"Crackle!"
Black-red lightning changed the color of the sky, and his dense Conqueror's Haki filled the entire space.
Xia Le abruptly raised his head.
The blade in his right hand clashed with Shanks's Cane Sword, while he raised his left hand and clenched it hard.
"Crackle!"
Amid the flashing lightning, a twenty-meter Lightning Spear appeared in his grasp. Electricity burst from it, with both Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki coiling around it.
Then he thrust the Lightning Spear forward.
"Bang!"
The spearhead slammed into the blade of Whitebeard's Naginata, spraying endless sparks and lightning.
"Have you returned to your prime?"
"Then congratulations, Newgate!"
Xia Le laughed broadly.
"This is no time for you to be laughing!"
"Xia Le!!!"
Whitebeard abruptly raised his Naginata. Electricity flashed across the blade, wreathed in powerful Haki, before he slashed at Xia Le's shoulder from another angle.
The force and speed of this slash were several times greater than before.
It showed just how terrifying Whitebeard's strength had been in his youth, at his peak.
Even Xia Le could not fully defend against this slash.
He swung his Lightning Spear, but its collision with the blade only altered the strike's angle slightly.
"Whoosh!"
The keen, razor-sharp blade came cleaving straight down.
Xia Le tilted his head back to dodge, losing a few strands of black hair, but a bloody gash opened from his shoulder down across his chest.
Blood instantly spilled out and dripped onto the ground.
"Admiral Xia Le is wounded!"
Nearby, the vice admirals' pupils contracted in utter shock.
This was his first injury since the war began, and its significance was unimaginable.
"What an opening!"
Shanks's gaze sharpened, and he thrust his Cane Sword forward at a treacherous angle.
Across from him, Xia Le's expression instantly darkened, his eyes gleaming with a