Even the strongest power will fade away, and Aatrox's power is no exception.
A sudden burst of sword energy sliced through the demonic fire, and Roger and the others appeared again from the bright red flames.
He looked at the world around him, a sea of fire where even cries of pain no longer existed in the zone of death.
Aatrox's strike had nearly covered the whole island. Leaving aside the civilians who were retreating from the island, at least those thirty thousand Marines were probably doomed...
There were also plenty of pirates who took advantage of the chaos to climb onto the island. They likely didn't even know what had happened inside before heading to the land of the dead.
"..."
The sight of the people nearby shocked him even more. Sengoku, who was already covered in wounds, now had his body burned by the fire. He had used up a lot of his strength before, and facing Aatrox's first and strongest attack, even giving it everything he had wasn't enough to stop it.
After all, these few people were right at the heart of this move. No matter how wide an attack covers, it always has a core that's strongest against people, and where Roger, Sengoku, and the others stood was that core.
It's clear now that Sengoku could no longer hold back Aatrox's assaults.
The demonic fire slowly faded, or rather, it parted, because its true master had arrived.
Aatrox stood back on the ground, looking down at the people below, laughing nonstop.
Sengoku's knees gave out, and his golden form vanished completely. He had no strength left and simply collapsed on the ground, his life or death unknown.
At this point, two Marine Admirals were out: one missing an arm, the other fully down, with red flames still burning on his body. Most of the remaining Marine forces had been swallowed by the demonic fire. Even if a few lucky ones survived, they would be rare exceptions.
With one slash, the entire island fell into silence and ruin.
"This is bad..."
Rayleigh let out a long breath, then gritted his teeth and said, "We won't all die here, will we?"
"I never thought our journey would end here," Roger said in a deep voice. "Looks like I misjudged. This monster's strength is beyond what I expected."
He had originally thought that no matter how strong the enemy was, they couldn't handle all of them together. But the power Aatrox just unleashed proved how naive that idea was.
"To fight him, we should have teamed up from the start!"
If Garp and Sengoku were at their peak, plus them and that ice demon, there might still be a chance to win. But Garp had lost an arm on the way here, and Sengoku had collapsed completely.
In this state, how could they possibly win?
Even the usually upbeat Roger started to feel pessimistic.
"Fight me?"
Aatrox heard their words and burst into loud laughter. The sound was so out of place in this dead-silent world, but coming from a demon, it fit perfectly.
"I'm not here to fight you all. I'm here to fight the world! The end of the world has arrived!"
Aatrox descended before them with immense pressure, and now only a few could keep battling him.
"Listen up, unknown pirate."
Sakaki stood tall. In this fiery dead zone, the cold aura around him had been consumed.
He gripped his sword with both hands and said to Roger, "The underground belongs to the darkin chosen. Inside, there are shards of the Shikon Jewel. You can hear their voices. Go get them! Only by using those shards' power can you get stronger!"
He didn't even wait for Roger's reply, because Aatrox was swinging his blade again.
"He's right, Roger, go now! You're the only one who can become this world's savior!"
After hearing Sakaki, Rayleigh immediately pushed Roger and rushed forward himself. Like Sakaki, he used his body and life to buy Roger time!
To deal with this demon, they needed someone strong enough to match him, at least to hold him back a little. Without that, having more people wouldn't help much.
A gap in levels isn't easy to bridge. Though this world doesn't have strict ranks, you can still tell roughly.
The Nine Red Scabbards, for example, weren't on Kaido's level. Each of the nine was above the Six Flying Dragons—not quite at the Three Plagues' strength, but close. Yet eight Scabbards plus Izo, nine in total, couldn't even force Kaido into his human-beast form.
If you compare it, Roger and his group now are like an upgraded version of the nine, and Aatrox is like Kaido.
With that power gap, to stand against Aatrox, you'd need at least nine people... nine at the level of a Four Emperor!
But clearly, they didn't have enough numbers now.
So they could only improve the quality. That ice demon said there are Shikon Jewel shards underground, and they might make Roger stronger.
And Roger, who can hear the voices of all things, could locate the shards. He was the only one fit for this job.
So Roger knew what to do. He saw Rayleigh and Sakaki charging ahead, while Gaban covered him from the side, and he quickly headed from the entrance into the underground world.
He had to hurry!
Get those shards before everyone above was killed. Roger pushed his Observation Haki to its limit, and in an instant, the voices of all things flooded his mind.
The loudest, of course, was Aatrox's voice, coming from that sword, pouring into Roger's head and trying to shatter his will.
Endless hatred turned into a raging sea of blood, and Roger searched through it carefully for the faint voices of the Shikon Jewel shards.
Ah!
A sudden scream pierced Roger's soul. He clenched his teeth—it was Gaban's voice, mixed with others' cries. But he couldn't stop now. The tougher the fight above, the calmer he had to stay!
Where, where, where, where?!
Roger dashed through the underground, and the closer he got to the Shikon Jewel shards, the louder their voices became. But up to now, he still hadn't pinpointed their location.
Hm?!
Suddenly, Roger stopped.
It wasn't because he found the Shikon Jewel shards. Instead, on a table right in front of him, he spotted a strange fruit.
This fruit gave off a strong wave of power...
A Devil Fruit?!
If it was the right Devil Fruit, eating it could grant great power. He never wanted to eat one before, but now he had no choice.
He had to get stronger!
So, without hesitation, Roger grabbed the fruit and swallowed it in one bite!
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