"Corrosion of Ages!"
A draconic roar echoed, sounding like an ancient incantation. This was the signature technique of the Zhulong—a devastating attack launched from its two vertical eyes as beams of black and white energy. When combined, these beams carried the power of temporal erosion, capable of instantly stripping away nearly a century of time from any person or object they touched.
Damn it, Shanks! I knew you were no good!
You hold back for so long, and when you finally act, you go straight for the kill! Good thing I was always wary of you. I know you were the one who stopped Kaido from going to the Summit War to save Whitebeard. You're playing some grand game of chess, and Whitebeard was nothing more than a pawn to you.
Perhaps King Luffy is just another one of your pawns, too!
The moment the attack materialized, a dire warning flared in Ryuuto's mind.
CRACKLE!
A furious shriek of lightning filled the air as the sky was consumed by a torrent of violet Apocalypse Thunder. Ryuuto shot backward, his left hand conjuring countless bolts of lightning that instantly wove themselves into a series of defensive nets, each one crackling with destructive energy, forming a barrier before him.
Meanwhile, King Luffy had already given up his struggle. He simply crossed his arms in front of his chest as Ryuuto's earlier slash slammed into him, sending him flying. The wave of Apocalypse Thunder that followed instantly submerged him.
His life began to flash before his eyes. The adventures with his crewmates, the roaring ambitions that once burned in his heart, and the unspoken dream of his youth—it all flickered past in a fleeting montage.
"LUFFY!"
Zoro and Sanji screamed in horror, their voices trembling with fear. Tears and snot streamed down Usopp's face as he cried out Luffy's name. It was a deeply moving scene, a testament to the powerful bond they all shared.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of thunderous explosions rang out. First, the slash pierced through King Luffy, sending him crashing into a crater hundreds of meters away, his fate unknown. Then, Shanks's Corrosion of Ages slammed into the layered Nets of Thunder before Ryuuto, erupting in a cataclysmic blast. Shockwaves radiated outward like they were free.
The two energies collided in a frenzied storm, the powerful fluctuations turning the sky a murky, violent gray. Violet and monochrome energies tore the heavens apart. The ground disintegrated into fine dust, and countless shards of rock were flung into the air. Some were instantly vaporized by the Apocalypse Thunder, while others aged and crumbled to dust under the assault of the Corrosion of Ages.
Ryuuto continued to retreat, constantly stacking more Nets of Thunder in front of him.
Good thing I came prepared!
Watching the attack, which seemed to warp time itself, Ryuuto felt a chill run down his spine. If that hit him, he'd be aged to dust in patches.
"My apologies, I think I overreacted!"
But when Ryuuto looked forward again, his perspective shifted dramatically. He saw that the black and white energy was being rapidly consumed. What did that mean? It meant his Apocalypse Thunder was completely unaffected by the temporal erosion.
I was worried for nothing!
Ryuuto's expression immediately relaxed. He had thought this power over fundamental laws would be terrifying, but it was only at this level. He had been biased from the start. In his mind, Shanks had always been an immensely powerful figure. His sudden transformation into the menacing and majestic Zhulong had given Ryuuto the false impression that his strength had reached an unthinkable plane.
"So this is the Thunder God! Wielding the ultimate destructive power in heaven and earth, a force of law that governs the annihilation of all things!" At that moment, a deeper understanding dawned on Ryuuto.
Shanks, however, was not idle.
A crimson afterimage blurred through the air, and in an instant, Shanks appeared beside King Luffy. He slammed a claw into the ground.
CRACK!
With a shattering sound, the earth was torn apart. As chunks of rock fell away, King Luffy's unconscious body landed safely in Shanks's grasp.
BOOM! BOOM!
On Ryuuto's side, the last of the black-and-white energy beam and the final Net of Thunder collided. A final explosion erupted, and the residual energy sprayed in all directions, corroding craters into the ground. Shanks's Corrosion of Ages was finally spent.
CRACKLE!
And then—Ryuuto moved.
A brilliant flash of violet lightning flared, and he instantly appeared before Shanks.
"Shanks, I never knew you were hiding something this deep! What kind of deal did you make with this demon? Don't tell me you offered up your left arm!" Ryuuto's gaze hardened as he demanded an answer.
This was his conclusion. Based on the actions of Imu and his subordinates, it was clear that wielding demonic power required a steep price. Imu's true body could not leave Mary Geoise. The Five Elders had signed a pact, dedicating their lives to Imu, which allowed him to execute them at will.
It all made sense now.
Years ago, in the ruins of an ancient kingdom in the New World, Shanks had stumbled upon a massive statue of a Zhulong on a tall altar. Thanks to his Observation Haki, which surpassed that of any other living person, he had inexplicably resonated with the Zhulong sleeping within the statue.
And so, the Zhulong awakened and possessed Shanks's body.
Empowered by the Zhulong, Shanks's Observation Haki grew even stronger, allowing him to glimpse fragments of the future. In these visions, Shanks saw the emergence of a warrior of liberation known as Sun God Nika, a warrior whose journey would begin by eating a Paramecia-type fruit called the Gum-Gum Fruit.
This set Shanks's years-long plan into motion. He spent a great deal of time investigating and finally learned that the World Government possessed the so-called Gum-Gum Fruit. Even more fortuitously, it seemed the World Government was unaware of the fruit's true nature. They had only dispatched a single CP9 agent, Who's-Who, to escort it. Seizing the opportunity, Shanks attacked and stole the fruit. This act led to Who's-Who being imprisoned by the World Government, and he later joined the Beasts Pirates.
