Listening to Gern's voice—flat and unhurried, yet laden with overwhelming pressure—
Two figures within the Straw Hat crew stepped forward almost simultaneously.
"Clack—"
Zoro didn't hesitate for a second. He clenched Wado Ichimonji between his teeth, gripping Shusui and the newly acquired Sandai Kitetsu in both hands as he assumed his signature three-sword stance.
His body was covered in wounds, his strength nearly spent—yet his eyes remained sharp, resolute, without the slightest hint of retreat.
"Sorry," Zoro said hoarsely. "My idiot captain… is still unconscious."
"So I can't… let you take anyone from here."
"Don't go playing the hero alone, bastard." Almost at the same moment, Sanji removed the cigarette he had just lit, flicked off the ash with practiced elegance, then placed it back between his lips. He exhaled a plume of white smoke, shifted his stance slightly, tapped the ground with the tip of his right foot, and settled into a fighting posture.
"A real knight," he said calmly, "is someone who protects women and his comrades."
The two of them—left and right—
Though they had not yet fully spread the wings of kings, their outlines had already begun to take shape.
With their not-so-broad—indeed, already wavering—bodies, they firmly shielded the unconscious Luffy, along with Nami, Chopper, Usopp, and every single one of their companions behind them.
They chose to face head-on the legend who had ended the Pirate King's era.
Knowing full well that the gap in power was like a bottomless chasm—
They still declared their resolve through action, shouting in unison:
"So if you want to touch our friends—Then step over our corpses first!!!"
At this blazing, blood-pumping scene, Gern showed no sign of admiration.
Instead, a near-fanatical excitement spread across his face.
"There it is! There it is! This atmosphere!"
"Willpower erupting in desperation! Bonds sworn to be defended to the death… This—this is the best kind of stage!"
At that moment, Nami gathered her courage and stepped forward as well, her eyes filled with desperate pleading.
"Uncle Gern! Please—Luffy is already—"
"Even though your friendship is heavy," Gern cut in instantly, as if he had been waiting for this exact moment.
With exaggerated flair, he lowered his gaze slightly, placing one hand elegantly on the opposite shoulder—then snapped his eyes up.
"The burden I carry on these shoulders—As someone who bears the name of 'Justice'—isn't light either!!!"
"And besides…"Gern's voice suddenly turned cold.
The playful nonchalance vanished from his face, replaced by an emotionless indifference—like that of a god gazing down at ants.
He raised both hands sharply, clenching them into fists.
In an instant, countless pale, destruction-laden vibration particles surged wildly around his fists, emitting a bone-chilling hum!
"Bzzzz—BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!"
Centered on Gern—
The entire Thriller Bark—
No—the entire sea itself—
Began to tremble violently, uncontrollably!
The ground split apart. Castle ruins collapsed like toy blocks. The ocean roared as monstrous waves rose sky-high!
"Do you really understand…"Gern's voice crushed all other sounds between heaven and earth. The power gathering around his fists warped the very air, spiderweb cracks forming in space itself.
"…what kind of power you're facing?!!!"
The moment the words fell—
Gern smashed both fists outward, striking the air to either side of his body!
"CRACK—!!!!"
The deafening sound of shattering glass pierced everyone's eardrums!
At the points where his fists landed, space itself shattered like a mirror!!
Immediately afterward, centered on Thriller Bark, the surface of the surrounding sea—
Was forcibly… flipped over—
By those two symmetrical, world-shaking waves of vibration!
The Straw Hat crew, Lola, and even Perona—who was hiding not far away with Mihawk(she was clinging desperately to his leg in terror, though she was mercilessly shaken off)—
Felt the massive ship-island beneath their feet tilt violently to one side amid thunderous roars and howling seawater!
An incline of over thirty degrees sent everyone losing their footing. Ruins cascaded downward like waterfalls, seawater flooding in!
With just a single strike—
The colossal ship-island was left teetering on the slanted sea, on the verge of completely capsizing!
This was the power of "Heaven-Shaking."
An absolute force capable of easily destroying the world, of summoning the wrath of nature itself!
Gern stood on the opposite slanted side, his coat whipping wildly in the gale. He looked down at the Straw Hats struggling to maintain their balance amid the violent shaking, terror written across their faces, and sneered.
"Now… do you finally understand…"
"In front of me—Just how insignificant your resolve really is?!"
As he spoke, Gern snapped his fingers.
The vibrations were smoothed away.
Minutes later, everything returned to normal.
The Straw Hat crew and Lola's group struggled to their feet on the once-tilted ground, staring at Gern with nothing left in their eyes but despair.
Before a power that could summon natural disasters and overturn the seas with a mere gesture—
They couldn't imagine any way to resist.
The gap in strength had surpassed anything willpower or technique could hope to bridge.
Nearby, Perona—still standing beside Mihawk—patted her flat chest, blinked her big eyes, and subconsciously tugged at the corner of Mihawk's cloak, pouting as she whispered,
"Hey… are you guys really here to arrest the Straw Hat crew?"
Mihawk's gaze never left Zoro.
He didn't even turn his head at her question—only the faint upward curve of his lips answered.
"It's just someone's bad taste."
Meanwhile, Gern—the one who had caused all of this—was savoring the gazes below him: fear, despair, defiance all tangled together.
An indescribable sense of satisfaction and fulfillment welled up inside his chest.
Yes! This—this look!
That look of struggling before absolute power—unwilling, indignant, yet utterly helpless!
I pushed myself this hard, danced on the edge of death countless times, schemed and fought to the brink with those old monsters in the New World—
Wasn't it all for moments like this?
To stand above everyone else, to act however I please—
Ahem—no, to uphold justice—
And maybe enjoy, just a little, the feeling of controlling everything?!
Just as Gern's emotions surged and he was about to clear his throat and deliver a few more lines—something grand enough to maintain his presence and further crush their spirits (while satisfying his own performance itch)—
A sudden change erupted!
"Whoosh—!"
A cold, razor-sharp presence exploded forth at a speed beyond visual perception!
A green figure, using the slope of the tilted ground and the cover of the ruins, condensed every last shred of remaining strength and will into a single point—
Transforming into a gale that surpassed his own limits—
And in an instant, flashed past Gern!
It was Roronoa Zoro!
After passing through Gern, Zoro maintained his iaijutsu sheathing stance. His knees were bent in a half-crouch atop the rubble, his breathing shallow and ragged.
Then he let out a quiet sigh, his voice not loud—but clear to everyone present.
"One-Sword Style… Lion's Song."
"Clang!"
A slash of blade-light, refined to the absolute extreme, flashed diagonally—almost like teleportation!
The strike cut cleanly across Gern's body, slashing from his left shoulder all the way down to his right waist!
Before the eyes of everyone present—
Gern's body—
Struck by the blade that carried everything Zoro had—
Was cleanly, decisively—
Split in two.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
Usopp's mouth fell wide open. Chopper covered his eyes. Nami held her breath. The cigarette fell from Sanji's lips and hit the ground.
Even the well-traveled Robin and Lola stared in shock.
He… he did it?!
He actually cut him?!
He cut the "Heaven-Shaker"?!