Chapter 191

Taking lots of time for chaps these days. I have the ending planned out, but writing it in an awesome way is quite an hard thing to do, eh.

As always, thanks to all of you who has come here to read this story. It's already chapter 191, and it still amazes me that we've managed to come this far.

Now, back to work! Just a little more to go!

___________

The water boiling from heat. The hot layer of steam covering the view. The huge mass of water that floated above the sky domineeringly. The spikes of water that rose out of the boiling sea upon Imu's will.

Within the still silence, Rowan braced himself. Slowly raising his hand up, Rowan clenched as if gripping onto the empty air.

What followed after was simply unbelievable.

It was a storm. On the open palm of the black skeleton-like giant that Rowan manifested around himself, a roaring storm of black lightning burst into existence, threatening to grind everything nearby.

The air shook and trembled from its intensity. A mighty will could be felt from Rowan's ability, such that even Imu couldn't ignore it as nothing.

No word need to be spoken between the two. With both of them having their utmost focus onto each other, Imu finally made his move.

*SPLASH*

The water spikes abruptly shot at once. Its target was Rowan, who lied in the center of the black-skeleton-giant.

However, before they could deal intended damage onto Rowan, the storm on giant's palm suddenly expanded.

The whole area was now covered by the crackling black lightning instead of the steam. The black storm didn't know when to stop, and continued to expand more and more.

Imu, however, didn't yield. Reinforcing himself with his own Conqueror's Haki: Infusion, Imu slowly, but surely, repelled the storm with patience.

The space itself cracked as if being crushed. The huge noise of quakes dominated the whole area, reflecting the ferocity of the collision.

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

It was the second clash between two wills.

"Nox Blade."

Within the storm, the black-skeleton-giant's eyes gleamed in a ferocious red, just as a huge black greatsword, crackling menacingly, appeared in Imu's sight.

Imu, in response, held his hand out.

In reflection of Imu's will, the sea that was floating above the sky morphed into sharp and transparent mineral: seastone. With its shape having been changed into countless spikes, Imu made them drop to Rowan at once.

It was akin to a divine judgement. The whole sky, filled with seastone spikes, dropped into the black storm simultaneously—just how is a human being supposed to fight against that?

Or so everyone thought.

The black skeleton giant swung its sword widely. With a booming noise, indicating Rowan's use of Bounce Bounce fruit, its slash impacted the whole area, managing to push Imu back while...

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

scattering away all the seastone spikes without an exception.

'Seastone is incredibly hard and stiff—to an extent where no one was said to have broke it before. At the same time, it holds the special property of suppressing the devil fruit users. Which means... I can't allow it to touch me even once.' Rowan, who conducted 3 years of training under seastone, knew just how deadly it was against the devil fruit users,

'But, this man's Observation Haki isn't something to overlook either. He tends to foresee the future with his advanced mastery over it, and counters the enemies with seastone based on the information. If so,'

Rowan's right eye received a sudden change. Its colour shifted from dark-red to ivory-white,

'I suppose that it's time to up the game.'

Subsequently, Imu found his eyes narrowing as the black skeleton giant suddenly threw its greatsword to him.

"How vulgar."

From the sea below Imu, the water rapidly swirled, before the gigantic hand, constituted of seastone, soared out.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Upon collision, the indestructible seastone withstood. Rowan's greatsword, in contrast, exploded in a ferocious pitch-black lightning that abruptly engulfed Imu, attempting to crush the latter.

"Oceanus."

Then, a whisper. Though it was unknown how, such a small-voiced sound reached all the way to Rowan amidst many noises.

Rowan readied himself for the following impact. The space in front of him crackled as the huge shield of black lightning flashed into the birth,

"Nox Aegis."

Just then,

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Rowan's sphere of Conqueror's Haki: Manifestation that previously engulfed Imu then exploded. The unbelievable amount of water blasted out in every direction, instantly taking over the whole area within seconds.

However, this was the chance that Rowan was looking for.

Before realizing the existence of the existence named 'Bob' within himself, Rowan lacked the quality of Supreme King. Hence, when having acquired Vasilia's 'Eyes of Gorgon' from Alabasta, it ended up enhancing his Observation Haki instead.

