Yoriichi Tsugikuni and Dragon had only clashed once, just a single exchange before Yoriichi voluntarily pulled back, widening the distance between them.
He had sensed sothing: his State of Selflessness seed to have no effect on Dragon. Why that was, he hadn't yet figured out.
"So it's true what Borsalino said, his Observation Killer really worked…"
"I heard this kid only started training Observation Haki not long ago… and already he's pushed it this far?"
"That's impossible!"
Monkey D. Dragon furrowed his brow, turning toward the young man standing several ters away, Yoriichi Tsugikuni, his face a mixture of disbelief and realization. The scene playing out before him was simply too absurd to ignore.
After clashing with Yoriichi on Boin Archipelago, Borsalino had returned to Marine Headquarters and promptly reported the young man's astonishing ability to the higher-ups.
When Kong and the others heard the news, their first reaction was skepticism. In fact, the very day Borsalino submitted his report, Kong had been ready to personally send soone to confirm whether Yoriichi truly possessed this so-called Observation Killer technique.
But Sengoku and Tsuru had stopped him. They believed there was no need for such a drastic overreaction. As long as they followed the developnt plan laid out by Zephyr and Garp, everything would unfold naturally.
Unlike Kong, Sengoku and Tsuru weren't obsessed with tightly binding talented youths to the Navy for brainwashing. They believed that if the Navy stayed true to justice, it would naturally attract those with the sa ideals.
And that's exactly how they acted, true to their beliefs.
So by the ti Dragon arrived at Boin Archipelago, he was already aware that Yoriichi had supposedly mastered the Observation Killer technique. In fact, he'd ntally prepared himself. But when the battle began, and Yoriichi finally struck, Dragon's Observation Haki still couldn't trace his presence.
If not for the peculiar nature of his Devil Fruit ability, that blade just now would have already been at his throat.
Now, faced with the undeniable truth, Dragon could no longer doubt the absurdity of it.
This teenage boy barely past his adolescence had genuinely mastered the Observation Killer.
And if that was true… then Yoriichi's combat potential was nothing short of terrifying.
"Dragon," Yoriichi spoke, his tone direct and steady. "How did you sense my attack just now? Was it Observation Haki?"
He wasn't the type to shy away from a flaw—especially one this critical. If his State of Selflessness didn't perfectly suppress enemy perception, then he had to account for that potential weakness in future battles.
"No," Dragon replied without hesitation.
"My Observation Haki couldn't detect you at all."
"It was the wind, your slash stirred the air, and I sensed it."
"I've eaten the Wind-Wind Fruit. I'm a Storm-Human. No matter how subtle the movent of air, I can feel it."
He offered the explanation without concealnt. As he spoke, Dragon raised his right hand and demonstrated his power.
Without any visible movent, the airflow around Yoriichi abruptly accelerated. His clothes snapped and flared violently under the sudden gusts.
"I'm a Logia-type," Dragon whispered next to his ear.
In the blink of an eye, he was no longer standing ters away, but right beside Yoriichi, leaning in with a quiet intensity.
By the ti Yoriichi turned to face him, Dragon's figure had already vanished again. A powerful vortex ford around him, kicking up dust from the ground and sweeping it into the air.
Within monts, a wall of swirling gray-black wind encircled Yoriichi. He now stood in the eye of a miniature cyclone, the brutal currents tugging at his clothes and skin like invisible claws.
"A Wind-based Logia…"
"This gale, it didn't originate from his body."
"That ans… Dragon's Devil Fruit can already affect the surrounding environnt. That's Awakening!"
Yoriichi bent his knees slightly, lowering his center of gravity, and activated his Armant Haki. It coated his body in a dark sheen—armor not just for flesh, but for dignity.
Even if they were on a deserted island, there was no way he was going to end up fighting naked.
"Yoriichi," Dragon called out through the roaring winds, "try blocking this next move with Armant Haki. Don't worry, I'll hold back."
Sohow, Dragon's voice reached him clearly through the howling storm. But at this point, Yoriichi didn't have the luxury of pondering such "illogical" phenona.
After all, trying to apply real-world science in the world of One Piece… was just asking for a headache.
Swish! Swish!
Although Dragon had spoken so nonchalantly, Yoriichi had no intention of sitting back and waiting for death. With a sharp swing of his long blade, two slashes surged forward, crashing directly into the wall of wind.
What surprised him, however, was that his attacks, despite their force, had no effect. They vanished into the swirling barrier without disrupting its movent in the slightest. Against the wind wall—it was as if his strikes were aningless.
Outside the vortex, Dragon stood calmly, eyes fixed on the hazy silhouette of Yoriichi Tsugikuni within the storm, a faint smile on his lips.
A trial, after all... I need to test the strength of his Armant Haki.
As for sparring the traditional way? Too indirect.
"Co now… let's see how many levels of my power you can withstand."
He murmured to himself, and the mont the words left his lips, the wind wall constraining Yoriichi intensified. Sand and gravel from the ground were sucked into the spiraling storm, and even distant leaves and stones were pulled into its reach.
The hurricane was growing stronger, its range, expanding rapidly.
Yet Dragon, standing re steps from the storm, remained entirely unaffected. His gaze stayed locked on Yoriichi within the eye of the storm, unblinking.
Despite being in the calm center, Yoriichi found no peace. The wind wall surrounded him far too closely, and the pressure pressing in from all sides was suffocating.
Pebbles caught in the wind occasionally slamd into his body with terrifying force—each impact carried more power than a bullet.
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
Stones shattered into powder as they struck him, but thanks to his Armant Haki, Yoriichi erged unscathed from such blows.
Even so, he could clearly sense it: the storm was still strengthening. The tornado, born from Dragon's Devil Fruit, felt as though it had no upper limit. That ripping, tearing sensation crawling across his skin grew sharper by the second.
Just a few breaths later, arcs of lightning crackled within the storm wall. The mont he saw it, Yoriichi knew he couldn't afford to wait any longer.
If he hesitated now, he'd be struck by lightning. He had to act.
"Zzzzztt!"
Suddenly, a blade of wind slashed through the storm wall, aid with frightening precision. It sliced across Yoriichi's cheek, even though his entire body was still clad in Armant Haki. The blade left a shallow gash, proof that even his defenses were starting to falter.
Feeling the sting on his face, Yoriichi tightened his grip on his blade, his eyes narrowing. In that mont, the black blade in his hand blazed into a vivid crimson:
"Breath of the Sun, Twelfth Form: Fla Dance!"
In an instant, flas coiled around his sword as if summoned from the depths of his spirit. With a ferocious arc, he unleashed a slash back toward the wind wall simultaneously, his figure vanished from the eye of the storm.
Outside the storm, Dragon's pupils reflected only searing fla.
Yoriichi erged from the tornado, his ragged Navy uniform fluttering, slashes and cuts from countless wind blades etched across his arms and torso. Blood seeped from the wounds, but none were deep—more like scrapes from sharpened leaves.
As his blade swung through the air, a killing intent surged forth, sharp as steel.
"...!"
"What a formidable one!"
Dragon couldn't help but exclaim in admiration as he caught sight of Yoriichi's approach. He took a deep breath, then reached forward with his right claw, attempting to catch Yoriichi's blade head-on.
That dragon-clawed hand was now crackling with tightly coiled black lightning.
"BOOM!!!!"
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