Shanks then took the Gum-Gum Fruit back to the East Blue, his purpose to find a worthy user. His original candidate for the Nika fruit was Ace, the last living blood of Gol D. Roger. As a former apprentice on Roger's ship, Shanks had idolized his captain. Having inherited much from the Roger Pirates when he set out on his own, Shanks wanted to repay that debt through Ace. He also believed that Ace, as Roger's son, was the most suitable heir to the Nika fruit's power.
But fate is a cruel trickster.
Through some twist of incredible luck, King Luffy ended up eating the Nika fruit by mistake. At that moment, Shanks was utterly dumbfounded. He felt as if his entire world had collapsed. All his meticulous planning had been undone by this loud-mouthed, goofy kid. He desperately grabbed Luffy by the ankles, trying to shake the fruit out of him. He knew it was impossible, but the sheer frustration compelled him to try.
But it was pointless. Once a Devil Fruit is consumed, it cannot be reversed. King Luffy had eaten the fruit of destiny.
After a brief moment of shock, Shanks saw the hand of fate at work and simply threw his head back and laughed. It was a laugh that mocked the whims of destiny and his own wasted decade of effort. But life had to go on. He had no choice but to shift his entire focus onto King Luffy.
Not long after, however, a mountain bandit with whom they'd had some trouble captured Luffy and was about to kill him. Shanks panicked. He had just resigned himself to Luffy inheriting his will; he couldn't let him die now. The intense emotional upheaval—the shock, the despair, the sudden fear—awakened the slumbering Zhulong within him.
The Zhulong offered Shanks a choice: sacrifice a part of his body to obtain its power. Panicked and feeling that everything had spiraled out of his control, Shanks desperately needed that power. He needed to become stronger to ensure the future wouldn't stray from its path again. And so, he chose to sacrifice his left arm for the Zhulong's might.
This led to the famous scene: a Lord of the Coast eating the arm of a Yonko. It wasn't because Shanks had some mark from Imu on his hand that he needed to get rid of. What a joke. Shanks had never joined the Holy Knights. He knew of Imu's existence but had never dealt with him directly. So where would such a mark come from?
When Benn Beckman, Lucky Roux, and the others saw Shanks lose an arm in the weakest of the four seas—to a creature as insignificant as the Lord of the Coast—they were in utter disbelief. Only Shanks knew the truth: he had gained the power of the Zhulong. In the end, he didn't kill the sea king. He simply intimidated it with his Conqueror's Haki and let it go. The beast was merely a tool; his arm had truly been given to the Zhulong.
With that done, Shanks prepared to leave the East Blue. With the Zhulong's power, he could now see King Luffy's future growth, which brought him great comfort. He even gave Luffy the straw hat that he had originally intended for Ace. From that day forward, Shanks bet everything on King Luffy.
That was the cause behind everything that followed, including manipulating the Summit War to create a stage for Luffy to awaken his Conqueror's Haki.
But ideals are one thing, and reality is another. With Ryuuto's appearance, Shanks soon discovered that the future had become murky and unpredictable. Everything was now filled with uncertainty.
This led to the current trial. He needed to force King Luffy to grow as quickly as possible. The world no longer had time to wait for him to mature slowly. Moreover, Shanks had to ensure Luffy's survival.
So, seeing Luffy on the brink of death after holding out for so long, Shanks could no longer stand by. He finally intervened, unleashing the Zhulong's power without hesitation. If he hadn't, Ryuuto, with his ruthless decisiveness, would have surely ended Luffy's life.
Hearing Ryuuto's accusation, Shanks's vertical pupils narrowed. He was stunned that Ryuuto understood him—and the nature of demons—so well. He had correctly guessed the entire truth of his pact with the Zhulong.
But more important than that was getting Luffy out of here.
"Breath of Erosion!"
Shanks opened his maw and exhaled a powerful gust. The breath shot forth from the Zhulong's mouth, rapidly transforming into a howling gale that swept toward Ryuuto. The wind was ghostly white, and its appearance seemed to bring a chilling stillness to the sky, as if it were corroding the very air itself.
Seeing this, Ryuuto bellowed in response.
"Thunder God's Purgatory: Thousand-Thorn Spears!"
In an instant, the boundless lightning within Ryuuto's body coalesced into a storm of violet spears, all of which shot toward the Zhulong's massive form. The two forces collided with a deafening roar. On one side was a maelstrom of violet Apocalypse Thunder; on the other, a sweeping gale of white breath. As the energies clashed, they exploded outward in all directions.
Two brilliant spheres of energy lit up the sky.
The collateral damage rained down upon the nameless island and the surrounding sea, bringing disaster upon the Big Mom Pirates who had fled to their ships. The violent purple lightning smashed into their fleet, cleaving vessels in two. The Breath of Erosion washed over them, and the ships began to weather away, disappearing layer by layer. First the outer planks vanished, then the inner keel, as if they were being eaten away by the wind itself. Soon, nothing remained but dust.
This all happened within thirty seconds. The pirate fodder aboard suffered the same fate. First their clothes disintegrated, then their skin, their flesh, and finally, their bones. Everything was gone without a trace. Such was the terrifying power of the Breath of Erosion, which stripped away everything it touched, one layer at a time.
BOOM!
Fortunately for Ryuuto, the Apocalypse Thunder protected him from this effect. As the explosions continued, he frowned deeply, trying to figure out how to defeat Shanks quickly. On the other side, Shanks was thinking the exact same thing. Both combatants measured each other up, their eyes searching for a weakness.
"Break!"
With a furious roar, Ryuuto unleashed an even greater torrent of Apocalypse Thunder. More and more thunder spears formed and shot forward, causing space itself to groan under the strain. Shanks's Breath of Erosion could no longer hold. With a final, explosive pop, it shattered.
Then, the swarm of violet thunder spears, each carrying an aura of terrifying destruction, slammed into Shanks's body. With a powerful beat of his wings, Shanks wrapped them around himself, forming a defensive shield.