"Master Koushiro, with your boundless strength of will, could you defeat Pirate King Roger?" Kujo Tachibana asked curiously.
Don't get the wrong idea. Kujo Tachibana wasn't trying to provoke him; he was genuinely just curious.
At that, Koushiro looked at Kujo Tachibana, both embarrassed and furious. What a stubborn apprentice!
"Even if I can't beat Roger, you think I can't beat you, brat?"
With that, Koushiro, already seeing red, grabbed the Great Grade Sword Wado Ichimonji and charged at Kujo Tachibana.
"Clang!!"
The two long swords, both coated in Advanced Armament Haki—Ryuo—collided without yielding an inch!
But upon closer inspection, a strange gap two fingers wide remained between the blades.
Thunder Dragon and Wado Ichimonji were separated by that narrow space, locked in a battle of strength!
This was a technique for using Advanced Armament Haki!
It was a technique Kujo Tachibana had only recently mastered. It could coat the body and weapons in an invisible layer of armor, and also inflict internal damage on enemies struck by it.
The samurai of Wano Country called it "Ryuo," or flowing Armament Haki.
The two powerful surges of Armament Haki collided, as if a meteor had crashed into the planet's surface!
The earth beneath their feet split apart, and the clouds overhead were blown away!
A shock wave burst outward from the two swords, sweeping across the deserted island and flattening everything in its path!
It continued all the way to the distant horizon, where the sea met the sky, and still showed no sign of stopping...
Thunder Dragon was two grades below the Great Grade Sword, but with its heavy blade adding strength, it held its own against the Great Grade Sword.
Koushiro stared at Kujo Tachibana, eyes wide with shock!
His apprentice had actually blocked that strike!
He had