Minos VS Lao G

Putting aside the ongoing whack-a-mole game over there, with Talon cornered by Pica, having nowhere to run and no place to hide.

Minos focused his attention entirely on Diamante. Although Diamante's strength was far inferior to Pica's, he was still the highest-ranking officer in Doflamingo's family, and his combat power was definitely not to be underestimated.

Diamante was a user of the Jozu Fruit, whose ability allowed him to turn hard objects into materials as flexible as cloth, without losing their original strength.

In other words, the clothes and hats this guy wore were almost entirely made of tough steel, equivalent to wearing a thick layer of iron armor all over his body, but with the weight of cloth armor.

Furthermore, during combat, through the ability of the Jozu Fruit, he could shift the various materials on his body between hardness and softness, making his fighting style extremely bizarre.

"A brat with three eyes?" Lao G drew the long sword from his body and said with a smile. "Are you a swordsman too? I can spar with you for a bit!"

Minos's expression was serious. Without a word, he flashed past, his speed so fast it almost left afterimages, and thrust his sword towards Diamante's eyes.

Lao G was greatly startled. With a clumsy roll, he managed to dodge the attack, but a bloody gash was still left on his face.

"So fast, I didn't even have time to activate my Devil Fruit ability. My Observation Haki felt nothing at all, completely crushed by this kid's Observation Haki..."

Observation Haki, this kind of power, would interfere with each other. At this point, it depended on whose Observation Haki was more advanced and could "see" further.

Clearly, in this regard, Minos, who possessed the Evil Eye and the Path of Utmost Sincerity, allowing him to foresee experiences, had the upper hand in Observation Haki over Diamante.

Due to his Devil Fruit ability, Diamante had made little progress in Armament Haki, which meant his body, which didn't soften the steel armor, could be easily injured.

However, he was a seasoned veteran, having fought many battles. He casually slapped the ground, and the earth immediately floated up like a carpet, which he pulled, intending to disrupt Minos's focus.

This was one of Diamante's signature moves, the Army Flag!

However, Minos's reflexes were incredibly fast. The moment Diamante activated his Devil Fruit ability, he vanished with a flash, dodging the attack range of the Army Flag. Then, like a shadow, he drew a semicircle and thrust towards the man's throat again.

"Bullfight Cape!" This time, Diamante, who was prepared, finally reacted. He pulled the huge cape behind him, and the cape, as light as a flag and as flexible as steel, finally blocked Minos's attack.

"Armament Haki is mediocre... It was only just activated, you can't even wrap it around your sword?"

Seeing that Minos's attack had no effect on his cape, Diamante finally breathed a sigh of relief. He unfurled his cape and his long sword whistled out.

"Sword - Snake Sword!" The tough and sharp long sword, under the effect of the Jozu Fruit. Moved like a snake, launching unpredictable, irregular attacks towards Minos.

Even Lao G himself couldn't control this kind of attack, so it was naturally harder for Minos's Observation Haki to read it. He could only frown and retreat, relying on his superior speed.

"Half Moon Funeral!"

Seeing this, Lao G struck out with his sword again. A crescent-shaped sword energy shot out, but this straightforward attack posed no threat to Minos. He simply swayed his body and dodged the attack.

"He's tough to deal with!" Minos sighed, frowning. To be honest, Lao G wasn't really a strong opponent. His Armament Haki and Observation Haki were both pretty terrible.

He had developed the Jozu Fruit quite well, but due to the inherent limitations of the Devil Fruit, even at its peak development, it was still just so-so.

The only thing that was decent was his swordsmanship, but it wasn't particularly brilliant either.

But even with this mediocre swordsmanship combined with his not-so-powerful Devil Fruit ability, Minos wasn't confident he could defeat him.

It was simply because his own raw strength wasn't that great. Apart from his outstanding Observation Haki and his superior speed over Lao G, Minos's other skills were all quite ordinary.

"There's no other way! Fighting like this will never end."

With the defense of his steel equipment, Lao G could easily block Minos's quick sword strikes, while with his own high speed, Minos couldn't get hit by Lao G's bizarre attacks. If they continued to stall, it would likely be a waste of time.

Both of them, as if by unspoken agreement, had the idea of a decisive move. Lao G casually took out a few firecrackers. "Death Stardust!"

The firecrackers shot out countless paper pieces into the sky. The light paper pieces reformed into sharp, thorny iron balls in the high altitude, then turned into a dense iron rain that fell from the sky.

"Covering all attack targets, let's see how you can dodge this?!"

Minos lowered his body, sheathed his sword, and placed it at his waist, gripping the hilt with one hand.

"If I can't dodge, then I won't. One move to decide the winner!"

"Draw Sword - Slash!"

A semi-circular, bright silver thin line flashed past, striking towards Lao G.

Perhaps influenced by a certain "knife-wielding woman," Minos's swordsmanship in other aspects was only average, after all, he had only trained for a year.

Only in his drawing technique, Minos's skill far surpassed his average swordsmanship level, and it was one of his trump cards.

"Ridiculous! With an attack like this?" Lao G sneered inwardly. What if Minos's drawing technique was extremely brilliant?

In essence, the drawing technique was only suitable for first attacks or surprise attacks. When both sides were already in a fierce battle, its power was greatly weakened.

Despite this, Lao G still concentrated his attention on Minos, only to see Minos slightly raise his head, and his third eye suddenly emitted a strange light.

Under the gaze of that peculiar third eye, Lao G felt a slight dizziness. When he came to his senses, he felt a coolness in his chest, followed by intense pain!

"Ugh!" Lao G spat out a mouthful of blood, and saw Minos standing before him, his long sword already sheathed.

"What... what just happened?" Lao G clutched the huge wound that had almost ripped him open, a hint of confusion still in his eyes.

Minos wasn't a villain, so he naturally wouldn't explain that he had used his Evil Eye to interfere with him just now – the Evil Eye itself had hypnotic abilities. On Hiei, it could control ordinary humans and some weak yokai. With Minos's strength, he definitely couldn't hypnotize Lao G, but making him lose focus for a moment was easy.