This novel is finished, and I have posted all the advanced chapters on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
Imu and the Mountain Ancestor were locked in a fierce stalemate; more accurately, it was the Mountain Ancestor who was being relentlessly harassed by Imu to the point of fury. The wrinkles on Imu's face deepened further; clearly, he no longer had enough power to force the Mountain Ancestor back into slumber.
Meanwhile, the battleship led by Akainu cut through the waves, driving Poseidon toward Laugh Tale, where the Straw Hats were already in position, fully prepared.
However, none of that mattered to Rowen at this moment.
In this pitch-black space, no one knew where it was. Rowen was facing a brutal battle of his own.
Whoosh… BANG!!
A flame as thick as an arm shrieked through the air. It detonated prematurely as it neared Rowen, the explosive heatwave slamming into him and leaving him almost no room to dodge.
"Tch!"
Spitting out a mouthful of saliva, Rowen quickly dropped flat to the ground, pulling his wide cloak over himself to reduce the damage as much as possible.
"I told you, there would be even more melodramatic things coming."
The glow of fire illuminated large swathes of darkness around them. Black·Rowen raised his hand, a fireball rapidly condensing in his palm.
"That is, killing you and taking this body!"
"You've been in control for far too long, main consciousness. Even emperors have to take turns sitting on the throne, don't they?"
Boom!
As his words fell, a massive shadow wreathed in flames tore through the fiery curtain ahead and charged straight at him. The speed wasn't fast, and the power wasn't overwhelming, but that ferocious, beast-like aura was enough to shake the spirit.
Yet Black·Rowen showed no tension at all as he continued,
"…Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Rowen. I am you, and you are me."
With that, he suddenly turned and slammed forward with all his strength.
Bang!!
Two bodies of flesh and blood collided head-on, brute force against brute force, producing a dull, heavy impact.
Shuā… huā lā lā!
The "figure" that had pounced at Black·Rowen collapsed weakly at his feet, shrinking as it hit the ground. On closer inspection, it was nothing more than a burning cloak. The violent recoil from the collision left both of them dizzy, but each endured the discomfort. The instant they separated, they both threw hook punches.
Bang! Bang!
Fists of identical strength smashed into each other's chins. Both staggered, pitching backward.
However, at that very moment, two legs arced through the air,
Thud!
…and slammed into each other again.
Clearly, neither side was willing to give up. Even as they fell, both continued attacking.
"Gah…!"
Without the familiar, overwhelmingly tough body he was used to, this bone-on-bone collision made Rowen bare his teeth in pain. But fortunately for him, the other side wasn't any better off.
"This really is… melodramatic as hell."
To see through his feint so easily, and even share the same thoughts during close-quarters combat, if this weren't literally himself, Rowen wouldn't believe it even if someone told him it was some Sharingan-style copying nonsense.
Zii zii…
Leather shoes scraped across the ground, carving a black arc. Rowen crouched low, spinning in place as he slid forward, then, at the instant the inertia vanished, he exploded upward and lunged in for the kill.
The other version of himself countered with the same movement to cancel inertia. However, at the exact moment Rowen kicked off and leapt forward, the opponent raised his palm,
A blast of flames erupted.
"Damn it! You're cheating!"
Rowen was instantly alarmed. In this place, whether it truly was the deepest layer of his consciousness or something else entirely, he didn't have the overwhelming power of the Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder Thunder Fruit).
He didn't even have a particularly strong physical body; at best, he was just a well-built ordinary man.
In this state, those flames were absolutely lethal!
"Hah, what a ridiculous accusation." Black·Rowen sneered.
They both knew perfectly well, if Rowen himself had this ability, he'd do the exact same thing.
Whoosh!!
Raging flames surged into a Fire Pillar as tall as a man, blasting Rowen straight away. The air was filled with the stench of blood and scorched hair.
Pah ji!
He slammed face-first into the ground in a spread-eagle pose, then bounced and rolled outward. His face was twisted in agony, one eye tightly shut.
The flames hadn't burned him to death, but they had seared one of his eyes. At the same time, large patches of burns spread across his body. Cellular fluid seeped out continuously, mixing with exposed, blood-red flesh, it was a horrific sight.
Boom!!
Another man-sized fireball came hurtling toward him.
'Strike while you're sick, finish you off.'
Black·Rowen was clearly very practiced at this.
"Damn it!"
