Physical Technique Showdown

"Kid, the consequences of angering me are very severe."

In her black cat form, Niveya gave a wicked smile and lazily stretched, her beautiful figure curving in all the right places.

"I'm going to slice the flesh off your body piece by piece!"

She kicked off the ground and used Soru, pouncing like a bullet fired from a gun. Her terrifying speed turned her body into a blurry black shadow, arriving in an instant.

So fast! Her speed had increased by at least three times compared to before!

Ye Qiong's heart tightened. Even relying solely on his eyes, he could only vaguely catch Niveya's movements.

As her claws tore toward him, Ye Qiong almost instinctively raised his longsword.

Screech!!!

Her cat claws raked fiercely across the blade, producing a piercing scrape of metal against metal as sparks scattered everywhere.

At the same time, Taigu's massive bear body appeared beside Ye Qiong, his bear paw crashing down with overwhelming force!

Boom!

Ye Qiong shoved aside Niveya's claws and rolled along the ground. Taigu's bear paw struck the floor where he had just been, instantly cracking and pulverizing it as a huge crater collapsed inward.

Niveya and Taigu each kicked through the air. Rankyaku swept across the sky as two translucent vacuum blades tore through the air, crossing into an X and sealing off Ye Qiong's escape routes.

Whether in force or speed, the vacuum blades unleashed by the two Rankyaku were far stronger than when they had been in human form!

There was nowhere to dodge!

Ye Qiong raised his longsword. A faint milky-white glow flowed over the blade as its space-cutting power surged forth, gathering at the edge and forming a thin blade of light.

"Dimensional Sky Slash!"

Ye Qiong slashed straight down at the intersecting wind blades. His sword edge split the vacuum blades, cutting both in two with a single stroke!

Though the web between his thumb and forefinger trembled violently, he had truly severed the vacuum blades.

The four sections of wind blade swept sharply past Ye Qiong without the slightest obstruction, slicing through one side of the villa.

Crash!

That section of the building completely collapsed, dust billowing as it turned into rubble and broken tiles in an instant, revealing the pitch-black forest around them and the cold glimmer of scattered stars overhead.

Ye Qiong still held his sword in a slashing stance, his eyes blazing with battle intent. Facing powerful opponents had truly awakened the excitement in his body.

"He actually split apart two Rankyaku with his sword..."

Taigu fell silent. Only those who truly understood the power of Rankyaku knew how difficult it was to block that move, let alone split it head-on.

"That light blade is dangerous. Be careful not to get hit," Niveya warned.

"My turn to attack."

Ye Qiong swung his sword, sending a Dimensional Sky Slash flying diagonally toward Taigu.

"Soru!" Taigu kicked off, bursting a circular shockwave from beneath his feet as he rushed into the air to evade the Dimensional Sky Slash.

Ye Qiong turned his wrist and swung again. Space-cutting power gathered into a gleam along the other edge of his sword, releasing a crescent blade of light at Taigu in midair.

Just as the Dimensional Sky Slash was about to land on Taigu's bear body, Taigu stepped on the air. A burst of white air exploded beneath him, and he forcibly changed direction, charging toward Ye Qiong in a zigzag pattern.

"Geppo? What a powerful physical technique." Ye Qiong's eyes lit up slightly.

Taking more than ten steps through the air in less than a second, using them to compress the air and gain leverage in midair—this was Geppo.

Ye Qiong knew that although his current speed and physique were strong, and his physical abilities were no weaker than those of a CP9 member, he still could not perform Geppo.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Taigu kicked the air continuously, using Geppo to close the distance as his pair of bear paws slammed toward Ye Qiong with brutal force.

"Shigan—Bear Strike!"

"Ancient Martial Arts—Inch-Extreme Collapse!"

Ye Qiong clenched both hands into fists. Power traveled up from beneath his feet, through every muscle in his body, before finally converging in both fists and exploding outward!

Boom!

Their fists collided, and terrifying force crushed down. The ground beneath Ye Qiong cracked as his feet sank into the collapsing earth.

"Get lost!" Ye Qiong gritted his teeth and exerted force. The hidden power of Inch-Extreme Collapse stacked layer upon layer, like a mountain collapse and a tsunami, its follow-up force endless!

Taigu, in his bear form, was startled. A surge of force entered his body, its hidden strength wreaking havoc within him, forcing him to stagger backward uncontrollably.

"Shigan—Steel Split!"

A black shadow darted forward. Ghostly claws shot out and raked across Ye Qiong's chest, instantly shredding his clothes and sending blood flying.

Having landed one blow, Niveya did not retreat. Her second strike was already coming!

Suppressing the pain in his chest that felt as though it had been torn open, Ye Qiong swiftly reached out with his left hand, his five fingers clamping down like pincers around her extended cat claw.

"Up you go!"

Ye Qiong lifted Niveya's body and, amid the terror on her face, smashed her viciously down!

Boom!

Niveya's body shattered the ground. Ye Qiong used the rebound force to pull both legs free from the earth.

Seeing Niveya trying to break free, Ye Qiong's eyes flashed coldly. He raised his left foot and stomped fiercely toward her head!

"Giant Bear Impact!"

