A golden Buddha blazing with light. A muscle fiend rearing like a dragon.
It looked like a duel between Buddha and demon.
Staring at Ares who was practically a bipedal tyrannosaur Redfield made up his mind. That one isn't normal. He turned me down flat, lumped me in with the enemy…
He's a bare-faced battle maniac.
While Sengoku's tied up, I'm slipping out. No point standing in front of a lunatic like that.
He turned to go
Shhhh!
A crescent of blue-white sword aura, twenty or thirty meters long, carved the air and dropped with a cutting edge that looked capable of shearing anything in two.
Cold sweat burst across Redfield's back. He blurred sideways, feather-light, as the arc cleaved into the ground before him, gouging a terrifying fissure.
"Who?!"
He spun and met Ares's face: feral, exultant, drunk on battle.
A spark of disbelief flashed in Redfield's eyes. That strike came from him?
No… he's not even holding a weapon. How is he throwing slashes like that?
His brain stalled.
One minute two shocks. Ares had rattled him twice.
Suddenly Redfield's pupils tightened. His expression cracked into open disbelief.
"Nani?!"
"It is his slash!"
The dazzling arc swelled in his pupils too fast to dodge this time. He whipped up his umbrella to catch it.
Clangg
Power roared down his arms. Redfield's face hardened. "What monstrous force… is there a beast living in that body?"
"To fling a slash like this with just an arm what a monster."
Even braced, the cut shoved him back more than ten meters; his palms tingled, numbed to the tiger's mouth.
Ares's voice boomed in the same instant, buzzing Redfield's ears.
"I can feel it you're strong!"
"My gut says you'll give me a real fight!"
"You're not leaving!"
"Stay and fight me!"
Redfield's face darkened. This man really doesn't value his life. For the sake of a brawl, he'd drag even me into it.
Madman…
Looks like unless I put him down, he won't let me walk.
Ice settled over his features as his anger spiked. The Marines blocking his path was one thing he was a pirate.
But now a pirate was blocking his path too? What kind of logic was that?
Is this whole world singling me out?
The moment the flame crested, he struck umbrella sweeping in a slanting cut.
Ssst
A razor slash split the air, flickering to Ares's flank.
Ares raised a blood-red, muscle-corded forearm like a shield and took it head-on.
Clangg
The impact only wound him tighter. He grinned, wild. "Hahahaha "
"My instincts were right. You are strong!"
His blood surged hotter, running loud as a river in flood.
Across the way, Sengoku's golden Buddha eyes brightened. "Good. That maniac Ares picked a fight with Redfield."
"Dragged him into the water and eased my pressure."
"But…"
"Not enough."
Thinking fast, he slid back to open space and called out loudly, "Ares trade a few moves with him! That's Redfield, the Red Count, the world's strongest swordsman!"
"He's more than worthy as your opponent!"
A simple taunt but Ares was the perfect target for it.
At the name Redfield, Ares's eyes lit up. He muttered, thrilled, "That name…"
"Wang Zhi told me!"
"The man hailed as the strongest swordsman on the seas!"
He cut off his barrage on Sengoku and fixed that slight, elegant figure with a blazing stare.
His massive frame shifted horns thrust from his brow; his teeth lengthened; his skin flushed blue; plates of sapphire scales rolled across those herculean arms. Hands became rending dragon claws. A thick tail uncoiled behind him.
The Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Model: Azure Dragon hybrid form.
A human-shaped tyrant dragon took the field.
"Mythical Zoan…" Redfield's pupils pinched. "He's going straight to his peak form so he's done playing."
His grip tightened on the umbrella; his body drew taut. A flicker of envy touched his gaze. He had long hunted a Mythical Zoan of his own.
Ares's stare burned hotter, until even Redfield felt a chill. Ares smiled.
"Hey 'world's strongest swordsman.' I've trained in swordplay too. Let me show you my "
"No-Blade Style!"
He raised one arm like a straight blade and chopped through the air.
"No-Blade Style Azure Dragon Claw Crescent Break!"
Shhhhhhh!
Golden sword aura burst forth, keen as the Golden Lion's fabled slashes like it could split the world in halves.
Redfield answered in kind, his umbrella drawing a slash no weaker and in truth, a touch stronger.
Boom
The arcs collided midair and blew apart, carving twin rifts that clawed far across the ground.
"Who taught him to use his arm as a sword?" A bead of sweat slid down Redfield's temple. You couldn't judge this monster by human standards.
"No-Blade Style…"
"A first for me."
Ares, high on battle, didn't slow. His thighs swelled with force and bang blew apart the earth underfoot as he launched like an arrow.
His fingers spread dragon talons glittering.
"No-Blade Style Dragon-Claw Rend!"
Riiiiip
The swing tore the air like cloth.
Redfield was far too rational to meet that head-on. He flash-stepped back and snarled, "This No-Blade Style…"
"It's terrifying. If I try to catch that with a weapon, he'll pound me and the blade into paste with brute force!"
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk! …
He slipped past the strike but the ground behind him peeled open in several long sword scars, racing out for dozens of meters.
Hair-raising.
Sengoku's mouth twitched. "Even his slashes are obscene. Sword, fist, Haki every piece on this man is monstrous."
"Rocks, Whitebeard, Golden Lion… what kind of monster did they raise?"
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