The Ox and the Tiger's First Battle

Inky clouds crowded the sky, so heavy they seemed ready to fall, pressing down until it was hard to breathe.

The indifferent sea wind swept fiercely across the island, stirring the waves on the beach and the distant woods into unrest.

Vidal looked up at the sky, speechless. Was his luck bad, or had Issho gotten lucky?

What rotten weather! If it wasn't going to rain, why did it have to block his precious treasure?

It wasn't a big deal to go without sunlight, but it still made him feel uncomfortable.

"Vidal, should we wait another day?" Issho asked, dressed in a purple kimono.

"No need."

Waiting another day would make him look too fussy. Vidal undid a few buttons at the collar of his shirt, his expression turning serious.

"Come on, let me see how much stronger you've gotten!"

"I won't disappoint you."

On the beach, amid the sea wind and beneath the dark clouds, Vidal and Issho faced each other from more than fifty meters apart, an aura full of fighting spirit rising from both of them.

There were no spectators, no referee, and no conflict. It was all for the sake of a promise!

When their auras reached their peaks, the first raindrop fell from the sky and shattered on the ground. Issho drew Shinra and slashed forward first.

[Whoosh!]

In an instant, a flash of blade light appeared, growing as it met the wind. But it did not seem to be an ordinary Flying Slash, for a rich purple glow and a faint green halo flowed across it!

"Gravity Shinra: Fierce Tiger." Issho lowered his eyes and spoke in a deep voice.

The powerful ability of a Devil Fruit had clearly been added to it. Not only that, Vidal could distinctly sense the presence of Armament Haki in it!

Going all out right from the start? In that case...

[Clap!]

Facing the purple blade light, which had already swelled to seven or eight meters long, Vidal clapped his palms together forcefully in front of him and shouted.

"Red Tree World Advent!"

The beach and part of the sea within a hundred-meter radius shook violently. Then, one thick mangrove after another burst out of the ground.

The newly formed mangrove forest silently blocked the blade light while concealing Vidal from view.

The terrifying blade light gradually dissipated after shattering more than a dozen mangroves. At the same time, Vidal silently emerged from the trunk of a mangrove behind Issho.

Issho's gaze sharpened. He quickly turned and raised his sword to block, and sure enough, a fist wreathed in Haki and green light slammed heavily into the wooden blade.

Vidal, who knew just how powerful Issho's Observation Haki was, was not surprised. He leaped straight out of the tree and launched a fierce assault.

[Clang, clang, clang, clang—]

A rapid series of metallic clashes spread through the mangrove forest.

Exquisite swordsmanship and formidable physical techniques collided again and again as the green and purple figures chased each other and fought fiercely at incredible speed.

Vidal and Issho had tacitly confined the first round of their fight to ordinary close combat.

The earlier Flying Slash and Red Tree World Advent had merely raised the curtain on a promised battle that was certain to be long.

Vidal's usual smile was nowhere to be seen. He had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the fierce battle, his fists and legs turning into a ferocious storm.

Issho narrowed his eyes, maintaining his high-speed footwork as he swung Shinra before him in streaks of sword light.

Whenever Vidal struck with a powerful fist or kick, Issho used the sensing ability of his Observation Haki to dodge, or relied on his ingenious swordsmanship to deflect the force pouring toward him like ocean waves.

Likewise, when Issho counterattacked with his blade from tricky angles, Vidal had to block with his fists or do his best to evade with Kami-e.

After yet another exchange and separation, Issho suddenly sheathed his wooden sword. Amid the sound of quick, rapid footsteps, his body blurred for a moment.

[Shing!]

[Swish—]

The next instant, he left a long trail of purple afterimages behind him as he passed through Vidal and several mangroves in the same line in a flash of blade light.

Issho came to a stop again, his sword tip pointed at the ground and his back to his friend. Identical straight, diagonal cuts appeared on the mangroves behind him, and the trees fell along their smooth cut surfaces.

But most importantly, a cut at the exact same angle had appeared on Vidal's neck. His head promptly slid off and fell to the ground along with the tree trunks.

For a moment, the atmosphere froze as the sea wind howled through the forest from afar.

"That was really ruthless, Issho. You went straight for my head!" Vidal's voice suddenly came from somewhere.

The headless body lost its color at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into two pieces of dry wood.

"It was only an iai slash. It shouldn't have been enough to kill you." Issho turned toward the source of the voice.

There, Vidal stood on a mangrove, looking down at him from above.

But immediately afterward, another Vidal appeared on a mangrove in a different direction and said, "It was more than that, wasn't it? Your speed just now wasn't normal."

A clone?

Issho frowned, because he found that his Observation Haki could not tell which one was real and which was fake.

Both of them gave off exactly the same aura!

"It was just a little trick of applying gravity to myself to increase my speed." After a pause, Issho raised his head and continued, "But as expected, I'm still not as fast as you."

Did he get the idea from Byrnndi World? Vidal wondered silently. It seemed Issho really had spent some time studying his Devil Fruit ability lately.

"Look around. This is my home ground."

Red Tree World Advent was not just for creating big trees to attack and defend with; it also allowed him to use Wood Release at any time.

But those words came from a third Vidal. The three Vidals now surrounded Issho in a triangle.

"May I ask why you all have the same aura?"

"Or are you actually all Wood Clones, with the real you hidden somewhere else? But..." Issho was full of confusion.

"But you haven't found anyone else's aura anywhere in the Red Tree World, right?" said the first Vidal to appear.

That was exactly what puzzled Issho. Given the range of his Observation Haki, a mangrove forest spanning a little over a hundred meters was nothing.

Normally, Vidal had no interest in explaining his moves to an opponent, but this was Issho.

Besides, even knowing the principle behind his Wood Clone would not do much good.

"Because I'm a Special Paramecia user. I can already transform my body into trees, and Wood Clones are trees by nature too!"

That was how it worked. If they were clones made with another Devil Fruit ability, they would of course be of limited use against Issho and his Observation Haki. They could even be called useless.

But his Wood Clones were different!

"I see. So the special ability of a Special Paramecia can be used this way too." Understanding dawned on Issho.

"This mangrove forest is full of trees too, so if you hide inside one, Observation Haki can only sense the aura of a tree. Naturally, it can't find your location."

The second Vidal gave a familiar smile. "How do you know whether I'm hiding or standing right in front of you?"

"But what use is that? Is it just to distract me?"

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