"Phew—" Nobunaga let out a long breath, gripping the hilt of Oto with both hands.
"Feel the breath of all things..."
"Iaido: Draw Sword Slash—"
The famous sword in his hand whistled out. A slender flying slash was unleashed, triggering a sharp sonic boom in the air.
This strike was so fast it was fundamentally invisible—
The tension was maxed out—
Swish—
Mr. 3 only felt a chill on his body. The Candle Champion was instantly sliced into two incredibly smooth halves by the flying slash, exposing his wrapped body.
Mr. 3's eyes widened in disbelief, his mouth gaping into an O shape.
"Damn it! It's not time to give up yet! Wax Museum!"
Falling in mid-air, Mr. 3 used his last life-saving ability. In an instant, dozens of wax figures identical to him appeared around his body.
Mr. 3's figure blended in among them.
"Now how can you distinguish which one is me! Gwahahahaha—"
Mr. 3 manipulated the wax figures into a dazzling display of activity.
Looking at this scene, Nobunaga lowered his head.
"My En range isn't large enough, nor broad enough. I indeed cannot sense which one is the real you."
"In the past, I might have clumsily destroyed them one by one."
"But now—"
He raised his head, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly to reveal strong confidence.
Under the control of the Float-Float Fruit, countless sharp icicles continuously vibrated on the ground, then slowly rose up.
Icicles filled the sky, adjusting their angles and slowly rotating, their sharp tips all pointing at Mr. 3.
"Now I will only say one thing:"
"Flashy tricks are vulnerable in the face of absolute power—"
Looking at the dense icicles, Mr. 3 felt a chill run down his spine, a piercing coldness shooting straight to his skull.
"What ability is this exactly?!!"
Mr. 3 finally yielded, an expression of unprecedented terror on his face, but it was too late.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
The sky full of icicles shot out explosively.
Mr. 3 felt that within his vision, heaven and earth were completely filled by this white force.
Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack—
The icicles instantly pierced through all the wax figures.
Mr. 3 could indeed elementalize like a Logia user, but his stats were too low, and he had no Observation Haki for early warning.
Therefore, he had no time to react to Nobunaga's attack!
His main body, under this attack, didn't have time to melt. He was pierced through, coughed up blood, and slowly fell to the ground.
Chrollo nodded with satisfaction watching this scene.
Feeling the breath of all things, analyzing the structure and weakness of objects, thereby cutting through hard steel.
This was precisely the realm of a Sword Master.
And swinging the sword to generate flying slashes capable of attacking enemies from a distance.
This was the signal of advancing towards becoming a Great Swordsman!
Nobunaga's flying slashes... finally showed some promise!
It was just that the flying slash was still too thin, too short, and the distance it traveled was limited.
However... he had taken a crucial step!
These three battles did not exceed Chrollo's expectations in the slightest.
These members of Baroque Works generally had bounties of around 20 to 30 million. How could they possibly match the current Troupe members?
Except for Mr. 3, the other two's ability development was too shallow!
Take the Bomb-Bomb Fruit, for example. If it could turn boogers, exhaled air, and even punches and kicks into bombs, then it could certainly be developed to turn other things touched by the user into bombs!
In Chrollo's view, this was basically Deidara reincarnated, without even needing to knead clay.
But Mr. 5 only used it to pick boogers!
Everything on the field was within Chrollo's expectations. Only the last group remained.
He looked over with interest.
---
Compared to the first three battles, the situation of the fourth battle was very strange...
It was actually quite harmonious between the two.
Miss Goldenweek, small and cute, had a rice cracker in her mouth. She held a palette in her left hand and a paintbrush in her right, painting and writing.
Opposite her, the equally small Feitan actually just stood there without attacking her at all!
"Why isn't Feitan attacking?"
Bonney looked enviously at the rice cracker in Miss Goldenweek's mouth and asked in confusion.
"Is he showing mercy to a cute little girl?"
"I'm a little girl too! I've never seen Feitan show mercy to me!"
Bonney recalled Feitan's fierce appearance during their usual sparring sessions. She put her hands on her hips, looking dissatisfied.
"Oh~ I know!"
She said mysteriously to Chrollo: "Does Feitan like short people?"
She looked at the two on the field with a sigh.
"Speaking of which, their heights really match!"
"....." Match your head! Feitan would definitely beat you to death if he heard that!
Chrollo was speechless for a moment.
"Feitan, do something! I want to eat her rice cracker!" Bonney couldn't help shouting at Feitan on the field.
"Shut up. If you make any more noise, I'll kill you!" Feitan said expressionlessly.
"Why are you so fierce—just because she's cute..."
Bonney looked dissatisfied, but since Feitan usually spoke in this tone, she didn't suspect anything.
However, Chrollo noticed something was off!
Wrong!
For Feitan, whose hobby was torture, the concept of showing mercy to the fairer sex didn't exist.
And the reason he took no action was...
Feitan was under the influence of the opponent's ability!
It must be so.
But although Chrollo was an anime fan, he really couldn't remember the details of a minor character like Miss Goldenweek's ability clearly.
So he secretly used his [Visual Eye] to look over.
Then... a surprised expression appeared on his face...
Miss Goldenweek had not eaten a Devil Fruit!
Which meant... the ability she possessed...
Through superb talent and belief in her beloved painting, she had comprehended and awakened a talent ability like Komugi's Gungi in Hunter x Hunter—
There was only one possibility—
"It's Nen!"
Chrollo affirmed this instantly!
Whether it was the form or the way of awakening, it was undoubtedly "Nen"!
Someone in the Pirate World could actually awaken Nen abilities?
Could it be...
Chrollo couldn't help looking back at Uvogin.
Uvogin scratched his head in confusion.
Is it... possible? Is this really the Dark Continent?
Even Chrollo began to doubt if Uvogin's perception was actually the correct one—
After scolding Bonney, Feitan turned his head to look at Miss Goldenweek and asked expressionlessly:
"What is wrong with me? Why do I subconsciously contradict my companions and feel dissatisfied with the hunting mission assigned by the Boss?"
Feitan was a meticulous person. He discovered the anomaly the moment this emotion arose, which was why he asked subconsciously.
"Well~"
Miss Goldenweek raised the paintbrush dipped in black paint in her right hand, a triumphant look on her face.
"Because you've been hit by my Black of Betrayal~"
Feitan narrowed his eyes and looked down.
At his feet, a hidden, strange pattern drawn with black paint was firmly circling him.
"Heh~"
The corners of Feitan's mouth couldn't help but lift in an arc.
"Seeing so many straightforward abilities in this Dark Continent, I almost forgot..."
He raised his head, looking at Miss Goldenweek with mockery in his eyes.
"The fun of... strategic maneuvering in battles between Nen users—"