Tenbu Hōrin

Mingo said nothing after hearing Goriki's words, but inwardly, he cursed his mother.

You make it sound so easy. If I really dared to clash with you head-on, I'd only lose faster!

Gritting his teeth, Mingo gripped his sword with both hands, leaped into the sky with Geppo, then turned toward Goriki. Chidori gave off a dark black glow.

"One-Sword Slash!"

The so-called One-Sword Slash only sounded impressive. Put plainly, it was a simple overhead cleave.

Still, though the strike was simple, combined with the momentum of Mingo descending from the sky, its power increased by at least several times.

"Ohohohohoho! Now that's what a man should be like—but it's still useless!"

Goriki raised his hand and threw a punch, colliding with Mingo's Chidori. With a single blow, he sent Chidori flying away.

But his expression suddenly changed. Stomping his foot, he swiftly retreated, blood flowing from his chest.

Mingo's One-Sword Slash had looked imposing, but it had actually contained no force at all. The moment it met Goriki's iron fist, it was completely knocked away. Yet, taking advantage of the moment when Goriki's strength had already been spent, Mingo suddenly reached out and grabbed for his heart.

A closer look would reveal that Mingo's outstretched hand had become incomparably illusory, like a phantom. It ignored Armament Haki and pierced into Goriki's chest.

Fortunately, although Goriki's Observation Haki was not especially refined, he had fought countless battles and possessed extremely sharp instincts. The instant Mingo's phantasmal fingers entered his chest, he reacted and retreated rapidly, avoiding having his heart ripped out.

Even though he had retreated in time, Mingo's move still tore several pounds of flesh from his chest, breaking him out in a cold sweat.

Experts on the seas were all tough-skinned and durable. When they fought, one-hit kills were rare. But Mingo's move just now had been both strange and dangerous, capable of killing even the strongest opponent in a single strike.

"Ohohohohoho! I never expected you to be a Devil Fruit ability user. What a terrifying Devil Fruit ability. You nearly took me out."

Goriki had narrowly escaped death, yet an excited smile appeared on his face. "Sure enough, only battles of life and death can make me improve!"

Mingo shook the blood from his hand and frowned. His Chidori had been knocked far away, nearly falling into the sea.

Without his weapon, his combat strength had dropped by at least another thirty percent. And once his phasing attack had been seen through, a successful sneak attack would be unlikely.

It seemed impossible to defeat his opponent by conventional means. Mingo sighed inwardly, then looked into Goriki's eyes.

Illusion—Tsukuyomi!

Goriki, whose face had been full of excitement and fervor, immediately went blank after Mingo looked at him.

Goriki only felt his head spin before falling into a strange space, his entire body bound tightly by Sea Stone chains.

A blood-red moon hung in the sky, while the earth was pitch-black. There was no one else in the entire space. Only Mingo stood before him, holding Chidori.

"What's going on? What is this place?" Goriki's face was full of shock as he struggled with all his strength. Naturally, the result was that he remained completely unable to move.

Mingo did not say a word. He knew very well that in this world, the unknown was the most terrifying thing of all, so he did not explain anything to Goriki.

The only thing he did was raise Chidori and viciously stab it into him!

Twenty-four hours quickly passed in the Illusion Space.

"Damn it! Tsukuyomi isn't very effective. The people of the Pirate World have endurance and willpower that are just ridiculously strong!"

Looking at Goriki, whom he had tortured for twenty-four hours, Mingo finally saw the difference between the two worlds clearly. Goriki's eyes were tired, yet brighter than ever, like a blade honed on a whetstone.

Goriki was not yet a top-tier powerhouse in the Pirate World, but in terms of toughness and endurance, perhaps only the Third Raikage in the Naruto world could compare to him.

Then there were the experts of the Pirate World, who fought for days and nights at a time whenever war broke out.

When Whitebeard attacked Navy Headquarters, he was already old, weak, and covered in injuries. His chest was pierced through and half his head was gone, yet he could still continue fighting for hundreds of rounds.

Kozuki Oden had been thrown into a pot of boiling oil and cooked alive for an entire hour, yet he acted as though nothing had happened. He did not utter a single cry of pain and even endured it to save his nine retainers. He was more monstrous than any monster.

From that alone, one could see just how terrifying these people's endurance and vitality were.

Tsukuyomi might have been a powerful illusion in the Naruto world because those fragile people of that world were far too lacking in both endurance and resistance.

But against these rough men of the Pirate World, the power of this kind of mental torture was greatly weakened. Goriki was naturally far inferior to Whitebeard and Kozuki Oden, yet he could still endure Tsukuyomi's torment.

"This is a lesson too. The two worlds clearly can't be treated as entirely equal. Some skills may possess boundless power in Naruto, but in the Pirate World, they can only deal with fodder."

As Mingo thought this, he casually stabbed him again. Then he felt a terrifying aura crash into him, and his head immediately spun.

Enormous cracks appeared throughout the entire Tsukuyomi world. That terrifying aura surged out from the bound Goriki in wave after wave, like an ocean tide.

Mingo took half a step back and immediately realized what had happened. "Damn it! Is this the so-called villain's halo? Does every enemy I fight have a high chance of breaking through in the middle of battle?"

What else could this scene mean? His opponent had awakened Conqueror's Haki!

The Tsukuyomi space soon shattered completely, and the two instantly returned to reality. Under the impact of that powerful Conqueror's Haki, all the marines and other pirates aboard the ship immediately fainted.

"Ohohohohoho! What an interesting skill. Sure enough, fighting the strong is the most correct thing there is."

"For making me stronger, I'll spare you this time. Keep growing stronger, then come before me."

With a magnanimous expression, Goriki spoke to Mingo.

Mingo was so furious that smoke practically came out of his ears, and his face twisted. "You don't really think that means you've won, do you?!"

Does this guy really think he's the protagonist? He wants to use me as a whetstone? What does he think this is, some power-leveling fantasy novel?!

"Not willing to accept it? Then keep growing stronger—"

"Illusion—Tenbu Hōrin!"

Mingo did not listen any further. This time, he used his strongest mental-type illusion the moment he attacked.

Tenbu Hōrin had been inspired by the strongest technique of Shaka, the Virgo Gold Saint from Saint Seiya. It could instantly sever an opponent's six senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and thought.

In the Pirate World, that meant severing the five senses along with Observation Haki. Naturally, the stronger the opponent, the more difficult it was to sever their six senses.

Unfortunately, though Goriki was strong, he was not strong enough to withstand Mingo's move. In a single strike, he was completely controlled.