Lightning exploded from Sharn's fingertips like rain.
Every flick of his hand sent piercing bolts through the air — enough to splinter ship planks and punch holes through steel.
If those had struck human flesh, they would've shredded it into bloody craters.
He fought with nothing but instinct and reflex.
Every dodge relied on his body's feel for danger.
If he could avoid a blow, he'd twist himself with Paper Art (Kami-e).
If not, he hardened his hybrid body with Iron Body (Tekkai) layered over his dragon hide.
Gradually—
maybe from overuse, maybe from reaching another limit—
his Shigan (Shigan) evolved again.
Each strike carried not only the slicing wind of Tempest Kick (Rankyaku)
but the unyielding hardness of Iron Body itself.
BOOM!
Sharn's hands had become living cannons — electric, relentless, merciless.
Each jab shook his bones; blood dripped down his knuckles.
His entire frame trembled, threatening to collapse at any moment.
If he relaxed his mind for even an instant, the hybrid form would shatter,
and he'd revert to human.
"You little brat think you can still defy me?" Saturn Saint snarled.
"I am one of the Five Elders!"
He despised pirates more than anything—
especially the kind who bore ambition, who inherited that ancient will.
Free-spirited adventurers he could tolerate.
But those who challenged the very structure of the world—
the kind who carried the same madness as Joy Boy—
they were the true threats.
Their mere existence, their words, their beliefs shook the order of the seas.
They weren't pirates.
They were lunatics.
Fools trying to reach the sky from the depths of the sea.
"You don't even realize how far you are from the true powers of this world," Saturn roared.
"Even if you've broken human limits… even with a Mythical Zoan… even if you fight to the death—
you're still just a monster without haki!
Without it, you can't even scratch me!"
His body was covered in cuts,
but every wound closed within seconds.
Compared to Glengus Saint's brute strength,
Saturn's mastery over his fruit was something far worse —
near-immortality.
Even the strongest Haki masters,
Rayleigh and Garp,
would one day grow old and slow.
But those blessed with fruits that infused life itself—
they could remain gods forever.
That was why monsters like Kaido and Big Mom had reigned so long.
Even as age crept on, their fruits filled the gap left by time.
Sharn's attacks thundered again.
But all he could hear was not Saturn's mocking—
but the pulse of his own blood,
the breath of his own cells.
Haki.
Without haki, there was no future.
Without it, you couldn't even dream of ruling the seas.
He thought of every beastly power he'd seen:
Big Mom's iron balloon flesh,
Kaido's immortal dragon scales,
Saturn's unholy regeneration,
Marco's undying phoenix flames.
How could anyone kill monsters like these?
How could you hurt what refused to die?
Only Haki could do it—
true, internal damage that tore through even the strongest regeneration.
But to reach that level, one had to awaken Armament Haki…
and then master its advanced form.
He clenched his jaw.
Even the basics of Haki were still beyond him.
Most people spent their entire lives failing to awaken it.
Even knowing it lay dormant within every human—
as potential, as breath, as spirit—
few ever touched it.
"You need years of battle to awaken it," he murmured to himself,
"and even longer to master it."
Then he grinned.
"But I'm young."
Electricity flared again.
His fingers blurred faster than sight,
his heartstrings pulling tight like wires connecting blood, bone, and soul.
"Come on—come out already, my Haki!"
He lunged.
Saturn's grin spread wide.
SHING!
A black flame shimmered across Saturn's chest —
Advanced Armament Haki,
hard as divine metal.
"Your body's strong, boy," Saturn sneered.
"Those dragon scales resist ordinary Haki… but I'm not ordinary."
He drove his staff into the ground—
stone cracked, the air split.
His other hand became a claw,
coated in the flowing aura of Ryuo, the advanced Haki of the old world.
"You're far, far beneath me," he hissed.
"Haki isn't just potential—it's bloodline!
We Celestial Dragons are the gods who created this world!"
"Our ancestors were kings, and their blood still flows in us!"
"Your 'potential' is barely equal to our starting point!"
