Roar, Tenken!

If Yaen had not already mastered "Shunpo: Cicada Shell," an advanced technique of Shunpo, one of the basic abilities of Soul Reapers, which allowed him to discard an accessory and make a high-speed transfer to evade attacks.

Too dangerous...

Even though I'd clearly gotten completely serious, I still nearly got killed by Golden Lion Shiki in a single strike.

Yaen took a deep breath and steadied himself. Then, raising his hand and closing his five fingers, the Sea of Cherry Blossoms that had been constantly surging toward Golden Lion Shiki seemed to riot.

The next instant, the sea of cherry blossoms split into dozens of streams and spread in every direction, almost covering the entire sky.

"Are you trying to stop me from getting close this way?"

Golden Lion Shiki wiped the blood that had soaked half his face and said with a feral grin, "Before Lion Rampage, mere petals can only serve as decoration, Kid."

"No. These petals were prepared for the lion's funeral," Yaen answered calmly.

"What a stubborn mouth, Kid. I've already figured you out. You've got some strange Devil Fruit power, and you've developed it quite well, but it's obvious that you're exceptionally weak in close combat..."

Before he had finished speaking, Golden Lion Shiki's Figure Flashed, turning once more into a golden afterimage as he shot toward Yaen. "Kid, let me tell you this: in these vast seas, a landlubber who only knows how to develop his Devil Fruit has no place to stand!"

"Wave Slash!"

In the next moment, another soaring golden Flying Slash shattered masses of cherry blossoms, opening a path through the falling petals for Golden Lion Shiki to reach Yaen.

Facing Golden Lion Shiki, whose fighting spirit was soaring and who was determined to engage in close combat, Yaen slowly exhaled and said, "Actually, I know a little about swordsmanship too. It's just that my blade..."

Then, a release command was chanted from Yaen's lips.

"Roar, Tenken!"

As Yaen's words fell, an enormous armored giant's arm suddenly appeared behind him, gripping a colossal blade dozens of meters long.

The next instant, Yaen assumed a swordsman's stance and fiercely slashed through the air in Golden Lion Shiki's direction.

The enormous giant arm behind Yaen likewise wielded the massive blade, bringing down a heaven-sundering gale upon Golden Lion Shiki.

"What is this?!"

Golden Lion Shiki stared at the massive blade dozens of meters long before him, having never expected such a thing to exist.

Wasn't this Yaen Kid a Cherry Blossom Fruit user? Then what was this colossal blade that had suddenly appeared?

Before the giant blade even arrived, the gale stirred by its movement had already swept toward Golden Lion Shiki like a hurricane, whipping his golden hair, which was as long as a man was tall, into a wild frenzy.

This level of gale and shockwave reminded Golden Lion Shiki of the strongest warriors of Elbaf, the Giant Country, when they struck.

Even though Golden Lion Shiki was a Great Pirate of near-legendary status, he could not rival the giants in pure brute strength.

Thus, faced with the colossal blade formed by Tenken, Golden Lion Shiki instinctively wanted to evade, relying on his vast combat experience.

However, at some point, cherry blossoms had already drifted everywhere throughout the sky.

As Golden Lion Shiki moved, his face inadvertently brushed against a cherry blossom petal. In an instant, another gash appeared on his body, blood continuously seeping from it.

"Damn Kid, these cherry blossoms covering the sky aren't meant to stop me from approaching. They're meant to restrict my movements and keep me from suddenly closing in on him again like before?"

Golden Lion Shiki realized it almost instantly, understanding the purpose of those seemingly harmless endless falling cherry blossoms.

Perhaps relying solely on these cherry blossoms, which possessed relatively weak destructive and offensive power, would make it extremely difficult to prevent Golden Lion Shiki from approaching. But merely hindering Golden Lion Shiki's attempts to evade was effortless.

At that moment, Golden Lion Shiki was like a lion that had fallen into a forest filled with thorns, while a hunter in front of it raised a butcher's blade and steadily closed in.

If the lion tried to evade through its surroundings, it would be slashed all over by the thorns, eventually collapsing beneath the accumulation of wounds.

"What a sinister Kid..."

Golden Lion Shiki simply charged head-on toward Tenken's giant blade as he roared, "But before absolute power, these little tricks are utterly useless."

The next instant, Golden Lion Shiki crossed his two swords and slashed them in an X-shape toward Tenken's giant blade.

Boom!!

The collision between Tenken's giant blade and Famous Sword - Cherry Ten and Famous Sword: Withered Wood caused an enormous shockwave to erupt across the sky.

"What stupidity, actually clashing head-on with Soul Reaper Blade: Tenken!"

Astonished by Golden Lion Shiki's actions, Yaen could not help muttering.

Soul Reaper Blade: Tenken and Soul Reaper Blade: Senbonzakura were two Soul Reaper Blades that had been pushed to extremes in entirely different directions.

Senbonzakura's essence was to scatter its blade into hundreds of millions of tiny blades, using boundless numbers to grant its opponent an absolute hell of falling cherry blossom blades;

Tenken's essence, meanwhile, was to abandon speed and create an enormous spiritual body and blade, pushing strength and size to the extreme, so that every casual strike could unleash tremendous power.

Even while maintaining Bankai: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, Yaen could only use Tenken in its Shikai state, but its power was still... immense!

The next moment, under the enormous force unleashed by Tenken, Golden Lion Shiki—tiny as an ant beneath the giant blade—was blasted away.

However, as the airborne Golden Lion Shiki raised a hand and violently pulled.

Several enormous Air Lions instantly formed around Tenken's giant blade, baring their fangs as they viciously bit down on it.

Then, Golden Lion Shiki's body shuddered. Forcefully enduring the tremendous momentum, he abruptly twisted his body and charged straight along Tenken's giant blade toward Yaen.

The wound on Golden Lion Shiki's head, which had been continuously bleeding ever since the ship's rudder was pulled out, worsened after clashing head-on with Tenken's giant blade.

Under such violent vibrations, the blood inside Golden Lion Shiki's body madly gushed out through that massive opening, to the point that he had now almost completely turned into a blood-soaked lion.