A blistering kick of light speed bore down upon the back of his head, so fierce that it shattered the air into concentric white shockwaves.
"What a devious little brat..."
Golden Lion’s lips curled suddenly into a grim, savage grin. In the blink of an eye, his head jerked sideways.
Borsalino’s white leather shoe grazed past the ends of his flowing hair, and the burning beam of light plunged straight into the ground.
A military bastion erupted without warning. A column of blazing fire shot skyward, churning black smoke billowing up, while the searing shockwave unfurled across the battlefield.
"You timed it well—just a little too slow!!"
Golden Lion let out a thunderous laugh, spun around, and swung his blade!
A dazzling golden slash tore through Borsalino’s body, streaking across the air like a massive crescent moon before hurtling toward the distant sea.
At the instant the figure dissolved into light particles, the sea far away split open silently into a rift several kilometers long, only to be devoured again moments later by the surging tide.
"Elementalized in advance, huh?"
Golden Lion scoffed with disdain—when suddenly, a fierce wind surged overhead.
Darren had appeared above him like a ghost, his right leg lifted high above his head.
High-altitude gales lashed through the young Commodore’s black hair, his expansive white Justice coat whipping violently around him.
Armament Haki enveloped his military boot, and with the force of a war axe, he brought it crashing down!
Golden Lion’s expression didn’t shift. Crossing his twin blades in front of him—
Boot and blades collided with a resounding crash, hurling a spray of blinding sparks.
"Jihahahaha! Darren, you little punk—your strength and Haki... you’ve grown even more since last time!!"
Golden Lion’s twin blades held Darren’s foot firm. His eyes gleamed with feral bloodlust as he burst into crazed laughter.
Darren’s eyes widened, teeth clenched hard. Every muscle in his body strained from the waist, pouring his full might into that crushing stomp.
"Get the hell down!!"
A second explosion of brute force and Armament Haki shattered the sky.
Golden Lion’s figure plummeted like a meteor toward the earth.
Kuzan and Sakazuki stood bathed in ice and magma, fists raised, launching simultaneous strikes!
"Jihahaha!! This is your so-called teamwork?!"
Golden Lion twisted in midair with impossible agility, laughing maniacally as he swung both swords at once.
With Oto in his left, he blocked Sakazuki’s searing magma fist. With Kogarashi in his right, he shattered Kuzan’s freezing punch into shards.
The colliding shockwaves whipped into a frenzy. Veins bulged in both Sakazuki’s and Kuzan’s eyes as they pushed their Devil Fruit powers to the very limit!
Crimson magma and pale blue ice surged upward in twin pillars on either side of the legendary pirate—split like heaven and earth.
Within the clash, opposing hemispheres of violent wind took shape—Armament Haki embedded in both elements—grinding madly toward Golden Lion.
"Jihahahaha! Still far too weak!! If you want to kill me, bring Sengoku and Garp with you—it’ll take more than just you brats!"
Golden Lion roared with wild laughter, a storm of invisible Haki bursting from his body and forming a transparent vortex that blocked the red and blue onslaught entirely.
"We’re not the only ones!!"
Kuzan, flushed red with strain, shouted at the top of his lungs.
Just then—a golden streak of light howled low across the battlefield.
The light converged into a form. In a near-ground glide, Borsalino appeared before Golden Lion in the blink of an eye.
Hands clasped, he conjured a radiant longsword forged from pure light.
With one swift motion, Borsalino raised the blade high and brought it crashing down upon Golden Lion!
Time itself seemed to halt.
Everything slowed to a crawl.
The searing golden blade... reflected in Golden Lion’s pupils... growing ever larger—
An unspeakable, overwhelming force erupted from the center of the battlefield, soaring into the heavens and piercing the clouds!
Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino felt as if the space around them had shattered. Cracks webbed through the air like broken glass, halting them all mid-movement.
In that instant, the entire island was blanketed in a black-red glow. The sky warped under the crushing weight of Conqueror’s Haki!
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!! The deafening snaps burst their eardrums. Black-red lightning flickered and vanished endlessly across the void.
Sakazuki’s pupils contracted.
Kuzan’s face turned pale.
As though something in the air had ruptured, a colossal ripple burst outward, coiling in fine arcs of lightning that wrapped around Golden Lion’s twin swords and swept in all directions.
Conqueror’s Haki—imbued and unleashed—surged with boundless power, sending shockwaves of black-red force slamming into Sakazuki’s and Kuzan’s chests.
A strike—through the air!!
Both men coughed blood mid-flight, blown backward.
Golden Lion roared with manic glee.
With a screech loud enough to burst eardrums, Oto and Kogarashi crossed together, narrowly blocking Borsalino’s descending blade of light.
Behind his sunglasses, Borsalino’s pupils tightened. He stared at the Golden Lion—now surrounded in black-red lightning, his aura towering, terrifying—like a demon god.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
But his speed never faltered. The instant his sword was blocked, his left leg swung low, trailing golden light, and kicked straight for Golden Lion’s gut.
"You yellow-clad brat! That kick of yours is still lacking!!"
Faced with Borsalino’s so-called ’light-speed’ strike, Golden Lion didn’t budge—he launched a kick of his own.
But unlike Borsalino’s radiant technique, Golden Lion’s kick was wreathed in black-red lightning!
Conqueror’s Haki—imbued into his kick!
He had infused even his leg strike with Conqueror’s Haki!
Their legs collided with a deep, resonant thud—and the sharp sound of bones cracking.
More sweat rolled down Borsalino’s forehead. His body was hurled away like a golden comet, crashing into the central military bastion and blasting a massive hole through its fortified wall.
Flames roared. Smoke surged.
Winds screamed. Black-red lightning ran rampant.
Almost simultaneously, a violent gust struck from above—the pressure of the air warping under the descending three-fingered dragon claw that sliced through smoke like a spear.
Conqueror’s Haki surged from his body in a torrent, locking horns with Golden Lion’s overwhelming aura.
His movements were blindingly fast—his Dragon Claw Fist howled like thunder.
The strike descended!
Fueled by Darren’s inhuman strength, it fell like a meteor.
"You think it’s that easy?!"
Golden Lion sneered and curled a finger.
The ground beneath him surged upward into a towering tidal wave, covering his head and crashing toward Darren in an instant.
Even with the rare close-range opening, Golden Lion’s mastery of his Devil Fruit power allowed him to counter without hesitation!
Massive chunks of earth clashed midair, shaking the heavens with their impact.
A slash wrapped in black-red lightning burst through it all and shot into the sky.
Commodore Darren’s body flew backward from the landslide, a deep, bone-deep sword gash carved across his chest.
Before the stunned eyes of all present—
The rushing ground surged like a sea in reverse, forming into a towering lion that reached the heavens.
Atop the colossal beast, twin blades in hand, Golden Lion’s golden mane danced madly in the wind.
From his lofty perch, he looked down at the four gasping ’monsters’ below, and laughed with vicious pride:
"You little Marine brats, raised in your warm greenhouses... You have no idea—how terrifying a true pirate really is!!"
Beneath the pitch-black sky, black-red lightning crackled wildly.
The towering sea pirate cast a monstrous shadow that loomed over Marineford—swallowing it whole.