decided long ago!!"
"Divine—Evasion!!"
"Divine—Fall!!"
The twin blades collided.
Heaven and earth fell silent.
All things froze.
Gern stared at Shanks, who was resisting him with everything he had, and slowly broke into laughter.
"Do you know, Shanks… when I first met Roger, I once stood before him just like you are now."
"At that time, I gave it everything I had—and still couldn't even take a single slash from him."
When Shanks heard those words, his pupils trembled violently as his memories were yanked back in time—
To that figure standing at the bow of the ship, gazing down on all creation.
To that boy who had been cut down into the sea by a single stroke.
He understood too well.
Because back then, he had been on that ship.
Only now, the roles had been completely reversed…
"So I survived," Gern continued softly,"like a stray dog."
Before the words had fully fallen, Eight Desolations in his hand shuddered violently!
"But now—"
"It's your turn."
Shanks' remaining arm shook uncontrollably. The blade of Gryphon began to bend.
He watched, helpless, as his crimson torrent of Conqueror's Haki was swallowed inch by inch by that violet-black dominion—
Exactly like Gern had once faced Roger.
This slash was—
A generational gap in power!!!
"Bang!"
Eight Desolations pressed down without flourish.
Shanks' knees began to tremble… to buckle.
Blood burst from his torn palms.
Back then, it was a commander facing a king.
Now, it was an emperor facing a king.
And at last—
It was Gern's turn to say those words.
"Remember this, pirate!"
"The peak of this era—"
"—is not yours to decide!"
Gern laughed with overwhelming, cathartic fury.
"Because now… this era—"
"Belongs to me, Gern!Belongs to me, 'Heavenquake,' Gern Reginald Sigmar!!!!!"
"You are… too weak!!!"
"BOOM!"
Crushing.
Absolute, merciless crushing!!
Gryphon was torn from Shanks' grasp.
A slash tore straight through—from his right chest to his lower left waist—blood spraying like rain.
That penetrating strike turned Shanks' eyes white as his consciousness was utterly blown away.
Yet at the final instant, Gern reined in his strength.
Shanks wasn't sent flying.
Instead, his body shuddered violently—
And with a hollow clang, Gryphon fell to the ground.
Shanks' legs gave out.
He dropped to his knees before Gern, his head slumping forward, his chin resting weakly against the icy blade of Eight Desolations…
Gern stood there, sword in hand.
Residual vibration waves and arcs of Haki lightning still coiled around him as he looked down upon the defeated Emperor.
Recalling the words Roger had once said to him, Gern let out a cold laugh and looked up at the clearing sky.
"Shanks… what a pity."
"If only you had been born in the same era as me…"
The sea breeze swept aside the loose strands of hair on Gern's forehead, revealing eyes filled with utter disdain.
Then his wrist flicked.
The black blade Eight Desolations let out a low, resonant hum.
The blood belonging to Shanks on the blade was instantly evaporated by vibration force, turning into a wisp of dark-red mist that scattered into the wind.
He sheathed the sword with crisp finality—
As if he had merely completed an ordinary swing.
With the blade gone, Shanks lost what little support he had left.
He pitched forward.
There was no grand, thunderous crash.
Only the dull sound of flesh meeting earth.
He lay face-down on the shattered ground, scarlet blood slowly spreading beneath him…
"You might end up losing to me for your entire life," Gern said quietly,"…not just half of it."