What Yahn said wasn't meant as mockery toward Gion. It was simply the truth.
Unlike most other powerhouses, Yahn's physique wasn't especially durable. For others, taking a blow from Gion's soaring sword strikes might just draw blood on the spot—perhaps not even break a bone. With gritted teeth, they could keep fighting as if nothing happened.
But Yahn knew himself too well. If he took even one proper hit, he could very well lose an entire arm.
Unfortunately, Gion didn't believe a word he said. Holding Konpira in hand, she pointed her blade toward Yahn and said coldly:
"We've warmed up enough, don't you think? Isn't it time to show your real strength? If not, I won't be holding back anymore."
"Tch..." Yahn clicked his tongue and sighed. "Captain Gion, I'm telling you, I'm really not much of a fighter. Why don't we just call it a draw and move on?"
"Hah~" Gion let out a cool, elegant chuckle, her gaze drifting to the unremarkable blade at Yahn's waist.
"Aren't you a swordsman too? Draw your blade. Sister Tsuru mentioned you're a Sakura Sakura Fruit user—why not show me your ability?"
"Sakura Sakura Fruit...?"
Yahn's face immediately twisted, as if he were constipated. He turned and shouted toward Sengoku at the edge of the training field.
"Old man! How many times do I have to tell you? It's not Sakura Sakura Fruit, it's Cherry Blossom Fruit!"
"Brat!" Sengoku bellowed, feigning seriousness. "Sakura Sakura Fruit is the proper name for your newly discovered Devil Fruit!"
"You stubborn bastard..." Yahn muttered through clenched teeth.
Gion's voice grew sharper. "Enough talk—draw your blade, Yahn. Show me what you've got."
"...Sigh."
Yahn let out a long, tired breath and casually unsheathed the tachi at his waist.
"To be honest," he said, "I'm not really a swordsman. This blade… was never meant to be swung."
But Gion's patience had long since worn thin.
Before he could finish, she transformed into a streak of peach light, her blade's golden glint aimed straight at Yahn's chest.
This time, Yahn didn't dodge. Instead, he raised his blade vertically and chanted:
> "Scatter, Senbonzakura!"
As the words left his mouth, the blade—called Senbonzakura—began to disintegrate from its tip, splitting apart into countless dazzling, petal-like fragments of glowing cherry blossoms.
In the blink of an eye, the entire blade had vanished, leaving only the hilt and guard gripped in Yahn's hand.
Gion appeared right in front of him, Konpira stabbing forward without hesitation.
But the drifting cherry blossoms around Yahn suddenly surged forward, colliding with Konpira from the side and knocking it off course.
"What?!"
Gion was stunned. These delicate, beautiful petals—how could they hold such immense force? They didn't just disrupt her strike—they redirected its entire trajectory.
Unbeknownst to her, a single petal brushed lightly across her cheek.
Shff!
A thin cut instantly appeared on her smooth skin, and droplets of blood began to seep out.
"These aren't petals… they're blades?!"
With a burst of Observation Haki, Gion instantly perceived the true nature of these ethereal blossoms—each one was a tiny, razor-sharp blade.
Eyes widening, she stared at Yahn, who calmly adjusted his glasses, entirely unfazed.
> Fragile. Beautiful. Deadly
That was the impression etched into her mind.
The next moment, her long, graceful legs kicked off the ground with incredible force. Defying all expectations, she reversed direction mid-charge and leapt backward, retreating over ten meters to distance herself from the swarm of deadly cherry blossoms.
But before she could even catch her breath, she realized something horrifying—
Her entire field of vision was already filled with those swirling, ever-chasing petals.
> So fast!
Abandoning thought, she swung Konpira in a rapid defensive arc.
> "Ittō-ryū: Konpira Wild Dance!"
A flurry of golden slashes exploded outward like a storm, slicing through the air toward the incoming cherry blossoms.
The petals scattered like leaves in a tempest, breaking apart wherever the slashes touched.
But—
"It's no use…"
Yahn stood calmly in place, unmoved. He shook his head.
"Cherry blossoms are fragile, yes… but erasing them completely isn't so simple."
With that, he gently lifted the hilt of Senbonzakura.
The petals that had fallen and scattered across the ground shimmered pink once more. They rose into the air, regrouped, and even circled around to flank Gion from both sides.
> "Damn it!"
Gion bit her lip and immediately activated both Armament Haki and Tekkai, the iron-body technique of the Navy's Six Styles. Her form went rigid like obsidian, a blackened steel sculpture standing firm amid the storm.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A relentless cacophony of impacts echoed out, even making Yahn wince.
"Captain Gion, you're making this hard for me," Yahn muttered with exasperation. "Tekkai may work for you, but for most people it's basically suicide. I wasn't even trying to win!"
But Gion truly lived up to her reputation as a future admiral candidate. Though young, her mastery of both Tekkai and Armament Haki was formidable.
The cherry blossoms whirled around her endlessly, yet couldn't break through her defense.
Still, Yahn knew Senbonzakura wasn't designed for brute force. He wasn't worried in the slightest. So long as he kept this initial release going, he could wear her down without even lifting a finger.
Ten breaths. A hundred. Five hundred...
Gion was stubborn to the extreme. Yahn had no idea what drove her to keep pushing—her Armament Haki was clearly thinning, yet she refused to give in.
But Yahn couldn't afford to lose.
If he did, Sengoku would absolutely force some twisted plan—like marrying him off to Gion just to keep him tied to the Navy.
That was unacceptable.
Sure, Gion was beautiful. Strong. A future powerhouse. Legs to die for. But there was no way in hell Yahn was going to let his dreams end here.
> "So, I'm sorry, Captain Gion. We've just met, and I'm already being rude."
Yahn bowed slightly, apology in his tone. Then, gripping Senbonzakura's hilt tightly, he swept it sharply through the air.
At once, the rotating petals surrounding Gion accelerated, their speed suddenly doubling. Under the sunlight, their reflected pink glow grew even more blinding—
And the real battle began.
---
Currently at chapter 40 on Ko-Fi
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27