Aside from Rocks, everyone was just as curious—was Luo Tian, whose first bounty had already soared to 2.5 billion Beli, truly as terrifying as the rumors claimed?
Ochoku and Kaido, who had always been at odds with Luo Tian, watched his figure on the island with especially fixed, complicated looks.
At that moment, in the center of the deserted island.
Luo Tian and Shiki faced each other from a hundred meters apart.
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The moment their gazes met, it was as though two vast, invisible forces collided in midair with a thunderous crack, sending sharp pops ringing out.
"Luo Tian, you brat—!"
Golden Lion Shiki made the first move. He shot skyward like a streak of golden light and hovered a hundred meters above the ground.
Before his words had even faded, the earth began to tremble. Under the power of the Float-Float Fruit, the entire island's structure began to loosen and groan.
That was right—Shiki had unleashed his full power, placing the entire deserted island completely under his control.
He could make it float or turn it over at will, or even... tear it apart completely.
"Come on!" Fighting spirit surged in Luo Tian's chest as he slowly drew the Supreme Grade Blade Black Dragon from his waist.
Seeing this, Shiki reached for his waist and slowly drew his beloved swords—the Great Grade Swords Oto and Kogarashi.
The instant the two swords left their sheaths, golden Ryuo Haki coiled around them like flames.
He lowered his stance slightly, crossed his swords before his chest, and barked:
"Lion Threat: Earth Roll—!"
RUMBLE!!!
In an instant, the entire battlefield shook violently! Countless enormous boulders tore free from the ground and rose into the air.
Each one carried a fierce, razor-sharp aura of sword energy as it spun rapidly through the air and took shape.
"ROAR—!!!"
In the blink of an eye, three colossal lions formed from solid rock appeared, raising their heads.
Each stood more than twenty meters tall. Together, they surrounded Luo Tian, trapping him in their midst.
"Whoosh—!"
Shiki suddenly swung both swords down, his Observation Haki firmly locking onto Luo Tian.
A vicious golden cross-shaped Slash Wave tore through the air, ripping through the night as it shot straight toward Luo Tian!
At the same time, the three Rock Giant Lions surrounding Luo Tian opened their enormous, fanged jaws and lunged to bite him from behind, the left, and the right!
There was no escape above or below.
Luo Tian seemed like a beast trapped in a cage.
A cold glint flashed in Luo Tian's eyes.
Shinra Tensei!
VMMM—!!!
An indescribably terrifying force of Repulsion erupted around him, forming a hemispherical field that expanded and crushed everything around it!
BOOM—!!!
A deafening roar swept across the entire island, raising huge waves even in the surrounding sea.
The three Rock Giant Lions shattered on contact with the repulsive field, crumbling like sandcastles and dissolving into a cloud of dust.
The formidable golden cross-shaped Slash Wave struck an invisible, absolute wall. It broke apart piece by piece and vanished without a trace.
The ground within a hundred-meter radius of Luo Tian was completely "leveled."
Every protrusion, rock, and tree vanished, leaving behind only a smooth crater.
Broken stones and dust surged skyward, forming a dense cloud that temporarily blanketed the entire battlefield.
Amid the swirling dust, a pair of eyes glinting red suddenly lit up.
Luo Tian had already activated his Observation Haki. Before the dust had even settled, he had "foreseen" where Shiki would be the next instant.
His right hand gripped Black Dragon's hilt. Pushing off the ground, he shot forward like a black bolt of lightning!
"Gyahahaha... I knew you had it in you, brat! You dispelled that so easily!"
Shiki's Observation Haki had also caught Luo Tian's attack trajectory. Laughing, he once again unleashed a surge of sword intent.
Golden Haki blazed around his swords as he changed direction several times in quick succession midair.
Each flicker left behind an afterimage. Seven afterimages bloomed like petals of a sword-shaped lotus, unleashing seven deadly slashes from entirely different angles!
Seven slashes, seven trajectories—every avenue of escape was sealed!
Luo Tian pressed his left hand forward. "Space Refraction!"
In the next instant, the trajectories of the seven slashes twisted and veered strangely in midair.
Four of them collided with one another and canceled out.
But the remaining three, though their trajectories had shifted, still came at him from treacherous angles.
Shiki raised an eyebrow and immediately used the Float-Float Fruit's power to forcibly adjust the final trajectories of the three remaining slashes.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The crisp ring of clashing steel rang out!
Luo Tian swung Black Dragon, its blade flashing like a curtain as he precisely shattered the last three slashes in front of him.
The first exchange seemed evenly matched.
But the true battle had only just begun.
The two moved almost simultaneously!
Like two meteors, they charged straight at each other!
Two utterly different, yet equally brilliant, sword auras collided once more in midair!
"CLANG—!!!"
The Supreme Grade Blade Black Dragon crashed against Oto and Kogarashi. The blades locked together, unleashing blinding sparks and a chaotic surge of energy!
ZZZZZZ—!!
Their two terrifying waves of sword energy tore at each other and clashed, while Haki lashed outward like lightning!
The air within a hundred meters of the point of impact churned into a raging vortex. Visible shockwaves spread wildly outward in one expanding ring after another!
"N-no way! The aftershocks from Luo Tian and Shiki's clash have completely changed the island's terrain!"
On a pirate ship in the distance, a crew member pointed at the island and cried out in disbelief.
They had seen with their own eyes as a streak of stray sword energy smoothly sliced the peak off a small hill dozens of meters tall.
"It's not over! Look up!"
Someone pointed shakily at the sky.
In the thick sea of clouds, a massive fissure hundreds of meters long, like a heavenly chasm, had split the clouds cleanly in two!
"T-the sky's been cut open?!"
"Idiot! The clouds have been completely cleaved apart!"
"Is this what a clash between top officers looks like? No— is this what a battle between the strongest on the seas looks like?!"
The pirates clung to the ship's rail, staring at the battle on the deserted island. The unimaginable spectacle left their scalps tingling, and cries of shock rose one after another.
Some of the pirates had never witnessed anything on such a grand scale. They had never imagined a battle could reach the level of a natural disaster.
Compared to this, their everyday brawls were nothing more than children playing.
Ochoku and Kaido had not taken their eyes off Luo Tian and Shiki since the moment they began fighting.
They had to admit—the sheer level of energy unleashed in that first collision had already been terrifying.
But clearly... neither side had come anywhere close to giving it their all!
The surging shockwaves continued to sweep outward.
Midair, Luo Tian and Shiki remained locked in a stalemate, their blades pressed together. Neither had given an inch.
At the point where the blades met, dark red Haki clashed violently. Black lightning spread across the night sky like a web.
Their gazes pierced through the raging streams of energy and met once more in midair.
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