"Interesting..." Shiki grinned, his smile brimming with even greater fighting spirit.
"But it's not enough!"
The instant the words left his mouth, Conqueror's Haki erupted from within him!
Luo Tian narrowed his eyes and refused to yield.
In the next moment, two terrifying auras powerful enough to drain the color from the world surged skyward from the pair, like two long-dormant volcanoes erupting at once!
Humm—
The unseen pressure spread from them like a tangible tidal wave, sweeping across the entire deserted island in an instant!
The heavens trembled, and the winds and clouds reversed!
At that moment, the Conqueror's Haki unleashed by Luo Tian and Shiki had both reached the highest realms.
The two torrents of Haki clashed like enraged dragons, tearing and ramming into each other in the sky!
As they fought with all their strength, the field of pressure continued to expand, on the verge of breaking past the island's edge.
Even after completely enveloping the deserted island, the torrent of Haki did not stop. It kept surging outward across the surrounding sea, crushing everything in its path.
"W-What is this?!"
"Conqueror's Haki... They're clashing?!"
"Conqueror's Haki this terrifying... Only Captain Rocks and those few core officers could possibly have it!"
Cries of astonishment rose one after another from the pirate ships nearby.
Conqueror's Haki was a mark of the chosen, something perhaps only one person in a million could awaken.
And those who could hone it to a level that disturbed the heavens and earth like this were even rarer.
Suddenly, towering waves dozens of meters high came crashing toward the nearest ships!
The vessels rocked violently, sending the pirates on deck stumbling in every direction.
Then, an even more terrifying mental pressure descended with a thunderous crash!
Some of the weaker pirates rolled their eyes back, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed unconscious to the deck.
Even seasoned pirates felt as if an invisible hand had seized their throats. They struggled to breathe, their faces flushed red.
The crowd, which had been roaring with excitement just moments before, fell utterly silent.
Only the increasingly violent roar of the waves remained, along with the ceaseless thunder echoing through their souls as the two Conqueror's Haki auras clashed.
"Gurararara... What a lively scene!"
Whitebeard laughed heartily.
The next moment, the muscles in his right arm bulged as he clenched his fist. A translucent white sphere enveloped it—the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was gathering!
With countless enormous waves bearing down on them, Whitebeard wasted no time. He threw a punch into the air—
"Crack!!!"
The air split open, webbed with countless white fractures, and a terrifying shockwave slammed into the waves!
In an instant, the unstoppable waves shattered, breaking apart into countless droplets that pattered back onto the roiling sea.
The turbulent waters calmed at once.
Whitebeard lowered his fist and gazed eagerly toward the center of the deserted island.
"Let's see just how big a hole you two can punch in the sky today..."
On the deserted island.
Golden and dark-red light split the sky and earth in two.
Shiki's golden glow dyed the world on the left in twilight, while Luo Tian's dark red stained the right in a blood-red night.
The two auras remained evenly matched, clashing fiercely along their dividing line. A constantly twisting barrier of energy crackled with black-and-red lightning and golden sparks.
"Luo Tian's Conqueror's Haki... It's really this powerful?!"
On a pirate ship in the distance, Kaido clenched his teeth and stared at Luo Tian in disbelief.
He had awakened Conqueror's Haki as a child, but its strength was nowhere near the world-shaking level of these two.
Luo Tian and Shiki's Conqueror's Haki had clearly reached a peak where they were evenly matched.
Yet, in the midst of their deadlock—
Shiki moved first!
With Oto and Kogarashi in hand, he stepped through the air. The Float-Float Fruit let him move through the sky as easily as if he were walking on solid ground.
His figure became a streak of light that tore through the night. He shot back a hundred meters, then unleashed a slash at Luo Tian, its power condensed to the utmost.
Luo Tian's gaze sharpened.
Ryuo Haki wrapped around the blade of Black Dragon like dark-red flames. Then, without any unnecessary flourish, he swung to meet the attack!
"Boom—!!!"
The two slashes collided precisely in midair, annihilating each other and bursting into a swelling torrent of chaotic energy!
Then the pair began to dart past and collide with each other at blinding speed.
In the night sky, all they could see were two dazzling beams of light flashing and intertwining wildly.
One shone brilliantly like molten gold; the other was a deep, coagulated dark red.
Every clash of blades rang out like thunder. The shockwaves of sword energy sheared the already-ravaged island below into even more fragments.
By now, the weaker pirates could no longer follow the details of the battle with their eyes.
All they could see were golden and red orbs of light constantly exploding and vanishing in the night sky.
Even the pirate officers could only just make out two blurred figures flashing at incredible speed, relying on their mid-level Observation Haki.
Only Rocks himself, along with Whitebeard and the other officers, could see the battle clearly with their powerful Observation Haki.
Rocks stood at the bow with his arms crossed and murmured,
"Shiki's swordsmanship has reached perfection. His mastery of combining Haki with his sword techniques is just as impressive."
"And that kid, Luo Tian..."
His gaze settled on the dark-red figure.
"He's imitating his opponent in the middle of the fight, learning, and rapidly absorbing everything the other man does well—then making it his own."
"What an... exciting monster."
Standing beside Rocks, Whitebeard laughed at his words, his eyes full of undisguised admiration.
"Gurararara... Looks like Shiki's finally picked a fight with someone he can't handle.
That kid Luo Tian probably never intended to settle for a 'draw' in the first place."
As the two spoke, the battle on the island reached its blazing climax.
Shiki suddenly drove both blades forward, forcing Luo Tian back several steps.
"You're a fine one! You've gotten stronger again in such a short time!"
He spoke in a low voice, the composure he'd shown earlier replaced entirely by a grave expression.
This clash was already nothing like their previous sparring matches.
Back then, both sides had held back and stopped as soon as a winner became clear.
But now, neither side was holding anything back. It was a direct collision of wills and paths!
Luo Tian smiled coldly. "Shiki, show me everything you've got! If that's all you can do...
Maybe it's time to find someone else to take your place as vice captain."
"As you wish—!"
"Lion Threat: Earth Roll—!"
Shiki plunged both swords into the ground and poured sword energy and Haki deep into the earth!
He had realized that he and Luo Tian were evenly matched in both Haki and swordsmanship. If they kept fighting like this, neither would win anytime soon.
So if he wanted to claim victory, he had to rely on the power of his Float-Float Fruit!
And the scale and power of this "Earth Roll" far surpassed those of his earlier probing attacks!
Rumble—!!!
The earth surged and heaved like a boiling sea.
More than a dozen colossal lions, each over thirty meters tall and made of solid rock, rose once more!
They formed a deadly encirclement, trapping Luo Tian firmly at the center!
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