Its first stage granted an immense enhancement of his sense—strong enough to sense his own body structure—which Rowan termed it as 'Hyper Sense.' Its second stage, acquired in the Fish-Man Island, allowed Rowan to perceive the micro-sized particles that vibrated and constituted the whole world. Through this 'Hyper Vision,' Rowan was able to enforce his bounce directly onto them and generate an incredible energy in an instant.

Then what about the final ability, which awakened during the Delta War?

'A high-risk and high-return. The power so ridiculous that it can be considered to be even more helpful than the Manifestation of the Conqueror's Haki.'

It was the acceleration of his cognition itself—to an extent where the time itself seemed to be slowing down around Rowan.

Rowan's mind was simply running extremely fast, just like the computers in the real world.

'Accel World.'

*Plop*

Within the world that the huge mass of water was moving at a snail's pace, Rowan placed one foot on top of it, causing it to ripple slowly.

'The acceleration of cognition itself won't lead anywhere in usual cases. But for me, who has enough physical strength to move within this speed...'

This is how Rowan will get through Imu's defence.

*Boing*

Then came a bounce. The water under Rowan's foot suddenly bounced him up in a bizarre fashion.

'Did you manage to see the future, Imu? The future that I manage to get a glimpse of?'

Rowan, within this still world, was rapidly approaching Imu, with his right fist crackling in Conqueror's Haki: Manifestation.

Seastone spikes. Sharp needles of water, mixed with Conqueror's Haki: Infusion. All of them moved at an incredibly slow rate around Rowan, and he breezed through all of them toward his foe.

And there will be no holding back. There will be no such thing as a 'fair-play.' Rowan will puncture Imu in one go with his strongest technique.

"Armageddon!"

Rowan was now right in front of the enemy. Without any hesitation, Rowan punched forth, intending to critically injure Imu in one go. The black skeleton giant around Rowan reflected his movement, and sent its fist forth.

Just as Rowan's technique impacted the target, the time around him resumed.

Then came an explosion. Explosion far greater than any other, dominating the entire area and greedily engulfing the scattered sea in pitch-black.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The space itself cracked from the sheer impact. Rowan, without the Tremor Tremor fruit, caused the air itself to quake from the impact alone.

The black ripples then burst out repeatedly.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Even Dragon's final attack prior to the destruction of the Mariejois wasn't comparable to this disaster. No one would believe that it was born out of a human's strength alone, but this was the truth.

Now, as the continuous explosions finally came to an end,

"*Huff*... *Huff*..."

Rowan huffed in a visible exhaustion. He moved at a speed faster than he ever has, and with the cognition faster than it ever has been. His head ached due to the stress, and his right eye pulsed in pain.

An ability as scary as this came with a consequence.

However, Rowan didn't have time to rest.

"I did see the future, indeed."

Rowan's eyes widened as the gentle voice came from the back.

'Don't tell me...' Rowan instantly realized, 'The scattered water...!'

What Rowan blasted previous wasn't Imu, but the perfect copy of himself that Imu created with the water.

It was the first time—the first time Rowan found an enemy with the superior Observation Haki. Perhaps it was him who was complacent.

Imu's wicked eyes made an arch, as if mocking Rowan. Observation Haki, for the past 800 years after the World Government's establishment, has been the tool that he utilized without a stop.

"Your 4 years cannot be compared to mine, foolish Vasilia."

*SWOOSH*

One seastone spike suddenly flew through the empty air where Rowan previously stood.

Quickly dodging, Rowan bounced himself backward to evade another seastone spike that came flying in.

Then,

*SPLASH*

all of a sudden, the seastone spike morphed back into the water, splashing around the area.

*BOOOOOOM*

Rowan punched the entire water away from him, before quickly manifesting a shield on his side to block a blast of condensed water, which then turned to seastone spikes that scattered in all directions.

"In the end, this is all that you amount to." Imu, who stared at Rowan from the above with his hands on his back, said coldly.

"Ha... is it?" Rowan, who landed on one piece of land that previously was a part of Mariejois and took in a deep breath, stated.

*Ba-Bump*

A heartbeat. It was a loud heartbeat that entered Imu's ears. However, for the first time, Imu's facial expression wrinkled up into an evident confusion upon hearing the sound.

*Ba-Bump*

The drum of liberation. Imu remembered that sound—it was the characteristic of the man named Binks.

'No. It isn't it.' Imu then thought, 'It may sound similar, but it is different.'

