One Piece: Undying Dream

No. Not like this. Not when freedom was so close.

With desperation fueling him, Roku focused everything on that inner sense, willing it not to fade. To his surprise, it responded—pushing back against the encroaching numbness, burning hotter within his mind.

"The toxin should have fully paralyzed you by now," Salazar said, frowning as Roku remained standing. "Fascinating. Your system is actively fighting it."

Roku knew he couldn't win in his current state. The poison was too strong, his body too damaged from the previous fights. But maybe he didn't need to win. Maybe he just needed to reach Jiro.

Gathering what strength remained, Roku charged—not at Salazar, but past him, toward where Jiro knelt. Salazar, anticipating an attack against himself, moved to intercept too late. Roku crashed into Jiro, sending them both tumbling toward the edge of the clearing.

"Run!" Roku gasped, fumbling with Jiro's bonds. His fingers were growing numb, making the simple task nearly impossible.

Salazar stalked toward them, no longer hurried. "There's nowhere to run," he said calmly. "The island is dying. My ship is the only way off, and I control it." He raised the scalpel. "Now, shall we continue this dance, or will you accept the inevitable?"

Thunder crashed overhead, but it wasn't natural—the sound was too brutal, too deliberate. The sky itself seemed to crack open, followed by a tremendous lightning strike that hit somewhere terrifyingly close. The ground beneath them buckled, trees swaying like reeds in a storm.

And then they heard it—cutting through the chaos of the burning island, rising above the screams and collapsing buildings. A laugh so chilling it made even Salazar pause.

"MAMA MAMA MAMA!"

The sound echoed unnaturally, seeming to come from everywhere at once. A shockwave followed, visible as it tore through the jungle—a ripple in reality itself, uprooting trees and shattering stone as it approached.

"What in the—" Salazar began, but he never finished.

The shockwave hit with the force of a tsunami. Roku threw himself over Jiro, trying to shield his friend as the very air seemed to explode around them. They were lifted and hurled backward, along with Salazar, the unconscious Handlers, and countless trees and debris.

For a moment, Roku was airborne, the world spinning around him. Then he slammed into something solid—a tree trunk, miraculously still standing. Pain blossomed across his back, adding to the catalog of injuries already threatening to overwhelm him.

When his vision cleared, the clearing was gone—replaced by a swath of destruction that cut through the jungle like a giant's footprint. Salazar lay several yards away, struggling to rise. His pristine coat was torn and stained, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead.

Jiro was nearby, miraculously still conscious but clearly injured. His bonds had snapped in the blast, freeing his hands, but his leg was bent at an unnatural angle—broken in the impact.

"Roku," he called weakly, reaching out.

Roku tried to move toward him, but his body refused to obey. The neurotoxin had spread further, paralysis creeping through his limbs. His haki twas still there, but fading rapidly as the poison took hold.

Through blurring vision, he saw Salazar rise unsteadily to his feet. The warlord was damaged but still functional, his cold determination undiminished despite the supernatural chaos unfolding around them.

"This changes nothing," Salazar said, retrieving his scalpel from the ground. "The pirates will finish their destruction and leave. I will depart with my specimens. The world will continue as it always has."

He approached Roku with measured steps, kneeling beside his paralyzed form. "I must admit, you've exceeded every expectation today. Such resilience. Such... potential." He pressed the scalpel against Roku's throat—not cutting, just demonstrating his complete control. "But all experiments must end eventually."

A shadow fell across them as another explosion lit up the sky. Salazar looked up, distracted by whatever new destruction was unfolding.

It was the opening Roku needed. With his last reserves of strength, he focused everything on his right arm—the one furthest from Salazar's view. Slowly, fighting against the paralyzing toxin, he reached for a jagged piece of debris that had landed nearby.

Salazar turned back, noticing the movement too late. Roku drove the makeshift weapon upward with all his remaining strength, burying it in Salazar's side.

The warlord's eyes widened in genuine shock. "You..." he gasped, blood bubbling from his lips. "Impossible."