Chapter 58: Storm Approaching
Hachinosu Island.
The smell of gunpowder and blood permeated the air, the discomfort in the nasal cavity making one involuntarily furrow their brows.
This pirate island, which originally had decent scenery, was now a scene of devastation, with no complete building in sight wherever one looked.
In the center of a pile of ruins that no one dared approach, the battle between Shiki and John was gradually drawing to a close.
With both sides tacitly choosing to settle it quickly, the high-intensity fight caused their stamina to drain rapidly, and their Haki was also being consumed in large amounts; this life-or-death struggle was about to reveal its result.
Finally, after another clash of blades, the scales of victory completely tipped toward one side.
“Lion Majesty: Gosho Ground Roll!”
The Golden Lion struck John flying with one sword, then immediately used his ability to roll up the earth and engulf him.
The solid and vast earth, under his manipulation, directly churned like liquid, distorted, tightened, and finally formed a pillar reaching the heavens made of dirt and rock, firmly imprisoning the exhausted John within it.
“Xihahahaha! Can’t escape anymore, huh, John?”
Shiki, breathing somewhat heavily, looked at the captured John and couldn’t help laughing loudly in the air.
“Cough! Hehehe~ Yeah, after all, not everyone is as strong as a monster like you.
Your current strength probably isn’t much worse than that guy Rocks back then, right~”
With his limbs wrapped and torn by powerful twisting force, only his head exposed outside, John still endured, responding to Shiki in that flippant tone.
“So, can you tell me the location of the treasure now?”
Shiki floated in front of John, raising the pair of famous swords in his hand.
The piercing cold light on the blade reflected his fierce and arrogant face on one side, and John’s corner of mouth still wearing a smile on the other.
“Treasure~ Treasure~ So beautiful, those shiny treasures~”
“Hey, John! Do you really want me to kill you right now?”
Seeing the other’s complete lack of intention to reveal the treasure’s location, Shiki’s voice grew cold.
But John paid no attention to the other’s overflowing killing intent, still asking in a flippant tone.
“Hey~ Shiki, how long have we known each other?”
“Several decades, we fought when we first set out to sea.”
“Is that so? Since we’ve known each other so long, you should know—no one can touch my things, no one!”
John suddenly widened his eyes and roared loudly, his voice carrying unmasked madness.
“My treasure belongs only to me forever! Forever! You bastards won’t get your hands on a single gold coin!”
“Then die!”
Shiki bit off the cigar in his mouth, raising his sword to chop off the other’s head.
But at this moment, there was not a trace of fear in John’s eyes; instead, a barely noticeable smile flashed across them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Lightning struck the ground, in a flash!
Sudden violent explosions occurred across Hachinosu Island, their scale and intensity even surpassing the island-tearing momentum from the previous clash between the two.
The town below, already reduced to a pile of rubble, directly turned into a sea of fire, the blast wave pushing outward in all directions, forcing even Shiki to temporarily give up on dealing with John and instead brace against this scorching impact.
“Hehehe~ It’s not over yet, Shiki, the main event is next.”
The immobile John was solidly swept by the hot blast wave, his hair and eyebrows instantly scorched off in large patches, looking extremely disheveled.
But he still laughed regardless, as if he had foreseen all of this.
“Hey, Babu, activate that thing!” John suddenly shouted downward.
“Haha! No problem, Captain John!” An executive with an exaggerated exploding hairstyle directly crushed a liquid container in his hand.
The instant he saw the object inside the container, even Shiki’s pupils shrank involuntarily.
【Explosive Rock】, an extremely unstable substance that explodes immediately upon leaving its specific preservative solution.
Even a small piece is enough to destroy an entire island, its power almost comparable to the legendary ancient weapon.
This substance was strictly controlled by the World Government as soon as it appeared; aside from core figures in the government, others might not even have heard of it, let alone come into contact with it.
“You madman, how did you get your hands on this stuff!”
No time for more words, the Explosive Rock in Babu’s hand emitted dazzling light the instant it left the preservative solution.
“Damn it!”
Seeing this, veins bulged on Shiki’s arms as he exerted all his strength to control a large mass of seawater to directly bundle the about-to-explode Explosive Rock.
At the same time, he decisively gathered surrounding rocks in front of himself, then channeled his full-body Armament Haki to defend against the impending massive explosion.
At the same moment, Kaido and the other two on the other side of the island, though unaware of what happened, instinctively used Haki to protect their bodies due to a strong sense of crisis.
……
The floating seawater went quiet for a moment, then a terrifying explosion far exceeding the previous one erupted from its center.
Everything around was erased in an instant, even the cloud layer tens of thousands of meters in the high altitude torn into cotton-like debris.
The pirates on the island only had time to see a flash of white light before being knocked unconscious by the massive shock wave.
Pirates closer by had their bodies directly shattered, dying on the spot.
Boom!!!
A roar thousands of times more violent than thunder arrived belatedly, but no one paid attention to this eardrum-shattering sound anymore.
Because right after the first shock wave came the even more deadly heat wave.
The massive amount of seawater was directly evaporated into scorching steam that enveloped the entire island, scalding the unconscious pirates all over with burns wherever it passed.
But compared to the air heated to hundreds or thousands of degrees, this steam actually became a protective barrier for them at this moment.
Even so, many pirates still had their windpipes burned through and suffocated to death, while even more lay on the ground struggling bitterly.
Howls, screams, cries for help, sobs… for a moment, countless chaotic sounds rang out all over the island.
But compared to the death-like silence that lasted a few seconds after the explosion, these sounds from living beings now seemed somewhat reassuring.
Being able to scream at least meant they were still alive.
However, the impact of this explosion, which would surely go down in history, was far from over.
The already unstable weather in the New World was brutally torn open at this moment, countless heat released into the sky completely disrupting the originally fragile and variable weather system.
Like an infant who had just barely fallen into a shallow sleep being woken by a firecracker…
Soon, everyone in the New World would witness the wrath of the storm goddess!
