Blood burst into the air and splattered across the Golden Lion's face, making his feral grin even more grotesque.
Everyone stood frozen, wide-eyed in disbelief.
Clack!
All of a sudden, a hand jerked upward, seizing that razor-sharp, peerless blade.
Golden Lion's twisted smile froze in place.
"…Damn, that hurt… You almost gutted me right then and there…"
Darren's head snapped up. He was panting, grinning, his eyes cold beyond imagining—mad beyond reason—locked squarely onto the legendary pirate before him.
Golden Lion's pupils constricted.
That blade—his full-force slash—was lodged in the Marine commodore's chest muscles. Completely stuck. No longer able to push in even a millimeter.
The sheen of Armament Haki slowly faded across Darren's torso. At the torn, bloodied wound, his flesh—like stone, like something alive—gripped Kogarashi tight, a sensation both rigid and fearsome.
That's… Armament Haki reinforced by Iron Body of the Rokushiki!
No.
If that were all, there's no way he could have taken that blow head-on.
Golden Lion stared hard at the wound in Darren's chest—muscle, skin, bone—
"indestructible body!?"
His eyes quaked violently. The words escaped him before he knew it.
Darren bared his teeth in a grin.
So, in the end, Zephyr-sensei… Observation Haki just doesn't cut it, huh?
Only the raw power of the body itself… is what lets me survive in these seas.
With a low growl like thunder, Darren curled the fingers of his free left hand, Haki crackling around them, and viciously lashed out—straight at Golden Lion's groin.
A wicked move!
Golden Lion's back stiffened, hairs standing on end. He yanked on Kogarashi, trying to rip it free from the Marine brat's grip—but to his shock, it didn't move. At all.
That hand, slick with blood, clamped around his blade like a vice. Unshakable.
This brat… His brute strength… it's stronger than mine!?
Clang!
Golden Lion's left hand slashed Oto to intercept Darren's claw. Sparks exploded between them.
The strike failed. But Darren gave him no time to breathe—he gripped Kogarashi tight, letting its edge rip through his palm, and yanked, laughing through clenched teeth as he dragged the Golden Lion, blade and all, into his chest.
Golden Lion stumbled midair.
"SENGOKU!!"
Darren's bloodshot eyes flared wide as he roared.
He wasn't about to fight Golden Lion without a plan.
For a swordsman of his level, wielding the power of the Float-Float Fruit, his deadliest strength lay in long- and mid-range aerial strikes—agile, surgical, devastating.
In the original history, it was precisely that advantage that let this madman breach Marineford alone, nearly destroy half the base, and only then be subdued by Garp and Sengoku fighting side by side.
Which meant—if you wanted to finish this bastard for good, you had to lock him down first!
"Hahahaha!! Well done, brat!!"
A massive golden figure suddenly flashed behind the Golden Lion, his admiral's coat billowing against the howling wind.
Sengoku raised a fist wreathed in blazing golden light—then slammed it downward like a mountain collapsing.
He wasn't holding back. This punch carried all of his power.
Raging Haki howled above Golden Lion's skull. The pressure of the void compressed around them as streaks of red-black lightning rained down.
"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!!"
Sensing the oncoming force, Golden Lion howled, eyes gone blood-red.
Sizzle—sizzle—!!
That seething red-black lightning burst from his body, and Conqueror's Haki surged outward in waves.
"I'M THE MAN WHO'LL CONQUER THE WORLD!!"
Darren took the full brunt of the blast—like being struck by a thunderbolt.
At point-blank range, Golden Lion's Conqueror's Haki struck his broken body like a hammer. His head reeled.
His vision warped. The world twisted—ground, turrets, rubble, fallen structures—shattered inch by inch. Like chaos. Like a cracked mirror.
Golden Lion flipped Oto in his grip and swung in a brutal horizontal arc.
BOOM!!
The legendary blade met Sengoku's falling fist. The impact was apocalyptic—like two worlds colliding, the shockwave swallowing everything.
Blood trickled from the corners of both men's mouths.
Sengoku staggered back.
Golden Lion didn't. As if nothing happened, he cackled and kicked at Darren's gut.
Darren's eyes narrowed. He fought through the dizziness, knees dropping to block—
CRACK!!
Something split in his lower leg. Darren grunted in pain.
That bastard even wrapped Armament Haki around his whip kicks!?
"Jihahahaha!! Darren brat, I'll give you this—you've got skills. But do you even know what it means to really slaughter someone!?"
Golden Lion laughed like a demon. Though Darren still held his blade, the pirate's feet danced—striking again and again.
His kicks were masterful. Each blow landed with a sickening thud, bursting Darren's flesh in sprays of blood.
"Every dirty trick… Every part of your body is a weapon… That's what it means to rule the seas—"
WHAM!!
A brutal headbutt cut his words short—blood sprayed from his nose.
His head whipped back. In his eyes—surprise.
You're still standing… after all that?
"OF COURSE I KNOW!!!"
Darren's black hair lashed around him. He roared like a beast, grinning red-eyed through blood.
His uniform was soaked. His body, a battlefield of wounds.
He raised his right hand. Fingers curled.
Index and middle pressed together. Ring and pinky pressed tight. A claw—Dragon Claw Fist.
Sengoku's eyes widened.
That stance…!
"Come on then!!"
Darren's voice was wild. His stare, deathly cold.
"DRAGON CLAW!!"
"Jihahahahaha!! Now we're talkin', brat!!"
Golden Lion threw his head back and laughed.
"WAVE CLEAVE!!"
In the flicker of black smoke and firelight, the same deranged grin flashed across both their faces.
They struck at the same time.
Legendary blade—
Shadowed claw—
Their blows sliced past each other—
And each drove straight toward the other's flesh.
They had both abandoned defense completely.
Shlkk—!!
Shlkk—!!
Blood erupted.
Sengoku's pupils shrank.
The moment—frozen.
Golden Lion still grinned. Oto was buried deep in Darren's gut. Blood poured freely.
Darren's eyes burned cold. His blood-soaked right hand gripped Kogarashi in a deathlock.
His other hand—
The three-fingered Dragon Claw—
Had torn a deep, bone-splitting gouge across Golden Lion's chest.
---
To be continued…