What was going on?
They could not find any trace of Oak, and everyone present was panicking.
They knew Oak had not truly vanished, much less fled. He had to be nearby; they simply could not find him.
But how was that possible?
How could Observation Haki fail to sense a person's presence entirely?
Among them all, Shamrock was the most panicked. Oak had looked at him last before disappearing, and he knew he had been targeted first. Once Oak reappeared, the first thing waiting for him would surely be a thunderous strike.
Find him!
He desperately pushed his Observation Haki to its limit. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead, yet he still could not sense Oak's presence at all.
Just as his nerves stretched to their breaking point—
Whoosh~
A crimson sword beam suddenly appeared before him. Like Oak's disappearance, it appeared without warning. No one had noticed how it had emerged, as if it had materialized from thin air.
Before Shamrock could even see it clearly, the sword beam struck him.
"Aah~"
With a scream, Shamrock staggered back two steps, his face pale. He clutched his chest, where a wound nearly spanned his entire upper body. It was deep enough to expose bone, nearly splitting him in half. His internal organs were even visible through it, while blood sprayed endlessly from the gash. Black flames immediately began restoring the wound, but the Conqueror's Haki coiled around it continuously consumed those flames, preventing Shamrock's injury from healing at all.
At that moment, Shamrock looked no different from an ordinary wounded man. His Immortal Body's near-undying ability was gone.
Oak still did not reveal himself, and Observation Haki still could not locate him. Shamrock clutched his wound, searching with a deathly pale face. Then—
Whoosh~
Another sword beam descended. This