*Tsssssss*

The hot steam expelled out of Rowan's body. His skin was scorched into bright red, and as he met his eyes with Imu once more,

'Grimheart.'

*Swoosh*

he was gone.

Immediately following, Imu quickly condensed a dense shield of seastone on his right to block Rowan's punch, having seen the future. However,

*SWOOSH*

at a crazy speed, Rowan bypassed the seastone shield. Though his Observation Haki lacked short, his speed and reflex was faster than it has ever been.

'Again.'

Rowan's right eye glowed in brilliant ivory-white as the time around him slowed down. Though his eye was aching, Rowan had to do it.

Imu was right in front of him. Yes, it had to be him, for Rowan didn't take his eyes away from Imu a single time after being tricked.

"Nox—"

Therefore, passing through all the harmful seastones around him,

"—Drive!!!"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Rowan landed his first blow onto Imu, and simultaneously, the flow of time, in Rowan's perspective, returned back to normal.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Imu's eyes widened in a bloodshot as he coughed out a gallon of blood. This was the future that he saw, and before he even had a time to react against such, it was too late. Rowan's speed far faster than even before.

He was being propelled back into the sea, with Rowan's technique continuously blasting his abdomen over and over.

*SPLASH*

The water, upon Imu's crash on its surface, rose from the sheer impact of Rowan's attack. Then, its surface rippled continuously, indicating that Rowan's attack still didn't end.

If Imu is able to see the future farther ahead than Rowan, then Rowan simply had to make such future unpreventable.

'One hour. Within one hour, I have to kill Imu.'

Rowan landed back on one piece of land and held his right eye. Gently massaging it, Rowan endured the pain and gazed at the sea in front of him with seriousness.

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Then, just as Rowan jumped up, the one piece of land was destroyed in one go. And from within, a gigantic dragon constituted out of water flew out, daring to crush Rowan within its sharp fangs.

*Crack* *Crack*

Subsequently, as it chased after Rowan, its form began to condense into seastone. It was a frightening sight to see.

Rowan quickly flew upward as fast as he could,

'Supersonic!'

with the fastest technique that he knew of. Because,

*SPLASH*

the whole sea suddenly rose from all sides, chasing after Rowan simultaneously.

Everyone could feel it; the sea that was now joined into the 'All Blue,' had its level visibly lowered.

And from its depth that has split open, Imu's eyes gleamed murderously as he looked up at Rowan. Though there was a sign of pain within his expression, there was no trace of blood lingering.

Then, Imu raised his hand at Rowan and clenched it.

"Ouroboros."

The entire sea that was chasing after Rowan, all condensed into ferocious seastone dragons.

____________

"What the hell." Law, who stood from afar, treating the injured patients along with Dan, muttered as he saw the majestic sight of seastone dragons unfold before him.

"Oi, Law! We got no time!"

"Tch, I know!"

Quickly turning around, Law returned his focus back onto the site, where Dan was seen holding a box.

Dan opened the box and revealed many vials of liquid that lied within.

"This is the special medicine of Zou that I mass-produced after acquiring the recipe." Dan stated as he got the needle ready, "Its effect is an instant recovery for a temporary span of time, but after the boost is over, you will suffer twice the damage that you had prior to taking the medicine."

Dan raised his head up and stared at the group in the front.

Zoro, Sanji, Garp, Sengoku, Ace, Dragon, Sabo, etc. All of them, though lying powerlessly, were listening intently to Dan.

Luffy was free from the seastone cuff as well. Law previously detached Luffy's forearms from his body momentarily using his fruit ability, and shook off the seastone cuff without much effort. Now, he was staring at Dan with half-lidded eyes, not even having a strength to speak a single word.

"Raise your hand up if you are fine with the downside of the medicine."

"...Are all of you insane?"

Everyone in the front raised their hands up, rendering Law flabbergasted.

Luffy's hand twitched. His index finger slowly lifted up, causing Dan to chuckle.

"Man, this is why I like you guys."

Dan turned around and saw the other ongoing battles. Carina, Cavendish, everyone—they were struggling with all their might. It won't be long before they will be overwhelmed.

"Law, and the rest of you, let's get this started."

"""Aye!!!""" The Heart pirates all nodded with a salute.

"I'm your captain, you idiots!!" Law barked at his crew comically.

It was time for a counterattack.