Chapter 172

From atop the sky, one pebble flew within the sky full of stars.

Then, as it gradually lost momentum, it began to fall back to the ground where it belonged to.

Under the bask of moonlight, the world seemed to stop momentarily as the pebble touched the ground,

*SWOOSH*

before Rowan, Linlin, and Kaidou all vanished simultaneously.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Then came forth an incredible pressure of the air from the clash between the three of them. No, to be precise, it was Rowan against the two, and surprisingly... the two Emperors were being pushed back.

*BOING*

Rowan's Haki-imbued arm seemed to have become bouncy—Kaidou and Linlin were bounced off of Rowan as if bouncing off of a gym ball.

"Nox Spear."

"AHHH!!!!" Then, Linlin found herself crying in pain. Looking down, she saw a sharp spear that crackled in black Manifestation of Conqueror's Haki, penetrating through her stomach.

"Hrrgh...!!!" Kaidou, on the other hand, embedded his right foot on the ground spun around. Having used the force from Rowan to gain momentum, Kaidou was about to smash his Hassaikai once again.

And of course, right in front of him stood Rowan, who,

'His eyes... they changed?!'

peered at Kaidou with the eyes that glowed brilliantly in ivory-white as a huge spiky club made out of Conqueror's Haki: Manifestation, resembling that of Hassaikai, burst into existence on his hand.

'My... technique?!!' Kaidou's eyes widened in realization, but he nonetheless gritted his teeth while swinging his Hassaikai,

""Thunder Bagua!!!!! / Thunder Bagua.""

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Kaidou and Rowan's weapons collided in the middle, struggling to push one another.

"Rebound."

Then came the secondary force. Rowan, after having endured Kaidou's blow, reflected it back to the latter.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Kaidou's huge body was knocked up in the air.

Rowan raised up his left hand,

"Zone,"

Around Kaidou, a transparent dome appeared out of blue.

"Combustion."

With a subtle bounce force, the air around Kaidou reacted violently, before,

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

exploding into intense heat.

Without stopping, Rowan's Hassaikai-like weapon then changed its form into a huge sword, which resembled Linlin's Ares.

Linlin, at the same time, was about to slam her elongated Ares toward Rowan with bloodshot eyes—Rowan's 'Nox Spear' was still deep in her stomach.

"Ikoku—"

However Rowan was much faster,

"Ikoku Sovereignty."

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

Linlin's eyes momentarily whitened. Without any more lifespan for her to recover herself, she was slowly reaching her doom.

"*Huff*...*Huff*..." Linlin frantically stood back and looked around her out of fear, trying to seek a way to steal lifespan. Yet, everyone around her was seen unconscious, due to Rowan's incredible burst of Conqueror's Haki.

'Bounce.'

Rowan gazed at his palm. Although full of blood and wounds, he felt that he was full of newfound strength.

'Its awakened ability... is very diverse.'

First came the ability to grant a 'bouncy' characteristic. Not a temporary 'bounce' force, but a permanent characteristic. A hard rubble behaved like a bouncy ball. A large boulder bounced up and down non-stop, defying the law of nature. Rowan's body was no exception; he could make it bouncy or retract such characteristic as much as he wanted. Simply put, the limit that existed in his ability before, known as the 'duration' of bounce, has disappeared.

'If so...'

Convergence. 50 layers were his maximum due to the limit in the duration of bounce. However, without so, and with Conqueror's Haki: Manifestation reinforcing and toughening his body from the inside, no one knew what Rowan's full capability amounted to.

"Let's start easy, shall we?"

Linlin and Kaidou's weapons burst in a potent Conqueror's Haki: Infusion, preparing themselves for Rowan's next attack. However,

"Resist."

they were nullified in an instance, with Rowan's fourth type of Haki having sprung into life.

"What?!!" Kaidou felt his eyes wavering. His will was shimmering down like a jelly, and in front of Rowan, he, although much bigger than the latter physically, fell as small as an ant.

