Senga followed behind Rayleigh until they reached a vast clearing. Rayleigh stopped, turned to look at Senga behind him, and said,
"Let's do it here. Before we fight, I have a question. How did the Marines learn my location?"
In Rayleigh's view, if even such a young Marine knew of him, then information about him must have spread widely throughout Marine Headquarters.
Yet he had clearly hidden himself well and simply could not figure out how he had been exposed. Of course, no matter how hard Rayleigh thought, he could never imagine that Senga was a transmigrator—and one who had read One Piece.
Naturally, Senga could not say that he had read the script. He merely said with a hint of mockery,
"Don't underestimate the Marines just because you're a mere pirate."
That terrified Kalifa behind Senga, breaking her out in a cold sweat.
My little ancestor, stop flattering the Marines. Intelligence work still depends on the World Government. Even the World Government doesn't know Rayleigh's location, so how could the Marines?
And stop provoking Rayleigh. If you anger him, the two of us and the cat might all end up dead here.
Rayleigh smiled faintly without getting angry. Having lived for so long, what had he not seen? How could Senga's harmless jab possibly provoke him?
"Looks like I underestimated the Marines? Since you want to fight me, try this first. Only if you withstand it will you be qualified to fight me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Rayleigh's eyes widened sharply.
Buzz! An invisible aura erupted from his body. It was his Conqueror's Haki.
As the right-hand man of the Pirate King, the strength of Rayleigh's Conqueror's Haki was beyond question. Kalifa's eyes rolled back from the force of the aura, and her body went limp as she was about to collapse.
Senga reached out and caught Kalifa. Gently prying open her eyelids with his fingers, his Rinnegan flashed, and Kalifa immediately woke up.
Kalifa looked somewhat dazed after waking. She turned to look around, only to realize that she had somehow ended up in Senga's arms. She immediately broke free from his embrace on reflex.
Strangely, Senga did not stop her this time. That made her feel a little unaccustomed to it, but it also reminded her of what had just happened. Rayleigh had knocked her unconscious with some invisible attack, while Senga had caught her and woken her up.
Thinking of that, Kalifa's pretty face flushed slightly. She fidgeted as she said to Senga,
"Thank you. Sorry for the trouble..."
That caught Senga off guard. He had not expected his cold little secretary to have a moment of yielding. Still, seeing her soften like that felt rather satisfying.
However, Senga did not look at her. He simply waved his hand to indicate that it was nothing.
"That was Rayleigh's Conqueror's Haki. You can't interfere in the battle later, so stay farther away."
Kalifa was not an unreasonable woman. She knew that her strength would be of no help in this sort of battle and might even hold Senga back.
So after hearing Senga's words, she immediately used Shave to find a relatively safe corner. She lay prone on the ground, her eyes fixed tightly on Senga and Rayleigh in the clearing.
Rayleigh did not stop any of this. Kalifa, who had fainted from a single burst of Conqueror's Haki, was not worth his notice at all. The young Marine before him was the one who interested him.
The strength of that Conqueror's Haki just now had been enough to knock out many Rear Admirals from Headquarters. Even Vice Admirals would have been affected. Yet this young Marine had faced his Conqueror's Haki as though it were nothing more than a breeze?
Seeing that Kalifa had reached a safe position, Senga turned toward Rayleigh and said with a smile,
"That was Conqueror's Haki just now, right? As expected of Silvers Rayleigh. I almost passed out."
Rayleigh smiled and replied,
"You're lying. You looked completely at ease."
His smile vanished, and Senga's gaze turned serious. Purple light flickered within his Rinnegan, while two black tomoe in his right eye slowly revolved along their pattern.
"Then how about this?"
An equally powerful aura erupted from Senga's body. It was Senga's Conqueror's Haki. After being struck by Rayleigh's Conqueror's Haki, he had awakened his own as well.
Rayleigh's expression did not change. With his arms folded across his chest, he casually endured the impact of the aura and commented,
"Not bad. It seems you possess the qualities of a king as well. That's quite rare among the Marines."
Senga's lips curved upward. He had never expected his newly awakened Conqueror's Haki to affect Silvers Rayleigh, who had mastered it for years. He had merely felt stifled keeping it inside after awakening it.
And his Conqueror's Haki was far more than this.
The fluctuations in Senga's Rinnegan grew increasingly intense. Suddenly, the aura around him surged severalfold, and countless blade-like shockwaves burst outward in every direction with Senga at their center.
The numerous hundred-meter-tall trees around them were struck by the blade-like shockwaves and instantly severed across their middles as easily as cutting tofu.
Even Rayleigh was stunned by the terrifying display. He had no choice but to rely on Observation Haki to continuously evade the incoming shockwaves, thinking as he dodged,
This is also Conqueror's Haki? It can already inflict tangible damage. How is that possible? Didn't he just awaken his Conqueror's Haki? But the strength just now was undeniably real!
The sudden surge in Senga's aura and the shockwaves that appeared were naturally not purely Conqueror's Haki. This was an ability of his Rinnegan.
This technique was called Rinnegan: Pressure. It could amplify the strength of his Conqueror's Haki—not only enhancing its aura, but also unleashing shockwaves capable of dealing tangible damage.
The ability continued for a full five minutes. When Senga finally stopped, everyone present, cat included, was left stunned.
As far as the eye could see, every giant tree over a hundred meters tall had been cut cleanly in half. The ground was covered in countless crisscrossing ravines, and the area that had been lush and green moments ago had become utterly devastated in the blink of an eye.
Metis, who had been quietly perched on Senga's shoulder, looked at her master with worshipful eyes. As expected of the master who created me. He is the god in my heart!
Kalifa, far in the distance, was completely dumbfounded. Everything before her had utterly surpassed her understanding. Senga had not even raised a hand, yet the surroundings had been destroyed to this extent. Was this Senga's strength? Could such strength really belong to a mere Marine Colonel??
Rayleigh also abandoned the relaxed posture he had maintained all along. Slowly drawing his sword from beneath his cloak, he looked at Senga in the clearing and said seriously,
"Young man, you have earned my recognition. State your name."
Senga raised a hand and lightly swept aside the loose hair over his forehead.
"Uchiha Senga."
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