Dozens of ice and snow lions, larger than warships, roared as they charged and bit toward the frost giant wolf.
Griffin opened his massive jaws and exhaled softly.
A gray-white breath surged forth, carrying an extreme chill that even froze the ice and snow!
——
Lion's Severing Valley!
Countless golden slashes erupted like a torrential downpour, precisely targeting the wolf's joints and other biological weak points.
Clang—clang—clang—!!
The slashes landed on the colossal body, producing the sound of clashing metal.
The giant claw tore through the curtain of slashes, then clenched tightly as it neared Shiki.
The five claws curved inward, grasping Shiki along with the Sword Qi domain surrounding him in their palm.
Extreme cold energy madly invaded inward, the air emitting an unbearable cracking sound as transparent ice coffins materialized layer upon layer out of thin air.
Attempting to seal this flying great pirate completely into an eternal ice prison!
——
"Ice Release: Millennium Ice Coffin!"
"Gyahahahaha!!! Trying to freeze me?! Don't dream about it!!"
"I am Shiki!!!!"
Shiki's body spun wildly with his feet, countless Sword Qi blasts striking the ice coffins, shattering them inch by inch!
...
How to describe the current experience...
Setting aside Haki, forgetting swordsmanship, not considering using the Sharingan.
Only using Ice Release to channel the power of the Devil Fruit...
Gradually, it became effortless.
——
Consciousness was sinking.
Gradually delving deeper into the world of ice and snow.
A pure white expanse.
Peeling back layer by layer, advancing step by step.
At the end of the white snow, Griffin saw a massive white wolf lying there.
...
It was incredibly beautiful.
It lay low, its ice-blue eyes like condensed starlight, quietly watching the tiny Griffin.
Its entire body flowed and drifted with frost-white energy, like the aurora of the polar regions.
A perfect fusion of elegance and savagery, divinity and ferocity.
...
"What do you want? How can I awaken?"
Griffin spoke softly.
The giant wolf did not respond, only lowered its head and pressed it against Griffin's palm.
Upon contact——
His thoughts returned once more to that day.
The child wandering destitute through the snow, the moment he grasped the Devil Fruit.
Perspective shifted——
The consciousness belonging to the Snowfall White Wolf clearly arranged itself in Griffin's mind.
...
It was the last of its kind.
Throughout its long life, no creature in this icy land was its match.
It had always searched for its own kind.
From an initial biological instinct, it gradually became a habit, and finally devolved into a hopeless ritual.
The more it searched, the greater the emptiness grew, so vast it threatened to swallow it whole.
...
In the end, it grew old.
Without any particular reason, without a tragic final battle, it collapsed on an ice ridge it had passed countless times.
Allowing the wind and snow to bury it, a strange calm filling the long-standing anxiety and emptiness.
It understood.
It was the only one left in this world, no more of its kind to be found.
...
It did not know the concept of death, only thought it had fallen asleep, for who knows how long.
Until...
It heard.
The faint sound of ice and snow gathering in that life's blood.
So familiar, exactly the same...
That was the sound of its mother's blood flowing, the first thing its ears ever heard.
Absolutely not mistaken, it's a kindred spirit!
A kindred spirit I've been searching for so long!!!
...
I want to roar, but where is my throat?
I want to claw away the snow covering me, but where are my claws?
In what form do I exist, how can I tell you… I am here!
Ah…
Wonderful!
You found me!!
...
...
Are you asking me?
What do I want?
No… I don't want anything.
I just want to protect you, kindred spirit.
I no longer exist, as long as you exist, that's enough.
Carry on, the ice and snow in our bloodline, prove that we once existed.
——
——
...
...
The existence of Devil Fruits is not merely the possibility of human evolution through prayer, but also encompasses the wishes of all living beings in this world.
The ice and snow recede, the pure white fades away.
The figure of the Snowfall White Wolf stretches infinitely, transforming into an icy point that illuminates the dark space.
——
——
I've been overlooking it all along.
Ice Release, the bloodline of the Snow Clan.
I've always treated it as a supplementary means, a tool to get through the early stages.
But just like the Sharingan, it is an equally important existence.
What kept me alive that day wasn't just the Sharingan.
