The Suppression of "Presence"

"A more direct method?" Levy blinked in confusion.

Zoro offered no further explanation. He merely took two steps back, steadied himself again, and said to Levy, "Theory can't teach you this, so experience it for yourself. Come on, shorty. Attack me with your strongest move. Give it everything you've got. Don't worry about hurting me—just strike."

"Eh? Everything I've got?" Levy hesitated. She knew Zoro was strong, but if she really went all out and hurt this "teacher," that would be bad.

"What are you dawdling for?!" Zoro frowned, and an invisible pressure spread from him. "If you don't even have the resolve to attack me, what are you talking about getting stronger for? You might as well go home and read books!"

Provoked by him, Levy's unwillingness to admit defeat was ignited as well.

"I understand!" She nodded firmly, her gaze turning resolute.

She took a deep breath and drew out all the magic within her without holding anything back. Brilliant magical light swirled around her as she raised both hands above her head, and the Ethernano in the air began to gather toward her wildly.

"Solid Script!"

She was preparing to use the most offensively powerful composite magic she currently possessed!

"Fire!" "Thunder!"

Two enormous "Fire" words, blazing with roaring flames, and a single "Thunder" word crackling with blinding lightning, formed above her head at the same time!

"Flame-Thunder Strike!"

Levy let out a sharp cry and thrust both hands forward. The two flaming words and the lightning word instantly merged, transforming into a torrent of energy filled with fire and thunder, brimming with destructive force as it roared toward Zoro!

The power of that attack was enough to level an entire house. Even Gray would not dare take it head-on so casually!

The entire training ground flickered under the violent magic.

Yet in the face of this overwhelming attack, Zoro remained where he stood, his feet seemingly rooted to the ground, completely motionless.

He did not even assume a sword-drawing stance.

Just before the torrent of flame and thunder was about to swallow him.

His left eye, which had been half-closed all along, suddenly snapped open!

What kind of eye was that?!

Gone was its usual laziness and indifference. It was like the deepest night sky, as though mountains of corpses and seas of blood drifted within it, while the wails of countless powerful warriors echoed through it. An intangible, formless absolute will—yet one that seemed heavier than Mount Tai and above all things—erupted from that single eye!

Conqueror's Haki!

He did not release enough pressure to knock out weaklings. Instead, he directed an extremely faint trace of Haki, devoid of killing intent yet filled with an absolute sense of "presence," like an awl piercing precisely into the incoming magical torrent—and Levy behind it.

In that instant, Levy felt her entire world turn upside down.

She no longer felt as if she were standing on solid ground, but like a lone boat cast amid towering waves. The green-haired man before her seemed to transform in an instant into an ancient demon god holding up heaven and earth, while she was nothing more than an ant beneath his feet.

An irresistible fear and trembling, rising from the depths of her soul, seized her mind in an instant!

She felt as though an invisible mountain were crushing her down. Breathing became unbearably difficult, her heart seemed to be gripped by a giant hand, and even her blood appeared to stop flowing. Under the suppression of that absolute "presence," the magic circulating within her became sluggish and stagnant, before finally spiraling completely out of control!

The previously violent Flame-Thunder Strike, still three meters away from Zoro, seemed to lose all support for its energy. It let out an unwilling wail, then burst apart in midair with a soft pop, collapsing into countless harmless motes of magical light.

Levy herself staggered backward several steps from the magical backlash and mental shock before dropping onto the ground, her face pale as she gasped for breath.

Throughout the entire process, Zoro had not even moved a single finger.

He slowly withdrew that suffocating Haki, and the training ground returned to calm, as though everything that had just happened had been nothing but an illusion.

He walked over to Levy, who sat sprawled on the ground with lingering fear on her face, looked down at her, and asked in an even tone:

"Did you see it?"

Levy raised her head and looked up at him, her large eyes filled with shock and confusion.

Zoro continued, "Sometimes, what decides victory or defeat isn't how flashy your magic is, nor how powerful your strength may be."

"It is your 'presence.'"

"When your 'presence,' your 'resolve,' and your 'will' can rise above your opponent's, then even if you stand still, they cannot harm you in the slightest. Because before you even make a move, they have already lost."

"This is... the essence of battle."