139 A Fallen Emperor

Outside the Island's town, Moria and Boa Hancock were still fighting each other,

"Pistol Kiss!!" Hancock unleashed a projectile attack by blowing a kiss, creating a heart-shaped bullet that she fired at Moria by aiming her index finger, which she used together with Armament Haki.

Moria who summoned a shadow silhouette behind her, swapped locations with it avoiding the attack and then he proceeded to deliver a powerful Haki sword slash with shadow energy to her, causing some damage.

Moria wasn't the only one who could use Emission, but Hancock as well and both of them have strong Paramecia fruits, so the battle between the two was a close call.

Hancock was pushed back by Moria's attack before the shadow energy turned into several shadow spears that struck her again.

"Brick Bat…Shadow Spears!!"

When Hancock saw that she did a handstand and spun around and delivered a series of kicks towards the upcoming spears and turned them into stones and then she shattered them.

After that Hancock used a similar move to Pistol Kiss but much bigger, and then she fired hundreds of arrows at Moria.

"Slave Arrow!!"

Moria swapped the parts where the arrows were going to hit him with his dark silhouette, making them pass through him in a similar way to Logia people, before summoned his shadow bats and formed them into a gigantic shadow dragon.

"Brick Bat…Black Dragon!!"

*BOOOM* The shadow dragon struck Hancock leaving her vulnerable to close range attack which Moria took advantage of and delivered a series of powerful attacks that dealt a lot of damage to her before he finally grabbed her by the throat and raised her in to the air.

"Get your hands off me you filthy man!" Hancock shouted while looking at him in disgust, she was struggling to break free. Moria has a much bigger figure, standing at 7 meters he's the same height as the like of Kaido and Big Mom, and his size came with enormous physical strength as well.

"Kishishi! You could at least ask nicely, not that I'll let you get away anyway" Moria said while smiling manically.

"I said…get away from me!" Hancock shouted from anger while releasing her Conqueror's Haki before she tried to kick Moria in the face. Luckily Moria has a strong will, plus he's used to the Haki of the likes of Ashen and Shiki, so Hancock's wasn't much of a trouble.

He finally ended her life by stabbing her in the chest after that, before he used his shadow power to bring her back as a zombie.

"Arise!" Moria said as Hancock's dead body started moving again.

"Now, go slaughter anyone who isn't in our side"

…

Urouge was lying on the ground with his chest cut open and blood gushing out like a river, before he slowly got up and used his devil fruit ability to convert all the damage he received into physical strength resulting in huge growth in his size and muscle.

"Inga Zarashi!" Now in his gigantic form, Urouge easily dwarfed Gab.

"Go to hell you mad monk!!" Gab roared loudly, generating several large air blades from his mouth that flew towards Urouge at a high speed. The latter coated his arms with Haki and redirected them before he punched Gab with his enourmous fists multiple times and with immense force that left Gab shaken.

"Heavenly Smash!!" Urouge seized the chance to deal a finisher move. By jumping high up in the air and coming down with a high speed, Urouged used his momentum to deliver a super powerful punch to Gab.

When Gab saw him, he also gathered all his strength and punched Urouge fist back.

"WRAAAAHH!!!" x2.

The two of them kept punching each other until Urouge managed to overpower Gab with his monstrous physical strength and proceeded to smash him into the ground.

Gab laid defeated and unconscious…the winner in this fight is Urouge.

…

Yamato who is facing Benn Beckman wasn't having an easy fight, just like her Beckman was Conqueror's Haki user. On top of that he's also among the handful of people in the world who can Infuse their attacks with it, making him a formidable opponent.

But Yamato still had the huge advantage of her Awakened Mythical Zoan fruit.

"This fight has gone way too long! It's time to end this!" Beckman tightly gripped his rifle while aiming at Yamato before he infused the bullets with Armament and Conqueror's Haki and then fired them.

Yamato used her Kanabō to block some while some managed to hit her, though she was fully encasing herself with a layer of ice that absorb the damage and cracked off her like glass.

"You're right…It's time to put you to sleep!" Yamato imbued her weapon with an icy aura and then infused it with Advanced Armament and Conquror's Haki before she charged at Beckman in a high speed while swinging her weapon horizontally.

*SWOOSH* When Yamato appeared in front of Beckman she tried to smack him with her weapon, but Beckman managed to dodge at a high speed before he appeared beside and immediately fired another bullet while aiming at her head.

Yamato tilted her head to the side avoiding the bullet before she took a deep breath, and then abruptly exhaled forward a dense blast of cold air taking Beckman by the surprise.

"Namuji Glacier Fang!!"

Beckman was punished for letting his guard down against Yamato and he took immense damage from it and was frozen solid.

