The Intruder, Rayleigh's Top Speed / Rayleigh's Rescue, the Kuja's Narrow Escape

Rayleigh gave a soft sigh.

"Looks like I'll have to show you what I'm really capable of!"

A black-and-red glint flashed through Rayleigh's eyes. His Conqueror's Haki flared and vanished, and black-and-red lightning swiftly wrapped around the sword in his hand.

Then he slashed hard behind him.

"Divine Departure!"

Roger's signature move appeared once more, this time in Rayleigh's hands.

Long River and Thunderclap faltered. The slash they would normally have pierced with ease held them at bay.

Sword Intent was a manifestation of the will of heaven and earth. Conqueror's Haki was also a kind of will, but unlike Sword Intent, it came from an individual.

Both involved the power of will, so Conqueror's Haki did not scatter the moment it met Sword Intent.

Understanding dawned in Rayleigh's eyes. Dongze had never explained exactly what Sword Intent was, but their clash had begun to give him an answer.

As far as he knew, only the ultimate moves of awakened Devil Fruit users and Conqueror's Haki Coating could possess such destructive power.

What he saw now was much as he had expected.

But then he remembered Dongze saying there were six forms of Sword Intent. That still made him shudder.

Dongze's eyes narrowed slightly at Rayleigh's stunning slash.

"Divine Departure?"

He really is Dark King Rayleigh. Ordinary people can't compare to him!

With Long River and Thunderclap locked in a stalemate, Dongze reached out and tapped the air before him. Two tiny, invisible swords slipped into the void.

Then he lightly tapped the Sword Case, and Forgotten Dust sprang into his hand.

The old man knocked Cold River away with two more Divine Departures and rapidly closed in on Dongze himself.

Dongze frowned. He could now see the weakness of his Peerless Sword Case.

It had power and speed enough, but against a group of experts who could use Conqueror's Haki Coating, its swords could be defeated one by one.

If the old man known as the Dark King had heard that thought, he might have wept.

A group?

You've got some nerve saying that. I can count the people who've mastered that technique on two hands, and every one of them is a giant on the seas.

How much free time do you think they have, coming together to gang up on you?

"Divine Departure!"

Another breathtaking slash came at him.

Dongze saw Rayleigh's confident smile and let his own lips curve.

"Go straight for the man controlling the swords? Too bad I'm no paper tiger who can only play with flying swords!"

He held Forgotten Dust in his right hand and drew the index and middle fingers of his left hand along its blade. Ryuo-grade Armament Haki swiftly coated the steel.

His sword's momentum surged. Sword Intent swept through the air, turning the world black and white.

This time, it was no illusion. His Sword Intent had reached into the world around him, creating a landscape of ink wash. Black clouds hung overhead, and drops of ink-dark rain stained the snow-white ground.

It was the opening stance of Hundred-Pace Flying Sword.

But this time, Sword Intent empowered the move. Its strength was beyond imagining. Dongze, at least, had yet to use it against anyone.

"Rayleigh, have you ever heard of being made to stand still?"

Rayleigh froze. What was that supposed to mean? Dongze planted the Sword Case in the solid ice. Forgotten Dust tore through the air, and Dongze closed his right hand around empty space. In that instant, man and sword became an Azure Dragon.

"Hundred-Pace Flying Sword!"

An Unexpected Arrival, Rayleigh's Top Speed

"Big sister! Look over here! This is bad!"

"What is it, Sandersonia?"

Aboard a distinctive ship drawn by two enormous sea snakes, a group of scantily clad women erupted into an uproar. An island of ice had suddenly appeared in the Calm Belt.

A tall, powerfully built woman with green hair and a snake-like tongue strode to the center of the ship and reported to the woman seated there in an embroidered red dress.

The green-haired woman was hard on the eyes, but the one seated before her was extraordinarily beautiful.

Her broad, smooth forehead framed long, delicate eyes that held a touch of coolness. She had a high bridge and a small nose, with soft lips unmarred by a single crease. Beneath long lashes, her dark pupils shone clear and bright with intelligence.

Her long black hair fell in a princess cut. Deep blue eyes and a pair of golden snake-shaped earrings completed her peerless beauty.

They were the Kuja, returning from an expedition.

Everyone knew the Calm Belt belonged to the sea beasts and Sea Kings. No wind ever blew there, making it forbidden territory for pirates. Usually not a soul could be seen, yet today an island of ice had appeared out of nowhere.

Boa Hancock bit her lower lip as she looked at it. The Calm Belt had always been a natural barrier between Amazon Lily and the outside world, protecting that secluded kingdom.

Of course the sudden appearance of an island made her nervous.

"What's going on?"

As the women wondered, a shock wave that seemed to tear through the sky came at them like a towering wave, rocking their pirate ship violently.

"Ah!"

Hancock's expression changed. She immediately sent her Observation Haki sweeping into the distance.

The farther her perception reached, the darker her expression grew. It extended nearly twenty kilometers toward the center of the island, yet all she sensed was an endless expanse of white. Terrifying shock waves came one after another, threatening to tear through the Observation Haki she had sent out.

"Impossible!"

Deep fear flashed in Hancock's eyes.

The shock waves alone were enough to tear through her Observation Haki. She could scarcely imagine how strong the two people fighting there must be.

