Flying Slash Versus a New Ability User!

The banquet ended, and Daisis never showed herself.

As the big boss, she merely had someone announce, "My apologies, everyone. The young lady is feeling unwell today and cannot appear."

The crowd dispersed, and Wude stood, stretched lazily, and headed back.

Several Marines followed behind him furtively.

"Go do your own thing. I'll look around by myself first," Wude instructed the group of human props behind him.

"Sir, be careful. Those Marines don't look like good people," Jia said bluntly.

"I know, hahaha." Wude waved and laughed.

Wude stood where he was and waited for a while. The Marines holding a grudge against him soon followed.

The lead Marine glared at him viciously while keeping a safe distance. "Kid, you're pretty arrogant. Tell us your name!"

"How am I arrogant?" Wude stood with his back to them, arms folded, a sword at his waist. All he lacked was a cape.

"You..." The Marine officer hastily swallowed his rebuke, afraid the other side would sacrifice him at the slightest disagreement. He shrank his neck. "Why did you destroy the courtesan's lot?"

"Hahaha!" Wude threw back his head and laughed loudly. "You have no spirit at all. Why are you speaking so quietly?"

"I said, why did you crush the lot?" The Marine officer raised his voice slightly.

"Colonel, state your name! Louder!" Wude shouted, full of backbone and imposing authority, pretending to be a Marine officer himself.

"I... I'm Ian." The Marine's momentum weakened considerably. Why did this feel so ominous?

"A Marine without spirit—I'll remember you. I am Rear Admiral Rengoku Kyojuro!" Wude declared loudly. Kuroh gave him an OK sign, meaning that guy had been bluffed for the moment. Taking advantage of the Marines' inattention, Wude turned and slipped into a dark alley to make his escape.

It wasn't that he was afraid he couldn't beat them. He simply didn't want to be remembered by this kind of bastard Marine. Otherwise, if some asshole put a bounty on him, he'd be hunted before he even joined the Marines.

That would be far too unjust!

He still wanted to attend the Marine Academy and benefit from Zephyr's teaching.

"Rengoku Kyojuro... what an imposing name. Which branch is he a rear admiral from?" Ian turned to look at his subordinates.

"There are too many Marine branches in the world. We don't know," the subordinates said, shaking their heads.

But when they looked back, no one was there.

The Marines exchanged looks. After thinking it over, they decided the other side hadn't lied. Could a powerhouse capable of silently patting their shoulders really deceive them?

"Let's go back and ask which branch that senior is from."

"Alright."

Dry white hair fluttered wildly in the wind, while a neat suit was tossed aside.

Wude looked at the person blocking his path and became interested.

"Rear Admiral Rengoku Kyojuro, I am Xiluo. Fight me!" the white-haired man Xiluo shouted. He had heard this guy's name from the shadows earlier.

Beneath the suit was a bizarre body.

He had powerful muscles, but their lines were terribly distorted, making him look especially ugly.

Moonlight fell across Xiluo's face. It too was grotesquely twisted, with sickly features that sent an indescribable chill through one's heart.

"Sure!" Wude nodded in agreement. He wanted to test whether what the other man had used during the day was truly Conqueror's Haki.

Had Conqueror's Haki become as common as cabbage?

"If I win, you'll become slaves to me and my sister." As Xiluo spoke, he opened the gourd at his waist, and the stench of blood rushed out.

Under the moonlight, strange scarlet liquid floated out under Xiluo's control, condensing into a blood-red longsword that he gripped in his hand.

Wude stared at him in surprise. A blood-controlling Devil Fruit user?

"And if I win?" Wude asked.

"Then you'll marry my sister, and this island will be yours," Xiluo answered without hesitation.

"I..." Wude nearly cursed. So no matter who won or lost, their family came out ahead.

"I don't agree. Change the terms." Wude waved his hands repeatedly. This brother's way of thinking seemed completely incompatible with humanity.

"Is my sister not pretty?" Xiluo frowned.

"She is, but she's not my type." Wude shook his head.

"Is my sister not sexy?" Xiluo asked again.

"She is, but women aren't merchandise. I don't think you should give her away without her consent. Don't you agree?" Wude hurriedly used his brain to refuse tactfully.

"Then I'm relieved." Xiluo nodded in agreement.

Wude finally breathed a sigh of relief.

What was this, "Hey, Wude, want a wife?" Lunatic. Why should someone else get to choose my wife? Get lost already!

"My sister definitely has no objections. This is what she wants!" Xiluo gripped his blood blade and charged forward at high speed. "Fight me! Defeat me with everything you have!"

"Are you insane!?" Wude simply couldn't understand this line of thinking, but he did not hesitate in the face of a life-or-death battle.

His left hand gripped the scabbard and gave it a shake. The cold blade rang as it left the sheath, its chill gleam intimidating the heart.

His right hand seized the hilt, and he drew the sword in a slashing strike!

Pfft!

The sharp blade split apart the blood sword, which suddenly transformed into two crescent-shaped flying knives. Xiluo gave a sinister smile, released the crescent blood blades, and retreated after his scheme succeeded.

Wude reacted swiftly, crouching at once and narrowly dodging the two crescent blood blades that shot past him.

"Fell for it, didn't you? My ability can control blood and turn it into weapons of any form, cough, cough, cough..." Xiluo laughed proudly from afar, then suddenly bent over and coughed blood. Even so, he could not hide his wild delight.

Wude spread his hands. "That's it?"

The world of One Piece was full of bizarre people and strange things. A blood-controlling ability user was certainly novel, but Wude still wanted to know how this guy had made passersby kneel with a single glare.

The two crescent blood blades hovered in the night sky, suddenly fused together, then spun back toward Wude, slashing at his back.

"No creativity at all." Wude shook his head, turned, and slashed twice behind him.

"Useless! My blood blades can change shape freely to evade slashes. Your strikes are meaningless! Wahahaha!" Xiluo threw back his head and laughed wildly, ready to watch Wude make a fool of himself.

Wude took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and gripped his sword with both hands. He concentrated all his strength in his arms, planted his feet, twisted his waist, and drove his entire body into one slash!

"Calm your mind. Combine the insights you have gained from swinging your sword day and night over the years, along with the sword forms you have practiced. Pour all your spirit and strength into that single slash, and try to unleash the strike of a true swordsman!"

"That is the beginning of a swordsman's path toward becoming a swordmaster. Go, child. The insights gained in life-and-death battle are something a teacher cannot teach you."

His teacher's voice echoed in his ears.

Wude poured his entire body and soul into that one sword, then swung with all his strength.

"Have you ever seen a Flying Slash!?" Wude's confident voice rang in Xiluo's ears, and he abruptly looked up.

A sky-blue gleam detached from the blade, transforming into a sharp crescent slash wave that flew toward the blood blade with a faint blue trail behind it!

The sky-blue slash wave continuously expanded in the pitch-black night sky. It was so striking as it swept through, tearing apart the blood blade and turning it into droplets of red blood, which streaked toward the distant sky.

"So beautiful."