Saturn's five claws burned black,
forming ghostly flames like death's own scythe.
Sharn's fingertips cracked, bones splitting from the pressure.
The defense of that advanced Haki—
it was absolute.
He was being crushed by centuries of mastery.
Saturn had fought for hundreds of years,
his Haki deep as the abyss.
"I've killed countless fools like you!" Saturn roared.
Dark fire slashed through the air.
The claws came down—
but Sharn's eyes lit up, something snapping inside him.
He clenched his fists, abandoning the precision of Shigan.
That faint, glowing thread inside his heart surged upward,
spreading through every nerve, every inch of skin.
"You said my limit is your beginning?"
"Then watch closely."
"Everyone has Haki inside them."
"This—" he shouted,
"is my beginning!"
He drove his fist forward, screaming.
It wasn't even true Haki—just the first faint shimmer of it,
a veil of invisible pressure barely coating his hand.
But it was enough to make his heart race like fire.
BOOM!
His punch collided with Saturn's invisible wall of advanced Haki.
It didn't break through.
Not even close.
Yet Sharn laughed—wild, breathless, triumphant.
"No wonder everyone screams during fights. It feels amazing!"
Saturn's eyes gleamed darkly.
He moved faster than a blink—
five burning claws stabbing into Sharn's ribs.
"Oni Demon—Five-Finger Soulflame!"
Blood sprayed.
Sharn's body flew across the canyon like a broken comet,
smashing into the earth with an explosion of dust and stone.
Pain tore through his soul,
beyond nerve, beyond flesh.
He crashed into a crater.
His dragon form flickered away,
leaving a battered human body smoking in the dirt.
The thrill of his first Haki
and the agony of near-death
merged into a blur.
He couldn't breathe.
His vision turned white.
His mind drifted—
until someone lifted him from the rubble.
"Buckin?! You miserable leech, you're actually saving someone?!"
Fireblossom kicked away a marine,
her snake companion coiling around her, deflecting bullets.
"This kid's body is a perfect experiment sample!"
Buckin hoisted Sharn over her shoulder.
Her golden curls brushed his face as she ran.
BOOM!
A moment later, Saturn's staff struck the spot they'd just left,
cracking the stone in fury.
"Who dares interrupt me?!" he bellowed.
A barrier rose instantly before him.
Kurozumi Semimaru stood there, sneering.
"The captain said this kid's an intern.
That means he still has value."
The Rocks Pirates moved for profit, always.
To Buckin—armed with scientific curiosity—Sharn was a rare specimen.
To Semimaru—seeking power and revenge—he was a useful pawn.
That was enough reason to interfere.
"You won't escape me!" Saturn roared.
His body regenerated, but slowly now—
his breathing ragged, his blood still seeping through fresh scars.
Even awakened Zoans had their limits.
He needed time.
SHING!
As he charged, the barrier vanished—
and someone else stepped from the dust.
A man with wild hair,
his presence heavier than the sea itself.
Both Saturn and Glengus froze.
"Go, Kaido!"
A voice thundered overhead—Big Mom, riding her thunderclouds,
snatching Kaido by the arm and hauling him skyward.
"Rocks?!"
The two Celestial Dragons gawked.
It couldn't be.
Rocks D. Xebec was still fighting miles away,
locked in battle against the strongest of the Navy.
How could he be here too?
"Fuffuffuffu!"
Laughter—witchlike, shrill—echoed through the valley.
"You scared, Saturn? Did you piss yourself?"
The figure shimmered—
and the illusion melted away, revealing Kurozumi Higurashi,
Semimaru's sister,
user of the Clone-Clone Fruit (Mane Mane no Mi).
Saturn's fury boiled over.
He lunged,
Glengus slashing beside him.
"Brother! Time to not take risks!" Higurashi screeched.
"Got it, sis!" Semimaru grinned, throwing up a twin-layered barrier.
The siblings' laughter echoed as they vanished into the smoke.
"Rocks Pirates!" Saturn howled,
his voice shaking the heavens.
"Every last one of you—MADMEN!"
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