[Next week's goal — if we reach 200 Power Stones, I'll release +2 bonus chapters every day as a reward!]
...
"Cough cough cough!"
As the huge dust column that shot straight into the sky returned to the earth, the entire picture of the island was once again exposed to the air.
After Dracule Mihawk's smash, the surface of the island was covered with dense, crisscrossing cracks, like a dry riverbed, or a huge spider web covering the entire island.
at this time.
Dracule Mihawk knelt on one knee, using the world's strongest black sword as a crutch, and forced himself to stand up from the shattered ground.
His usually stern face was now filled with emotion.
Especially those sharp and deep eagle eyes, which revealed visible shock.
Obviously.
He had never expected that Rosen's strength would be so powerful.
Even though he had already forged Yoru into a black sword, he was still beaten so badly that he couldn't even raise his head.
"How is that possible?"
"How could he be so powerful?"
"That shouldn't be the case! Even the admiral sent by the Marine Headquarters to hunt me down didn't have the strength of Rosen."
Dracule Mihawk was in disbelief.
Before he forged the black sword, he had never fought against any of the Four Emperors, but because he had been hunting the Marine for many years, he had fought against the admirals of the headquarters.
He was sure of it.
Rosen's strength is definitely greater than that of the Marine admiral who was chasing him at that time.
"Could it be that he already possesses strength that surpasses that of our generals?"
Dracule Mihawk looked around and his gaze fixed on Rosen standing above the sea of clouds.
Ox-horn mask.
His eyes were fierce.
Holding two swords.
A thought came to his mind, that the man in front of him possessed strength that surpassed the generals of this department.
Just as the two of them looked at each other from a distance and Dracule Mihawk was filled with horror, Rosen suddenly raised his right hand, and the long sword in his palm pointed at Dracule Mihawk who was standing on the island.
sizzle
As a sound like electric current was heard, a brilliant flame burst out from the tip of Zangetsu's sword, as bright and dazzling as a flame. Then the light shone brightly, and terrifying red energy gushed out, gathering in a spiral posture to form a fiery red energy ball.
"Don't underestimate me."
Dracule Mihawk forced himself to suppress the complex emotions in his heart. He did not allow his will to waver in the battle.
sniff
He gripped the Black Blade Yoru tightly, and his Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki rushed out, transforming into purple light and black and red lightning, wrapping around the pitch-black blade, as if turning the entire black blade into a black thunder blade.
"Ittōryū Secret Technique: Eternal Night."
Facing the Cero condensed by Rosen, Dracule Mihawk did not evade, but gambled on the pride of the great swordsman and launched a head-on challenge to him with the world's strongest black sword.
He held the knife in both hands, raised the Black Blade Yoru above his head, and then swung it towards the sky.
Bang
The loud sound of swords, like the simultaneous firing of thousands of cannons and the roar of thousands of beasts, shook the sky.
Dracule Mihawk simply swung his sword, and a blanket of dark green sword light burst out, like an enormous curtain of light, covering the sky and sea of the South Blue.
at the same time.
A slashing blow soared into the sky.
Like a rainbow piercing the sun, it split the sky, carrying an unstoppable and invincible momentum, and slashed towards Rosen standing in the sky.
"Cero!"
There was no fluctuation in Rosen's eyes. He just completely released the fiery red energy condensed on the tip of the Zangetsu, turning it into a red flame ray like a pillar of magma fire, and hit the Sky-Climbing Slash that broke through the air.
Bang
When the Cero and the slash collided across the air and completely collided with each other, a terrifying sound that shook the earth and sky exploded in all directions.
The dark green sword light that originally covered the sky and the sea like a curtain of light suddenly shattered into pieces like a mirror falling to the ground.
It seemed that it could not withstand the energy bombardment of Cero and was directly blown to pieces.
Immediately following.
After a stalemate that lasted less than two seconds, Dracule Mihawk wrapped the Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki around the Black Blade Yoru, and the Conqueror's Slash he released was completely wrapped up by the Scarlet Flame Cero, and no trace of the dark green sword light could be seen anymore.
