One Piece : Admiral Falcon is Pissed off again today!

Chapter 573 - 573

"Gomu Gomu no... Bajrang Gun!"

In his awakened Gear Fifth state, this move was his most powerful strike yet.

Strength, elasticity, Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki...

All reached the peak of what Luffy could currently master.

For Shamrock, who had already lost the power boost from Lily, this attack was more than enough to be fatal.

But...

Fate told him that when luck runs out, even drinking cold water can choke you.

Cerberus's three dog heads desperately tried to block Luffy's attacks, but behind him, there was another equally dangerous presence...

"My brother, Shamrock..." Red-haired Shanks gazed at him with a tinge of melancholy, "If we weren't Celestial Dragons, just an ordinary family... perhaps we could have sat down and talked everything out."

"Is this your pity for me? Brother?"

"No, this is my respect for you... You may be scum, but you are truly strong."

The Griffin in Shanks' hand remained raised high, "But for my friends, my crew, and my daughter... farewell, Shamrock."

"Divine Departure: Michael!"

From different directions, two overwhelming surges of Conqueror's Haki intertwined, simultaneously striking Cerberus and Shamrock.

After a brief resistance, everything about Shamrock completely crumbled.

Red-Haired & Luffy VS Shamrock.

The outcome...

Shamrock died.

Shanks looked at Shamrock, who had fallen to the ground like a tattered cloth, devoid of any sign of life, and sighed softly.

Then, he stepped forward and gently closed Shamrock's eyes.

"I hope in your next life, you can become a decent ordinary person."

"At least, don't be such a bastard."

After saying this, he picked up Shamrock's body and walked toward the outside of Pangaea Castle.

Luffy did not stop Shanks' actions.

Instead, he moved closer to him and asked with curiosity, "Where are you taking him? You don't actually have feelings for your Celestial Dragon brother, do you?"

"I just... want his soul to find freedom." Shanks chuckled softly, "His entire life was spent growing up in the lies of Garling and Lily, never even having the chance to see the true face of this world... So, I will take his soul on another adventure."

"Adventure... that sounds really interesting." Luffy rested his hands behind his head and looked up at the sky.

"But from now on, Uncle Michael will probably make the profession of pirate gradually disappear."

"Then we won't be pirates." A touch of carefreeness appeared on Shanks' face, "Adventurers, travelers, mercenaries... whatever we're called, as long as we can travel freely on the sea, it's enough."

"Hiss, that's actually a great idea." Luffy nodded, "But... it sounds so good, sailing out for adventures and all..."

"So, will you join me? Straw Hat Luffy?"

"Well, I'm part of the Angel Alliance..."

"The Angel Alliance doesn't forbid you from sailing out for adventures, does it?" Shanks smiled,

"And as I said earlier... not as pirates."

"Hmm... I'll have to think about it... How's the cook on your ship?"

"Absolutely to your taste... You and Lucky Roux will definitely have a lot to talk about."

...

"Sham... rock."

Figarland Garling lay on the battlefield, blood gushing from his mouth.

In his final Observation Haki, Shamrock's presence completely faded into nothingness.

Returning to the embrace of Red-haired Shanks.

His son had died at the hands of another son.

"Hahaha... hahahahaha!"

In that moment, as if in a final surge of vitality, he burst into wild laughter.

As if mocking himself, mocking all the Celestial Dragons.

Defeat and downfall... were already inevitable.

In truth, from the very beginning, Garling had foreseen this day.

He was an intelligent man, not like Lily—that woman who had been obsessed with Michael for over eight hundred years.

Nor was he like the Five Elders, those five old fools who had remained blindly loyal for centuries.

Since the God Valley incident, he had become the representative figure of the new generation of Celestial Dragons.

As both a participant and an observer, he was, in fact, the one who saw things most clearly.

The World Government and the Celestial Dragons, after that guy Michael appeared, were already destined to meet their current fate.

All of this... was destiny.

Destiny brought Michael into this world.

Destiny made Michael the Archangel of the end.

Destiny sent Michael back to the past, laying the groundwork for Lily's madness.

Destiny... made the Celestial Dragons the stepping stones for justice and order.

Everything had its traces.

And he was powerless to change any of it, only able to drift along with the tides of fate.

"Hey, old man, have you completely lost your mind too?"

Gaban, lying beside him, had not a single patch of unbroken skin on his body, and both his axes were shattered.

"What else is there to say, Jabba? It's just that I find my own past laughable."

Rayleigh, barely propping himself up with his sword, had a gaping hole in his abdomen but still refused to fall.

In that final desperate strike, Garling fought one against two and narrowly lost.

But that strike also exacted a heavy price from Rayleigh and Gaban.

Rayleigh aside...

If Gaban had reacted even a fraction of a second slower, it wouldn't have been his axes that broke, but his own hands.

Looking at Garling like this, Rayleigh suddenly remembered that day decades ago...

In God Valley, Garling, Roger, and Garp—three men from three different factions—charged at Rocks together in that battle.

Though it was their first and only time cooperating, they were surprisingly in sync.

All three of them wore genuine smiles on their faces.

It was... a scene straight out of a dream.

"Figarland Garling," Rayleigh whispered, looking at Garling, whose body was nearly torn apart.

"From today onward, the debt between the Celestial Dragons and our Roger Pirates... is settled."

"Is that so? Cough, cough, cough!" Garling coughed violently, spitting out several pieces of internal organs.

"From now on, this world belongs to the Angel Alliance... Believe me, in the future, the Angel Alliance will become the next Celestial Dragons..."

"That may be an unavoidable cycle... but I believe Michael will do everything he can to delay that time as long as possible." Rayleigh raised his head, looking up at Michael hovering high in the sky, his Six Wings spread wide.

"But all of this... has nothing to do with you anymore."

After speaking, Rayleigh received no reply.

Looking down, he realized that Garling had already stopped breathing after uttering those last words.

"Really... always talking to yourself."