When the Golden Lion heard his name become Michael's technique, a faint joy appeared in his eyes.
It was the joy of being acknowledged by a peer.
Proof that he still stood at the pinnacle of the world.
Under the clash of Conqueror's Haki, black lightning scattered everywhere.
The Golden Lion gripped that enormous, twisted broadsword and launched his final strike at Michael.
This cut had no name.
It was as ordinary a slash as could be imagined.
Yet Michael felt the unique, raging madness that belonged to the Golden Lion, combined again with that terrifying Conqueror's Haki.
This slash carried the Golden Lion's entire soul.
So this slash…
Was called the Golden Lion!
After the collision, the Golden Lion's expression suddenly relaxed.
The wound on his head no longer bled.
The boundless madness that had filled his body had completely dissipated.
All of this indicated…
The Golden Lion was about to finish his life's journey.
"I still… failed, huh."
At that moment, as if bathed in a last flash of memory, the Golden Lion used the last of his strength to raise both hands…
Trying once more to touch the domain unique to the user of the Piao-Piao Fruit…
The sky.
"Even though I've endured humiliation and borne the burden, the times… have left me far behind."
"Like I said before, old man — just find some place to retire. If you behave, I wouldn't bother to come and kill your whole family… but you always want to make a big show. If you don't die, who will?"
The Golden Lion didn't answer Michael's words; instead he looked up to the sky and laughed loudly.
Surprisingly full of vigor.
"Michael, I get it now! I understand what Roger truly did! He defeated all the remnants of the old age, then with his life created a brand-new era, grinding us into paste!"
"Michael… why were you born so late?"
"If you'd been born in my era — before some damned rudder got shoved into my head!"
"Meeting you would've given me… the ultimate joy of battle!"
"What a pity, time can never be reversed…"
Michael watched the Golden Lion coldly, then finally could not help but sigh.
A pirate whose name stood with Roger and Whitebeard.
The purest villain, the peak of strength.
The mad Golden Lion!
Such a villain…
Why did he make Michael feel…
Regret?
…
"Give it up, you two beautiful Navy Vice Admirals…"
"Even that legendary Michael, under such power, couldn't possibly be the Golden Lion's match."
Stella and Crocodile, under the assault, finally revealed cracks.
If it were one-on-one, even facing the Lone Red or Bullet, they were confident they would not lose.
But… they did not fight fairly.
Their opponents didn't either.
Although neither of the two was covered in wounds, a trace of blood hung at the corner of each mouth.
After standing by Michael for so many years, this was the first time they'd taken such a heavy blow.
At that moment, above their heads, an even more heart-stopping Conqueror's Haki suddenly erupted.
The enemies standing before them all changed color.
They reflexively looked up toward the place where the floating island had been.
At that glance, everything changed radically.
They watched the Golden Lion deliver the strongest blow of his life to Michael.
They had thought victory was certain…
But after Michael's earth-shattering cry of "Lost Paradise·Golden Lion"…
Everything seemed to freeze.
Only Michael's Myōjō kept humming.
The next moment, the Golden Lion's fruit power — like a natural disaster — bound together with Conqueror's Haki and met destruction.
A face of such enormous, indescribable scale appeared.
Lion-like…
Yet demonic.
That mouth split to the roots of the ears, and with Conqueror's Haki colliding against Conqueror's Haki…
The sky cleared for miles.
Only the daylight remained, and black lightning twisted and entangled across it.
All matter the Golden Lion controlled turned into a sky full of powder and a steady rain of seawater.
Michael put away Myōjō, beat his wings, and came in front of the Golden Lion.
He reached out, grabbed the Golden Lion's hair, and gently tugged.
Head and body separated.
The cut on the neck was as smooth as a mirror.
Michael had done it.
In the last instant before the Golden Lion exhausted his life force, Michael had already severed his neck.
And only after that action did the Piao-Piao Fruit's power truly begin to dissipate.
Oto and Kogarashi also lost their levitation, but before the two short broadswords fell into the sea, Michael scooped them up in his hand.
"Golden Lion, your era has finally drawn its curtain."
Michael watched the last speck of land from the floating island carry the Golden Lion's body and fall toward the sea.
To be honest, that rain of seawater was oddly fitting.
Washing away the final traces of the Golden Lion's existence.
Michael beat his wings lightly and easily caught that last broken piece of floating island…
Landing on the outskirts.
"Golden Lion, I don't know where your homeland is…"
"But I suppose you're not someone like Whitebeard — for you, a homeland probably had no real meaning, right?"
"For the captain of the Flying Pirates to be buried in this windward resting place… it's not unreasonable, is it?"
Under Michael's command, the Holy Light and Holy Flame transformed into various tools and in moments dug a grave.
Then they placed the Golden Lion's body and head inside.
Michael looked at the corpse one last time and shook his head.
"You felt regret, you felt pity."
"For me, is it any different?"
"After you die, there won't be many pure pirates left. In any case, it's somewhat lonely…" The loneliness in Michael's eyes appeared only for an instant, then quickly vanished.
"Of course, that's from the perspective of an opponent."
"As a revolutionary, as a former Navy man…"
"For people like you, dying sooner rather than later is more helpful to the world."
Having said that, Michael waved his hand; earth and flowers filled the grave under the cover of the Holy Light tools.
He found a reasonably intact stone slab, cut it into a square, and placed it before the grave.
Then with Myōjō, he carved a line on it.
"Golden Lion Shiki…"
"The purest villain is buried here."
The tombstone was complete.
"As for Oto and Kogarashi… I like them very much."
"I will take them and set them on another path."
"From now on, they will no longer be the executioners of pirates."
"But the blades of the revolution."
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