Old Man, Your Mustache Fell Off!

The tear in the clouds had yet to close, and black and red lightning still crackled wildly high overhead.

Zhenyuan and Murakumogiri pressed against each other without touching, their wielders' Haki clashing furiously between them.

Veins bulged on Ron's arms as he tried to push his sword down another inch.

Whitebeard grinned. "Gurarara! You've got some strength, kid!"

"But you're still a long way off!"

Murakumogiri shuddered violently.

Crack!

The air between them fractured like glass. A white shockwave burst through the Haki barrier and shot straight at Ron's chest!

Ron's eyelid twitched. An Air Door opened in front of him, and he used the force driving him backward to slide dozens of meters away.

Boom!

Dense cracks erupted across the spot where they had just clashed, and even the waves below were shaken into collapse.

Ron stood on a threshold in midair, Zhenyuan hanging at his side as he looked across at Whitebeard, who had Murakumogiri resting on his shoulder.

"Gurarara! Sakazuki's kid has some fine swordsmanship!"

"Then you've got the wrong idea."

Ron suddenly let go with his left hand and traced a line through the empty sky.

With a crack, a pitch-black crack of a door appeared without warning in the air beside Whitebeard's left shoulder.

As the door opened, the edge of the space became a blade and sliced straight at his neck.

Whitebeard's gaze sharpened, and he turned his head, narrowly avoiding it.

Slish!

A corner of his cloak was sliced off. Before the scrap of cloth could fall, a second door had opened behind his waist!

"Dimension Slash: Silent Blade!"

Ron closed his hand.

With a series of cracks, more than a dozen doorways snapped shut at once, their sharp spatial boundaries slicing across one another from every direction!

"Good one, kid!"

Whitebeard clenched his fist and slammed a translucent sphere of vibration into the air around him.

"Air Quake!"

Crack—

Weblike fractures burst outward. The doors that had yet to close were shaken askew and shattered, while several black lines grazed his Armament Haki-covered arm, leaving only a shallow trace of blood.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Now this is interesting!"

The door beneath his feet flipped over, and he vanished instantly.

The next moment, a giant door burst open above Whitebeard. What came out wasn't Ron, but a whole mass of seawater that had been swept high into the air!

The immense torrent crashed down, but Whitebeard threw back his head and laughed.

"You're trying to scare me with seawater?!"

Murakumogiri, wreathed in Haki, swept sharply upward.

Boom!!

The waterfall-like torrent burst apart down the middle. A white shockwave tore through the curtain of rain and blasted a huge hole in the dark clouds above.

But behind the curtain of water, Ron had already raised Zhenyuan.

He swung, and dozens of long, narrow Spatial Doors opened one after another along the path of his blade, closing in on Whitebeard from above, below, and both sides at once.

"Dimension Slash: Eight Directions Burial!"

Clang, clang, clang!

Whitebeard swept Murakumogiri across his body, knocking aside three slashes in one stroke.

Then a violent tremor burst beneath his feet, and the recoil sent his massive body soaring into the air, clear of the two door blades below.

The final slash came from behind. Without even turning his head, he slammed his left fist backward!

Boom!

The Spatial Door shattered on the spot, and the force of the slash reversed, shooting back through Ron's own exit!

"Shit!"

Ron hurriedly closed the door and twisted aside.

Whitebeard had already caught up, propelled by a brief tremor beneath his feet.

"Gurarara! Did you lure me out to sea because you were afraid we'd wreck your warship?"

"You say that like you'd be willing to wreck the Moby Dick!"

"Brat! You've got a mouth on you!!"

Murakumogiri swept toward him.

Ron caught it with his sword held crosswise. Two streams of black and red lightning exploded in midair, and a shockwave traveled through the blade, numbing his wrists.

The next moment, three thin doors suddenly appeared beside Whitebeard's ribs.

"Rift Gate!"

Whitebeard had sensed it coming. He pressed down on the shaft of his weapon, unleashing Armament Haki and shockwaves at once, forcibly preventing the three doorways from closing.

"Kid, I've figured it out!"

"No matter how fast your doors open, they still need somewhere to appear!"

Instead of pursuing Ron, he punched the exit that had yet to take shape beside his feet.

With a crack, the doorframe Ron was supposed to step through next shifted half a foot.

In that half-foot gap, Murakumogiri came slashing straight down at him!

"Shockwave Slash!"

Boom!

Ron raised Zhenyuan and managed to block the blade, but he was shaken dozens of meters backward, his chest churning.

"You can even disrupt where they appear like that..."

He shook out his hands, his eyes shining even brighter.

"Interesting!"