Suddenly, a black-and-red slash cut through the thick ice and entered the range of her Observation Haki.

The Haki packed into it made her legs go weak, and she dropped back onto her pet snake.

Her pupils contracted to pinpricks.

"Conqueror's Haki," she murmured.

She had sensed Conqueror's Haki in a slash. It felt like a dream, and she had never encountered Haki so powerful in her life.

Though she possessed Conqueror's Haki herself, she had never even heard of Conqueror's Haki Coating.

"Sister!"

Marigold and Sandersonia hurried over at Hancock's reaction and looked at her anxiously.

After a long moment, Boa Hancock spoke. "Powerful fighters are clashing. They're beyond our ability to handle."

As she said it, a thought struck her. Why had the two chosen such a godforsaken place to fight?

Her expression changed again. She no longer cared how the island of ice had formed.

"Hurry, get us out of here!" she said urgently. "They chose this place because they don't want anyone to know about their fight. Leave before they notice us!"

Hancock's grave expression startled everyone. Ever since setting out to sea, she had carried herself like a proud queen, looking down on the world with absolute confidence.

Yet merely glimpsing that distant battle had drained the color from her face.

Before her words had faded, a vast ink-wash painting spread across the sky and engulfed them all in the blink of an eye.

The black-and-white world carried a chilling killing intent that made their skin crawl. Some of the weaker Amazon warriors collapsed where they stood.

Ink rain soaked the pale earth. Amid the black clouds and falling rain, they seemed to see a young man open his eyes.

A cold glint in his gaze became a blade of piercing killing intent that struck deep into their hearts. They wanted nothing more than to turn and flee.

But their feet might as well have taken root. They could not move a step.

At the center of the battle, Rayleigh was in an even worse position.

Hundred-Pace Flying Sword could already lock onto a target through the force of its attack. Even before its Sword Intent awakened, that lock had been absurdly strong. Now the Sword Intent was active, and the sword's momentum held him fast with the weight of the world. Rayleigh was at a loss.

He had wondered what Dongze meant by being made to stand still. Now he knew.

But knowing did him no good. The flying sword was almost upon him.

Just then, a burst of Conqueror's Haki erupted at the edge of the Glacier.

For an instant, the sword's lock wavered. A gleam flashed in Rayleigh's eyes, and delight spread across his face.

He did not know who had released that Conqueror's Haki, but it had finally given him a moment's respite from the trap.

He was a legend of the seas. In the next instant, his own deep, mighty Conqueror's Haki surged forth with indomitable force. Like a towering pillar stirring a pool of water, it disrupted the overwhelming momentum bearing down on him.

Regret flickered through Dongze's eyes as Rayleigh broke free.

Hundred-Pace Flying Sword had failed to display its full power.

Feeling the disturbance from the far side of the Glacier, Dongze gave a cold laugh. "If you want to take the blow for the Dark King, this sword strike is yours!"

At Dongze's command, the enormous ink-wash landscape spanning fifty kilometers shifted from sword momentum into Vertical Sword Intent. Forgotten Dust flashed coldly, and he unleashed the final horizontal slash of Hundred-Pace Flying Sword with savage force.

An immense Sword Aura stretching a kilometer across swept toward the edge.

Fifty kilometers was already the limit of Dongze's Observation Haki during a fight, so he did not know who had arrived. Rayleigh was different. His mastery of Observation Haki surpassed Dongze's, and fifty kilometers was not his limit.

He had seen who it was.

"It's that little girl."

At the sight of Dongze's final slash, Rayleigh's face filled with dismay.

"Karma works fast!"

Rayleigh's figure blurred, then vanished from where he stood. The three flying swords that followed stabbed into empty air.

"What...?"

Even Dongze was stunned by Rayleigh's speed.

Rayleigh had certainly not been this fast before. He had almost exceeded the limits of Dongze's Observation Haki.

How was that possible?

Dongze watched the figure streak through his perception like a line, then shook his head and made no further move.

"Rayleigh..." he said, his voice full of feeling.

Rayleigh's Rescue, the Kuja's Narrow Escape

The Calm Belt.

On the island of ice, a streak of Sword Aura swept across the land, unstoppable.

It burst forward like thunder, swift as lightning, crushing everything in its path.

The thick ice might as well have been tofu. The diagonal Sword Aura tore a vast, bottomless gash through it with ease.

It raced toward the edge of the island.

The world fell still. Only the Sword Aura could be heard dragging the cold wind in its wake, its howl rising and falling.

A figure flashed after it.

Moving at a speed beyond anything most people could imagine, Rayleigh charged against its path in pursuit of the Sword Aura.

Low booms sounded beneath his feet from time to time.

They were the sounds of the air bursting underfoot.

Rayleigh was racing to intercept the Sword Aura.

Dongze had stopped fighting. He returned the flying swords to their sheaths, then gazed toward the place where the disturbance had begun.

He was curious now. Judging by Rayleigh's actions, the newcomer had to be someone he knew and cared about. Otherwise, after finally escaping, Rayleigh would never have rushed off to take another blow.

Dongze sent his Observation Haki out with all his strength. This time, he finally saw who had caused the disturbance.

The sight took him by surprise.