"Damn it…" Diarmuid cursed to himself.
Nagasone Kotetsu was a 21 Great Grade Sword, one of the top blades in the world!
He hadn't forged it into a Black Blade yet, but he had constantly nourished it with Haki. With the addition of his flowing, cloud-like Haki, it should have been incredibly hard.
Yet, Charlotte Linlin had managed to put a crack in it. And as the force between them increased, the crack was growing larger.
Diarmuid knew this sword, which had been with him for years, was about to break. He should have let go before it shattered, but he couldn't. He had to resist with everything he had; if he loosened up at all, Charlotte Linlin's Emperor Sword would hit him, and he'd be gravely injured. But if he didn't, the moment Nagasone Kotetsu broke would be the moment he got cut!
Diarmuid wasn't the only one who noticed the crack. Charlotte Linlin saw it too, and a ferocious look came into her eyes. She applied even more pressure.
The crack on Nagasone Kotetsu widened again, and the blade seemed to wail in agony, as if it knew it was about to die here.
CRACK!
The crack could no longer hold. Charlotte Linlin's Emperor Sword sliced into Nagasone Kotetsu halfway, and in the next moment, it was going to break the famous blade for good!
An invisible, repelling force erupted from Diarmuid's body, attempting to push Charlotte Linlin away. But her strength was overwhelming. She stubbornly held her ground against Diarmuid's powerful repulsion, continuing to press down.
Even so, it was clear that Charlotte Linlin wasn't completely unscathed. While the gravitational force couldn't damage her body, the constant waves of repulsion caused blood to seep from the corner of her mouth. Her insides were definitely taking a hit. After all, she had just taken a direct Planetary Devastation attack; how could she be completely uninjured?
"Break!" Charlotte Linlin bellowed.
CLANG!
The Nagasone Kotetsu, which had been with Diarmuid for years, shattered instantly.
"Tekkai: Cloud Flow Armor!" Diarmuid roared. He instantly activated Tekkai to harden his body, and his flowing Haki formed an armor-like shield over his chest.
In the next instant, Charlotte Linlin's Emperor Sword struck the Haki on his chest. Just then, a flash of golden light, a laser, precisely struck Charlotte Linlin's Emperor Sword!
Still, Diarmuid was sent flying by her powerful slash.
At the same time, Borsalino appeared in a flash of golden light next to Charlotte Linlin. He caught her with her guard down and delivered a Light Speed Kick to her head.
Speed is power!
The kick didn't break Charlotte Linlin's iron-hard body, but it was powerful enough to send her massive frame flying.
On the other side, Diarmuid rolled several times on the ground and skidded for more than a hundred meters before finally stopping. He spat out a mouthful of blood. A wound on his chest was bleeding profusely. But the injury only looked serious; a closer look revealed that only the flesh had been cut open, and his ribs were intact.
After all, the slash, which was strong enough to kill a top-tier fighter, had been first blocked by Nagasone Kotetsu, then hit by Borsalino's laser, and finally met Diarmuid's flowing Haki and Tekkai. It failed to deliver a critical or fatal blow.
Diarmuid held the broken half of Nagasone Kotetsu in his hand, a look of regret in his eyes. He put his other hand over his chest and quietly activated his Life Return ability.
The torn flesh on his chest began to forcibly seal itself, stopping the bleeding and preventing the injury from getting worse. Thanks to his Iron Will, he didn't feel any pain, but he knew the injury wasn't serious.
Borsalino didn't pursue Charlotte Linlin right away. Instead, he asked, "How are you? You okay?"
"Don't worry, it's just a scratch. I can go another three hundred rounds with her!" Diarmuid said confidently.
"You can't. We have to go now. I just got word that seven more Big Mom Pirate ships are heading here. This is getting bad for us," Borsalino said quickly.
Diarmuid froze, looking at the broken sword in his hand. He hesitated. That old hag broke his blade. He couldn't just leave like this.
As for his injuries, he didn't even hold a grudge; she had cut him, but his repulsion had damaged her insides. They were evenly matched. Neither of them owed the other anything.
Seeing that Charlotte Linlin was already on her feet and that Katakuri and Perospero were about to reach the island, Borsalino reminded him, "Don't forget, our mission was to get Vegapunk. Diarmuid, there will be plenty of chances to fight her later!"
Hearing this, Diarmuid grit his teeth. "Let's go!" he said. He gave up on his thoughts of revenge. His powers activated, and with a Soru, he appeared next to Borsalino. He picked up the other half of his broken Nagasone Kotetsu from the ground, looked at Charlotte Linlin, and nodded at Borsalino.
