Flowing Haki? All Right, I Get It!

Flowing Haki? All Right, I Get It!

"Since you've picked a fight with the Roger Pirates, don't even think about leaving unscathed!"

Rayleigh said with a smile to the Marines. Then he raised his long sword, pointed its tip at them, and shouted:

"Let's go! Crush them!"

As Rayleigh's words fell, the pirates behind him cheered and charged at the Marines. However, Rayleigh and Bullet did not rush in right away. Instead, they stood to the side, watching over the battle.

"This opponent is mine!"

"Oraa!!!!"

Oden was the fastest. Roger and Garp were fighting in the distance, and the commotion from their battle was enormous, but he simply could not get involved in that fight. Of the opponents before him, Oden had his eye on the young officer holding a long sword in the distance—Bogard!

Although Garp had confiscated Oden's weapons and thrown them onto a warship, Oden had no intention of retrieving a sword right now. The moment he saw Bogard and sensed his strength, he charged forward barehanded.

In an instant, Oden arrived before Bogard. His Haki-coated fist smashed viciously toward Bogard's face. Although Bogard raised his sword in time to block it, the tremendous force still sent him flying, his body slamming hard onto the ice.

Tsugikuni Yoriichi saw Oden's entire sequence of movements. When Bogard was sent flying, excitement instead appeared in Yoriichi's eyes, and he could not help muttering:

"Ryou..."

"So that's it. So this is how Haki flows!"

"I get it!"

Yoriichi had accurately caught and observed Oden's attack. Within Yoriichi's Transparent World, he could clearly see that the Haki coating Oden's fist was flowing!

Before this, he had never seen Haki used in such a way. When Garp fought him, perhaps because he had been suppressing his strength to avoid hurting Yoriichi, Garp's Haki had remained gathered around his fists, completely still!

Aokiji was the same. That guy's Haki was not particularly strong, and it remained stationary when he fought. It did not flow at all.

In Wano Country, Haki was called Ryou. The two were fundamentally the same thing; only the name differed.

However, outside Wano Country, most people simply gathered Haki in a certain body part or coated it onto a weapon. This method could not bring out Haki's full power at all.

When people from Wano Country used Haki, it could flow even as it gathered. Haki used this way not only produced a much stronger enhancement, but could even strike from a distance.

It could attack without even touching the opponent.

The essence of a Flying Slash was actually the use of flowing Haki! The Flying Slash Yoriichi had mastered was merely developed by borrowing the principles of one of the Six Powers—Tempest Kick.

But the true Flying Slashes in the world of the Pirate King were unleashed through Haki, like Roger's Divine Departure—a normal attack!

Yoriichi had long known that Armament Haki had two different methods of use, but he had only known of them and had never actually seen them.

He had researched and attempted it himself, but without results. On top of that, his Armament Haki coverage had been improving rapidly at the time, so Yoriichi had not settled down to study it. He had focused solely on expanding his Haki's range of coverage and had forgotten all about it.

But when he saw Roger and Garp's distant blows on the ship just now, Yoriichi once again had the thought of making Haki flow. It was just that Garp and Roger's battle had been too fast for him to observe carefully.

And his "all-out strike" against Bullet just now had made Yoriichi realize how weak his Haki was, making his desire to learn the technique of "flow" even stronger.

Now, Oden's attack on Bogard instantly revealed the secret of flowing Haki to Yoriichi.

For others learning the technique of Haki "flow," like Luffy, they needed a "feeling." They needed to grasp that elusive "feeling," then test it in battle and see whether it was right.

But Tsugikuni Yoriichi was different.

He could see it!

And he saw it very clearly!

Bogard's body struck the ice after being sent flying. As he bounced back, Bogard performed a backflip and landed steadily on the ice. His military boots scraped fiercely against the surface, and he slid dozens of meters before finally stopping.

Oden did not pause at all. He instantly knocked down two nearby Marines, seized two swords in his hands, then kicked off the ground and charged toward Bogard in the distance.

Bogard's Haki was fairly strong, and his swordsmanship was impressive as well, but compared to Oden, he paled in comparison. Before long, he was suppressed by Oden and could only defend passively.

