Fierce Clash

Lu Ge thrust out with his sword, its gleam fully exposed before the blade vanished into space once more.

Mihawk instantly sensed the cold fluctuation behind him. He decisively slapped the sea, launching himself out of the water, but at that very moment, a sword blade abruptly appeared above his head. Before he could even raise a defense, it had already stabbed toward his forehead.

Mihawk's reaction was undeniably swift. Almost instantly, his forehead was covered in Armament Haki. With a clang, the blade struck the Haki-protected forehead, producing the ring of metal against metal. Then a faint wound appeared, blood slowly seeping from it.

Mihawk was startled. He had not expected his opponent's Sword Realm to have reached the point where it could cut through his Armament Haki. He immediately laughed. "Very good! In these past few years, aside from Shanks, no one has ever managed to injure me. You're quite impressive."

His hawk-like gaze became utterly sharp at that moment. He kicked off the air, shooting toward Lu Ge like an arrow loosed from its string. The Black Blade in his hand erupted with terrifying sword gleams, and every blade that suddenly stabbed out along the way was blocked by him at the first instant. Amid a rapid series of clanks, each time a blade appeared without warning, he seemed to know in advance, decisively slashing back and blocking them all.

At this moment, the world's greatest swordsman had finally become serious.

Yet Lu Ge was not surprised by the sight. "As expected, against true experts, this kind of attack is completely useless before their Observation Haki."

As Lu Ge was sighing inwardly, Mihawk had already reached him. Black Blade Yoru in his hand shone with a fierce sword gleam, its sharp light flashing as sword intent surged forth and sword energy soared into the heavens, forming an incomparable arc of sword energy that slashed down at Lu Ge!

This strike was unstoppable, spanning the sky as though it possessed the power to tear open the heavens.

Yet just as that terrifyingly sharp strike was about to hit Lu Ge, the blade of Black Blade Yoru abruptly vanished into space.

The same bizarre scene made Mihawk halt his movement just in time. He suddenly discovered that the blade of Black Blade Yoru had appeared behind him. Had it been even a fraction closer, he would have been severely wounded by his own strike again. The terrifying sword gleam carried by it still scraped his back painfully, leaving crisscrossing slash marks.

"Just as I thought, it's a spatial ability!"

Mihawk's eyes narrowed as the sword light in his hand flared. He suddenly thrust his sword toward the heavens, terrifying sword gleams flashing. From the look of it, he actually intended to cut open the distorted space before him with a single strike.

But what Mihawk never expected was that the sword gleam meant to break apart the distorted space suddenly emerged from beneath his crotch. In an instant, Mihawk broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, he stopped his movement in time again, and under the protection of Armament Haki, the remaining sword energy did not cut off his manhood. Unfortunately, the world's greatest swordsman was now hanging out in the open.

Seeing this, Lu Ge could not help bursting into laughter. He even kindly reminded him, "Don't try to destroy the space here, because every strike you make could end up cutting yourself."

"What a troublesome ability." Hawkeye Mihawk wore a grave expression. He had seen countless strange Devil Fruit Ability users, but he had never encountered such a troublesome and seemingly unsolvable ability.

In truth, this only showed that Lu Ge had developed the Door-Door Fruit exceptionally well, bringing its "traversal" trait into full play. The combination of Dark Door and swordsmanship, with the Time-Time Fruit's foresight serving as a warning, had nearly reached an unsolvable realm. Not only could it launch slashes regardless of spatial distance, it could also return an opponent's attacks to them at any time. Even someone as powerful as Hawkeye Mihawk had nearly seriously injured himself with his own sword.

This also made Hawkeye Mihawk somewhat restrained when wielding his sword, afraid that one careless move would cause his blade to suddenly strike his own body.

"Still, there is no ability in this world without a solution. There must be a weakness." Hawkeye Mihawk immediately calmed down and closed his eyes. "Since my eyes cannot see the distorted space, then I'll use my mind's eye to see."

All outside noise vanished at that moment. Hawkeye Mihawk's entire world became quiet. Then came the sound of the wind flowing, ants crawling, leaves brushing against one another... At that moment, everything became clearly audible.

Then Hawkeye Mihawk sensed an invisible wall, like an egg-shaped shield wrapping Lu Ge's entire body. "Is that the distorted space?"

To verify his thoughts, he tapped the ground beneath his feet and shot toward Lu Ge. He suddenly swung his sword. When Black Blade Yoru struck that egg-shaped shield, he saw in surprise that the blade vanished into space. Then a door abruptly appeared behind him, and his own sword blade bizarrely slashed out from it in an instant.

Hawkeye Mihawk immediately stopped, narrowly avoiding cutting himself.

But he had already completely seen through Lu Ge's ability. "The Door-Door Fruit? I never expected you to develop this ability to such a degree. Impressive! Truly impressive!"

He knew of the Door-Door Fruit. In other people's hands, it could only do simple things such as opening doors and making short-distance crossings. Yet in Lu Ge's hands, it had evolved into something so unsolvable. It seemed the world had underestimated this Door-Door Fruit. Their development direction had all been wrong.

"..." After hearing Hawkeye Mihawk's words, Lu Ge fell silent for quite a while. He had not said anything at all, yet this guy had still figured out his Devil Fruit Ability. It had to be said that someone capable of becoming the world's greatest swordsman truly had some skill.

Hawkeye Mihawk immediately sheathed his sword and looked seriously at Lu Ge. "I cannot hurt you, and you can no longer hurt me either. Let's call this match a draw. What do you say?"

"A draw?" Lu Ge smiled at that. "Is that what you think? If you can take my final strike, then talk about a draw."

As he spoke, Lu Ge raised the katana in his hand. Terrifying sword intent surged forth madly, sword light enveloping his body with a hum. Ripples spread across the sea beneath his feet. Then he swung his sword, and sword energy burst out in an instant, incomparably powerful. Heaven and earth shook as the sea itself was split apart by this strike, forming a towering chasm like a waterfall.

Mihawk's eyes narrowed. Knowing this strike was no trivial matter, he dared not lower his guard in the slightest. Sword intent surged from his hand as he swung his sword as well, meeting the attack head-on!

The two swords collided, unleashing terrifying power and sending towering waves soaring into the sky.

(PS: Lu Ge's strength began to grow explosively after his match with Hawkeye Mihawk, truly setting him on the path to invincibility.)