"One-Sword Style: All Things Return to One!"
Luo Tian's figure sank slightly as power from his entire body surged into his right arm like a river flowing backward.
He gripped the hilt of the Black Dragon Blade tightly, and dark-red energy flared around the blade.
Then he slashed!
This slash tore through space!
A dazzling blade of light shot out, and everywhere it passed, space shattered like a mirror.
Golden Lion Shiki unleashed Thousand-Slice Valley, but all the golden sword auras he released melted away and vanished before this slash like snow beneath the blazing sun.
"Shoo—!"
"Boom, boom, boom—!!!"
Every slash from the Thousand-Slice Valley attack Shiki had unleashed at the cost of a massive amount of Haki shattered completely, scattering into countless golden specks of light.
Luo Tian's slash still had force behind it. After smashing through every obstacle, it became a torrent of dark-red sword light that swept toward Golden Lion in the distance!
"What?!" Shiki's eyes widened in shock.
But there was no time for him to be stunned. Luo Tian's slash was already tearing through the air toward him, moving so fast that it compressed the air into solid white shock waves.
Shiki immediately crossed his two swords in front of himself to guard, pushing his Armament Haki to its limit. Flowing Haki covered his entire body like armor.
Clang—!!!
The instant the torrent of sword light struck, it erupted in a dazzling flash that briefly blinded everyone.
The shock wave spread like a sphere, hurling away, pulverizing, and vaporizing every rock, patch of soil, and plant within a hundred meters.
Shiki was blasted a hundred meters away like a cannonball.
His arms went numb, his palms split open, and blood ran down his wrists.
Shiki gasped, his eyes full of shock.
The power of that slash had already exceeded his expectations.
But it wasn't over yet.
Luo Tian fixed his gaze on Shiki, several hundred meters away, and narrowed his eyes!
"Cross-Distance Teleportation!"
[Cross-Distance Teleportation] lets the user focus on a distant target and instantly teleport them in front of themselves!
The next moment—
Buzz!
Space rippled like water.
Shiki felt the scenery before his eyes blur and twist, as though the entire world were spinning.
When his vision cleared, he was shocked to find that he was no longer where he had been. Instead...
He was right in front of Luo Tian!
They were less than three meters apart.
Their eyes met.
Shiki stared blankly, his mind momentarily short-circuiting.
Spatial movement? Teleportation? No... He had been moved!
Luo Tian raised his right hand, fingers spread slightly, and aimed his palm at Shiki.
That pose, that movement...
Shiki suddenly had a bad feeling. Why did this scene seem so familiar?
A memory flashed through his mind like lightning—
It was that bastard Rayleigh. He'd been caught off guard by this move back then!
Luo Tian had raised his hand the same way, and then...
This is bad!
Every hair on Shiki's body stood on end as a sense of danger swept over him!
He immediately tried to use the Float-Float Fruit to escape, to put some distance between them—
But it was too late!
From the moment he was teleported in front of Luo Tian to the moment Luo Tian raised his hand, less than half a second had passed.
For an ordinary person, that wasn't even enough time to blink.
But for a top-tier powerhouse, half a second was enough to do plenty—for example, launch a deadly attack.
Because the world moved slower in the eyes of the strong!
"Shinra Tensei—!!!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, Shiki felt an invisible wall of Repulsion slam into his face like a ten-thousand-ton hammer.
It wasn't a shock wave or an explosion of energy. It was space itself "rejecting" and "repelling" him.
It was as if the entire world were telling him: You don't belong here. Get out.
Then he felt his body being driven out by space. Every cell, every drop of blood, every bone seemed to be denied, repelled, and thrown away by some kind of law!
And finally—
BOOM!!!!!!
A tremendous force blasted Shiki away. He traced a ghastly arc through the air, moving so fast that a string of sonic-boom clouds formed behind him.
Then he crashed heavily through the ground.
The impact left a crater over a hundred meters wide and ten meters deep.
The rocks at its bottom were crushed to powder in an instant, while the shock wave heaved up all the surrounding soil and sent it surging outward in a circular wall.
Billowing dust soared into the sky, rising like a mushroom cloud.
Silence.
The entire sea fell silent.
"W-what? Shiki was blasted away!"
"What... what just happened? How did Shiki suddenly end up in front of Luo Tian?"
"I didn't see... It happened in an instant..."
The pirates watching from a distance shouted and speculated among themselves, every face filled with shock and disbelief.
It had happened too fast.
As the dust slowly cleared, the bottom of the crater gradually came into view.
Shiki flew up out of the crater, clutching his chest. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "Cough, cough..."
He raised his head and looked at the figure in the sky.
Luo Tian hovered in midair and spoke calmly:
"Shiki, do you still want to keep fighting?"
He realized that if he kept fighting Shiki with swordsmanship and Haki alone, who knew how long it would take to decide the winner?
After all, his swordsmanship and Haki weren't much stronger than Shiki's. Though he had a slight edge, it wasn't enough to overwhelm him completely.
Shiki had too much combat experience, and his stamina and Haki reserves were terrifyingly deep. If they tried to wear each other down, they could fight for three days and three nights.
So, if he wanted to end the fight quickly, he had to make greater use of the Space-Space Fruit's abilities.
He could create a decisive opening by using methods his opponent wasn't familiar with and couldn't fully defend against.
"I'm done. I'm done."
Shiki shook his head and waved a hand, his voice a little hoarse:
"Who could beat an ability as bizarre as yours? It's impossible to guard against!"
He gave a bitter smile and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Teleportation and repulsion... Your move is just too nasty."
"If I'd known you could do that, I never would've let you get close."
Despite what he said, Shiki knew the truth: even if he'd known beforehand, it would've been difficult to defend against.
That teleportation ability was too bizarre to predict. The only way to counter it was to use powerful Haki to force it away the instant he was targeted.
After all, if your ability came from eating a Devil Fruit, then Haki was bound to counter it.
If it couldn't, that just meant your Haki wasn't strong enough.
So, for top-tier powerhouses, Luo Tian's move wasn't invincible. Its strength lay in catching the opponent by surprise.
If the opponent had time to react and prepare, the combo's effectiveness would be greatly reduced.
After all, top-tier powerhouses had all mastered powerful Observation Haki and Armament Haki.
Luo Tian had realized this too. That was why he'd seized the moment Shiki was blasted back by the slash, while his mind was still shaken, and executed the combo perfectly.
First, teleport the enemy right in front of him, then hit him with Shinra Tensei!
Simple, brutal, effective.
But this move required impeccable timing, and the enemy had to be in a vulnerable state—
For example, right after taking a heavy hit, when their breathing was still unsteady and their Observation Haki was slow to warn them.
Against Shiki in peak condition and on full alert, the move's chance of success would probably be less than thirty percent.
"System notification: Mission complete—Defeat Golden Lion Shiki!" "Reward issued: Congratulations! You have obtained the tips for using Advanced Conqueror's Haki!"
Before you continue