At the same time, the other members of the Roger Pirates charged in as well. Scopper Gaban set his sights on Aokiji and swung his twin axes at him.

Meanwhile, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, Oden's two retainers, ran toward Oden and guarded his surroundings, helping to cover him. Though Oden held the advantage everywhere and did not need anyone to cover him at all.

Elio and the others, having caught their breath by now, also joined their companions in fighting the Marines.

On Yoriichi's side, however, not a single Roger Pirates crew member attacked him. Perhaps it was because Yoriichi was a child?!

Just as Yoriichi was about to help a Marine fighting someone nearby, Buggy charged at him without fear of death, thrusting the short blade in his hand straight toward Yoriichi's chest.

Shanks was with Buggy as well.

These two "apprentice crew members," who were around Yoriichi's age, had actually chosen Yoriichi as their target.

Compared to Buggy's ruthlessness, Shanks's attack was much gentler. He was slashing toward Yoriichi's back and was not aiming to kill, intending only to render Yoriichi unable to fight.

Yoriichi saw both Shanks and Buggy's movements. These two future Four Emperors were truly pathetically weak at the moment.

In Yoriichi's eyes, their speed was no different from crawling turtles, and these childish attacks might have been enough to deal with a young Blackbeard. Against him? They were nowhere near enough!

Yoriichi slightly raised the long sword in his hand, a cold glint flashing through his eyes. Since Shanks had not gone for the kill, Yoriichi decided to help him "bet his left arm on the new era" ahead of time. As for Buggy, who had gone for the kill, there was nothing to say!

Flames suddenly surged over Black Blade Dawnbreaker. The black blade instantly turned crimson. Yoriichi's expression hardened as Haki coated the sword, and he swung directly at Buggy's head.

At the same time, Yoriichi's body had already begun to turn. The moment he cut off Buggy's head and spun around, he would be able to "place Shanks's bet" as well!

"Ah, my!"

"What murderous intent from such a young man!"

"Buggy, Shanks, you picked the wrong opponent!"

Just as Yoriichi was about to take Buggy's head, Rayleigh, who had been watching from the side and covering the battle, suddenly entered the fray and swung his sword to block Yoriichi's killing strike.

The blade stopped dead just 0.1 centimeters from Buggy's neck.

Yoriichi coldly withdrew his sword at once, then spun around and slashed toward Shanks behind him. Shanks's attack was already upon him. If he did not counterattack, Yoriichi would take a hit.

Yoriichi's turning slash was incredibly fast. Rayleigh's pupils shrank slightly. He had not expected Yoriichi to ignore him, the threatening "adult," and instead try to cut down Shanks first.

Alarmed, he immediately reached for Yoriichi's collar, intending to stop Yoriichi's attack.

Yet just as he reached out, Tsugikuni Yoriichi suddenly leaped up, evading both Shanks and Rayleigh's attacks. With a backflip, he arrived directly above Rayleigh's head. Borrowing the force of his rotation, he slashed the crimson long sword in his hand toward Rayleigh's back.

Sun Breathing—Fifth Form—Flame Wheel!

This time, the Haki coating Yoriichi's sword began to slowly flow around the blade instead of simply gathering in one place as it had before.

A technique he had seen from Oden only moments ago was immediately put to use!

"A feint? So I'm the target!"

"What clever calculation!"

"What gorgeous swordsmanship!"

"But you're too young!"

Rayleigh sighed with a smile, turned his head slightly, then swiftly spun around. Using only the index finger and thumb of his left hand, he directly caught the blade slashing toward him.

Clang~

A sharp metallic ring sounded. The Haki on Yoriichi's sword was instantly dispersed by Rayleigh. The terrifying slash lost all its power in that instant and was forcibly blocked by Rayleigh.

Rayleigh swiftly flicked the blade he was holding, throwing both the long sword and Yoriichi away together.

Yoriichi's body crashed onto the ice. He rolled several times before finally coming to a stop.

"Flowing Haki still isn't strong enough!"

Yoriichi slowly rose to his feet with his sword in hand, brows furrowed as he muttered to himself. Meanwhile, Rayleigh looked at the two small cuts on his thumb and index finger, his gaze toward Yoriichi unexpectedly filled with admiration.

(End of Chapter)