"100 Layers Convergence,"

Then, Rowan's left eye blazed up in dark-red,

"Meteoric Blast."

A single punch shot out. Although it started as small,

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The result was beyond shocking. A quarter of island, from this blow alone... has been demolished into nothing.

*Thud*

Kaidou, whose top shredded apart, vomited a gallon of blood as he fell to his knees.

'From a single attack alone...'

It was impossible. No, Kaidou didn't want to believe it.

Looking at his left side, Kaidou... only saw a stump. His entire left arm was gone.

Linlin, on the other hand, swayed side to side. She was half conscious, with her whole body drenched in blood. All the homies, with the exception of Ares, have been brutally destroyed by a single attack from Rowan.

"Already down?" Rowan, who seemed fine after throwing such a strike, called out to the dumbfounded Emperors,

"I suppose it's my turn again then.

Zone."

The second awakened ability of the Bounce Bounce fruit.

Zone was a room-like dome that caused all the non-living matters inside its area to gain an extreme reactivity. The particles themselves become insanely bouncy, such that even a slight movement results in combustion.

This time, a huge zone has expanded out from Rowan, and encased a circular area with an approximately 50-meter radius. Linlin and Kaidou found that they too were within the area.

"*Huff* *Huff*... Krrgh..." Kaidou, gritting his teeth with sweat all over, stood up with a difficulty.

"Thunder..."

Kaidou couldn't muster enough strength to throw his attack. His will to conquer, his will to fight against—all crumbled down against Rowan's adamant 'Haki of Resistance,'

Rowan now understood. Haki of Resistance... its growth paralleled with the Conqueror's Haki. When the latter became strong, so did the former. In contrast to what Rowan initially believed, they weren't incompatible with one another. They were simply different sides of the same coin.

*Boing*

*Boing*

Nearby the exhausted Kaidou and Linlin, all the rubbled bounced up and down rapidly.

*BoingBoingBoingBoingBoing*

Their bounces were becoming more and more frequent, and the movement of air around the two of them seemed to be accelerating frighteningly.

The sweat and blood on their bodies began to evaporate rapidly. The ground around them cracked from dryness and turned into a scorching red.

Kaidou and Linlin felt their bodies being heated up to a horrifying degree; they quickly encased their body with all the Armament Haki that they got.

"AS IF I'D ACCEPT THIS KIND OF DEATH!!!!!!!"

Then, Kaidou roared at the starry night as his body, once again, sprang up into a titanic dragon of flame: Flame Dragon Torch.

The ferocious dragon roared as it absorbed all the heat around the surrounding, causing Rowan's zone to break from the pressure and return the environment back to normal.

"Even... if... I were to use up all my lifespan...!!!!" Linlin too screamed as she stood up with crazed eyes as her body began to wrinkle up and shrink rapidly, "I will see through your end... GRIMHEART!!!!!!!"

All the matters around Linlin popped a face of their own.

"""Let's eat a delicious cake~! sweet dealings! Is it strawberrry jam? Maybe sombody's blood? I don't care either way~!"""

The rubbles began to sing with a strangely happy demeanour.

The hands grew out of the boulders, which began to move toward Rowan.

Linlin's hair floated up and her only-remaining homie, Ares, began to grow more and more, until it towered over the whole island.

The two Emperors pulled out everything that they got with a single goal in their mind:

End 'Grimheart' Rowan.

"The two Emperors..." Marco felt his face paling up, "how is this possible even? Their strength is just... on an entirely different level from our own."

Katakuri, who was struggling against Carina, expressed a clear shock,

"Mama..."

Page One, one of the six Tobiroppos within the Beast pirates, witnessed the scene with disbelief as his neck was held by Ace.

"Kaidou... I've never seen him going to that extent before... if he planning to kill himself?"

Ace, on the contrary, grinned as his grip on Page One's neck tightened,

"It's something that you've been seeing throughout your whole life—the struggle of the weak. The only difference, this time around, is that those two Emperors have become the weak ones."

