Chapter 204: Jin Shizi

In that instant, everyone on the ship turned their attention to the distant Rapeseed Flower Port.

"What... is that?"

With an owl's excellent vision, even from nearly a kilometer away, he could clearly see a figure in the port's streets, back sprouting wings, clad in what looked like crimson leather armor.

That figure stood slightly over two meters tall.

Such height, in the Grand Line where monsters roamed, races of all kinds gathered, and giants often towered over twenty meters, barely escaped being classified as third-degree disabled, far from qualifying as tall.

Yet at this very moment, despite the kilometer separating them, despite being long outside the battle's central zone,

that pressure, tangible as solid matter, still made the owl's scalp prickle and his legs tremble involuntarily.

"This twisted form, utterly unlike an ordinary Zoan... a Mythical Zoan? Is this Knight Xiang Gaowen's ability?"

"Zoan—Mythical Zoan?!"

Jabura leaped onto the mast, straining his eyes into the distance, but his view was once again obscured by swirling sand and dust gathering around the port.

If before he had only suspected that Xiang Gaowen held back against him because of Luqi, now that guess was confirmed.

As a Zoan user himself, he naturally understood the disparity in power between a Zoan user's human form and their transformed state.

Even for an ordinary Zoan, transformation alone could easily nearly double one's raw strength; the amplification granted by a Mythical Zoan, standing at the pinnacle of the Zoan types, would be even more absurd.

Given Xiang Gaowen's base Dori value of thirty to forty thousand, had he activated his ability and unleashed his full power during that earlier strike, he could have crushed Jabura's skull on the spot!

"Are you kidding me!"

"Are all Seven Warlords of the Sea such monsters?"

"No!"

Kalifa pushed up her glasses, an abnormal flush spreading across her face, making her posture appear somewhat bashful at this moment:

"It is not the Seven Warlords who are strong, but Captain Xiang Gaowen!"

"Even existences as powerful as the Beasts' All-Stars, such as King the Calamity, are no match for our Captain."

"King... the Calamity?"

Jabura's wolf ears twitched, the hooks at his fingertips digging straight into the mast.

On this ship,

Vivi and the others might not grasp the weight of that name, but Jabura and the other two, as CP9 agents, certainly did.

A right hand to one of the Four Emperors, and among pirates in the New World beneath the Four Emperors, one of those closest to the pinnacle!

"So this... is Knight Xiang Gaowen?"

"Ah."

"The reason our Captain became a Seven Warlord of the Sea is solely his own power, so overwhelming that it is completely unmatched!"

As Kalifa's definitive words fell, the entire pirate ship fell silent in an instant.

Everyone displayed eyes filled with fear, hope, or longing as they once again gazed toward the distant Rapeseed Flower Port, gradually being swallowed by swirling dust.

After a brief calm, the dust clouds in the distance began churning with growing unrest.

A silver blade qi pierced heaven and earth, slicing through countless buildings as it surged toward Crocodile, illuminating at that moment his deathly pale face and astonished gaze.

If, before Xiang Gaowen revealed the abilities of the Red Dragon Fruit, Crocodile could still rely on terrain advantage and the Haki remaining in this body—not yet diminished by the passage of time—to barely maintain an undefeated stance,

then at this moment, the scales of battle tipped decisively toward Xiang Gaowen!

A top-tier Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, Observation Haki capable of foreseeing the future, and swordsmanship on the level of a Great Swordsman.

With these three combined,

Xiang Gaowen, at this moment, even made Crocodile feel the illusion of facing Barrett from years past!

It was just that twenty years had passed; Barrett remained that same Barrett, and even imprisoned in Impel Down, his strength had only continued to grow with the passage of time.

But Crocodile was long no longer that high-spirited young man he once was.

In the fierce killing just now, Xiang Gaowen had struck countless times; Crocodile could have dodged them, even perceived them in advance with Observation Haki, but his nearly rusted body could no longer execute the movements stored in his memory.

He had grown old.

He had grown old the moment, after that crushing defeat, he abandoned cultivation and resolved to reach the summit by relying on external forces.

In a flash of realization,

Crocodile finally became aware of this truth.

Xiang Gaowen's figure, however, had already surged ahead of that blade qi, closing in directly before Crocodile.

The explosive speed made Crocodile feel nothing but a prickling scalp, and...

an indescribable, unacceptable, unbearable sense of frustration!

"Why!"

A hoarse roar squeezed out from between Crocodile's clenched teeth, answered only by Xiang Gaowen's next strike, even more earth-shattering, even more domineering and unparalleled.

