The terrifying, monster-like Sea King had been killed in a single strike by Shiki.
In reality, these creatures typically possessed strength rivaling that of Marine Vice Admirals. Especially in the sea, even Fish-Men wouldn't want to tangle with them.
But compared to Shiki, the difference in their strength was simply too vast. Let alone one Sea King — even if ten more appeared, Shiki could dispatch them with ease.
Unless it was one of those super-sized Sea Kings that could swallow an entire island, they couldn't possibly pose even the slightest obstacle to Shiki.
After killing that Sea King, Shiki didn't pause for even a moment, diving straight downward. He had spotted a figure.
"John!"
"You bastard, so you really are still alive!"
Shiki roared at the top of his lungs.
Wang Zhi and the others close behind also spotted the figure ahead beginning to flee. He wore a formal pirate coat and a captain's hat atop his head.
His silver hair looked somewhat disheveled.
By the faint glow emanating from the Moon Tree's branches and leaves, they could see that one of his legs was a golden prosthetic.
Without a doubt, this was John himself.
Ren hadn't entered the cave yet, but even he probably hadn't expected John to personally show up on this day.
Hearing Shiki's shout, John's footsteps quickened even further. In truth, John hadn't originally intended to risk it personally.
But just before the plan was set in motion, he discovered that something had gone wrong on Hati Island — a lake that had been frozen for who knows how many years had suddenly been shattered.
He didn't know who had discovered his plan, but after some deliberation, he decided to come down and see for himself.
At least from the current situation, neither Shiki nor any of the other forces seemed to have any intention of leaving. That gave him confidence the plan could proceed.
"Slash Wave!"
Shiki pursued while launching attacks at John and the others chasing behind him. Chaotic slash waves flew through the gradually widening cave, leaving massive gashes in their wake.
"Clang!"
Wang Zhi drew his blade and deflected Shiki's slash, though the force pushed him back slightly, causing him to fall behind a bit.
Further ahead, John looked even more wretched. With one leg being a prosthetic, running was quite difficult for him, and his speed had dropped considerably. Several times he barely managed to dodge, with Shiki's slashes whizzing past just above his hair.
"How ruthless, Shiki. Is this how you treat your former partner?" John taunted while running.
"Our partnership ended long ago!" Shiki certainly wouldn't be swayed by such words. Flying along, he pressed himself against the cave wall and placed his hand against it.
The power of his awakened Devil Fruit immediately began to spread. Then he swung his arm, tearing the cave wall away with an almost indescribable force!
"Shishi Odoshi: Earthen Python!"
The collapsing rock instantly formed into a massive earthen python that lunged toward John.
Seeing this, before John could even speak, Silver Axe was the first to roar: "You madman! Are you trying to bring the cave down on us, Shiki?!"
If the cave collapsed, terrifying amounts of seawater would come flooding in. The surging, massive currents would instantly crush their bodies!
Don't think that just because he wasn't a Devil Fruit user he wasn't afraid of seawater. In truth, when an enormous volume of water came crashing down on someone, the impact would absolutely be more devastating than being run over by a colossal warship.
Whitebeard might be able to stop the Moby Dick with one hand, but most people would simply be crushed into paste!
Shiki: ...
This hothead who caused massive destruction whenever he got carried away hadn't thought it through at first. But after hearing Silver Axe's words, he came back to his senses and glanced at the cave walls with some concern. Seeing no signs of collapse, he let out a breath of relief.
The earthen python formed from the stripped rock didn't need to be put back, though. Shiki controlled it to attack John.
But John wasn't about to be defeated so easily. He very cleanly and decisively sliced the giant python to pieces, while also slowing his pace.
He had nearly reached the center of the cave system connecting the two islands.
Any further and he would exit through the Hati Island side.
"Giving up on running, John?" Seeing him stop, Shiki slowly descended onto a massive vine, looking down at him from above.
He noticed that the ground beneath John's feet was practically covered in gold coins. The sheer quantity of these coins could indeed drive countless people mad, but Shiki wasn't satisfied.
That amount of money was certainly a substantial fortune for an individual, but for an entire organization, it amounted to very little.
John had always been stingy. The treasure he left behind couldn't possibly be just this much — it had to be enough to rival nations, at the very least.
"Your treasure should be more than just this, shouldn't it? John, hand over that treasure to me!" Shiki shouted at John, completely ignoring the others.
"Give me that treasure, and I'll make you the vice-captain of the Flying Pirates!"
"When I conquer the world, you'll become a new World Noble!"
"Are you still dreaming? I honestly can't tell if you're ambitious or just naive. Even Captain Rocks failed — do you really think you can succeed?"
Before John could even open his mouth, Wang Zhi and Silver Axe broke into cold laughter.
In their view, the Golden Lion was nowhere near capable of conquering the world.
"I have no interest in arguing with you losers. People like you could never understand my dreams and ambitions!" Shiki grinned.
Despite being mocked by Wang Zhi and Silver Axe, he didn't seem to mind at all.
Of course, that was largely because the two of them had the strength to back up their words. If anyone else dared to mock Shiki's dreams, they'd probably be minced meat on the spot.
After the three stood in a tense standoff for a moment, Big Mom arrived with Katakuri and Perospero in tow.
"How nostalgic. It feels like we're all back on the Rocks' ship again. Mama, mama."
The moment Big Mom arrived, she fixed her gaze on John.
"Now that things have come to this, how about the few of us just divide John's treasure among ourselves? This is practically a crew matter, after all." Big Mom smiled. "As for everyone else — let them be eliminated."
She didn't really want to get into a full-blown fight with Shiki. Cutting John out and splitting the treasure among four people would still yield a handsome sum. Less, perhaps, but far easier to obtain.
"No thanks. Too many people splitting the take." Wang Zhi and Silver Axe exchanged a glance and spoke simultaneously.
[
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