Chapter 171

Within the red flash came…

a malicious,

<Despair… ah, how hopeless… how painful…>

yet sorrowful voice.

<I am in despair. Despair... oh, despair! The man named Imu... he took everything from my grasp!!!!!>

As Rowan opened his eyes back up, there existed the world of red. Everything around him seemed to emanate an evil aura—though he assumed that such thought was based off of his stereotype.

However, there lied one more notable quality.

A monster was in front of him—the formless blob of blood, which churned and screeched madly.

<Regret... regret is all that I feel!!! If only, if only I had more strength...>

Then, from within the blood shot out a bony hand, dripping in blood.

<But yes... all is not lost yet. No no no… let us not forget. Do not despair, and do not regret, for… for… there is you!!! Yes!!! You... take that Imu down!!!>

A glorious family who stood above all?

'Vasilia, being one above all?' Rowan couldn't agree to that, especially after having seen the scene in the front.

Here, right in front of him, lied Vasilia's true face, and it looked nothing but pitiful in Rowan's eyes.

"Vasilia Endra."

A memory, Bob said. For some reason, Rowan knew the name of the creature right in front of him.

"Warmonger. Egoist. You are someone who lived your whole life under the mask."

Although the hand outstretched toward Rowan's face, Rowan didn't take a single step back.

"Ha, the Nefertari family being the greatest ally of Vasilia? No. They were nothing but the pawns. You wished for them to betray the other 19 kingdoms and serve as a distraction, for you to...

take Joyboy's weapon for yourself."

<Yes... you know very well.>

The bloody hand reached Rowan's cheek, and gently caressed it,

<Then you must know as well... my grand plan to make Vasilia THE GREATEST OUT OF ALL!!!>

The whole area boomed from the scream alone.

<We are the one above!!! No one, absolutely no one, is allowed to stand above us!!!!! Those peasants are meant to kiss our feet until the day of their miserable deaths!!!!!>

"I suppose that the only instance where you've been truthful to yourself..." Rowan chuckled, "is the message written in the Fish-Man Island."

<Those slaves aren't part of this matter!!!!>

From the bloody blob that then began to expand rapidly, one face slowly appeared from within.

It was the face of a man, however, it seemed to be incomplete. No nose, no mouth, no ears, no hair—the only aspect that caused Rowan to identify it as a face, was the ferocious dark-red-coloured eyes that peered onto Rowan.

<Vasilia... you are the king of the world. Your destiny is to exterminate all those pests and rule above all!!! Now, my faithful descendant... you will do that, won't you?>

The face shot out toward Rowan, and stopped right in front of him.

<You've seen what we've went through, didn't you?!!!>

The shaky hand desperately clenched onto Rowan's cheek.

Yet, Rowan stared back at the horrifying figure impassively.

Then,

Rowan, within an instant, clenched onto the outstretched neck right under the face, before crushing it mercilessly.

"You answer this for me." Rowan glared at the eyes of the face firmly,

"Who do you think you are?"

<Who do you think you are?> The hand shook even wilder, indicating the entity's fury, <Who do you think you are?!!!!!>

<I, Vasilia Endra, am the greatest king out of all!!!!! I am the rightful owner of Imu's seat, and the one whom you will listen to!!!>

The face glared back at Rowan with the bloodshot eyes.

"Bohahaha!!!" Rowan, in response, laughed in amusement, "Says the disgusting blob."

*SWOOSH*

The bloody sky, bloody blob, the horrifying face and hand all retracted in an instant—back into the red orb.

"No one controls me except for myself."

Rowan casually grabbed the orb and growled at it,

"If you are dead already, then act like one. You are nothing but the most disgusting piece of s*** I've ever come across."

Upon Rowan's strong grip, the red orb shattered powerlessly, leaving nothing but a peaceful scenery, once again.

However, there existed one difference, for Rowan, who turned around,

"As for this power… I shall use it well for my personal gains."

was seen with the dangerous-looking dark-red-coloured eyes.

Then, an overbearing Conqueror's Haki exploded more vigorously than ever.

___________

"A relief... is all that I feel at this moment." Cavendish stated as he was seen sprawled all across the ground, "I can feel it... captain is still alive and standing."

"I believe that that isn't something that you should be saying, Pirate Prince." King retorted as he stood right in front of Cavendish, "One instance of letting your guard down resulted in such... and now, I doubt that you will last even for one minute."

It was true. There lied a deep gash on Cavendish's right side. Although Cavendish stopped the bleeding by burning the wound with an intense light, he wasn't in condition to fight.

