Magellan ultimately agreed to Storm's suggestion.
After all, there wasn't a better option, was there...
Still, Magellan had one condition regarding the duel between the two:
As warden, he would watch the entire fight and, if necessary, step in to stop it!
Neither Storm nor Shiryu objected to Magellan's request.
Magellan strongly suspected that neither of the two had taken his warning seriously, but he couldn't prove it.
Several minutes later.
Everyone left the Warden's Office and headed to the open area outside the prison.
Scorching Hell blazed with seas of fire.
Storm and Shiryu stood at opposite ends of the open ground, their gazes meeting and clashing in midair.
The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder.
Shiryu's eyes were those of a hungry wolf as he stared fixedly at Storm, his right hand resting on the hilt of his Famous Sword, [Rain Shower].
This time, he wouldn't let his guard down!
Brat! Die!
Without warning, Shiryu drew [Rain Shower] and swung it hard toward Storm.
The blade, shimmering with an eerie blood-red light, traced a sweeping arc through the air.
The next moment, [Rain Shower] stirred the air, unleashing a crescent-shaped Flying Slash!
Whoosh—
The savage slash crossed nearly half of Scorching Hell in an instant and bore down on Storm.
Its force pressed the surrounding flames flat against the ground, nearly snuffing them out.
Storm didn't panic in the face of Shiryu's Flying Slash.
He raised his right leg, concentrated all his strength in it, and kicked several times toward the incoming attack.
Rankyaku!
In an instant, Storm sent several razor-sharp vacuum slashes hurtling toward the crescent-shaped sword wave.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the Flying Slash collided with the vacuum kicks.
Rumble—
Several deafening booms rang out as the shock waves from the two attacks canceled each other in midair.
Rolling shock waves spread in all directions, snuffing out much of the fire around them.
"Rokushiki! Rankyaku!"
Shiryu was no novice. He immediately recognized the nature of Storm's ability.
Given Storm's background in the Navy, it was hardly surprising that he knew Rokushiki.
Shiryu tightened his grip on the Famous Sword. Armament Haki surged over his forearm, coating [Rain Shower].
The next moment.
Shiryu left an afterimage behind as he shot toward Storm at incredible speed.
And this was exactly what Storm had been waiting for!
White clay gushed from his body and wrapped around him, swelling his frame until he grew enormous.
By the time Shiryu reached him, Storm had become a monster as huge as a giant!
Shiryu's eyes narrowed. [Rain Shower] flashed like a streak of cold light as he slashed at the Clay Giant.
His blade fell like fine rain from the sky, its sharp glints almost merging into a single line.
"Light Rain!"
Storm reacted just as quickly.
The Clay Giant swung its enormous fist and slammed it into the approaching Famous Sword.
Armament Haki coated the white clay as well, adding even more power.
"Giant Armament Fist!"
The fist, coated in Armament Haki, collided violently with the Famous Sword.
A thunderclap seemed to ring through Scorching Hell. The battle's roar was enough to split the clouds and shatter stone.
Crash!
The muscles in Shiryu's right arm bulged as he focused all his strength into [Rain Shower].
He had thought Storm was just a brat who relied on clever tricks.
He'd never imagined the kid was this strong!
Shiryu gritted his teeth and continued to struggle against the Clay Giant.
Meanwhile, Storm was busy controlling another attack.
The power of the Clay Fruit silently transformed the ground of Scorching Hell.
This is bad!
Shiryu's heart lurched.
The ground beneath his feet suddenly softened, changing from solid flooring into pliable clay.
Without the ground to support him, Shiryu's body tilted, and his strength faltered.
The Clay Giant that Storm had become drew back its right fist slightly, then slammed it forward again.
Thud!
Shiryu was sent flying dozens of meters. He bounced and rolled across the ground like a tumbleweed.
By the time he managed to steady himself and look ahead,
he was astonished to find that the ground beneath Storm had been completely transformed into clay.
The Clay Fruit's Awakening!
"Clay Rain!"
Storm transformed the entire ground into clay. Dozens of clay strips sprouted from the earth and attacked his opponent all at once.
Shiryu gripped [Rain Shower] and retreated, swinging his sword again and again.
The blood-red blade wove a barrier in front of him, leaving no gaps, like a shield.
