Momousagi peered through her tear-blurred eyes.
On the vast, shattered earth stood a one-armed man with a green bandana tied around his head.
Behind him, a strange, misty fog surged from nowhere.
Within that fog, blurred figures emerged.
Some tall, some short, some fat, some thin.
They all stood ramrod straight, as if they had become that man's army of fallen souls.
Momousagi's eyes suddenly fixed on a tall, thin black shadow in the fog.
As if sensing her gaze, the shadow turned its head and looked in her direction.
It had no face, just a mass of black shadow.
But Momousagi felt an intensely familiar sensation!
"Kuzan!"
Fujitora's face was full of shock, his mouth half-open, unsure of what to say.
"What kind of ghostly nonsense is this, pirate hunter? What are you babbling about?"
In front of Zoro, the ground melted into fiery magma.
The magma surged upward like a fountain, and Akainu stepped out from within, walking toward Zoro.
"Be careful!"
Momousagi instinctively blurted out.
But Zoro didn't move an inch.
Because behind him was Luffy.
Akainu glanced at Luffy's corpse behind him and sneered.
"Roronoa, your captain, the Straw Hat Kid, is already dead. Why are you still stubbornly holding on here? Hurry up and find a good burial spot to bury him!"
As he spoke, Akainu raised his fist, blazing with crimson magma, and slammed it down toward Zoro!
"Or I'll burn you both to ashes!"
The scorching magma, like a roaring demon hound, shot straight at Zoro's face!
Zoro didn't move, nor did he even draw his sword.
But behind him, the shadowy figures surged forward.
Like an avalanche!
In the blink of an eye, countless shadows rushed out of the mist, passing directly through the massive magma fist Akainu had launched, and swarmed over Akainu's body.
White steam hissed from the fiery magma as its temperature plummeted.
In moments, the magma completely cooled, even rapidly covering with a layer of frost, solidifying into thick ice!
"What kind of devilry is this? Get away from me!"
Akainu had never seen anything like this and was momentarily flustered.
He erupted with surging magma, trying to burn away all the swarming shadows.
But it was useless.
Wave after wave of shadows surged forward, swiftly draining the heat from Akainu's body.
Moments later, Akainu's eyes widened as he was frozen solid within a thick layer of ice!That was no ordinary ice.
It resembled the Soul Severing Sword technique used by Brook.
It was the Soul Freezing Qi of the Underworld!
What was frozen wasn't just the magma on Akainu's body, but his very soul!
"What?!"
Momousagi and Hina widened their eyes, unable to believe what they were seeing.
That was Fleet Admiral Akainu of the Marines!
Frozen just like that?
Since when could magma be frozen so easily?
Back when Kuzan fought Akainu, he was badly beaten, even losing a leg.
Fujitora was shocked, looking at Zoro with an incredulous gaze.
Then, Zoro's three-headed, nine-armed form brushed past the frozen Akainu.
Nine Wado Ichimonji swords swept across the ice surface like a waterfall, their blade lights cascading like the turning of reincarnation.
The ice layer wasn't cut open.
But the aura of Akainu trapped inside instantly vanished!
When others engaged in battle on the battlefield noticed what had happened here, they all froze in place.
In the distance, Gin looked like a mad demon, countless muscles torn apart, deeply cut to the bone by Gaban's twin axes.
Yet his attacks grew fiercer and more ferocious!
With a hearty roar, Gin's momentum surged, finally breaking through a certain limit.
He swung his massive spiked club, striking down with a blast of Conqueror's Black Lightning filling the sky.
Boom!
Gaban spat blood, his axes trembling violently, the flesh between his thumb and index finger splitting open.
He was sent flying backward, crashing heavily to the ground, his expression complex as he looked at Gin across from him.
Gin's Impact Fruit had finally awakened, and he had unleashed an attack imbued with Conqueror's Haki.
His power had risen to a new level, officially stepping into the realm of an Admiral.
But Gin's outburst didn't attract much attention.
Because everyone was stunned by Zoro!
Zoro stood upon the shattered earth, mist swirling behind him, as if a Land of the Dead had descended upon the world!
Countless shadowy figures emerged from the mist behind him, stepping onto the battlefield.
Vast and endless!
"What in the world is this?" Yasopp's legs trembled as he stared at this bizarre scene.
Shanks' eyes gleamed intensely as he gazed at the endless shadows.
He saw a tall figure holding a naginata, a wide cloak billowing behind him.
Beside that shadow, he saw one with a pineapple-shaped head and another wearing a hat with a short sword at his waist.
"Whitebeard! Marco! Ace!"
Shanks' heart raced wildly.
"Sakazuki!"
Kizaru, seeing the frozen Akainu, flashed with anger in his eyes and fired a thick black beam from afar, shattering all the shadows in its path and striking the ice encasing Akainu!
Boom!
The ice shattered into pieces, along with Akainu's frozen body.
Ice shards scattered everywhere.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Ten seconds passed, and Akainu's form still hadn't risen from the ground as magma.
Kizaru was stunned.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
A chilling coldness surged through everyone on the battlefield.
Just as Kizaru was about to attack Zoro, he suddenly saw, among the countless shadows, a tall figure slowly emerging, a wide cloak billowing behind him.
It was... the form of Akainu.
"No! Impossible!" Kizaru's figure vanished instantly, slashing his sword toward Zoro's head.
"You can't possibly be this strong!"
Kizaru roared furiously.
Zoro raised his hand, and behind him, a tall woman's figure materialized from nothingness.
She was dressed in bright red wedding attire, holding Wado Ichimonji in her hand.
Kuina!
Swish!
Wado Ichimonji traversed space, faster than Kizaru's speed, directly bypassing the descending black light scene and thrusting toward his face!
Boom!
Kizaru's body exploded, dissipating into countless black lights.
In the distance, he regained his form, his expression extremely grave.
Just now, Kizaru had sensed a crisis from the depths of his soul!
If he had continued to strike at Zoro, he would have died as well.
And he would have died faster than Zoro!
The entire scene fell silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"This is the Power of Rules."
Shanks murmured.
He had once heard Roger speak of the mysterious Power of Rules, an energy level that transcended Haki and Devil Fruit abilities.
Those who could master this power were the most supreme kings on the seas.
Such individuals might not appear even once in centuries.
If Conqueror's Haki was one in a million, then mastery of the Power of Rules was one in a hundred million, even one in ten billion!
Shanks looked at Zoro's back with a complex gaze.
"Roronoa Zoro has surpassed all swordsmen in the past eight hundred years, surpassed Mihawk, and become the world's greatest—no, the strongest swordsman in history!"
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator