(T/N: Please consider reviewing this Fanfic. Thanks and appreciate all who support me.
(T/N: Enjoy!)
<><><><><><>
Sizzle… Sizzle…
The snow lion and the flame dragon collided, their opposing forces annihilating each other in a violent clash.
In an instant, massive clouds of steam surged forth, mixing with sand and dust, while a suffocating pressure spread across the battlefield.
A Devil Fruit user? Shiki's eyes narrowed. Such terrifying flames could not come from mere racial talent.
Naturally, he assumed Atlas was a Devil Fruit wielder—though whether Paramecia or Logia, he could not tell. Zoan was out of the question.
While Atlas's physique was monstrous, Shiki had seen no signs of bestial transformation.
"You can keep guessing!" Atlas shot back coldly as he landed on the ground.
Fighting in the air with Moonwalk offered some advantage, but the stamina cost was enormous compared to Shiki's effortless use of the Float-Float Fruit.
Not even Garp would waste energy that way.
"Once I've beaten you down, you'll spill everything yourself!"
"Lion's Threat: Earth Scroll!"
RUMBLE!
The ground beneath Atlas shook violently. Four colossal lion heads of stone rose, blotting out the sky as they snapped shut around him.
"Don't underestimate me, Golden Lion!" Atlas roared. His body swelled, muscles bulging as every fibre stood out like sculpted stone.
His latissimus dorsi rippled and compressed in rhythm until a fierce demonic visage formed across his back.
Crimson-black Haki surged over his body, weaving into armour-like patterns across his skin.
A dark mark stretched from his eye to his forehead, as though etched by fire. His very presence radiated overwhelming might.
Life Return: War God Body!
"Iron Fist: Explosion—Jade Breaker!"
Retreat was impossible. The lion heads sealed off the sky, and escaping upward with Moonwalk would only leave him at a worse disadvantage.
Atlas's fists thundered against the colossal lions, shattering stone with each strike. Chips of rock rained down as the towering constructs shrank under his relentless assault.
"What a damned troublesome fruit ability!" Atlas growled. Every inch of the island bent to Shiki's will. Even if Atlas blasted it apart, the Float-Float Fruit could reform it.
Unless his internal destruction Haki advanced further, breaking through these constructs would always be a grind.
"Your strength is impressive—but what good is it? Jihahahaha!" Shiki sneered.
Atlas was tearing through his lions faster than expected, but here, in his domain, it made no difference.
With a wave of his hand, the broken rubble fused once more, reforming into snarling lion heads that glared down at Atlas.
"Explosion—Godspeed: Shave!" Atlas refused to be dragged into a battle of attrition.
Though his stamina was monstrous, this endless reconstruction was nothing but a waste of time.
RUMBLE!
The Haki on his fists condensed even further, dense and tangible, fused with explosive power.
He charged straight for Shiki, tearing through the lion mountains one after another. They collapsed in his wake, each one pierced by a blazing hole.
BOOM! SPLASH!
Atlas burst through the final barrier, plunging headfirst into the suspended seawater hidden behind it.
"Jihahahaha! Foolish Marine! Did your Observation Haki not—"
Shiki's words froze. His eyes widened as the seawater surrounding Atlas evaporated in an instant, vanishing into thick mist. Atlas stood unfazed, steam rolling off his body.
"The naive one is you, Golden Lion!" Atlas grinned savagely.
The ground beneath him shattered as the Futsunomitama flashed free from his waist. A thunderous roar followed as the blade gleamed like a lightning dragon unleashed!
The strike was impossibly fast, the edge appearing at Shiki's face in a blink. Its spiritual pressure bore down like a dragon's killing intent.
"Jihahahaha!" Shiki's eyes burned with madness. He was the Golden Lion, whose roar once shook the seas and whose ambition sought the world itself!
How could a sword's will cow him? Even if Atlas's immunity to seawater stunned him, his pride and experience surged to meet it.
With instinct honed through countless battles, he lifted himself aloft.
CLANG!
His sword-legs, Oto and Kogarashi, clashed against Futsunomitama. Atlas twisted his wrist, channelling raw force through the clash. The shock ripped through Shiki's body.
SWISH!
Only his Float-Float Fruit kept him from being blown away.
Even so, numbness spread across his limbs—whether from the lightning coursing through the blade or from Atlas's sheer strength, he could not tell.
This kind of power… this Marine is full of surprises!
Atlas pressed forward, his strikes growing fiercer, each swing of Futsunomitama crackling with thunder.
"Dragon Tail!"
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Sparks and lightning lit the air as blades clashed at blinding speed. Each collision sent shockwaves tearing outward.
SCREECH! In their final exchange, Atlas's blade slid up Shiki's, showering sparks before darting straight between his legs.
CLANG!
Shiki barely dodged, but the edge still grazed his thigh. Instead of flesh, the sound of metal rang out—pitch-black Armament Haki coated his skin, though a shallow wound still appeared.
As expected… his Armament is top-tier.
"To think you actually cut me… what a vicious blade."
A flicker of fear crossed Shiki's gaze. Had he not reinforced his leg with Haki, that strike might have ended him. Even so, he was wounded.
Ever since escaping Impel Down, Shiki had felt his Haki dulling. His prosthetic blades limited him as a swordsman, and he preferred to conserve what Haki he had left.
Fortunately, his Devil Fruit remained powerful, and his arrogance had carried him this far. But now…
He knew Atlas was forcing him to fight seriously.