Whitebeard suddenly pulled back his weapon and thrust his left fist down toward the sea.

"Seaquake!"

Crack—

A kilometer of sea rose as though a giant hand had heaved it up from below. Two rows of enormous waves reared high on either side, trapping Ron between them.

"You old man, are you addicted to tearing up the sea now?!"

Ron flung his left hand open, and the space ahead unfolded in layers.

More than a hundred narrow doors opened in layers along the walls of water. The wave crests were sliced apart one after another, and seawater spouted into the sky from exits farther away.

Whitebeard had already charged through the waves, weapon in hand, and closed in.

"Trying to stuff my Seaquake into your pocket too? Not so easily!"

Ron planted his feet on a stable threshold and attacked fiercely with his sword.

Clang, clang, clang—!

Zhenyuan was frighteningly heavy, yet in his hands it moved so fast that only afterimages remained.

Whitebeard countered each strike with Murakumogiri, every collision cracking the air around them.

Ron suddenly drew back his sword and flicked the fingers of his freed left hand in quick succession.

Five tiny doors, each the size of a needlepoint, opened around Whitebeard at once, their cutting edges aimed squarely at the gap between his hands and the shaft of his weapon.

Whitebeard's eyelid twitched. He released and changed his grip, then swept the long shaft around, vibrations enveloping it and shattering every blade edge.

"Gurarara! You don't just know how to open doors, you've trained well with a sword too!"

"No shit! You think I carry a sword this big around to weigh down my ship?!"

The two clashed again, black and red lightning filling the sky and churning the sea of clouds.

Aboard the Moby Dick, Marco watched with a grave expression.

"That kid's actually managed to fight Pops for this long..."

For a moment, no one on the Moby Dick's deck replied.

At the stern, Teach had wiped the smile from his face at some point.

Aboard the warship, Vergo was already numb from watching.

Law gripped the railing tightly, his voice strained. "Master can actually fight the World's Strongest like this..."

"Gurarara! Kid, are you done showing off your tricks?"

"I've got something even more fun!"

Ron raised his sword in a feint, and a small door quietly opened at his side.

He stepped inside and flashed out to Whitebeard's left the next instant.

Whitebeard seemed half a beat too slow, still holding Murakumogiri across his front and leaving a wide opening at his side.

An opening!

Ron thrust his sword straight at him.

Just as the blade drew close, Whitebeard suddenly let go with his left hand.

A white sphere of vibration abruptly solidified around his fist!

"Kid! A fight isn't won by whoever has more doors!!"

Boom!

Crack!

Whitebeard drove his fist hard into Ron's side.

Armament Haki protected his body, but it couldn't stop the violent vibrations from passing through him.

Ron grunted and flew backward, smashing through two doorframes he had hastily opened.

"Master—!!!"

Law's eyes went wide at the sight, his shout almost breaking.

Marco finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Just as I thought. Pops is still Pops."

Whitebeard, however, narrowed his eyes.

The kid's body was ridiculously tough. That punch wasn't enough to put him down.

Ron was about to crash into the sea.

With a crack, a giant door suddenly opened on the surface and swallowed him whole.

A second later, another door opened above Whitebeard. Ron emerged clutching his waist, sucking in sharp breaths from the pain.

"Ow—damn old man! You hit fucking hard!!"

"Gurarara! You can still curse after taking one of my punches?"

"Of course I can!"

Ron grinned and raised his sword in his right hand, taking a slashing stance, while his left hand quietly opened a door.

"Here's a gift in return!"

Zhenyuan swept out, sending a conspicuous pitch-black slash flying.

Whitebeard raised his weapon and shattered it, but his Observation Haki suddenly sounded the alarm.

Something's wrong!

Ron gently brought two fingers of his left hand together.

"Dimension Slash: Instant!"

A nearly invisible doorway snapped shut right beside Whitebeard's face!

Whitebeard immediately turned his head to protect his vital spots.

With a slicing sound, the pitch-black line skimmed his cheek. It didn't wound his skin, but it sliced a piece off the end of his crescent-shaped mustache!

A tuft of white mustache drifted slowly down and landed on the Moby Dick's deck.

Everything fell silent in an instant.

Ron froze for half a second, then burst out laughing, slapping his thigh.

"Pfft—hahahaha!!"

"Old man Newgate, your mustache fell off!!"

Even Whitebeard froze. He raised a hand to feel the corner of his mouth, and sure enough, a piece was missing.

Marco: "..."

Jozu: "..."

Vista: "..."

Teach: "..."

The sons: "..."

A young crewman pointed at the mustache on the deck, his voice changing pitch.

"P-Pops' mustache..."

"That Marine brat cut it off—?!!"