Boom!
He shot over at high speed.
Krillin was fast, arriving before Whitebeard in the blink of an eye. His hands became a blur of afterimages as he threw a barrage of punches towards the giant man.
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard, the crescent-shaped white beard shifting around his mouth, simply laughed calmly.
Although Krillin's attack speed was impressive, it still fell noticeably short compared to Kizaru's. Facing this onslaught, Whitebeard's hands moved swiftly, effortlessly intercepting and blocking Krillin's fierce assault.
Seeing this, a trace of solemnity flashed across Krillin's face.
In the next instant, his speed surged once more. He quickly zipped around to Whitebeard's back, opening his hands and gathering energy. Then, two bright orange energy blasts shot out from his palms.
Dual-Hand Tracking Bullets!
This was the result of Krillin's recent training—energy waves erupting from his arms, capable of automatically locking onto and pursuing their target!
A flicker of surprise crossed Whitebeard's face. He could sense the considerable power behind these energy blasts; if he wasn't careful, he could genuinely get hurt. He hadn't expected this short, bald guy to unleash an attack of this caliber.
This time, Whitebeard didn't handle it as casually as before. His large body quickly shot backward, attempting to evade the incoming energy waves.
However, he soon discovered something even more astonishing.
No matter how fast he dodged, those two powerful energy spheres clung to him tightly, following him wherever he moved like stubborn glue, impossible to shake off.
"Interesting!"
Whitebeard laughed again, then ceased his evasive maneuvers. He stood his ground, his fists rapidly turning pitch black, and simultaneously slammed them forward.
Boom!
Whitebeard's fists met the energy blasts head-on. Instantly, the arena was rocked by a violent tremor, the force tearing cracks across the ground. The surrounding audience was sent stumbling and tumbling by the resulting, ferocious gust of wind.
"Incredible! The power of Contestant Krillin's technique is immense! And Contestant Whitebeard's strength is even greater, actually catching Krillin's energy blasts with his bare hands!" the sunglasses-wearing referee exclaimed.
Seeing Whitebeard neutralize his attack, Krillin's expression shifted slightly. He sighed inwardly, This old man is really strong! I couldn't even hurt him with that! However, Krillin didn't feel discouraged. Instead, his resolve hardened further.
The next moment, he moved again, his speed increasing once more as he began darting around Whitebeard at an astonishing pace.
Soon, multiple afterimages appeared on the arena, all identical to Krillin. In the blink of an eye, there seemed to be over a dozen of them!
"The techniques of those Ninja Guild fellows? No..." Whitebeard's brow furrowed slightly, but he quickly dismissed the thought.
The techniques used by the Ninja Guild, like Shadow Clones or Water Clones, often involved creating tangible, combat-capable duplicates of oneself.
But Whitebeard had already roughly discerned this short, bald guy's method. It was simply the use of high-speed movement to create afterimages.
Whitebeard looked at Krillin with some genuine surprise. Honestly, this little bald guy's skills were nothing to scoff at!
While Whitebeard was still processing this, Krillin launched his assault. Suddenly, over a dozen Krillin afterimages charged at Whitebeard from all directions, launching a rapid, coordinated offensive.
A smile tugged at Whitebeard's lips, but he still showed no intention of retreating.
Facing the simultaneous assault of over a dozen Krillin, Whitebeard simply raised his arm and delivered a powerful punch. The air in front of him instantly began to fracture, showing visible cracks.
Boom!
In the next second, both the air and the ground of the arena began to tremble violently. The擂台, centered on Whitebeard, was instantly shattered into fragments by the terrifying shockwaves.
As for Krillin, the moment Whitebeard activated his Devil Fruit power, his entire body was sent flying backward.
Sun Goku and the others watched anxiously as Krillin hurtled towards the edge of the arena. If he fell out, he would be eliminated!
However, to everyone's astonishment, Krillin's body suddenly hovered in mid-air, ultimately not being directly eliminated by Whitebeard's attack.
"This is... the Flight Technique! He actually learned the Flight Technique!" Sun Goku and the others were also shocked.
The Flight Technique was a martial art of the Crane School, allowing the user to defy planetary gravity and fly through the use of ki. Earlier, how Chaozu had been hovering in mid-air was precisely through the continuous use of this technique.
"Oh?" Whitebeard, seeing Krillin suspended in the air, was momentarily taken aback before commenting with a hint of intrigue, "Flight Technique? A bit interesting. I didn't expect you to have a move like this!"
He felt a twinge of genuine envy. On the Ninja Guild side, people like Uchiha Madara, Hashirama Senju, and Uchiha Obito could all fly. He hadn't expected this little bald guy to possess such an ability as well!
Whitebeard was truly somewhat envious. Although his own strength was immense, he couldn't fly like Krillin, not even for a short distance!
After stabilizing himself, Krillin didn't immediately attack Whitebeard again. Instead, he rapidly ascended higher into the sky.
Once he reached a height of about a hundred meters above the ground, he began unleashing his attacks. One powerful energy blast after another shot from his hands, rapidly bombarding Whitebeard below.
He was doing this because he understood clearly that this Whitebeard old-timer was extremely powerful in close-quarters combat. If he engaged in close combat, he definitely wouldn't be his match.
In that case, the only option was to create distance and wear Whitebeard down with long-range attacks!
Whitebeard naturally noticed this immediately and understood Krillin's intention perfectly. He was clearly planning to slowly drain Whitebeard's stamina to secure victory.
However, Whitebeard had no intention of letting him have his way.
The martial arts tournament rules explicitly forbade the use of weapons, which is why he hadn't brought his signature naginata. But that wasn't a problem; relying on his hands alone, his strength was still formidable!
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T/N:
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