Shiki hovered in midair, gazing down at the wreckage below the bar. His pupils shrank sharply, and his breathing quickened.
That Marine had managed to dodge his slash and, in the sa instant, slaughtered all of his subordinates? These weren't ordinary pirates—they were the elite who had survived the Battle of Edd War.
If they weren't powerful, they were extrely lucky. Among them were even a few infamous pirates with bounties exceeding 100 million, the kind rarely seen even in the New World. In any of the Four Blues, any one of them would be considered a top-tier fighter.
Yet that entire group had been annihilated in the blink of an eye.
Worse still, not one of them even had ti to react—no resistance, no awareness. Not even a single scream was heard before they were cut down.
What shocked Golden Lion Shiki even more was that Yoriichi's movents had gone completely undetected—not just by his n, but by Shiki himself.
Looking at the red-haired Marine standing on the ground and gazing up at him, Shiki released his Observation Haki, locking onto Yoriichi.
"This guy…?!"
But sothing was wrong. Though Shiki was clearly staring at Yoriichi, his Observation Haki couldn't sense a single trace of life.
It was as if the man didn't exist.
If Shiki weren't seeing him with his own eyes, he might have doubted his own perception.
As his focus locked onto Yoriichi, a surge of icy mist swept toward Shiki. In a blink, it engulfed him.
A hand suddenly materialized from the mist and pressed against Shiki's shoulder.
A bone-chilling cold seeped into his body. Shiki's expression hardened—he snapped back to focus and instantly coated his body with Armant Haki, swinging a blade at his flank in retaliation.
Kuzan quickly released him and retreated, but the blade still grazed his upper arm. A gash nearly eight centiters long opened, soaking his white suit in blood.
"Tch."
Grimacing from the pain, Kuzan dispersed into mist again, slipping away from Shiki's side.
Although Armant Haki could strike Logia users, once a Logia fully released their ability, their effective combat range extended far beyond a ter or two.
Right now, Kuzan's ice mist spanned nearly a hundred cubic ters. As long as Shiki didn't directly strike his true body, he couldn't inflict real damage.
But Kuzan's abilities were also ineffective against Shiki unless he made direct contact or ford ice pillars to touch him—which would risk exposing his position and opening himself up to a counterattack.
This was why Kuzan had used a sword earlier—he needed direct contact to channel his fruit's power into his opponent.
But now, the battlefield had changed.
Yoriichi had taken the lead.
Kuzan's role was now to support from the flanks.
"The strength at the pinnacle of the world," Yoriichi declared as he looked calmly at the airborne Shiki.
"You are the opponent I've longed to fight."
"Let your head be the stepping stone that carries into the ranks of Vice Admirals."
Yoriichi's recent slash had revealed much about Shiki's strength. Though Shiki had blocked the strike, Yoriichi could clearly see through the Transparent World that he had exerted himself fully to do so.
From the power of that clash alone, Yoriichi could already gauge the intensity of Shiki's Haki.
And now, he believed, with the right approach he had a real chance of keeping Shiki here.
Because he had discovered that against Shiki, his Sightless Strike worked.
Shiki's Observation Haki couldn't detect his presence. That previous massacre had two goals: to reduce Marine casualties and to test whether Shiki could sense him during a silent approach.
He couldn't.
That alone proved Yoriichi's advantage.
With a slight bend of his knees, Yoriichi launched himself into the air with explosive force.
"Fwoosh!!"
The sudden gust of wind from his ascent whistled through the air. Though Shiki's Observation Haki was ineffective, he still had his eyesight and hearing. Seeing Yoriichi approaching fast, he quickly raised his blades to block.
Clang!!
Yoriichi's katana clashed against Shiki's crossed swords.
Without a foothold, Yoriichi lost support midair. He imdiately used Geppo to stabilize, appearing beside Shiki, twisting his blade, and slashing toward the pirate's neck from the flank.
But just before the blade could reach its target, Shiki dropped sharply.
Yoriichi's sword grazed the rudder embedded in his head, shaving off a quarter of the circular fra.
"Hm?!"
Yoriichi let out a low murmur, slightly surprised. He hadn't expected Shiki to evade in such a position—but he quickly realized the reason.
"The sound from Geppo gave away my position."
"In midair, the noise is too obvious. He tracked using his ears."
Even as the thought crossed his mind, Shiki counterattacked.
After that sudden drop, he shot back up and struck toward Yoriichi's exposed chest, his blade following the arc of Yoriichi's last movent.
This was the inherent advantage of dual-sword users in close combat.
But under the dual enhancent of Observation Haki and Transparent World, Shiki's movent couldn't deceive Yoriichi.
As the tip of the sword neared, Yoriichi's left hand, coated in Armant Haki, slamd down on the flat of the blade.
Using the force of Shiki's grip, Yoriichi flipped midair, dodging the thrust, and reappeared above Shiki's head, bringing his katana down once more toward the neck.
At the sa ti, Kuzan reford beneath Shiki, stabbing upward with his ice blade toward Shiki's lower body.
"You Marines fight dirty!"
Shiki caught sight of Yoriichi above and sensed Kuzan's movent below with his Haki.
Cursing under his breath, he raised Kogarashi to guard his neck and brought Oto down to block Kuzan's thrust.
But just when he thought he had blocked both attacks—
Thunder cracked above him.
Yoriichi's katana was now wreathed in terrifying Black Lightning.
Realizing sothing was wrong, Shiki's pupils constricted. He twisted his body slightly using the Float-Float Fruit, letting Kuzan's attack strike his thigh instead. Then he quickly recalled Oto to his neck to intercept Yoriichi's strike.
Clang!!!!
A deafening roar echoed across the sky.
Shiki's body was flung through the air like a cannonball, vanishing into the distance.
A trail of blood splashed through the sky.
"Too shallow…"
Kuzan looked down at the tip of his ice blade. Only a few centiters were stained with red. He frowned slightly and sighed.
Yoriichi descended swiftly, his eyes tracking the silhouette hurtling across the sky.
"He's not dead?"
He gripped his katana tightly, muttering in dissatisfaction.
/////////////////////////
Support by adding this fic into your library!
100 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter
For Advance Chapters, please visit and consider joining on P(a)treon!
p(a)treon/Lnee
1-2 Chapters daily on P(a)treon, will go up depends on the powerstone extra chapters.
Reviews
All reviews (0)