"The blade's name is Futsunomitama—the blade of your demise!" Atlas's left hand brushed along its spine before flicking it upward, the gleaming tip locking onto the airborne Shiki.
In the next instant, he twisted the blade and lunged forward with his right leg. The shattered earth sank even deeper, and a crimson slash burst forth!
High above, Shiki laughed with fury. He arched back sharply, swinging his twin leg-swords to release two colossal golden slashes aimed directly at Atlas.
"Slashing Wave!"
"One Sword Style: Blade Return!"
The two waves collided, their edges intersecting midair. They shattered on impact, scattering in every direction like a storm of blades.
Rampaging sword auras tore through the battlefield like maddened beasts, gouging deep scars into the land.
Like autumn winds sweeping away fallen leaves, the once-vibrant island was stripped bare within moments of battle.
"Such a powerful swordsman... You've earned the right to have me know your name, Marine," Shiki said, his sharp gaze fixed on Atlas with rare admiration.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Golden Lion."
"One Sword Style—Secret Art..." Atlas's grip on Futsunomitama tightened. Black and red Haki coiled around the blade like writhing serpents.
Lightning crackled, arcs of electricity danced, and the very air around the weapon warped.
This swordsmanship... Unavoidable! Shiki's pupils shrank.
In that instant, his perception stretched across eternity—the birth and death of all things—yet it all felt like a fleeting illusion.
"In one instant, a thousand cuts!"
CLICK! The sword slid into its sheath.
SPURT! SPURT!
Bloody gashes erupted across Shiki's body, crimson streams floating in the air. His once-pristine kimono was reduced to ragged shreds.
The black Armament Haki shielding him faded, revealing a chaotic web of scars beneath.
What mastery of Haki! Shiki had honed both Armament and Observation to terrifying levels.
Though he hadn't fully escaped Atlas's secret art, he used Observation to predict the trajectories and reinforced his vitals with Armament just in time.
This seamless balance between the two was proof enough of his title as the Golden Lion!
The helm embedded in his skull restricted him, but it had not yet decayed to the pitiful state it would reach a decade later. In truth, his precision was sharper than ever.
"It's been so long since I've fought like this..." Shiki muttered, a savage gleam flickering in his eyes.
"Lion King!" The seawater floating around the islands surged upward, twisting into monstrous waves that took the form of a lion with a gaping, bloody maw.
"Earth Scroll!" The island groaned and shifted beneath them, reshaping into a towering lion mountain. From above and below, Shiki launched a devastating pincer attack.
"Explosion: Flame Dragon!" A colossal fire dragon erupted to meet the assault.
Boiling flames clashed with the sea lion, the two beasts entangling as steam exploded outward like a god conjuring clouds and rain. A drizzle fell upon the ruined island.
Atlas dove downward, his body spinning at blinding speed. The sheer kinetic force, ignited by friction with the air, burst into flames as he hurtled straight at the colossal lion mountain!
"Rokushiki Secret Art: Tenbu Hōrin!"
BOOM!
Power condensed into his fists and detonated upon impact, smashing the lion's head apart like a raging river tearing through stone.
The massive rock beast was obliterated instantly. Cracks spread like veins across the island, splitting it apart until the land resembled a shattered mirror.
One strike—an island broken!
His blood boiled, white mist rising around him. Through the haze, Atlas's towering figure charged forward, every thunderous step shaking the fractured ground.
"Lion: Thousand Cut Valley!" Shiki, using his Devil Fruit to hold the crumbling island together, showed no concern for its destruction.
He swung his twin leg-swords, releasing colossal golden slashes wreathed in Armament Haki. Their paths crossed violently, tearing through the sky with destructive might.
Atlas's eyes narrowed. Without slowing, he drew Futsunomitama once more. Haki flowed along the blade, no longer static but alive. The thin edge cleaved through the oncoming storm!
CLANG!
The first slash was split apart and was blown away.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
One after another, Atlas cut down each massive strike with raw strength alone, the sword shattering their momentum.
Had he been wielding the Sandai Kitetsu, the blade might have crumbled under the strain—but Futsunomitama endured.
"Jihahaha! To think you'd handle my Senjindani so easily... Then try this on for size!" Shiki snarled, eyes flashing with malice.
"Schlick! Schlick!" He drew 'Oto' and 'Kogarashi' from his stumps, gripping the blood-stained blades tightly.
Eight years ago, he had severed his own legs to escape Impel Down, embedding the swords as prosthetics out of sheer pride.
Though he had lost the full might of a Great Swordsman, he refused to part with them. Now, at last, the dual-wielding lion had returned!
His hair and beard bristled like a wild beast, his presence fierce and untamed. He spun the blades in his hands, taking a stance as if the years had never passed.
"Lion's Threat: Thousand Cut Valley!"
Haki erupted across his swords, black and red lightning crackling violently. His power radiated outward like a lion baring its fangs, ready to devour the world.
"Uncuttable by no enemy, unbroken by no slash..." Atlas's voice roared with resolve. Veins bulged across his arms, glowing like molten rivers beneath his skin.
The lightning wreathing Futsunomitama burned even fiercer, echoing his unyielding spirit.
"One Sword Style Secret Art: Crimson Skyline!"
(T/N: Please give me some power stone, I hope it can at least reach the top 100)
If you want to support me, join my patr**on. Have 20 advanced Chapters for you guys.
patr**n.com/saitamablast > OP:SJ NOVEL TIER
Thanks for reading. Feel free to review this story and donate your power stone.