At that moment, Taigu used Soru to shift at extreme speed to Ye Qiong's side. Both bear paws pressed against Ye Qiong's back, and a terrifying blast of impact force surged into his body before bursting out through his chest.

Ye Qiong felt the force disregard the defense of his Vajra Body. The blood and energy in his internal organs churned violently, and sweetness rose in his throat as he spat out blood.

No matter how hard he tried, his raised left foot would not come down. His body swayed, and he helplessly released Niveya's cat claw.

Niveya sprang up and kicked Ye Qiong's stiff body away.

Ye Qiong crashed into the ruins of broken stone and tiles, his fate unknown.

Still shaken, Niveya fearfully touched her chest. That had been close. If Taigu had not launched such a powerful attack in time, she would have been stomped to death alive!

She glanced at Taigu beside her and saw him holding a double-fist stance as he gasped heavily.

"Taigu, you..." Before Niveya could finish, Taigu suddenly vomited blood, shocking her.

"I'm fine. It's just the backlash from using Giant Bear Impact, plus some internal injuries. That kid's attacks are very powerful!" Taigu shook his head and sighed. "Fortunately, I mastered Giant Bear Impact not long ago. It takes a great deal of stamina to use, but I still succeeded."

Giant Bear Impact was a powerful shockwave he had created by combining parts of the Navy Six Powers with his sturdy polar bear body. It nearly ignored a human body's defenses and possessed astonishing destructive power.

"Is that kid dead?" Niveya's cat eyes slanted toward the pile of rubble burying Ye Qiong.

"It won't be that simple. Still, even with his physique, taking my Giant Bear Impact should leave him seriously injured," Taigu said steadily.

As if answering his words, the rubble was suddenly overturned, and Ye Qiong's body rose to his feet once more.

His upper clothes had already been torn to tatters, with only scraps hanging from his body and exposing his nearly bronze-colored skin. His abdominal muscles were perfectly defined. After battle after battle, three bloody claw marks covered his chest, while a deep red bear-paw-shaped wound marked his back. He looked somewhat battered.

Yet his eyes remained incomparably bright. Blood stained the corner of his lips, but a faint smile still hung there, without the slightest sign of panic or fear.

"I more or less understand your strength now," Ye Qiong said with a smile.

Until now, aside from Dimensional Sky Slash, he had not used any other abilities of the Space-Space Fruit. He had done so for the sake of testing himself.

Testing his level of physical technique and combat strength could also be considered a form of self-training.

He needed to know the tier of his combat strength before facing even stronger opponents ahead.

After the battle just now, he estimated that his physical abilities were at the level of a top-ranking marine captain. However, his physical technique skills were somewhat inferior to those proficient in the Navy Six Powers. Against a powerful offensive technique like Rankyaku, he could only contend with it through Dimensional Sky Slash.

Meanwhile, powerful supplementary physical techniques such as Geppo and Soru had deeply impressed him.

As expected of the pirate world, where powerful people were everywhere. Even the basic physical techniques practiced by the navy—though only those with the talent for physical training could master them—could wield such power once used proficiently.

Ye Qiong had to admit that relying solely on his physical techniques, killing two CP9 members was nearly impossible. It was practically wishful thinking!

But if he used his trump-card space abilities...

Ye Qiong suddenly smiled. After all, over the past year or so, it was his abilities that had improved the most!

"From here on, I won't hold back."

"We should be the ones saying that. You've caused enough trouble already. If this gets reported back to the government, we'll be demoted."

Niveya extended her crimson tongue and launched a Rankyaku at extreme speed. Force burst forth, and a vacuum blade sliced through the air, but it was not aimed at Ye Qiong.

The vacuum force kicked out by Rankyaku traced a path through the air, cutting diagonally upward and striking the villa lights with precision. The bulbs exploded, and the lights instantly went dark as the buildings on the other side of the villa collapsed one after another.

The entire villa ruin sank into boundless darkness. For a moment, Ye Qiong could not see his own hand before his face. He could only make out the faint starlight overhead and Niveya's pair of glowing green cat eyes opposite him.

Niveya's smug voice rang out. "Without any lighting, can you still dodge or block our attacks?"

"So what?" Ye Qiong replied indifferently.

"Heh, don't you understand yet? You're fighting beasts!"

"Die in agony in the darkness!"

No sooner had Niveya's voice arrived than the sound of feet kicking off the ground quietly followed. She used Geppo through the air to his left and right, the rapid sounds of compressed air growing dense as she approached Ye Qiong.

The sounds filled his ears. With his vision gone, it truly was difficult to determine the direction of their attack merely by listening.

"Self."

Ye Qiong extended his left hand. Space power poured out, forming an illusory floating sphere of light that rapidly expanded outward.

Very soon, a circular space with a radius of twenty meters formed around him, enveloping the surrounding villa ruins, including Niveya and Taigu as they closed in on him.

A three-dimensional image formed in Ye Qiong's mind. Above the wreckage of the villa ruins, Niveya and Taigu were in the air, attacking him from the left and right. Their forward pouncing movements, their steps kicking against the air, the savage expressions displayed on their beastly faces...

Everything appeared clearly in his mind. He could perceive every minute detail and understood it all completely.

This was Self!

The improved R not only expanded the ability space, but also strengthened his control and perception of everything within it.

It was equivalent to a personal domain!