"One minute? Guahahaha!!!" Cavendish laughed as he began to stand back up, "You see, there exists nothing faster than light in this world. One minute, to me... is more than enough."

King raised his sword back up with a caution, as Cavendish lifted up his own sword, Durandal.

"Don't you understand? No matter how many times you try, you can't harm me." On King's back, the flame burned intensely. During this state, King was very durable, and Cavendish wasn't able to land a proper strike until now.

Yet, Cavendish, with determined expression, pointed the tip of his Durandal toward King.

"En garde."

Light was faster than all. There existed no time to speak, no time to think, and no time to react against—for King.

And Cavendish believed. For no reason, he felt as if his next attack was going to succeed. It was a foolish thought, but through such thought, Cavendish felt himself brimming with… a confidence as brilliant as the shining light.

And now,

within a millisecond, Cavendish was standing behind King.

"Noble Phantasm: Lustrous Durandal."

*PUK*

King's impenetrable body then burst out the blood, with a huge gaping hole on his chest.

*Thud*

"…What?"

That was King's final word. Only the second before his death, did he realize that he was about to die.

The battle was over in an instant.

___________

"How impractical. Nothing but a mass production of huge biscuit soldiers, over and over…"

Carmen commented as she saw one biscuit soldier running toward her,

"Are you capable of thinking rationally? Or is it that your brain too have turned into crumbs?"

Around Carmen, the whole patch of ground was seen charred. On top of such ground lied a mountain of burned biscuit soldiers… which surprisingly smelt good.

"*Huff* *Huff*…" Cracker, a purple-haired man with a scar that went across his right eye, huffed in fatigue as he continued to produce the biscuit soldiers non-stop.

'I can't let her get close to me!'

Carmen eyebrow twitched as she easily burned each and every single biscuit soldiers without a problem.

The fact that the countless amount of food being wasted like this… she couldn't stand it.

All kind of food were to be treated with respect.

"Within practicality,"

*SWOOSH*

Carmen stared at Cracker calmly as she swayed sideway, dodging a slash from a huge biscuit soldier,

"there lies flamboyance."

A small candle flame. Carmen's tiny flame, which attached itself onto a biscuit soldier,

engulfed it whole within a second.

"Tch... flame..." Cracker took a step back with a troubled expression, "it's a bad match-up for me!!! Damn it!!!"

"Flame, yet flows like a liquid. It isn't burning, but enhancing its aroma, texture, and the overall quality." Carmen's body swirled into a flame, before shooting toward Cracker, who quickly formed layers and layers of biscuits around his body.

"Flame Empress: Ignis."

Then, Carmen who flew by the cluster of flame, had her flame turn into an even hotter blue flame.

One layer. The first layer of Cracker's biscuit shields broke down into crumbs as Carmen blasted through without any resistance.

Second layer then broke. A ground itself became charred in accordance to Carmen's trajectory path—Cracker began to feel the immense heat from layers behind.

"Krrrgghh...!!" Cracker bit his lips in an attempt to hold his ground against the pain. His Haki-imbued hands began to redden up due to Carmen's heat—Cracker was in disbelief that the flame of this intensity could exist.

Now, Carmen was one layer behind Cracker. The intense blue flame pushed forth, and without much effort, the final layer of biscuit wall too melted.

Behind, Cracker's whole body was already charred and burned beyond belief. He was drooling from the unbearable pain, and his eyes whitened out as he swayed side by side.

*Thud*

Carmen didn't even have to attack Cracker directly, for the latter then fell down to the ground, dead.

*CRUNCH*

Carmen, while stepping on top of Cracker's neck to finish him off for sure, gazed off into the distant scenery, where Rowan was standing with a ferocious demeanour.

"It's up to you now, captain."

And her surrounding was filled with delicious-smelling biscuits.

___________

"Shigan: Fang Pistol!!" Who's-Who, using his lone hand, blasted his attack toward Dan.

*Pzzt*

Dan flashed behind Who's-Who and grabbed the latter by his neck. Then, he swiftly turned around, where,

"Heliceratops!!!"

Sasaki, in his full dinosaur form, was diving toward Dan with his frill spinning rapidly.

"0 Bolt: Meat Shield."

"Sasaki, stop!!!" Who's-Who quickly shouted while sweating profusely, to which Sasaki clicked his tongue while stopping the spin on his frill and landing back onto the ground.

"Doesn't matter though." Dan then placed his index finger on Who's-Who's head, "The moment you were caught by me, it was an instant game over."

Who's-Who then realized the situation that he was lied upon, however, it was too late under Dan's lightning-quick speed,

"150 Million Bolt: Inject Bolt."

