Don leapt high and landed on the sandy shore of the island.
His feet sank into the soft sand as his gaze locked onto Koushirou standing not far away.
"This time, go all out. I want to push myself to the limit."
Don repeated his request, and the moment the words left his lips, his Observation Haki spread open at full force.
He had crossed blades with Koushirou countless times before. Though his master had never fought with true killing intent, Don had come to know his swordsmanship well.
And despite Koushirou's insistence that his family's inherited style of the Shimotsuki school was what he excelled at, Don knew very well: a true top-tier swordsman was never that simple.
"That was my plan as well."
Koushirou calmly adjusted his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses unwavering as they met Don's.
"Think of this as your graduation exam. You may be the most gifted disciple I've ever instructed in my lifetime."
He knew Don had always held something back. That fiery power—the flames Don carried—he had never once used in their previous duels. Perhaps this time, he would finally reveal it.
With that thought, Koushirou drew the famed blade Wado Ichimonji. Black Armament Haki flowed up his arm, wrapping around the blade in rippling patterns like waves across water.
Don mirrored him. He grasped the hilt of his long blade Flame, slowly drawing it free. Armament Haki coursed over its steel, coiling along its length.
In the next instant, the sand beneath their feet erupted.
Clang!
The sharp clash of steel rang out as the two swords met, shockwaves blasting outward. Rippling air pressure tore across the beach and sea, sending concentric waves outward.
Even distant trees bent and cracked beneath the force.
"You know my strength isn't where I'm weak!"
Don's expression hardened. He drove his right arm forward with explosive force, hurling Koushirou backward. In a flash, Don followed, Flame cutting a massive arc as it came down toward his airborne master.
Koushirou's Wado Ichimonji, coated in Armament Haki, intercepted the strike, shifting his body upward. A pitch-black slash ripped past beneath him, carving through the island's forest and leaving an immense scar across the land.
"I told you before—a swordsman must learn to control his strength."
Landing lightly, Koushirou's Observation Haki had already gauged the sheer destructive power behind that blow. He turned his eyes to Don.
"You did say that," Don admitted. "But that kind of restraint isn't for me."
He leveled Flame before him. A burst of orange-red fire swirled around the blade, spiraling upward like twisting serpents of flame.
"Fire is meant to burn—fierce, explosive. Fire will never be calm."
As he spoke, his fiery blade drew a blazing afterimage through the air. With heat and fury surging, Don brought Flame down toward Koushirou.
Koushirou sidestepped, Wado Ichimonji flashing with dim light as it stabbed toward Don's wrist.
But Don's strike shifted mid-swing—the downward slash twisting sideways into a sweeping cut. Their blades met once more, the steel screaming against each other.
Again, Koushirou borrowed force to retreat, but Don pressed forward mercilessly, flame-wreathed strikes pouring down.
Scorching slashes howled through the air, each one forcing the temperature higher and higher.
"Impressive strikes!" Koushirou praised as he backstepped, though he could not widen the gap.
Compared to Koushirou's refined technique, Don's swordplay was raw—simple, direct, driven by brute force.
Koushirou had long warned him: the seas were filled with monstrous bodies and overwhelming might. Relying purely on strength alone could spell disaster.
But Don had chosen this path regardless.
This was a duel between power and technique.
Koushirou's feet tapped lightly against the sand as he glided forward, silent as a shadow. His blade split into afterimages, thrusting toward Don's eyes.
Yet the gleaming edge of Wado Ichimonji struck only hardened Haki, colliding with Don's hand instead of flesh. Not even a scratch.
"Again…" Koushirou thought bitterly, withdrawing his blade. He redirected into another clash with Flame, twisting his body into a spin. Using momentum, he flipped through the air and thrust again.
He already knew—Don's body was far from ordinary. He had sensed it countless times. Wounding him was near impossible.
But no matter how monstrous the talent, even such a body had to have limits.
Don instinctively withdrew, barely avoiding the thrust aimed at his torso.
Slash! slash! slash!
Dark, heavy arcs of sword energy burst from Koushirou's blade. His body flowed within them, each motion seamless, as if he himself were a slash of steel.
"You should recognize this strike."
Don slid Flame back into its sheath, his hand resting on the hilt.
"Flame—Caress Slash!"
With a single motion, the blade drew a line that seemed to cleave space itself. The oncoming waves of sword energy shattered in an instant, and before Koushirou could react, Flame was already before him.
Boom!
The strike hurled him away, his body tumbling before crashing into the distant forest.
Don's long sword angled toward the ground. He looked toward where Koushirou had fallen—then glanced down at his abdomen.
The fabric there had been split open.
"Incredible…"
He hadn't even realized when he had been struck. Not even his Observation Haki had caught it.
"It seems I have no choice but to use my full strength."
Koushirou's voice carried from the trees. In the next moment, he soared into the air, Haki flowing like waves across his Wado Ichimonji.
From above, he plunged down like a hawk.
A grin spread across Don's face. His legs bent, Armament Haki surged into Flame, feeding the fire burning bright along its length.
The beach exploded beneath his feet as he launched upward.
Behind him, a vast cloak of flame streamed like an orange-red mantle, his sweeping blade carving a fiery circle through the sky.
Clang!
Steel collided midair, one strike rising, the other descending. For a heartbeat, the swords locked in deadlock—before slipping past each other in a lethal graze.
Don's face hardened, his eyes catching Koushirou's blade sliding by at his flank.
[HP: 87%]
Don spun in the air, gaze fixed on Koushirou as he descended.
But Koushirou gave him no respite. Mid-fall, he twisted and shot upward once more, Wado Ichimonji gleaming with a killing edge as it slashed toward Don.
Don clenched his fist and countered, colliding with the blade. But without footing to anchor him, he lost the clash, sent flying by the strike.
In an instant, the battle had shifted—now Koushirou pressed the offense.
From every angle, blades and slashes rained down. His form blurred into countless afterimages, each carrying lethal weight.
Don swung Flame in sweeping arcs, deflecting what he could, but still, countless strikes carved into his body.
Boom!
A massive slash sent him crashing down from the sky, slamming into the ground below.
Rip!
With a single motion, Don tore away what remained of his shredded shirt, revealing his bare torso. Despite the punishment, not a single wound marred his skin.
Yet
[HP: 48%]
Koushirou landed, breathing heavily, staring at his unscathed disciple. His eyes flickered with a trace of helplessness.