This time, he held nothing back.
Sam turned into a gray whirlwind, spinning and leaping madly around Ronan.
His Cat Claws danced into an impenetrable net of blades, launching a torrential assault on Ronan from every tricky angle above, below, left, and right!
"Die! Die! Die! Just die already!"
Sam roared, every claw strike aimed straight at a vital point.
Yet Ronan, standing at the heart of the storm, strolled as leisurely as if he were in a garden.
He moved with Xingyi Footwork, his body swaying like willow fluff in the wind.
Sometimes he sidestepped, sometimes he lowered his head, sometimes he slid away, sometimes he twisted his body.
Every dodge was perfectly timed—not a fraction too much, not a hair too little.
It was an elegance that drove one to despair.
No matter how swift or deceitful Sam's attacks were, Ronan always seemed to know what was coming, moving out of the way before Sam's claws could fall.
Ronan even had the leisure to observe the scenery around him.
The patches of sunlight reflecting off the rock walls, the shadows of distant seagulls skimming over the sea, even the beads of cold sweat sliding down Sam's face—all were crystal clear within his perception.
Ten minutes passed.
The continuous high-intensity bursts of movement left Sam panting like a bull, his entire body soaked in cold sweat.
He stopped, bracing his hands against his knees as he stared fixedly at the man whose clothes had not even been rumpled. At last, a trace of fear appeared in his eyes.
"Bastard..." Sam's voice trembled slightly. "Do you only know how to dodge?! Why won't you fight back?! Are you humiliating me?!"
Clearly, he had realized that the man before him had merely been toying with him.
That all-seeing look made him feel like a clown dancing in a giant's palm.
Ronan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, savoring the warmth flowing through him from the threefold Cultivation Multiplier.
The microscopic tearing and rebuilding of his muscle fibers, the increase in his nerve reaction speed—it all intoxicated him.
Hearing Sam's accusation, Ronan put on an "innocent" expression and spread his hands.
"I want to counterattack too. But... you're just too fast. I've already had to give it everything I have just to dodge. I simply can't spare the effort to attack."
"You—!!"
Hearing that utterly perfunctory lie, Sam's face instantly darkened.
"Damn it! Do you think I'd believe that crap?! You're obviously handling this with ease!"
The humiliation of being treated like an idiot made Sam completely lose his mind.
With a shriek, his eyes bloodshot, he lunged at Ronan once more without regard for anything else!
"I refuse to believe I can't catch you!!"
At the top of the slope.
Watching the scene, Luffy scratched his head and asked in confusion.
"Why isn't Ronan fighting back yet? He could obviously send that cat-like guy flying with one punch."
Zoro crossed his arms, his gaze deep and his tone carrying a hint of admiration. "Luffy, can't you tell? It's not that Ronan isn't fighting back. He's training."
"Training?" Luffy froze.
"That's right." Zoro pointed toward the battlefield below.
"Didn't you see Ronan's eyes? He has already completely seen through all of that Sam's attack patterns."
"He's using his opponent's attacks to hone that technique called Observation Haki."
Zoro lightly tapped the hilt of his sword, fire blazing in his eyes.
"He's forcing himself into danger, using his body to memorize that state of perception. That kind of nerve... he's a real madman."
Luffy suddenly understood, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"You mean Ronan is using that guy to practice Observation Haki?!"
Zoro nodded heavily and said in a deep voice, "Yeah. We need to ask Ronan to teach us that technique as soon as possible too."
"On this Great Sea, an ability that can predict attacks truly has a decisive effect in battle."
"If I learn it, my swordsmanship... will advance even further!"
On the battlefield, Ronan had no idea his companions were discussing him.
All of his attention was immersed in the changes on the system panel.
With every extreme dodge, with every brush against danger, he could clearly feel the shackles on his body loosening bit by bit.
Finally, after sidestepping Sam's desperate strike once more, a pleasant notification sounded in his mind.
[Ding! Under the battle mode bonus, the host's speed attribute has increased!] [Speed: 12 - 13] [Observation Haki: Beginner (10/100)]
"Whew..."
Ronan was secretly delighted. His speed attribute had finally broken through to 13!
And Observation Haki proficiency had also risen by 3 points in just over ten minutes. That was equivalent to several hours of hard training under normal circumstances!
However, as time passed, Ronan gradually noticed that the familiar "warm current" was beginning to weaken.
No matter how frantically Sam attacked, that sense of danger grew fainter and fainter.
His body had completely adapted to attacks of this intensity, like a game level he had played too many times that could no longer bring any excitement.
After reaching 10/100, the Observation Haki progress bar crawled forward as slowly as a turtle.
"Looks like..."
Ronan sighed inwardly and looked regretfully at Sam, who was already exhausted to the point of spitting white foam and whose movements had become distorted.
"The potential of this 'sparring partner' has already been wrung dry. From here on, my training will probably have to rely on accumulated time, or... stronger opponents."
At that thought, the teasing look in Ronan's eyes gradually vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp edge.
The battle on the slope had fallen into a strange stalemate because of Ronan's dodges, precise as a machine.
Sam, one of the Cat-man Brothers, was currently bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.
Sweat dripped from his sharp, rat-like chin onto the gravel stained with grease and blood.
The eyes that had once brimmed with cunning and killing intent now held only deep helplessness and terror.
No matter how much he increased his speed, no matter from what tricky angle he swung his Cat Claws, that man would always move one step ahead—
Just one small step was enough to make his attacks miss.
That powerless feeling of striking a lump of cotton was even more crushing than taking a direct beating.
Ronan picked up his spear, its tip angled toward the ground. His breathing remained frighteningly steady.
Looking at the motionless Sam, Ronan frowned slightly, dissatisfaction in his voice. "What? You're giving up already? My warm-up has only just ended."
Those outrageously smug words slapped Sam across the face like a resounding blow, but he no longer had the strength to argue.
"A bunch of trash!"
At that moment, an exasperated roar came from the bottom of the slope.
Jango, who had been watching the battle all along, finally could not hold back any longer.
He adjusted the heart-shaped glasses on the bridge of his nose, and a strange ring appeared in his hand.
He looked toward Buchi, the fat man among the Cat-man Brothers who had yet to make a move.
"Buchi! Stop standing there watching! If we don't deal with this brat, Captain Kuro will skin us alive!"
Before you continue