Chapter 49:Dark King
Empty Throne Room
The Elders noticed the quaking as they felt the Haki.
Damnit, he's taken advantage of the privileges of his past position..., thought Germain.
"Let him have his fun.," explained Platinum.
Abraham gave him a skeptical look.
Levely
The room was devastated by their clashes as rubble dropped around Imu and Rayleigh.
It's ok. We have building apes for this thing., thought Imu as he used a Haki of white color to levitate and fly upwards with Rayleigh with his dark purplish Haki aura to follow him.
"You're probably wondering how you were so certain it was Laugh Tale...," the pope asked as Rayleigh continued to fly.
Both used Advanced Observation Haki to predict the future to anticipate the other's attack patterns to find an opening. The air was thick with anticipation as the two legendary figures clashed in the skies above the Holy Land of Mary Geoise Their Haki-infused fists collided with a thunderous boom, sending shockwaves through the clouds and lighting up the night sky with an eerie glow. The World Noble spectators below, , watched in a mix of awe and horror that they couldn't explain.
Rayleigh clenched his chest in-clash, his advanced age catching up to him slightly. Yet, his resolve remained as strong as ever. The air grew colder as the two Haki clashed in a display of unbridled power.
The silver-haired man backed away as he said, "Sorry, but I have to end this quick."
A dark Haki shroud of darkness covered his body and condensed into a humanoid cocoon. It then emerged as a bull-skull wearing purple knight armor, but to non-Haki users, it looked like nothing had changed.
"I'm not called the Dark King for nothing.," Rayleigh explained as he generated a darkness-Haki energy slash that somehow caused Imu to be pulled into it despite his efforts to resist.
Imu generated a controlled Advanced Armament Haki to release a counterforce field to negate the slash, causing the two Haki waves to cancel each other out. The skies reverberated with the aftershock as the Holy Land of Mary Geoise trembled once more. The non-Haki users below felt a sudden chill run down their spines, seeing something that was clearly outside their comfort zones.
Imu then noticed the environment blacken around them as his vision went blurry. Rayleigh's Haki had done something to make it so as he figured out the old pirate's plan. He's trying to disorient me., Imu realized, his mind racing to find a countermeasure. He focused his Haki into his eyes, pushing back the encroaching darkness.
Rayleigh then appeared from behind as he generated a wide purple slash with a dark stag-shaped attack, his trump card.
Sorry if it goes against swordsman rules, but I'm a pirate...and you've really crossed a line...if your message means you tampered with his dream..., thought the Dark King.
Suddenly, Imu sprouted angelic feathered wings as they generated countless red iris eyes- the middle of the pupils glowing blindingly white as Rayleigh released Conquerors Haki to try and negate all the strikes. However, only 2% were blocked as they skewered Rayleigh with light beams.
And they were fatal strikes as the blood poured down like rain.
Crocus looked up from Laboon as he cried with the revelation of what it meant.
Yggdrasil
Buggy imprisoned underneath the waters of Vanaheim suddenly sensed a familiar sensation as if something important was fading away. Jinbe also began to cry without meaning to
Gaban in Muspelheim wept as he realized Rayleigh had done something in honor of their captain, but ultimately failed.
Hancock while in Valkyrieheim, sensed a familiar old annoyance of a man begin to dissipate from the physical world. She began to cry without intending to.
Luffy while in Asgard rushing towards an animal, paused as he saw Rayleigh's Vivre Card begin to burn away. Minerva the witch girl paused to see what made Luffy stop.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"What's happening outside?!" Luffy asked with his expression clouded by concern. Minvera looked at him, her eyes reflecting the flaming Vivre Card in her hand.
"Something out of your control.," she replied, her voice solemn. "A powerful soul has been extinguished."
Luffy then let out an angry yell of anguish, "Rayleigh!"
Zoro paused his attempt to fight the fallen warriors to see Luffy cry in the distance. Zoro decided it wasn't the right mood to do such things right now.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
Minerva felt something of a complicated sensation of relief and lamentation of Rayleigh's passing, due to their implied past.
Red Force
Shanks felt a sensation as the memories of Rayleigh went through his head as an image of Rayleigh disappeared in the distance.
He then felt a disquieting fury kept in by composure as he asked-
"Mind if we take a detour?"
Rockstar upon seeing the implied absolutely infuriated appearance of his Captain nodded as the others agreed. Limejuice seemed unusually placid about the affair, which Building Snake began to notice.
Sabody Archapeligo
Shakky gritted her teeth as she saw an old pentagram in her house.
She cried knowing what happened to Rayleigh.
Pirate Beehive Island
Garp became conscious enough while Blackbeard was celebrating having PLUTON Tempest to recognize Rayleigh's presence as it began to dissipate.
Teach briefly frowned as he muttered-
"A damn fool...being reckless."
Marine Cell
Demalo Black saw a vision of Rayleigh and as it crumbled away, he began to cry despite there seemingly no connection between them
Kano Country
Chinjao felt a disturbance as he grumbled, "Finally dying eh?
Rock Pirate Remnants
Kaido and Big Mom felt annoyance as they felt Rayleigh's presence dissipate.
The blue-haired woman, the draconic figure, the shrouded mafia boss, and the blue-nosed moose mink sighed at his passing.
Baratie
Zeff sighed as he sensed Rayleigh vanish
"Another one goes away..," he muttered.
Amazon Lily
Gloriosa felt a disturbance as she cried without realizing it.
Marine HQ
Sengoku, Tsuru, and Kong briefly paused as did several Marines before resuming their prior actions.
Fishman Island
Hatchan was inconsolable as he sensed Rayleigh passing on.
Mary Geoise
Imu flying with his wing eyes looked as Rayleigh began to fall. The eyes on the wings began to glow as Rayleigh was flung onto the Domain of the Gods with the World Nobles looking with perplexity at the sight.
Imu then flew down like a heavenly-winged warrior. He looked at Rayleigh with the indifference of a scientist seeing bacteria as he then turned to one of the World Nobles.
"You can start having the dogs being fed by its corpse. A pirate is too good for a funeral. Oh, but leave some recognizable parts to mail to his next of kin. They'll try to kill themselves out of despair.," Imu said aloud.
The World Nobles were stunned, while they were horrible enough to enslave others to ride on them, whip them, explode them if they escaped, shoot them down if they annoyed them, do perverse things to them, feed to the animals, and even hunted down for amusement but this felt utterly monstrous even by their standards.
"I think you're going a bit too far-," said a black suit-wearing CP5 Agent with black shades and brown hair, but had his head blown off his body as Imu looked annoyed at the interruption.
"Have the dignity of dying from that earlier attack.," Imu complained as he held the twisted arms of the fallen Dark King as he then moved to contort his torso while rapidly ripping his legs off.
mu then grimaced, "You have to be kidding me? That was 3% of the paths that could've occurred."
He then saw a flicker of flames as Shanks proceeded to rescue Rayleigh accompanied by not just his main senior commanders, but more than 20 other members. He glared at Imu with a truly outraged expression at the torturous treatment of his adopted father figure. To top it off, Imu telekinetically had the sword Ace stab Rayleigh through the heart.
Flames of Haki began to well up as the Red-Haired Emperor began to take a stance against this horrid man.
Next Chapter: Men Marked by Flames
Author Notes: This was Rayleigh's Swan Song, an impressive but futile fight as his old age made him unable to do anything against an enemy that would be too much even in his prime. The real highlight was the reactions of everyone connected personally with Rayleigh.