Lying flat on the ground like a corpse, Rowen cursed under his breath. Ignoring the damage to his body, he forced his limbs to support him and kicked backward hard.
Shuā, !
The fireball skimmed past his pant leg. Rowen took advantage of the momentum, rolling backward twice before stabilizing himself. Propping himself up with one hand, he gulped for air.
Meteor Impact!
However, at that moment, a vast blaze suddenly lit up above his head.
With the boost from the flames' recoil, Black·Rowen leapt to an inhuman height of seven or eight meters and launched a flying kick straight at him.
Rowen finally understood what his past opponents must have felt like. This relentless, suffocating pursuit, combined with the extreme speed of the Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder Thunder Fruit), created a despair that left no room to dodge or escape, enough to crush anyone.
But, it was not himself!
Rowen remained completely still, kneeling on one knee as if he hadn't yet recovered from the burns and couldn't move at all.
Suddenly, when Black·Rowen closed to within less than a meter, Rowen exploded into motion. He shifted his body sharply to the right, slipping past the flying kick, while his left arm bent and his hook punch blasted out.
Thunder Plow · Heated Blade!
The blazing flying kick rushed past him, flames roaring around his body and igniting what little clothing remained.
Rowen was extremely grateful that large portions of his flesh had already been half-cooked by the previous attack, nerves deadened, otherwise he would be in unbearable agony right now.
Well… even now it still hurt like hell.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was that in the instant his opponent descended through the air, Rowen's left arm turned like a scythe, his elbow slamming brutally into the other's throat.
With the opponent's falling speed combined with his own attack velocity, this killing move was terrifyingly fast.
Boom!!
Centered on the two of them, massive sheets of flame detonated outward.
Gē zhī…
Under the outrageous kinetic impact, the bones in his arm cried out under the strain. Gritting his teeth, Rowen roared and followed through with another strike.
Boom! Boom!
Two heavy, muffled impacts echoed through the dark space.
Black·Rowen was flung away, taking a brutal punch to the chin and flying backward.
However, at the instant he was blasted away, his right arm snapped back. Using the rotational inertia of his spinning body, he drove an elbow straight into Rowen's temple.
This was a no-holds-barred fight to the death.
Savage to the extreme, trading life for life. Even if death was a real possibility, as long as there was breath left, neither would stop attacking.
Thud!
Thud!
Two figures collided at high speed, then rebounded just as fast.
Black·Rowen flew straight backward, spun, and slammed face-first into the ground.
Rowen was knocked sideways, skidding and rolling seven or eight times before finally landing flat on his back, staring at the void.
"Wū, wah…"
Black·Rowen lay prone, vomiting blood in great gulps. Rowen's previous move might have looked ridiculous, like mimicking some group of so-called ninja mages, but its destructive power was anything but reduced.
At that speed of collision, it felt like his throat had nearly snapped.
"As expected of the main consciousness… even in a completely disadvantageous situation, you can still find a chance to counterattack."
Black·Rowen thought grimly as he relaxed his muscles and steadied his breathing.
On the other side, Rowen lay sprawled on the ground, looking far more miserable than Black·Rowen.
His left fingers twitched slightly. Panting, Rowen let out a bitter smile.
"Damn it… did it snap?"
In that collision, his arm had been completely overloaded. The attack had been forced through sheer ferocity and will.
The result was there, Black·Rowen still hadn't gotten back up.
But the cost was equally clear. His left arm had cleanly given out, the humerus fractured into two pieces.
"So my regeneration has reverted to its old level, too, huh?"
The familiar numb, tingling sensation spread through his body, especially around the burned areas. Compared to his later, near-undying state, this healing speed was painfully slow.
With injuries like these, it would take at least a month to recover.
"Good thing he's the same."
Squinting with one eye toward Black·Rowen in the distance, Rowen took a deep breath, rolled himself over, and forced himself to start getting up.
The fight wasn't decided yet; there was no time to lie around.
Black·Rowen thought the same. He spat out bloody froth, shook his groggy head, and suddenly erupted two Fire Pillars from his palms. Using the recoil like crutches, he forced himself upright.
"Hah… hah…"
His slightly bent knees showed he wasn't in good shape either, but he was standing. And his ferocious, brutal gaze had already locked onto Rowen.
Rowen, only halfway to his feet, stared wide-eyed at the sight, his mouth twitching.
"You can do that too?!"
(End of Chapter)