The two of them flew toward the sea without another word.
Charlotte Linlin called out to Zeus, ready to give chase, but she stopped herself.
That Diarmuid was truly surprising. He was incredibly strong for his age, definitely much stronger than her most talented son, Katakuri.
In time, that Diarmuid was sure to become one of the top fighters on the sea, and he would be an arch-nemesis to all pirates. She could already tell from their fight that while he wasn't as strong as her, killing him wasn't going to be easy.
What's more, he had Borsalino with him, a Marine expert who was famous even earlier than Diarmuid. Although he was only a Vice Admiral, his strength was probably not much weaker than an Admiral.
If she rashly chased them to the sea, where they had the advantage, she would likely lose. What if they managed to knock her into the water? That would be a huge problem.
Katakuri and Perospero couldn't fly, so only she could chase them. She decided it wasn't worth the risk.
After thinking it over, Charlotte Linlin sighed and gave up on trying to stop them.
"Rodriguez Diarmuid, was it? What was that nickname? 'Bane of Evil'? No… 'The Ferocious Tiger of Marine Headquarters' fits him better," Charlotte Linlin muttered softly, wiping the blood from her mouth.
She hadn't been able to place Diarmuid at first, but during the fight, she remembered that he was the mysterious Marine who had supposedly helped capture Roger. She had heard rumors about him, and today, she could see that they were well-founded.
"Mama!" Katakuri and Perospero had finally reached Charlotte Linlin's side.
"Mama, the ships for Daifuku and Oven are right behind them! Should we chase them? Vegapunk might be on their ship!" Perospero asked immediately.
Charlotte Linlin shook her head. "That Diarmuid is not to be underestimated, and Borsalino is even more difficult to deal with. With their abilities, a sea battle would be a disadvantage for us."
She then laughed heartily, threw her Emperor Sword on the ground, and said, "Mamamamama! It's fine, so we didn't catch that Vegapunk. Today wasn't a waste, though. At least I got to experience for myself that the Marines have a new powerhouse. This sea is only going to get more interesting."
Katakuri also felt that it was a bad idea to chase them. Who knew if the Marines had more warships waiting to intercept them? Not to mention, when it came to naval warfare, the Marines were the professionals. "Yes, Mama," Katakuri said, nodding.
Charlotte Linlin looked at Katakuri and said, "Three years ago, when you lost to that Diarmuid, I was very disappointed. But today, I understand. You didn't lose because you were weak; you lost because he was just too strong. Katakuri, don't disappoint Mama again."
Katakuri's expression became serious. "Yes, Mama."
Charlotte Linlin was in her prime now. Her personality, strength, and fighting style weren't as bizarre as they would be in the future. Her words were filled with a certain heroic spirit.
After giving Katakuri his orders, she licked her lips and said, "I'm hungry. I want sweets!!!" She ignored her sons and walked toward her ship on the shore. The Emperor Sword, which was still in the ground, quickly transformed into the bicorne hat Napoleon and flew after her, landing on her head.
....
On the Marine warship, Diarmuid and Borsalino watched for a while, a little disappointed that Charlotte Linlin hadn't chased them. If she had, they might have gotten a surprise result.
A Marine medic was bandaging Diarmuid's chest. Diarmuid slowly lit a cigar. "That old hag is really something else…"
"Old hag? She's only in her forties, you know?" Borsalino said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, in her prime," Diarmuid agreed.
"I know how strong she is. But you were able to fight her to a standstill… that was a bit unexpected," Borsalino said with a smile.
Diarmuid exhaled a puff of smoke, looked down at the bandages on his chest, and grinned. "A standstill? Don't flatter me. I can tell who's stronger, and that old hag is a full step ahead of me."
Borsalino pulled out a pair of nail clippers from somewhere, stood in the sea breeze, and started trimming his nails. "She's in her forties, and you're in your twenties. It's hard to say who's stronger in the long run," he said teasingly.
"You have a point there," Diarmuid admitted, nodding.
"This will be a valuable experience for you. After facing Charlotte Linlin, I doubt many people on this sea will be able to threaten you anymore," Borsalino said with a smile.
Diarmuid nodded, then asked with a hint of longing, "If Charlotte Linlin is this powerful, then what's the 'World's Strongest Man,' Whitebeard, like?"
"Whitebeard?" Borsalino murmured. "If we had run into him today, we wouldn't have gotten away so easily. When that old man gets angry, he can shake the whole sea… no, when he gets angry, there's no safe place to run, not even at the ends of the world."
"The world's strongest…" Diarmuid whispered to himself, a look of fascination in his eyes.
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