As Nicholas, Issho, and Borsalino were acting, the final battle between Hawk Eye and King also reached its climax.
Swish!
The flames burning on King's shoulders suddenly extinguished, while the flames on the Wazamono longsword he gripped burned even more intensely.
Hawk Eye maintained his stance with the sword, calmly watching King holding the flaming longsword in front of him, with no intention of striking first.
For him, he didn't mind if King initiated the attack. He was confident he could handle any attack from King and hoped King's strength wouldn't disappoint him.
Seeing Hawk Eye's confidence, a flicker of red light passed through King's eyes.
Overconfidence could easily turn into arrogance in battle, and arrogance could be fatal.
Despite not wanting to admit it, King knew deep down that Hawk Eye wasn't arrogant but genuinely confident in facing his attacks.
Clearing his mind, King angled the Wazamono longsword in his hand forward.
Then, in a sudden step, he stomped heavily on the deck with his partially beastified claws.
Boom!
The deck beneath his feet shattered abruptly.
The massive wings on King's back unfolded, then swiftly retracted.
The explosive speed and power caused King's figure to momentarily disappear.
In the next instant, King revealed himself above Hawk Eye.
Simultaneously, the Wazamono longsword in King's hand, wrapped in Armament Haki flames, struck directly towards Hawk Eye's head at a tricky angle.
"Not bad for speed."
Watching King's attack, Hawk Eye calmly remarked. Clearly, while King's speed was already impressive, Hawk Eye's terrifying observation Haki and Armament Haki had already seen through King's attack trajectory.
With a slight push from his feet, Hawk Eye effortlessly dodged King's slash with a backward jump.
Mid-leap, Hawk Eye unleashed a precise slashing wave.
A condensed slash wave instantly arrived in front of King.
King realized the danger in an instant but being airborne, he had no time to evade. Almost instantly, flames ignited on King's shoulder as he took the full force of the slash wave head-on.
After neutralizing the attack, King's wings behind him suddenly flapped, propelling him skyward.
Hawk Eye looked up at King flying into the sky, then continuously swung his blade, Yoru.
Suddenly, waves of soaring slashes rose into the sky, relentlessly shooting upwards towards King, who was soaring with his wings.
At this moment, King realized he had made a mistake.
While distancing himself from Hawk Eye might lessen the effectiveness of Hawk Eye's swordsmanship, the power of the Great Swordsman's slash waves was equally terrifying.
Without much thought, King vibrated his wings, dodging the continuous green slash waves swiftly coming from the ground.
"How can this guy be so strong? But I can't keep this up..."
In mid-air, King maneuvered continuously to dodge Hawk Eye's attacks.
After narrowly avoiding another slash from below, King, in his pteranodon form, folded his massive wings and dashed downward towards Hawk Eye.
King pushed his Observation Haki to the limit, consecutively evading Hawk Eye's attacks.
Seeing King diving fiercely towards him, Hawk Eye remained calm, seemingly unwavering.
"Utilizing the speed, Armament Haki, and the innate advantages of his race, if he hits that guy head-on, he's done for!"
With this thought in mind, King, leveraging the impact formed by high-speed flight, charged directly towards Hawk Eye.
Facing King's aggressive approach.
Hawk Eye showed no intention of avoiding it.
Just as King was speeding towards him, a sudden scene below made him freeze.
He saw black and red arcs of electricity appearing on Hawk Eye's Yoru. King knew very well that this was a special phenomenon that only manifested through the use of Conqueror Haki.
The black and red arcs of electricity kept flickering on Yoru's blade, but Hawk Eye seemed unconcerned, as if it were a normal occurrence.
This scene caused King, who was charging at full speed, to abruptly halt his forward momentum, completing a perfect stop in mid-air.
After all, this was quite terrifying, and King knew very well that opponents with Conqueror Haki were completely different in strength from those without.
Although King stopped, it didn't mean Hawk Eye would stop.
With a powerful push from his feet, Hawk Eye instantly soared into the air.
Simultaneously, the Yoru, wrapped in Conqueror Haki, directly countered the soaring pteranodon in the sky.
Facing Hawk Eye's attack, King could only brace himself.
Meeting King's armored claw covered with Armament Haki, Hawk Eye seemingly casually swung his blade, using the Yoru wrapped in Conqueror Haki to strike King's claw.
Clang!
At the moment Yoru collided with the pteranodon's claw, a sound of metal clashing echoed.
Immediately, King felt a numbing sensation in his claw. Shortly after, he couldn't feel the claw's presence anymore.
Before he could react.
The corner of King's eye caught sight of a familiar armored claw covered with Armament Haki, slicing through the air and plunging straight into the ocean.
Soon, a large amount of blood splattered from the severed limb.
"What?!"
King's face suddenly changed, still not fully reacting.
In his Observation Haki's perception, Hawk Eye's attack hadn't ended.
After cutting off King's claw, Hawk Eye's longsword slashed across King's chest like an antelope's horn.
Splat!
Caught off guard, King was struck. The sharp Yoru immediately caused a huge blood flower to bloom on his chest.
In just a few seconds, King was stunned.
His gaze wandered somewhat dazedly through the scattered blood in the sky, barely landing on Kaido far away, still battling the golden Buddha.
His body seemed uncontrollable as it plummeted towards the ocean.
Boom!
The sea surface shattered loudly, splashing a large amount of sea water.
Covered in blood, King slowly sank towards the depths of the ocean.
Watching the sea surface gradually receding, King's eyes were filled with unwillingness.
After all, he hadn't helped Kaido ascend to the sole throne on the sea.
Just as he was gradually losing consciousness.
Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw dozens of figures leaping from the sea surface, swiftly swimming towards him.
...
"Lord King actually lost!"
"How could this happen..."
Seeing King defeated, the remaining members of the Beast Pirates showed complete despair on their faces.
In a short time, both Queen and King had been defeated. Now, only Kaido, who was entangled with Sengoku, remained. It could be said that the Beast Pirates were finished.
Originally, they thought King, second only to Kaido in the Beast Pirates, could at least hold off the combined attack of two Warlords of the Sea, if not defeat them. They might still have had a chance to escape.
But now—
King, who they had placed high hopes on, had fallen so quickly.
It could be said that now, apart from the battlefield at Jerma, along with Borsalino and the battle against Kaido, the Navy could completely free up their hands to wipe them out.
Thinking of this, some confident pirates jumped directly into the sea, intending to find a glimmer of hope in the ocean. After all, compared to the battlefield, the ocean was much gentler.