As Thor felt his strength getting sapped rapidly from his body, he saw the shadow figure of Rocks getting bigger and bigger in front of him.
It was also getting stronger and stronger, as if it were directly using the very strength that disappeared from Thor to become even more formidable.
Not to mention that this figure is much more violent than the original Rocks, as it immediately attacked Thor again after stabbing him without any hesitation, a brutal follow-up that Thor felt deeply.
Thor's blood kept pouring out from the wound, as this was the first time in his new life that Thor had felt his entire existence getting threatened.
Even earlier, with him fighting against all of the members of the Holy Knights simultaneously, he had never felt this specific feeling of dread.
But now, facing this nemesis, Thor couldn't help but find himself grinning despite the severity of his current situation.
'If I do not defeat this figure, I'll die in here, and with me, the entire Elbaph country.' Thor's wide grin remained on his face as he couldn't help but think of the stakes.
Thor's attention is no longer focused on Imu at all, as he had seen the sovereign start leaving the area immediately when he was successfully stabbed in the back.
Thor touched his wound that penetrated from the back, as he knew with his medical expertise regarding his own body that it was only a matter of time before he bled out and lost consciousness. The rate of his bleeding is not great, especially with the wound being located directly in the heart.
Thor then touched his chest, freezing the wound first as a temporary way to stop his rapid bleeding. This action seemed to help, as he felt that his strength was not getting drained as much as the rate before the freezing, but he is still getting weaker by the second.
"Ragnarok!" Thor immediately went to work as he smashed his hammer towards the face of the Shadow Rocks. His entire strike is covered in a dense layer of Conqueror's Haki and armament haki to boot, as Thor is racing against time in this desperate scenario.
The shadow figure of Rocks swung his weapon to fight against Thor as well, as it also covered his sword with his own conqueror's Haki.
This was something that made Thor a little bit confused, as he originally thought that the Shadow Rocks didn't seem to have any intelligence, as they weren't even able to speak with their thoughts, unlike the original one that had been fighting against Roger, Garp, and Newgate earlier.
"What kind of monster are you?" Thor just said, as he slammed his hammer towards Shadow Rocks once again.
This time, he only used one of his hands to slam the hammer, as his other hand threw a punch toward Rocks, who had blocked the hammer strike and left himself open for a little bit of time.
Thor's punch had been covered with the same high-level haki as his hammer, with the bonus of his entire ice powers infused into the knuckle.
When the fist hit, Shadow Rocks got thrown back violently. Thor had followed up instantly and jumped into the air, as he transformed Mjolnir into the axe Stormbreaker.
"ELBAPH'S GUILLOTINE!" Thor had thrown another strong finisher towards Shadow Rocks. The shadow got cut in half, as well as the entire section of the island that they are standing upon.
In which Thor did not know, but this massive slash caused a rift that made Dragon lose his footing and drop the baby Shanks' figure, which was then replaced by a log due to a substitution technique.
Shadow Rocks, however, did not stay in this destroyed state.
As it started healing rapidly, snakes that are made out of shadows came out from the void and started stitching themselves towards the two halves of Shadow Rocks.
They succeeded in reforming its entire figure, which immediately sent out an attack towards Thor, who had blocked it just in time.
"THOR'S SOVEREIGN!" Thor used this move to block the incoming attack from Shadow Rocks, which created another massive impact that shook the already crumbling ground.
The two continued their clash, as they exchanged blow after blow. Thor had been using everything in his arsenal to keep up with the battle of attrition that he knew he was losing due to his blood loss.
But despite everything, Thor had not been minding the pain, as he was genuinely enjoying his fight. He didn't know when he would start to feel this kind of pressure once again, especially with a lot of heavy responsibilities resting on his shoulders.
Thor began to disregard his defense and dodging completely. He started fighting like Kenpachi, in which he would focus everything purely on his offense.
Thor's strikes had created massive air blades that would cut anyone who had been unlucky enough to get caught in the radius.
Shadow Rocks matched this energy as well, as it seemed to know that Thor had entered into a period of desperation.
It started disregarding its defense entirely to enter a blow-for-blow slash against Thor, as if it was counting on its inherent immortality to win.
Then, after one particular bad clash, Thor had been stabbed once again, but this time, it was deep in his stomach.
He tried to exchange blows with Shadow Rocks once again to counter, but like any other clash, Shadow Rocks had just recovered instantly with the snakes coming out and stitching themselves onto the body of Rocks.
This started Thor's sluggishness, as the attacks that he could easily dodge earlier were now starting to hit him. As well as his hits that were heavy-hitting earlier, they did not have the same impact or speed as before.
Shadow Rocks then went into the form of Rock's strongest attack stance. Thor tried to move to dodge, but he found himself not able to move his limbs, as his mind was racing and working a lot faster than his entire unresponsive body.
Shadow Rocks threw its strongest attack, 'PANDEMONIUM OF THE ABYSS' towards Thor, which hit him directly in the torso. The force got Thor to bounce off the ground and be thrown back a great distance despite his heavy weight and immense height.
As the attack connected, Thor suddenly saw his entire life flash before his eyes. Everything he had been was mostly focused on the time he had spent on the Rocks Pirates' ship.
Despite not having the best relationship with each other, Thor found his time to be enjoyable on the ship, and he had Rocks to thank for this experience.
'Is this as far as I can go? No, there's no way, I've been reborn in this anime, and became one of its citizens who have the power to change the dynamic of the world for the better, I won't give up like this. There's no way I'm gonna give up this.' Thor's mind had been filled with these determined thoughts.
As Thor had been thinking this, the entire land that he had been standing on started freezing over rapidly.
Suddenly, the entire wind changed, as the others who had been on the Island felt that the wind suddenly changed to become colder and sharper.
Thor's entire eyes, which had been star-shaped on the original, suddenly started to transform into golden slits. His teeth started to become fangs in all of its members.
Thor had been so focused on his thoughts of not wanting to give up and not wasting his second chance at life that he did not notice that Shadow Rocks started to approach him for the kill.
But before it could send its entire attack, a large wind suddenly ushered in. Shadow Rocks suddenly froze in place without any warning.
Thor's entire demeanor changed, and suddenly, smoke came out of his shoulder.
His wounds, which were still bleeding, started to produce large quantities of maggots as they began to eat Thor's damaged flesh, and magically heal themselves in the process.
'What just happened? What's this strength that I'm feeling?' Thor said as he then stood up. He felt that his entire body had been reborn.
He is cold, much colder than what he had felt in the Underworld of Elbaph, but it did not bother Thor at all, as the cold seemingly became a best friend that had accompanied him for many years.
'Is this my awakening?' Thor's entire mind suddenly went to this question. He then saw a blue colored smoke coming out of his shoulders, as he knew it only meant one thing.
He had awakened his entire Devil Fruit, but did not know how, as there was no other consciousness trying to take over his own will, as well as his strength remained his own.