<I'll make it a place where you can eat as much as you want!>

Ace still remembered the promise he made to Tama, a little girl in Wano, back then. Although it was Rowan who carried the deed in the end,

'Your Wano... is free, Tama.'

A revelation in front of him will seal the promise.

Rowan, who stood on the ground adamantly, gazed at the terrifying forms of two Emperors.

"How does it feel like to become prey?"

Then, Rowan's surroundings exploded in an incredible Manifestation of Conqueror's Haki.

"For years, you've ruled over the New World, doing as you see fit. And now, here you are, struggling against one guy like me."

Rowan grinned widely as the Conqueror's Haki: Manifestation rapidly constructed into a huge exoskeleton that covered his body. Its frightening form resembled a 'Susanoo' from Naruto.

"Trust me. Even I can't believe just how far I've come."

Now, right in front of the two Emperors, there stood a shinigami.

*PAZZ* *PAZZ*

The incredible Conqueror's Haki dominated the whole island. The violent sea calmed down. The turbulent storm ceased.

There existed nothing but silence, before Linlin and Kaidou, with their utmost strengths, launched their final attacks on Rowan.

""CONQUEST—""

It was the combined attack, where Kaidou's huge flame dragon and Linlin's millions of entities mixed all together,

""—OF THE SEA!!!!!!!!!""

A huge blast with the potential to blast away the whole island began to approach Rowan.

*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The whole space shook. The air became distorted. Within the still island, chaos has once again broken out.

And in front of such attack stood Rowan, who, within the gigantic exoskeleton of black lightning, cocked his fist back.

"200-Layer Convergence,

200-Hit—"

Reflecting Rowan's movement, the gigantic exoskeleton cocked its right fist back in a similar manner. Subsequently, its right fist began to emanate an even more vigorous black lightning,

*PAZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

"—Armageddon!!!"

Then, just as the fist blasted out toward Linlin and Kaidou,

the whole island became overwhelmed by a domineering black light. Linlin and Kaidou's technique, within a span of a millisecond, disappeared without any trace.

No sound. The pitch of the collision has escaped that of a human being's ability to hear.

All that everyone could do, was to lie down to the ground or their respective ships and desperately clang onto it.

All the unconscious members of the Big Mom pirates and Beast pirates were sent flying, forever lost within the world of the dead.

However, even within this chaotic situation, one thing could be heard,

""AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!""

The miserable screams from the two Emperors.

Katakuri unconsciously trembled in fear. Perospero and Oven, having gone unconscious from fear itself, became engulfed by the chaotic storm.

"BROTHERS!!!!!" Katakuri shouted desperately, but they were gone, forever.

And after a frightening moment that shook the whole area, there stood only one individual on top of the sky,

Rowan.

The ever-twinkling stars and the bright moon illuminated the mighty posture of the leading figure. Although he was full of wounds and bruises, the remaining members of the Big Mom pirates and Beast pirates couldn't help but tremble upon the sight of him.

Today, under the hands of 'Grimheart,' two Emperors have fallen. A mere rookie who began his journey around 4 years ago, has stood over the top.

If one were to answer to whom this era belonged, then starting from this day, the answer will be as following:

"'Grimheart' Rowan; the sole Emperor of the New World."

Katakuri, who was staring at Rowan in a lying position, slowly lifted up his body.

Then, under Carina's eyes, Katakuri knelt toward Rowan.

"It's... our loss..."

Although brief, the war that will forever be remembered as one of the most intense wars that has ever occurred, the 'Delta War,' has finally come to a resolution.

'And now,' Rowan took his eyes off of Katakuri and stared up at the starry night,

'Imu.'

He could somehow feel it—an intense yet enigmatic will that burned all the way back from Mariejois. However, he no longer was afraid of the self-proclaimed god.

After all, after all these years,

Rowan was finally able to stand on the same level as his final enemy.