Paramount War (7) [4/5]
Arthur and Jozu faced each other from dozens of meters apart.
Their gazes met like a line on the horizon, and no one dared approach within hundreds of meters of them.
The atmosphere on the battlefield was oppressive, the air thick with a suffocating tension.
Arthur tightened his grip on his sword hilt, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
In an instant, Arthur moved!
Whoosh—
He vanished from where he stood like a beam of white light, leaving a deep footprint in the icy ground as Arthur charged at Jozu with Excalibur in hand.
"Hah!"
Matching Arthur's imposing momentum, Jozu charged to meet him, his massive frame pounding the ground with a rumble like mountains shifting.
Mana Burst (A)—
Armament Haki (C+)—
As he ran, Arthur activated the mana within him, using his innate skill Mana Burst (A) and Armament Haki. The power systems of two worlds strengthened his body and weapon at the same time.
At that moment, a hint of ferocity emerged from Arthur's otherwise graceful bearing.
Boom!!
Without unleashing a sword wave, Arthur simply swung Excalibur. A brilliant light flashed in his emerald-green eyes as his blade collided with Jozu's incoming fist.
A deafening sound rang out, and a sonic boom erupted from the two of them.
The ground beneath them caved in over a wide area in an instant, countless cracks spreading outward like threads spun by a spider.
The web of cracks stretched for hundreds of meters.
The battle, which had drastically altered the terrain, drew countless gazes.
"Hey, hey... You've got to be kidding!"
"That guy actually took Captain Jozu's punch head-on? Is that for real?!"
"Not only did he avoid getting sent flying, but he even looks like he's evenly matched with Captain Jozu. Am I dreaming?!"
"..."
The disbelieving voices came from the crew of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Even the other division commanders widened their eyes, unable to hide their shock.
As members of the Whitebeard Pirates, they all knew how terrifying Jozu's strength was.
For a great swordsman, cleaving mountains and seas was as easy as drinking water.
But Jozu's strength was even more outrageous than that of a great swordsman.
A great swordsman could cut a mountain apart, but Jozu could rip an entire mountain from the ground.
In the original story, Aokiji suffered minor internal injuries when Jozu rammed him head-on, even though his Logia intangibility dissipated most of the force.
And now, a swordsman with a slender frame had blocked a punch Jozu had charged up on the run, head-on?!
Like everyone else, the division commanders found it utterly fantastical.
Like everyone else, the division commanders found it utterly fantastical.
You've got to be kidding!!
"That kid actually blocked Jozu's punch..." Aboard the Moby Dick, Marco looked stunned, more astonished than anyone.
Beside him, Whitebeard also frowned slightly and looked down at Arthur once more.
Over the past few decades, newcomers had emerged on the seas one after another,
But neither Ace nor any other promising youngster had been enough to make Whitebeard's expression change. At most, he would praise them with his distinctive laugh.
And now, less than half an hour into the war,
Arthur had gone from being ignored to being acknowledged and taken seriously by Whitebeard.
Whitebeard had to admit that this exceedingly young brat was more outstanding than "Red-Haired" Shanks, the former apprentice on Roger's ship who was now one of the Four Emperors.
At the very least, Shanks had not been able to shine so brightly at this age.
Whoosh—
The piercing wind had been blowing for some time, and the icy ground beneath them was like a field of ruins. Arthur's sword and Jozu's fist trembled violently.
As though locked in a contest of strength, the Golden Sword and the diamond arm before them pushed back and forth, their clashing strength and Haki continuing to unleash waves of invisible force...
"You brat... Stop forcing yourself!" Jozu said in a low voice through clenched diamond teeth, pressing his arm against the blade.
"Heh... Heh heh..."
Arthur was also gritting his teeth. Sweat had appeared on his forehead, and his face had turned slightly pale from the rapid consumption of his mana, but he still wore a faint smile. "I've already seen it—the sight of your defeat!"
"Invisible Air—"
The magnificent blade of Excalibur, which he was pressing forward with all his strength, suddenly began to alter the refraction of light, gradually turning transparent from its golden form.
If Jozu had not felt the resistance in front of him, he might even have suspected that Arthur's sword had vanished.
The winds of the world gathered as if drawn by a magnet.
They whipped up the hem of Arthur's knightly attire.
Arthur suddenly stepped back and bent slightly, abandoning the contest of strength with Jozu as he thrust his invisible sword at him.
"Strike Air!!"
Limited by his height, Arthur drove the sword's tip into Jozu's stomach and chanted calmly.
Boom!!
Excalibur, which had been in a vacuum state, once again revealed its magnificent form. Carrying a concentrated gale, it became a drill-like spear of storm winds that struck Jozu.
In an instant, Jozu's massive frame left the ground and flew backward.
Crack—
As he flew backward, the spear of storm winds spun furiously against the point where it had struck Jozu, attacking more than a dozen times in a single second.
"Oh no!"
