[ Third Person POV ]
South Tottoland
Roger and Shiki had been fighting since the start of the battle.
Roger would often find himself leaping to the sky just so that he could get close to him. While Shiki would just touch different debree and send it Roger's way as a form of attack.
Their surroundings had been completely devastated. Forcing the rest of the battle to take place a bit of a distance away from where the two Pirate captains were fighting.
Rayleigh had been worried over the condition of their captain for a while now. It was normal for Roger to engage in fights that would last a day or two. However, what had been essential for that to happen was the fact that he had to be fighting without overexeceding his limits.
This battle was doing the exact opposite. Roger was in a constant movement, and was always alert with his surroundings as he continued to fight the Golden Lion. The constant leaps and ducks to jump from and dodge different debree would soon obviously begin to damage his already lower than average stamina.
That was the sole source of Rayleigh's concern. It was clear that Roger would need a bit of back-up if he was going to win this fight against the Golden Lion.
Rayleigh sliced through another pirate that was running at him with a sword raised before looking at one of the pirate members.
"Douglass!! I'm going to need you to take care of them. I'm going to help the captain!"
Douglass only let out a grunt before he pummeled another pirate to the ground. His blonde hair twirling with the wind as he furiously beat one pirate after another. His stamina was on a completely different level compared to normal people. Making him an ideal powerhouse that could possibly put the World on a chokehold.
Racing towards Roger, Rayleigh had to slice through some more of his men before he could finally get a clear view of the fight between Roger and Shiki.
Roger had leaped onto some debree and was making an arrow straight for Shiki. Meanwhile the Golden Lion kept throwing different objects his way, even sending sword slashes to try and deter his path.
Rayleigh didn't know whether or not Shiki knew of Roger's illness, but regardless, he leaped in and began racing towards the Golden Lion as well.
"Now there's two of you?! Roger, it's clear you can't beat me, join me!!!" Shiki roared as he hurled another piece of Rubble his way.
"That's not gonna happen, Shiki! I have goals to achieve, and I need my freedom to accomplish them!!"
With a Crimson sword slash, Roger went right through the debree that Shiki had sent his way. The split debree slowly began making its way towards Rayleigh, who also sliced them into bits before moving forward.
Rayleigh was a bit of a distance away from Roger, but he was slowly catching up.
"Join me and we can accomplish both of our goals!! Together!!!" Shiki argued as he lunged straight for Roger.
The two collided mid air as they began a dangerous sword fight.
By now, Shiki had yet to go to Impel down, so he wielded his two blades as he fought Roger with relentless vigor. Roger maintained his trademark smile as he continued blocking and slashing right back at Shiki.
Shiki deflected one of Roger's sideswipes and used his spare sword to try and slash it at Roger's neck. However, Rayleigh managed to make it in time and block that sword using his own.
"Rayleigh?! What are you doing here?" Roger asked shocked as they both leaped back to create a distance from Shiki.
"I thought you could use some help," Rayleigh smirked while looking at Shiki.
Shiki let out an arrogant smirk while he stared the both of them down.
No more words were needed to be said, because the duo immediately lunged at the Golden Lion.
What followed next was an intricate dance of blades among the three of them.
Shiki swept both of his blades from the middle to the sides, causing Rayleigh and Roger to lean backwards to avoid the blades. However, they took Shiki's opening as an advantage before getting back upright and getting closer to Shiki before he could recover.
Shiki immediately began to dodge the Rayleigh and Roger's swings as he tried to get back into a proper stance. It was near impossible to do so because of how much Rayleigh and Roger were pressing him.
Shiki ended up having to touch the ground that they were on to create space. The two pieces of rubble that had been touched by Shiki immediaetly rose and went straight at Roger and Rayleigh. The duo immediately raised their swords to block the two rocks. However, this gave Shiki the oppurtunity to take a step back and recover his stance.
Shiki wasn't fundamentally scared of the duo, but he was wary of the new advesary that he had to go through. 'Silvers' Rayleigh wasn't just a name for show, even Shiki had to acknowledge the technicality and the expertise of Rayleigh's sword.
Together, they were more than enough trouble to even give those accursed marines a run for their money. How else had they managed to escape from the clutches of that maniac Garp?
Anyway, Shiki knew that if he wanted to have a winning edge towards this battle. There was going to have to be a dynamic change that would immediately change the situation.
They immediately got back to the fight. Shiki chopping and swinging at whoever he saw in a flurry of blades, meanwhile, Roger and Rayleigh would block and deflect while attacking at the openings.
At one point of time, Shiki let out a sword slash that was sent Rayleigh's way. Rayleigh responded by immediately chopping down the sword slash with a red-colored slash of his own. The two attacks immediately destroyed the surface that the three of them were standing on.
It was critical to note that they had been fighting on a floating surface that was Shiki's doing. So when the surface was destroyed, Roger and Rayleigh immediately began falling down. On the other hand, Shiki remained floating while looking down on the duo falling.
Upon realising that this was going to be the oppurtunity that he was looking for. Shiki immediately took the oppurtunity to send the rubble formed by the destroyed surface at the duo. The debree was quite large, so Rayleigh and Roger ended up having to slash through the majority of the debree.
It even resulted them having to cover some parts of their bodies with Armament haki to offset the damages of the debree that had managed to hit them. They soon crashed to the ground, causing a small crater as a result.
They all slowly got up, dusting off the dust and rubble that had gotten on their clothes. Rayleigh slowly wiped the dust out of his glasses before looking up to the Golden Lion.
"This is a fight you're not going to win, Roger!!" Shiki roared.
They had been fighting at a standstill so far, and it didn't look like anyone was going to have the winning edge anytime soon.
Moreover, Rayleigh's worries were slowly beginning to make itself visible. Roger was slowly beginning to breathe heavily as he supressed a bloody cough that he had been keeping in. It was evident that Roger was slowly beginning to run out of stamina to keep up the fight.
"Roger, let's end this fight with one strike!"
"I'm with you, Rayleigh!"
The two of them slowly began to muster their Armament and Conqurer's haki to one combined point.
Shiki, upon sensing the irregular gathering of Haki, immediately looked at the both of them with a cautious stare before lunging at the two of them.
However, before he could even reach them. He was immediately hit by a flying object that was almost twice his size from the side. Immediately sending him flying through a couple of nearby houses and buildings.
Rayleigh and Roger looked on blankly as their focus was immediately interrupted.
"Sorry for intruding...." A faint voice could be heard from the duo's side.