With the immediate hunt concluded, Kyle's attention snapped back to the conflict raging in the distance. The violent storm of energy hadn't weakened in the slightest; on the contrary, it had intensified, swirling with a dreadful power that suggested something even more terrifying was brewing. He found the highest remaining peak on the island and, using his "Light Illusion Mirage," merged his form with the stone. Once again, he became a silent, dedicated spectator to history in the making.
This time, he was just in time to witness the prelude to the grand finale.
The battlefield had been torn apart so completely that it was no longer recognizable. Rocks, Roger, and Garp were all drenched in their own blood, their wounds severe enough to have stopped any normal man. The very ground beneath their feet was stained dark red. Roger's signature captain's coat was in tatters, and the muscles in the arm that held his cutlass, "Ace," bulged with thick, pulsing veins. Garp's famous iron fist was a bloody ruin, the flesh torn away to reveal the bones of his fingers. Every breath he took shot out from his lungs as a scorching white mist.
Of the three, Rocks was in the most miserable state. His body was crisscrossed with wounds that went straight to the bone, and his wild, untamed hair was matted into stiff strands by blood. Yet, his eyes burned with a ferocious intensity, like two stars about to go supernova. All three men had long since pushed past their physical limits, and now they fought on with a power that seemed to defy reality itself.
"God Avoidance!"
Roger's roar was no longer as loud as before, carrying a raw hoarseness from exhaustion. But the black-and-red slash that erupted from his blade was more condensed and deadlier than ever. It was as if he had poured every last drop of his will and Haki into this single, sky-tearing attack.
"Fist Bone: Galaxy Impact!"
The rock beneath Garp's feet shattered as he launched himself into the air like a meteor flying in reverse. His scarred fist gathered an incomparable amount of Armament Haki, the dark energy becoming so dense that it seemed to swallow the light around it. He threw the punch, and the very fabric of space trembled from the force!
Faced with the combined, all-or-nothing assault from his two greatest rivals, Rocks simply smiled. It was a wild, unrestrained laugh, filled with defiant anger, a deep unwillingness to lose, and perhaps, a strange hint of relief.
"Hahahahaha... Excellent! Roger! Garp!"
He made no move to block or dodge. Instead, he spread his arms wide, as if ready to embrace the world-destroying attacks head-on.
"Let all of this turn into nothingness!" he bellowed, and an unprecedented, utterly black wave of Conqueror's Haki exploded from his body. "Conqueror's Domain: End!"
In that instant, the world stood still.
Sound vanished. Light disappeared. The wind stopped blowing, and the clouds in the sky froze in place.
Kyle's eyes widened in disbelief. He felt as if he wasn't just "seeing" the event, but "feeling" it on a fundamental level. His pride and joy, the Wave-Wave Fruit, was completely suppressed. He couldn't perceive any waves of energy, sound, or motion. It was as if an invisible, colossal hand had gripped the world and squeezed all life and laws out of it.
Centered on Rocks, an absolute domain of "nothingness" began to expand at a terrifying speed. The sky was no longer the sky; it had transformed into a pure black curtain, devoid of stars or lightning, containing only a profound emptiness. The ground was no longer the ground; it silently disintegrated, breaking down into nothing. Rocks, soil, and trees all turned into primal particles, drawn into the encroaching darkness.
Roger's "God Avoidance" and Garp's "Galaxy Impact" flew into this dark domain and were utterly consumed. Like two small pebbles tossed into a black hole, they created a faint, negligible ripple before being completely swallowed and annihilated.
The entire island of God Valley, a place known as the "Holy Land of the Gods" for countless years, began to groan under the unbearable strain. Massive cracks spread across the land like a spiderweb. Bottomless canyons tore through mountains, and murky seawater rushed in from the ocean, creating a deafening roar as the island collapsed. This wasn't a battle anymore; it was a true cataclysm. By burning his own life force and Haki, Rocks intended to bury the entire island, taking all his enemies down with him.
The thousand-meter peak where Kyle was hiding began to crumble like a sandcastle. The rock beneath his feet disintegrated inch by inch. With no time to even marvel at the apocalyptic scene, he transformed into a streak of light and fled frantically toward the coastline. If he didn't leave now, he would be buried here along with the legends of the sea.
In the center of the dark domain, Rocks's figure had become blurry, as if he were merging with the very void he had created. His attack was destroying everything, but it also left him vulnerable. When a power is spread to its absolute extreme, its core inevitably becomes incredibly fragile.
"Now!"
Roger and Garp's voices rang out at the exact same moment, their shouts cutting through the thunderous collapse of heaven and earth.
Roger's figure flashed through the darkness, his blade "Ace" tracing a simple, unadorned arc. All of his remaining Haki was focused into the tip of his sword, aimed directly at the deepest, darkest point in the center of the void. At the same time, Garp poured every last bit of his strength into his right fist. Stomping on the cracking earth, he lunged forward with an unyielding posture and struck the exact same point.
One slash, one punch.
The moment the blade and the fist struck that single point together, the wildly expanding "Conqueror's Domain" froze.
Crack—
A sound like a soul shattering echoed across the void. The darkness that had swallowed everything was instantly covered in cracks, like a broken mirror. A moment later, brilliant light burst forth from the cracks, and sound rushed back into the world.
Rocks's tall figure stood frozen. He slowly lowered his head, looking at the empty space in his chest where a sword and a fist had just pierced through. The madness on his face gradually faded, replaced by a profound sense of calm.
He had lost.
"The D. family... is truly... interesting..." he murmured softly. His body began to turn into specks of black light, dissipating into the wind.
And just like that, the reign of an era's overlord came to an end.
However, the consequences of his final attack were irreversible. The destruction of God Valley continued, even accelerating. Huge chunks of land sank into the seabed, kicking up hundred-meter-tall waves. The seawater poured violently into the newly formed chasm, creating a gigantic vortex powerful enough to swallow anything.
Kyle had already reached the shore. Without hesitation, he pushed a small boat he had prepared earlier into the chaotic sea. He then tossed several full, heavy sacks he had scavenged along the way onto it. There was no shame in making a profit.
He leaped onto the small boat and looked back. The island was gone. In its place was a bottomless, giant vortex, furiously sucking in the clouds from the sky and everything on the surface of the sea. Countless pirate ships were pulled into its depths, their crews' wails swallowed by the abyss. This was the end of God Valley.
Kyle expertly manipulated the waves around him, allowing his small boat to cleverly avoid the deadly undercurrents. He navigated the chaos like a nimble leaf, sailing toward the distant spot where the Oro Jackson was anchored.
When he finally jumped onto the deck of the Oro Jackson, soaked to the bone, he was met by the anxious and stunned faces of the crew. Rayleigh, Jabba, and everyone else stood by the ship's railing, silently staring at the area of the sea that was slowly calming down but was now scarred forever.
Kyle casually tossed the heavy sacks onto the deck, which made the pleasant clinking sound of metal and jewels colliding.
"Yo, I'm back," he said, wiping the seawater from his face with a grin. "I managed to catch the grand finale. Even picked up a few souvenirs along the way."
They had all just witnessed the fall of one legend and the rise of another.
Kyle said nothing more. He walked over to the ship's railing, leaned against it, and took out a cup from his pocket, filling it with orange juice. He stared at the giant vortex, feeling the lingering, incomparably powerful auras of those three men still hanging in the air.
A new era was about to begin.
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