At last, a breaking sound reached Jozu's ears, and his expression changed drastically.
"Pfft—"
The next moment, Jozu felt a sharp pain and spat out a mouthful of blood.
He flew backward for hundreds of meters before the spear of storm winds finally dissipated.
Unfortunately, Strike Air had failed to pierce Jozu all the way through.
It had merely left a circular, bloody wound on his stomach.
"**Ding! You have won this battle. Accumulated victories: 55!**"
Chapter 93: Paramount War (7) [4/5]
"**Ding! You have won this battle. Accumulated victories: 55!**"
The system notification sounded in Arthur's mind, and a warm current immediately surged through his body, bringing a look of delight to his face.
Like a breeze sweeping away fallen leaves, the warm current moved like a whirlpool, traveling through his entire body in an instant. It swept away all his fatigue and strengthened him, elevating Arthur in every respect.
After using Excalibur, Mana Burst (A), and Strike Air in succession, Arthur's mana had nearly run dry. As the warm current swept through him and the dragon factor generated mana on its own, it recovered at an astonishing rate with every breath.
In less than half a minute, Arthur had recovered as much as half his mana.
Looking at Jozu, who lay motionless ahead with a ship's doctor already tending to him, Arthur's lips curled into a pleased smile.
Just as he had thought, defeating Diamond Jozu had brought enormous rewards.
Near-Admiral strength and a world-famous reputation, combined!
The strengthening this time was more than twice what he had gained from Crocodile and Enel.
After the warm current faded, Arthur could clearly feel that his four attributes, which had reached a bottleneck, had finally broken through.
Name: Arthur Pendragon Height: 181 cm Weight: 69 kg Strength: B (A-) Endurance: B (A) Agility: B (A+) Mana: B Luck: ~~EX Innate skills: Instinct (A), Mana Burst (A), Giant Beast Hunting (A), Charisma (D) Skills: Observation Haki (A++), Armament Haki (B), Swordsmanship (A), Spear Technique (B) ...
This strengthening had sent Arthur's four attributes soaring by a considerable margin.
Back in the Sabaody Archipelago, defeating "Mad Monk" Urouge had brought Arthur's four attributes to a bottleneck, and the Victory Index from "Roar of the Sea" Scratchmen Apoo and "Red Flag" X Drake had left that bottleneck riddled with cracks.
This time, the defeat of Diamond Jozu, the third division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, made Arthur's four attributes break through like a collapsing dam, skipping straight past rank B- to reach rank B. With the additional boost from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Arthur was now a genuine "monster class."
"Wh-what just happened?"
"Captain Jozu... was... was defeated!"
"That damn bounty hunter actually defeated Captain Jozu!"
"You've got to be kidding. A mere newcomer actually defeated Captain Jozu..."
"..."
"..."
Strike Air had defeated Diamond Jozu in an instant, and judging by Jozu's condition, he seemed badly injured. The result struck the members of the Whitebeard Pirates like a bolt from the blue. They clutched their heads in disbelief, only to be caught off guard and killed by nearby Marines who seized the opening.
One of the three great figures beneath Whitebeard had fallen, and the blow to morale was severe.
"Don't let your guard down! Jozu is only injured; he isn't dead!" Seeing many of the crew panic, Marco erupted in blue flames aboard the Moby Dick and flew high into the air. "Leave that bounty hunter to me!" he shouted. "Keep moving forward! Our goal is to rescue Ace and crush the Marines!"
"Yes... Captain Marco!"
"Die, you treacherous Marines!"
"Ganging up on us and acting so shamelessly! Die, die!!"
"..."
With the second-in-command they all acknowledged having spoken, the Whitebeard Pirates' shaken morale immediately stabilized. They erupted with even greater ferocity than before and attacked the Marines in front of them, their eyes red.
It was as though they wanted to make the Marines pay for what had happened.
These worthless Marines were no match for Captain Jozu, so they had hired a bounty hunter to help.
With this self-persuasion, the Whitebeard Pirates' fighting strength erupted in full.
"Fufufufu~~ As a third party working with the Marines, he's become the center of attention on the battlefield. That kid's presence is truly dazzling!" Watching the changing mood of the battlefield from atop the high wall, Doflamingo could not help but grin wickedly.
"Hee hee hee... The more ability he shows, the greater the danger he'll face when he goes to the New World," Moria said with a strange laugh, as though he could see Arthur dying young: a tree that stood above the forest was bound to be broken by the wind.
That spear of wind wasn't a slash. It was the same kind of attack as the Golden Torrent from earlier.
Unlike Doflamingo and Moria, Mihawk's yellow eyes flashed sharply as he replayed Arthur's thrust in his mind—the Strike Air that had crushed even Jozu's diamond, the World's Strongest physical defense.
The more Mihawk thought about it, the more uncontrollably his blood began to boil.
The King's Sword with its special abilities, and his superb swordsmanship.