It was already proven before that Dan's Armament Haki surpassed Who's-Who's. If so, and if Who's-Who wasn't able to escape from Dan's grasp, then...

*PAZZZZZZZ*

there was no saving grace for Who's-Who. A quick and swift death—that was the greatest strength of lightning.

"Who's-Who..." Sasaki's expression turned stoic upon witnessing what happened right in front of him. Who's-Who, an individual whom Sasaki believed to be as strong as he was, received a horrific death.

"Don't worry,"

Sasaki's eyes widened as he saw Dan patting his shoulder all of a sudden.

"…How?"

*Thud*

"he isn't going alone."

Dan said with half-lidded eyes, unfazed by the battle that he was within. A complete victory against Jack, Who's-Who, and Sasaki all by himself—the self-claimed no.3 of the Grimheart pirates wasn't taking this war easy.

"Now, what should I do?" Dan scratched the back of his head, before sighting the fallen allies nearby,

"Well, time to be a doctor I suppose."

___________

*Boing*

It began from one. Then,

*Boing*

a second one.

*Boing*

A third, fourth, followed by fifth...

Linlin and Kaidou found all the small objects around them bouncing up and down.

It was a phenomenon they've never seen before. After all, the ground was supposed to be hard, instead of being bouncy like a trampoline.

"Joyboy... no. You are something else. Just who are you?" Kaidou found his eyes wavering as his grip on his Hassaikai tightened.

"Grimheart..." Linlin gritted as for the first time, she felt a chill deep down her spine.

All around them, the vast majority of the weaker members of the Big Mom pirates and Beast pirates,

were sent to the world of unconsciousness. All of them were sleeping soundly—caused by Rowan's domineering Conqueror's Haki.

How was this possible?

"...It seems that I failed to finish you off, Grimheart." Kaidou's eyes flashed murderously, "I apologize you for that."

Right after, Linlin and Kaidou were sighted right in front of the cloud of dust, with their weapons ready to swing.

""Ikoku Sovereignty!!! / Thunder Bellow Bagua!!!""

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

From an incredible force alone, the whole cloud of dust became extinguished. And within, there lied Rowan. Although he was seen with many severe wounds all across his body, he firmly stood, more determined than ever.

With his hands crackling in black lightning, indicating the use of Conqueror's Haki: Manifestation once more, he held both weapons simultaneously, and endured the blows.

Then came,

"Rebound."

a sudden shock.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The force of equal strength as the ones exerted by Linlin and Kaidou.

The two Emperors weren't able to understand what just happened as they propelled backward, about to crash into the buildings—

*BOING*

—only for the buildings to bend unnaturally and bounce them back to Rowan.

"...Zone."

From Rowan's palm, a transparent layer expanded out in a shape of an orb. It stood floated right above his palm, and immediately after,

*BOOOM*

A bounce force expelled out from Rowan's palm into the orb-like space, which Rowan termed 'Zone.'

Zone, which allowed the particles themselves to become extremely 'bouncy.' Even with a slight force added, they react violently, and generate an abnormal amount of energy.

*PAZZZZZZZ*

Now, above Rowan's palm lied a dense cluster of energy that wildly thrashed. Fire, light, lightning—it seemed as if all kind of energy were mixed up altogether.

"Entropic Blast,"

Then came Linlin and Kaidou, who were bounced off of the buildings previously, and without any time,

Rowan slammed the ball of plasma into Kaidou's exposed chest, who then slammed into Linlin.

"Plasma Cannon."

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

An incredible beam of energy penetrated through the two of them at once, before flying forth toward the vast sea.

The whole island shook as if quivering in fear. The starry night was mometarily illuminated as bright as day from Rowan's technique.

""AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!""

With Linlin and Kaidou's painful scream, the remaining members of the Big Mom pirates and Beast pirates began to realize that something was going wrong.

"Stand up, old filths," Rowan said coldly as his eyes blazed up in a ferocious colour of dark-red,

"for I am going to erase you from this world."

Above Rowan, the twinkling stars illuminated his resolute expression.

With Rowan not only having awakened his fruit, but also attained the final key to his eyes of Gorgon, the tide of the war has took a sudden turn.

As Linlin and Kaidou wobbly stood up from the ruins, there was only one man whom Rowan reminded them of.

The man whom the two Emperors never surpassed throughout the entirety of their lives. The man who wished to devour the whole world,

Rocks D. Xebec.

"No…" Kaidou, with a grim expression, whispered, "Even Xebec… didn't amount to this much."

The final round of the 'Delta War' has begun.