The moment Storm's clay strips touched the barrier of sword light formed by [Rain Shower], they were cut apart.
Storm narrowed his eyes slightly and focused his thoughts.
Some of the clay strips continued to rain down on Shiryu in an unending barrage.
But under Storm's control, most of the remaining strips fused together in twos and threes.
The strips, which had originally been only as thick as an arm, swelled wider and wider as they merged.
It was as if human arms had suddenly grown gigantic, becoming the arms of giants!
At that moment,
each clay strip was nearly a meter in diameter!
"Clay Great Rain!"
Storm controlled the enormous clay strips and launched a relentless assault on Shiryu.
The area covered by the barrier of sword light from [Rain Shower] was limited.
It could hold back the "Clay Rain" from before,
but it couldn't stop the "Clay Great Rain" now!
Shiryu understood that too. He stopped swinging [Rain Shower] and focused entirely on sharpening his senses.
His eyes glowed crimson as he used Observation Haki to track the attack paths of the thick clay arms.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each massive clay fist crashed into the ground of Scorching Hell with a thunderous roar.
Shiryu, straining his Observation Haki to its limits, scrambled wildly through the ceaseless assault like a melon-stealing badger in a field.
The Clay Giant's fists rained down for several minutes straight.
Shiryu finally realized something was wrong.
He'd assumed that Storm couldn't sustain an attack on this scale for long.
But Shiryu was nearly exhausted from running, and the clay fists showed no sign of stopping.
The clay seemed endless. Its unbroken assault gave Shiryu no chance to catch his breath.
Through gaps between the fists, Shiryu glanced toward Storm in the distance.
Storm still looked perfectly calm and composed.
It was as if the fight so far hadn't cost him a bit of energy.
I have to break that brat's rhythm!
Shiryu kept dodging until he finally found a brief moment to catch his breath.
He swung [Rain Shower] hard, cutting one of the clay fists in two.
Then he kicked the severed fist forward, disrupting the path of another incoming clay fist.
With that move, Shiryu finally carved out a brief chance to attack!
He gripped the Famous Sword [Rain Shower], poured his strength into it, and slashed fiercely toward Storm.
The blood-red Flying Slash swept through the air, its irregular shape crooked and jagged like lightning.
The full-powered Flying Slash of a great swordsman easily tore through the arms made of ordinary clay.
The blood-red sword wave surged toward Storm, cutting through everything in its path.
Storm didn't move. With a thought, an enormous shield as tall as a person rose in front of him.
"Clay Shield!"
Black Armament Haki coated the Clay Shield, strengthening its defense.
The next moment,
Shiryu's Flying Slash struck the Clay Shield dead on.
But a Clay Shield coated with Armament Haki had a level of defense that ordinary clay couldn't match.
Shiryu's slash failed to break through.
An attack like that posed no threat to Storm behind the shield, either.
Even so,
the Flying Slash had bought Shiryu a precious moment to catch his breath.
The tireless clay fists finally stopped attacking.
"Huff... huff..."
Shiryu stood still, panting softly.
He was just about to raise his sword and charge Storm again
when he noticed that the clay fists were retreating toward Storm as if obeying an invisible command.
What's that?
Shiryu's guard rose instinctively.
But the clay didn't change according to his will.
Storm gathered all the clay around himself, piling it together.
As the clay continued to shift,
a colossal Buddha statue appeared amid the fiery seas of Scorching Hell.
The statue was unimaginably huge, but the countless "arms" behind it were even larger!
A hundred? A thousand?
Countless white arms piled together, blotting out the sky. There was no end to them.
Storm sat cross-legged atop the white Buddha's head and launched his final attack against Shiryu.
Awakening: Clay Fruit: True Thousand Hands!
An endless rain of massive clay fists pounded the ground of Scorching Hell.
In an instant, the ground shattered and the space collapsed.
Amid countless fragments of rock and blazing flames,
Shiryu was struck down from Scorching Hell and sent crashing into Extreme Cold Hell.
[Diamond Trophy: Shiryu of the Rain]
[Trophy Star Rating: ★★★★★★]
At last, chapter thirty got a recommendation!!!
Well, sorry for the late update...
But it really did get recommended!
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