Boom
The next second, a crimson flame shone across the sky and sea.
The moment the Conqueror's Slash was completely wrapped, or rather, swallowed, the crimson Cero exploded, scattering all the Conqueror's Haki and the slash into dust that was difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. Only a pillar of fire remained, connecting to the sea below and piercing the sky above, standing tall in the South Blue.
Sky.
The sea.
Everything was dyed red by the red light released by the flame column.
"My slashing attack was actually broken."
Seeing this scene, Dracule Mihawk's hands and feet felt colder than ever before.
He never thought that after refining Yoru into a black sword, the slashing blows he released would be blown up by someone from a distance.
You know.
That was not an ordinary slash, but a Conqueror's Slash wrapped in Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki!
Unlike Dracule Mihawk's horrified expression, after dispersing the Conqueror's Slash, Rosen's yellow-brown pupils, which were covered by the horn mask and exposed to the air, were still filled with indifference and violence.
It seemed as if breaking the world's strongest slash was just a trivial matter in his eyes.
At this time.
Rosen slowly raised his left hand, raised the short knife Zangetsu placed on the side of his left leg in front of him, and gently slashed it across the space in front of him.
clang
A sword mark emitting golden light extended from the front of his body, turning into a golden crescent moon only about one meter long, floating in front of his body without being released.
Then.
He raised the long sword in his right hand Zangetsu, but he did not cut the long sword down vertically like he did before when he performed the Crescent Cross Strike, forming two giant cross-shaped slashes.
Instead, after drawing a golden crescent, he placed the tip of his long sword against the crescent in front of him.
sizzle
A crimson light bloomed, and terrifying energy burst out, condensing into a crimson energy ball.
at the same time.
The golden crescent moon floating in front of him actually began to merge into the red energy ball.
"Merge the crescent-shaped slash with the energy beam just now?"
After witnessing Rosen's actions, Dracule Mihawk's whole body tensed up and all the hairs on his body stood up.
Even if he just looked at it, he could feel sweat pouring down his back.
The Cero of Destruction alone was enough to break up his Conqueror's Slash, and when combined with Getsuga Tenshō, he couldn't imagine how powerful it was.
However,
The situation did not allow him to think too much.
Seeing Rosen merging Getsuga Tenshō and Destruction Cero, Dracule Mihawk took a deep breath, then raised his proud Black Blade Yoru with a determined look.
"Even if you truly are a monster superior to the Admirals, that's no reason for me to retreat or hesitate."
"Rosen."
Just like when he faced swordsmen stronger than himself in the past, he did not retreat. Instead, with the determination to win, he swung his sword and unleashed a Conqueror's Slash like a surging river of swords.
call out
Seeing this, Rosen slowly released the Destruction Cero that was integrated with the Getsuga Tenshō.
"Gran Rey Cero!"
A flaming crescent moon shining with red-gold light flew out across the sky, as if to replace the brilliant sun hanging in the sky of the South Blue. Surrounded by terrifying energy that completely distorted the surrounding atmosphere, it slashed down from above, no, it crushed Dracule Mihawk's Conqueror's Slash.
Swish
There was no stalemate in the collision, only a crushing blow that broke apart at the first touch.
When the flaming crescent moon collided with the Conqueror's Slash, Dracule Mihawk's slash vividly staged a scene called a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Bang
In a single encounter, the slashing wave was swallowed by the flaming crescent, and then completely shattered into dust.
then.
The crescent moon that was burning like a flame did not disappear. Instead, it descended on the island where Dracule Mihawk was like a star falling from the dome with a devastating attitude.
Drowning Dracule Mihawk, who was holding a Black Blade.
It also submerged the entire island beneath his feet.
...
A new fanfic is now available on P@treon:
Naruto: I, Black Zetsu, Won't Let History Repeat.
After being sealed, Black Zetsu travels back in time, vowing to change fate and protect his mother from ever being sealed again.
Read it early and exclusively on my P@treon: [email protected]/Ren_Saga