"…Huff…Huff…" Yamato who was breathing heavily from exhaustion proceeded to swing her weapon at the frozen Beckman, the weapon left a trail of black lightning behind it before it smashed Beckman's head.

"Raimei Hakke!!"

*BAM*-*CRASH*

Beckman was defeated by that last attack.

…

Somewhere near them, Diana was having a fight with one of the Worst Generation members, Scratchmen Apoo who's ability proved to be very dangerous. While Apoo had only a few scratches on him, Diana was seriously injured…

…but all that was going to turn around when Diana finally understood how his ability works.

"Scratch!...Boom!" By turning his chest into a drum and hitting it with his fists, Apoo released a sound wave that set off an explosion from seemingly the inside of Diana's body, dealing some serious damage.

*BOOOM* Diana threw a mouthful of blood before she picked up her rifle again and got on her feet.

"This creepy bastard!...Your ability is based on sound, if I can't hear you, you won't be able to hurt me!" Diana stated before she put away her rifle and used her hands to cover her ears.

"Apapapapa!! How would you fight if you can't use your hands?! You're a sniper!" Apoo said while getting ready to attack her.

"What did you say?!" Diana questioned with a cocky grin in her face before she jumped high in the air using Geppo and the kick the air with her leg, unleashing a large Haki-Coated wind blade using Rankyaku.

"Sky Splitter!!"

"What?!!" Apoo was surprised since Diana was a sniper and her fighting style was mostly using her rifle or gun.

*SPLASH* the wind blade was strong enough to cut Apoo's chest open and left him open for attacks.

Diana took her hands off her ears and grabbed her rifle and aimed it at Apoo's head before she fired a Haki-Coated bullet at him.

"Life End!-*GUN-SHOT*-" Diana landed her shot flawlessly, putting a hole in Apoo's forehead.

...

At the same time Amber managed to deal with Daz Bonez and Galdino after that before she supported Yamamoto against Devon and the two of them defeat her.

Enel's battle against Yasopp was harder as the latter's mastery over Observation Haki was even better than Enel, but Enel had the advantage of speed covering that up, other than that Enel was better than Yasopp in every way.

Enel possess the most destructive Armament Haki technique Internal Destruction, he has one of the strongest devil fruits in the word, a Logia and Awakened on top of that.

The battle between the two didn't last long before Enel won.

With all the important figures falling one after the other, the battle in the 2nd Island of Ascendance Valley was seemingly approaching it's end…

Somewhere inside the demolished island town, Ashen and Shanks battle was also nearing its end with both parties growing tired from the intense fight while suffering from injuries…

Shanks rushed towards Ashen with glare, and while using Observation Killing, he delivered a powerful horizontal slash attack with his fiery sword Gryphon that was Infused with Advanced Armament and Conqueror's Haki.

"Divine Departure!!"

Ashen responded by doing the same thing meeting Shanks attack head on. After that the two jumped back before Ashen thrusted his sword in the air, unleashing a devastating wave of solar energy towards Shanks and used the opportunity to attack him at the same time.

The latter used his sword to cut the wave in half, but to his surprise Ashen appeared behind him in an extremely fast speed. Shanks reacted quickly by turning back swinging his sword downwards in an attempt to cut down Ashen, but the latter used his flame wings to block his sword before he pushed him back and then slashed him.

*SPLASH* To Shanks shock his right and only arm flew in the air while he was standing in his place not comprehending what just happened.

"You don't know how much I've waited for this moment, the moment that I finally end your fucking life…"

"…Huff…Huff…Why didn't you do it that time then?...16 years ago you had the perfect chance to kill me…" Shanks said as he collapsed on his knees, the entire ground was filled with his blood and he himself looked like a zombie from his facial expressions to the injuries he suffered, his brain also doesn't seem to have comprehended what happened just a moment ago.

Ashen looked at him with cold eyes before he responded "…I spared your back then just like you spared mine in East Blue 22 years ago. Even though I'm a pirate, I still have my own values and morals, I don't go around killing people because I enjoy it but because it's what I have to do in order to achieve what I want, and I will do it without hesitation…"

"…back then, I hoped that you'd learn your lesson and stay out of my business, but it seems that the only way to stop a man with king's ambition for good is by killing him" Ashen said before he grabbed Shanks by the throat and lifted him up, then he threw him high up in the air before he delivered one swift sword slash, cutting his head off and ending his life.

"Now you can truly fulfil your promise and reunite with Luffy again"

"SHANKS!!!" the Red Hair Pirates who saw that couldn't believe that scene, they had mixed expressions of horror and anger. Lucky Roux even dropped his piece of meat, before he charged towards Ashen, his emotions controlling his actions.

"You bastard!!…I can't believe the boss was killed by you out of all people!!" Roux was extremely furious and curled himself, rolling towards Ashen at a high speed, Hongo, Bonk Punch, Monster, Limejuice and Building Snake all ditched their opponents and join him.