It was the resonance of ice and snow that led me to it, that allowed it to find me.
...
I should have realized it long ago.
The Mangekyo is the eye that reflects the heart, it knows what I need, the crucible…
The answer was already there.
"Possessing both the Sharingan and Ice Release Bloodline Limits, bearing the duty to fuse ice and fire, to sever Karmic Connections"
The panel already told me!!
"Sometimes, it is precisely those not involved who can see clearly… to feel, to understand, to accept, this is the process of Devil Fruit Awakening"
Zephyr-sensei's words echo.
...
So, the Fruit had already awakened, already merged into my bloodline.
Right at the moment I ate it!
It was I who never responded to these expectations!!
——
——
——
On the ice field.
The violent battle shattered icebergs, exposing dark frozen soil unseen for countless years.
Black and white in chaos, a mass of gold raged wildly.
Shiki's eyes were filled with madness, blood gushing from his head staining his robes.
His twin swords erupted with eerie, dazzling light, relentlessly striking the massive White Wolf.
Layer upon layer of sturdy ice armor stacked before the giant wolf, the speed of the slashes shattering them unable to keep up.
The ice grew thicker and thicker, like a great cocoon enveloping the giant wolf completely.
...
Shiki swung his swords tirelessly.
He was about to die.
Death drew closer, yet he laughed more and more freely.
He sensed it, the creature within the ice was undergoing some kind of transformation.
"Gyahahahahaha!!!"
"Gyahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!"
"I understand!!"
"I know why you chose to surrender, why you said those words before dying!!"
"Hahahahaha…"
Laughing, two streams of hot tears rolled down.
"So that's how it is…"
"To think that a mere life could open a new era… it's just too good a deal!!"
"I'm genuinely moved to tears!! Roger!!!!"
...
"I haven't lost!! The era you opened, absolutely! Absolutely cannot withstand the era I will open!!!"
"Gyahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!"
...
Shiki's movements halted abruptly, the sudden stop as if he had exhausted his strength and died.
After a brief pause——
"I shall open... the door to a new era."
Sizzle—
A blinding light erupted from the two famous swords, Sakura Ten and Kogarashi.
Whoosh—!!
The two swords detached from his body, transforming into a crimson-gold meteor that tore through the gray clouds, soaring straight into the heavens.
The next second—
The sky split open.
Sunlight poured onto the frozen land, refracting into countless dazzling rays.
Between the cracks of the split sky, the intertwined swords spiraled downward.
Scattered Sword Qi sliced through the brilliant light, like a shower of vibrant cherry blossoms.
"Lion... Celestial Descent·Final Scene!!"
—
—
Click—
The final strike, infused with all of Shiki's power, shattered the massive ice cocoon.
An intense deep blue light projected from the cracks.
Hum—
Not an explosion, but a gentle disintegration.
The enormous ice cocoon transformed into billions of fine ice particles, lifted and swirling upward by an invisible force field, forming a dazzling blizzard.
...
At the center of the ice and snow, a figure emerged.
First, the cascading snow-white hair.
Translucent silver-white, as if each strand were spun from pure ice marrow.
Behind him, a full moon hollowed out at its center, embedded with three ice crystal Comma-shaped Jewels, slowly rotating.
His face retained its original contours, but the vivid red diamond mark now between his brows added an inhuman, chilling aura.
His arms spread wide, Sakura Ten and Kogarashi gripped in his hands.
Snow and wind circled obediently around him, daring not to overstep.
...
Sovereign.
The sole thought of anyone who witnessed him would inevitably be this: the sovereign of ice and snow.
...
Shiki struggled to keep his eyes open, lacking even the strength to laugh.
"Keh... haha..."
"Not bad... the way you hold those swords..."
...
Griffin tightened his grip on the hilts, the two swords positioned one before the other as he slowly assumed his stance.
"I will remember you. Let this be called..."
"Lion's Requiem."
—
No explosive roar tore through the air. An ice-blue slash, flowing like water, surged from the blades.
Seemingly slow yet impossibly fast, it pierced through Shiki's chest the moment it appeared.
Tiny snowflakes drifted onto the shoulders of this legendary Pirate, draping him in a shroud of snow.
—
—
The wind ceased, the snow stilled.
Absolute silence.