Door-Door Fruit and the Use of Swordsmanship

Here, it had to be said that [Time Is on My Side] was truly overpowered. After absorbing Mihawk's sword aura and sword intent, Lu Ge had naturally grasped both. On a sudden whim, he tried deliberately focusing all of his training over the next two years on swordsmanship. To his surprise, he actually succeeded, perfectly displaying the understanding of swordsmanship he would possess two years later.

Feeling the surging sword intent within him, Lu Ge grew a little excited. Sure enough, the future shown by [Time Is on My Side] can be twisted and changed through my determination and effort. It's on me, it's on me—it truly is [Time Is on My Side]! I really did choose the right name for this move.

Driven by excitement and exhilaration, the sword intent Lu Ge unleashed became even sharper and more tyrannical. With a slash of his sword, brilliant light bloomed. A peerlessly sharp sword aura transformed into a crescent moon and cleaved toward Hawkeye Mihawk. Its sword pressure was fully revealed, unrivaled in its edge.

The black blade [Night] in Hawkeye Mihawk's hand seemed to have finally sensed a threat from an opponent after so long. With a hum, it was instantly coated in black Armament Haki as he brought it down in a plain vertical slash against the incoming sword light!

The sword light tore through the sky, splitting the vast ocean before them. Seawater parted to either side, revealing a towering path through the sea. The sight was breathtaking.

When the two sword auras collided, an endless torrent of terrifying sword lights erupted in an instant. Even the surrounding sea was blasted into a vacuum zone before the waves rushed back, setting off monstrous swells.

Such a terrifying battle left Kikyo and the other women aboard the Kuja Pirate Ship utterly dumbfounded. This fight seemed to have surpassed their understanding of the strong, shattering every concept they had of what strength could be.

So the truly powerful people in this world could actually be this strong. The warriors they understood were nothing at all before beings like these.

"I never thought Lu Ge would be this incredible!"

"Captain Sanya, who is that person? Oh my god! Are all the people out here this terrifying?!!"

Sanya wore a grave expression as she stared fixedly at the battlefield. After pondering for a moment, she said, "If I'm not mistaken, that person should be the legendary World's Strongest Swordsman—Hawkeye Mihawk!"

Bolan's eyes immediately widened. "The strongest in the world? Really? Lu Ge is actually fighting the world's strongest?"

Sanya corrected her seriously, "Not the world's strongest person, but the world's strongest great swordsman."

"That's still super amazing! The world's strongest great swordsman!"

Everyone watched the battle with worship in their eyes. The shocks Lu Ge kept bringing them were truly exhilarating.

"Do you think Lu Ge will win?"

"I don't know! But I hope Lu Ge wins."

"Stop talking and watch carefully!"

In the battlefield, after their clash of sword auras, Lu Ge and Hawkeye Mihawk finally engaged in close combat.

The black blades in their hands, completely wrapped in black Armament Haki, collided again and again, throwing off dazzling sparks. Their piercing clashes sent out terrifying sword auras like violent gales, and every sword aura that struck the sea stirred up rolling waves. The scene was astonishing.

The more Hawkeye Mihawk fought, the more alarmed he became. In swordsmanship, Red-Haired Shanks was the only one who could match him so evenly. Now, he had encountered another. Delighted to find such a worthy opponent, he unleashed his full strength. Sword light flashed in his hand, like a black sun tearing through the sky as it descended to suppress Lu Ge!

Sword light stretched ten thousand feet, and the sky rumbled as though it would split apart beneath this strike.

Lu Ge instantly felt immense pressure. He had to admit that the two years of swordsmanship he had comprehended through [Time Is on My Side] still fell slightly short of the current Hawkeye Mihawk. Of course, that gap existed only in terms of swordsmanship. Even if he faced it head-on, he was confident he could take this terrifying strike.

But there was no need, because Lu Ge now wanted to test just how much power could erupt from combining his swordsmanship with his Fruit ability, and whether someone as strong as Hawkeye Mihawk could withstand it.

Watching the terrifying sword light arrive in the blink of an eye, Lu Ge actually reached out with his bare hand. "Dark Door." The space before him suddenly rippled strangely. Of course, ordinary people could hardly see that ripple.

To Mihawk, Lu Ge's action made it seem as though he intended to take his sword strike barehanded.

That truly shocked Mihawk. He was confident that not even Whitebeard would dare receive his sword strike with bare hands.

Just as Mihawk focused intently, curious to see how Lu Ge would take his sword strike barehanded, his sword light suddenly vanished just as it neared Lu Ge. Then, with a squelch, sword light flashed past. Mihawk felt a heavy blow strike his back, and blood sprayed through the air as his body was instantly sent flying. He skipped across the sea several times before falling into the water, staining the surface red in moments.

Feeling the intense pain from his back, Mihawk's expression turned grave. He knew he was injured. There had to be a terrifying wound across his back. He had actually been wounded by his own attack. Fortunately, at the instant he was struck, he had covered his back with Armament Haki. Otherwise, under that terrifying slash of his, even if he did not die, he would have been severely injured.

He immediately looked at Lu Ge with utter seriousness. "What... ability is that?"

However, Lu Ge did not answer. Instead, he suddenly raised his hand and tilted the katana in his grip slightly forward, ready to thrust. "Instead of wasting time asking questions, you should calm down and think about how to deal with my next strike. Be careful. Don't die."

As he spoke, the black katana in his hand suddenly thrust forward. Its blade vanished strangely, as though it had pierced directly into space.

"!!!"

Seeing such a bizarre sight, Mihawk was startled. In the next instant, he sensed an unusual ripple behind his neck. Almost at that very moment, he relied on instinct, moving both hands and feet as he swept one hand through the water and shot away. But in the sea, his movements were restricted, and he was still half a beat too slow. A thin bloody cut was left on his neck.

Looking at the blade that had strangely thrust out of thin air from his original position, Mihawk wiped the blood from his neck, his expression grave. "Ignoring the distance of space and attacking through it at will? Is it some kind of spatial ability? What a troublesome ability! On land, I could still evade effectively, but in the sea, this is truly a problem!"

Lu Ge looked at Mihawk and pondered slightly as well. "Even though he's injured, he should be able to evade completely on land. Observation Haki truly is extraordinary. In that case, how will you block this move?"