Hiss!

Guanshi Zhengzong, infused with Armament Haki, sliced through Crocodile's golden hook as easily as cutting tofu, spraying forth a shower of fresh blood.

The moment the edge of Guanshi Zhengzong severed the bones in his chest,

Crocodile's rusted body finally completed its elemental transformation, dissolving into a mass of yellow sand that Xiang Gaowen's blade qi scattered.

Within a few breaths, his sandified body re-coalesced, the severed arm sending waves of excruciating pain through him.

But none of this was enough to make Crocodile change expression.

What truly made him grind his teeth until his gums bled faintly, turning his eyes utterly crimson,

was Xiang Gaowen slowly approaching before him, radiating killing intent, and the unmistakable...

contempt in his eyes!

"I originally thought that, as a fellow Seven Warlord, even if your combat power wasn't what it once was, you might at least make me break a slight sweat."

"You have disappointed me far too much!"

Crocodile's face flushed red; he opened his mouth and coughed up a huge mouthful of blood, staining the clothes on his chest crimson, matching the same red as his eyes:

"You simply lack a monster like Whitebeard..."

"I am tired of hearing this self-deceiving argument."

In the midst of his words,

Xiang Gaowen swung his blade, directly shaking off the fresh blood from Guanshi Zhengzong, and slowly sheathed it.

For just in that instant, he had sensed Guanshi Zhengzong's emotions.

Disgust, contempt, disdain...

After these various complex, negative emotions converged, a unified will was transmitted from the blade:

'Do not let me touch the blood of the coward!'

Xiang Gaowen lowered his gaze, looking at Crocodile in the distance, his tone indifferent:

"Even my blade is unwilling to cut you down."

"It seems Whitebeard severed not only your arm back then, but also your spine."

"Defeat?"

"Despair?"

"The words of the weak!"

The voice fell to the ground.

The swirling sand and dust around them suddenly stopped; for a moment, all sounds ceased.

Only a bright moon in the high sky cast a cold radiance, falling upon Crocodile.

Making him look even more like a... defeated dog!

Yes.

A defeated dog.

Beyond that, Xiang Gaowen could find no other adjective.

Crocodile's sweet dream had actually been crushed back when he was defeated by Whitebeard.

In the original story, it was only after losing everything, being imprisoned in Impel Down for several months, and seeing the light of day again that he truly found his original heart.

Yet on that very same day, he lost the goal he had been pursuing.

At this moment,

Crocodile raised his gaze to look at Xiang Gaowen, a flame seeming to burn within his pupils.

For Xiang Gaowen and Whitebeard, separated by twenty years, had spoken the same words in nearly the same situation.

Yet this made him even more unwilling to accept it.

"You have never experienced everything I have experienced; how could you understand that despair?"

"You have never experienced that era; how could you understand what kind of existence those monsters standing at the peak truly were..."

"Even you would absolutely be unable to survive in the hands of such monsters!"

In the next instant,

Crocodile's voice suddenly halted; he stared blankly at the distant sky.

A fleet emerged from the clouds, casting a massive shadow that plunged the entire Rapeseed Flower Port into darkness.

Immediately, a golden figure came whistling down from the distant horizon.

"That is..."

Astonishment, shock...

Various complex emotions converged before his eyes, finally turning into an excitement that could hardly be concealed, to the point where Crocodile's expression was nearly distorted:

"Jin Shizi Shi Ji!"

"That monster is still alive?!"

As a pirate who had truly experienced the Luo Jie era, Crocodile and his generation held a bone-deep reverence for the Three Legends.

Especially after suffering such a crushing defeat at Whitebeard's hands, having felt that despair of throwing everything into the effort yet being unable to shake the opponent, it was even more so.

He turned his head to look at Xiang Gaowen, a vicious smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

Aren't you arrogant?

Aren't you going to crush the former legends?

Haven't you spoken many grand principles?

Now...

It is time for you to prove it!

"Knight Xiang Gaowen!"

"Then try it; see how much despair you will feel when facing these monsters!"

"I do not believe you will be any different from me!"

Xiang Gaowen glanced at Crocodile; the disdain in his gaze had reached a point that could no longer be concealed:

"I will prove nothing to you, but if that fellow truly wishes to fight me... then I will try to see how much weight this old man with half a foot already in the grave actually has."

The moment Xiang Gaowen's voice fell,

a sharp, domineering, and violent Conqueror's Haki roared forth like a wild wind; the seawater of the entire port began to churn uneasily at this moment, and streaks of crimson Lei Guang flashed in the oppressive air.