"Even if we have to die, we'll at least take your head…" Hongo said while swinging his staff.

"…If we join hands, we might have a little chance against him!" Bonk Punch and Monster who was sitting on his shoulder said.

"Xahahaha!! Bring on bitches, I'll send you to join your shit head captain in the afterlife!" Ashen laughed manically while mocking them.

When Lucky Roux got closer to Ashen, he fired a few Haki-Coated bullets, which Ashen easily let them pass through him since he was using future vision, before he used Inferno Jet Step to dash at Roux and slashed him downwards with the Conqueror's Infused Shusui, sending him crashing deep into the ground before thick compressed flames irrupted from it and burnt him to the death.

"Abyssal Embrace!!"

"ROUX!! Damn it!" Hongo jumped at Ashen thrusting his Haki-Coated staff at his chest, he was supported by Buidling Snake who utilized his Juggling Two Sword Style to attack Ashen while performing acrobatic moves.

Ashen managed to block Hongo's staff and then grabbed him by the face and threw him at Building Snake before he charged his left hand with solar energy and unleashed a devastating solar beam, sending the two of them flying a few meters away with serious injuries.

Limejuice, Bonk Punch and Monster attacked him after that. Limejuice charged his staff with electricity and fired several lightning bolts at Ashen while Bonk Punch and Monster engaged in close combat delivering power Haki punches. However Ashen easily dodge them without breaking a sweat, during Shanks and Garp fight Ashen's Observation Haki and future sight were drastically improved and he can now see up to 30 seconds in the future.

Not only that but his Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki improved as well.

"Conqueror of the World!…Demon of the Sea Slash!!" Ashen used Observation Killing and jumped at Limejuice before he unleashed a powerful sword slash imbued with the hot solar energy that manage to cleave him in half before it exploded.

*BOOOM* Limejuice died on the spot leaving only Bonk Punch and Monster left. Ashen fired a compressed solar ball at them that exploded while expanding upon contact like a supernova.

Both Bonk Punch and Monster were swiftly dealt with, making Ashen the victorious in the battle against the Red Hair Officers.

"…Huff…Huff…I guess it's normal to get tired after all these fights!" Ashen muttered to himself while panting heavily, he was pretty exhausted from all the fights "Looks like the battle in this island is coming to an end…" he remarked while taking a look around the battlefield.

A few minutes later he noticed Mihawk and Calvin's fight, the latter was struggling to keep up with Mihawk and suffered from some injuries, nevertheless he was still far from defeated. Mihawk already noticed Ashen's presence and stopped fighting to take a look at him.

Mihawk looked very surprised and taken back since Ashen being here means that he managed to defeat Garp and Shanks, two legendary figures that are known across the seas.

"Hoi Hawk-Eyes! Don't go around bullying my crew!" Ashen said to Mihawk with a smile while approaching them, he was very ready to face Hawk-Eyes along with Calvin if he had to.

"Ashen, you did it!" Calvin said to Ashen, smiling proudly at his captain's achievement before he turned his attention back to Mihawk.

"I noticed Akagami and Garp's lifeforce disappearing a few minutes ago, I thought I might be wrong about their defeat…but looking at you the two must really be dead…" Mihawk calmly said to Ashen.

"Yes, very much dead" Ashen held his sword's sheath letting Mihawk notice that he was ready for a fight "Wanna go for a duel?"

Mihawk gazed at him in a moment of silence, he noticed that Ashen was injured and tired from his previous fights "I have no interest in fighting you right now, unless you're in your peak condition I won't accept your duel" he said putting his sword away "It seems the battle here has come to an end unless you insist on fighting, then there is nothing for me here"

"Well, I know you pretty well, so I don't have to worry about letting you walk away alive…say, how about you join me? Not as I subordinate but an ally, just until I finish the war against the Government…"

Ashen isn't going to kill Mihawk either way because he knows his personality and goals and he was only interested in dueling strong swordsmen. Mihawk is also one of the few people that Ashen respects.

"…Think about it, when I take down the World Government who do you think will be in charge? I know you're only interested in fighting strong swordsmen and you're not really a real pirate, so I'll make it short, if you help me, I'll remove the bounty in your head, give you a calm place to live and I'll also accept all your duels after that without any exception" Ashen gave Mihawk an offer. The latter was skeptical about it at first, but after thinking about it carefully, Ashen does have the power, the allies and the military strength to pull that off so it won't be a bad deal for him, plus the two know each other for years and Mihawk respects Ashen as well.

"Alright, I'm already a wanted man so doing this isn't going to change much. I'll land you a hand"

"*Smile*…good choice, you won't regret it"

[Ascendance Valley's 2nd island battle has finally ended…]

[…The Winner is…]

[…The Ashen Pirates!]

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