"Had your fun?"
"My turn."
Those words hit like a bomb—detonating every pirate's bloodlust on the island.
"Romu!! Romu!!"
"Who cares if it's Shiki?! Beat him!!"
Nearby, Wang Zhi and the others ignored the rabble's screaming. Their faces were grim.
They exchanged a look.
No one spoke.
Because they weren't idiots.
After that last exchange, they all understood: Romu wasn't reckless.
He was the real thing.
Then—
John, usually the sharpest of the three, suddenly turned his head and stared at Newgate—who had been relaxed from start to finish.
A dangerous thought crossed his mind.
Don't tell me…
Shiki's laughter dies
A wild laugh rolled across the island.
"Gya-ha-ha-ha…!"
Shiki.
Everyone snapped their eyes to him.
The tall, lean man clutched his stomach and laughed up at the night sky, the sound echoing over the empty rock and surf.
Half a minute.
Then—without warning—
the laughter stopped.
Shiki's face dropped into something cold.
His eyes narrowed into long slits, pupils shining with a bloodthirsty pressure that made even veteran pirates feel their skin crawl.
He swept the crowd once.
Then his mouth curled—slowly—into a savage grin.
"So… you really thought you had me figured out."
He sheathed Oto and Kogarashi, then crooked two fingers at Romu.
"Come on."
"You idiot."
"Looks like I have to teach you what 'gap in strength' really means."
Romu didn't change expression.
He tore off the shredded remains of his gray shirt and tossed it aside, revealing bronzed skin.
The two faced each other—
and an invisible pressure rolled across the island.
The pirates froze.
Some stopped breathing without even realizing it.
For a moment, the world went silent—
except for waves smashing against the rocks.
A salty wind gusted through, kicking up dust and breaking the suffocating tension.
And then—
Shiki's face twisted feral as he lifted his right arm and crushed his fist shut.
Romu stomped his foot into the stone.
They shouted at the same time.
"Lion Threat: Earth Scroll!!"
"Tree World Descends!!"
No more talking.
Straight to ultimate techniques.
The island splits into two worlds
The ground behind them bucked violently—one after the other.
Boulders rolled.
Seawater surged unnaturally along the shore.
RRRROOOOM!
The roar sounded like the island itself was crying out.
The small-time pirates panicked—
but that was only the beginning.
In the next instant—
Behind Shiki, the earth within hundreds of meters heaved upward.
Tons upon tons of soil tore free from gravity, rising into the sky—
and began to change.
In the blink of an eye, it molded into multiple colossal soil lions, each with a gaping maw and a face built for slaughter.
Behind Romu, the same happened—
but in reverse.
The land swelled as if something ancient was waking under it.
Seeds and buried roots erupted into growth.
Trees surged bigger and bigger, violently forcing their way through stone.
They pierced rock, ripped apart ridges—
and in seconds, the ground was swallowed by a dense, choking forest of thorned timber.
More than a hundred low-level pirates were flung into the air like toys.
They clung to rocks and branches, weeping and screaming.
Then—
"ROAR!!"
The soil lions bellowed like living beasts.
Their huge eyes locked onto Romu.
Another roar—
and ten giant lions charged.
Each step carried crushing momentum, throwing shadow across the land.
Anything in their path was pulverized into dust.
But the thorn forest didn't yield.
WHIP—WHIP—WHIP!
Thousands upon thousands of dark-green trunks and branches speared upward, so fast the stone looked like tofu in comparison.
They twisted, interlocked, and climbed into the sky—snakes of wood dancing, tongues out, fearless.
They surged forward to meet the charging lions head-on.
Wind howled.
The sky darkened.
The earth cracked.
And through it all—
Shiki and Romu wore the same expression:
Pure, undisguised excitement.
They both became streaks of light—
rushing behind their summoned worlds, charging straight at each other.
CRACK!
Purple-black lightning snapped in the air.
The island wailed again—
and the battlefield cleanly divided into two domains.
Time seemed to freeze for a heartbeat.
Left—
Romu stood at the very front of a canopy of countless trees, bare-chested, dark-red Ryūō swirling around him like a storm.
Right—
Shiki hovered above the forehead of a massive lion, arms set behind him, twin blades flashing cold under the moon, golden hair whipping like a banner.
Shiki grinned.
"Kid! Not bad at all!!"
Romu's eyes sharpened.
"Talk too much."
And then—
They collided.
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