And this was merely the prelude to the ruler's arrival!

"Not bad fighting spirit!"

Before the person arrived, the voice was heard first.

Accompanying a voice of praise falling toward Xiang Gaowen in the air, that distant figure had already approached.

The Jin Shizi hovered silently in midair, letting the gale whip his clothes into a loud flutter.

The half-ship's wheel atop his head, shaped like a rooster's comb, should have made his appearance utterly ridiculous, yet at this moment, no one could bring themselves to laugh.

Including Xiang Gaowen.

If Crocodile had aged only in heart, then the Jin Shizi had aged only in flesh.

His heart remained young, and his desire to reach the summit would still lose to no one.

And the Haki constructed from belief showed not a shred of aging at this very moment, remaining so formidable it made one's hair stand on end.

At this moment.

Xiang Gaowen felt the heavy pressure surrounding his body, the corners of his mouth twitching involuntarily.

No matter how much he thought it over, he couldn't figure out how Straw Hat, with his combat power at that time, had managed to kick this thing into the sea with a single blow.

The gap between the two had grown so vast that it was impossible to reverse through so-called willpower alone.

Unless Nika had revealed his Awakened form during that battle, Xiang Gaowen could find no other possibility.

In the distance.

Above the sea surface.

Jabura and the others stared blankly at the massive fleet high in the sky and that figure soaring proudly above, feeling nothing but numbness creeping up their scalps.

"A fleet... floating in the sky?!"

Vivi murmured softly, her heart, which had just begun to surge with excitement, suddenly turning cold.

That intense mental shock was so extreme that even she felt a wave of dizziness in her brain; it took tremendous effort for her to barely maintain her footing.

When she looked back, the pirates on the ship had already lost consciousness, foaming at the mouth as they lay collapsed on the deck.

"Conqueror's Haki!"

Jabura murmured, and as his gaze landed on that figure high in the sky, he stumbled, falling straight off the mast.

At this moment, even his voice trembled:

"The Jin Shizi!"

"That guy is the Jin Shizi!"

"How could such a monster appear in Alabasta?"

Countless files he had once seen within the CP organization now took on a concrete form at this moment, one he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A fleet covering the sky, the flying pirate capable of rivaling Luo Jie—the Jin Shizi, Shi Ji!

Only when the illusory photos fell into reality did Jabura realize just how vast the gap truly was.

It was a chasm that countless powerful figures could never cross in their entire lives!

Fukurou, Kumadori, and the others were so shocked they were rendered speechless; it was only after Miss Kalifa shouted a retreat that everyone turned and desperately drove the pirate ship, accelerating their escape toward the rear.

If, at this distance just moments ago, they could barely hope to survive,

then the moment the Jin Shizi made his entrance, merely being at such a distance could no longer provide them with even a shred of safety.

Miss Kalifa stood at the bow, looking back at the distant port, her eyes behind her lenses turning red at this very instant.

She was struggling desperately to suppress her instinct to return to the port.

For she knew that facing an opponent like the Jin Shizi, her presence would not only fail to offer Xiang Gaowen the slightest help but would even become that man's fatal weakness.

After all... he has me in his heart!

Against Crocodile, Miss Kalifa had one hundred percent confidence in Xiang Gaowen.

But when the opponent became the Jin Shizi, who had once dominated an era and rivaled kings, that confidence turned entirely into unease.

"Sister Kalifa..."

Vivi stepped forward, intending to offer Miss Kalifa a few words of comfort, only to see the latter's eyes already completely red, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Vivi froze for a moment.

The next instant, Miss Kalifa's voice reached her ears; the very voice that had previously given her confidence now made her feel only suffocation:

"The Captain... he can win, right?!"

"I..."

Vivi opened her mouth, about to speak, but her action was interrupted by several incoming cannonballs.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Crimson flames erupted around the pirate ship.

Had Jabura, having snapped out of his daze, not acted to kick several cannonballs into the sea, this small pirate ship would have disintegrated on the spot from the bombardment.

Seeing this, Miss Kalifa closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then regained her usual calm demeanor, stating with determined eyes:

"The Captain... he can win!"

"Our mission is to survive by any means possible!"

High in the sky.

The Jin Shizi swept a glance at the departing pirate ship; after sensing only a few weak auras aboard with his Observation Haki, he lost all interest in them.

He turned his head to look at Crocodile, his eyes carrying an indescribable disappointment:

"That brat who once clamored about challenging Whitebeard—after twenty years, is this all the level he has reached?"

(End of Chapter)