"Ptoo!" Shanks spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. Frustration flashed through his eyes, then vanished as he swung his sword into action again!!!
He no longer relied on surprise attacks, instead pouring all his Haki into the blade!
He stepped forward, cracking the ground beneath him. The dark red arcs of Conqueror's Haki no longer merely coiled around Griffon-they enveloped its entire blade!
"Other Shore Blade!!"
With a furious roar, he unleashed the slash he had learned from Rayleigh!
There were no flashy techniques, only the purest, most powerful slash coated in Conqueror’s Haki Coating!
A dark red torrent stretched across the field of vision, surging toward Gern with the will to shatter everything!
Space warped in its wake, and invisible pressure plowed deep furrows into the earth!
Facing this Conqueror's Coating slash, a glimmer of appreciation finally flashed in Gern's eyes. But stronger still was his excitement at meeting a powerful opponent.
"That's more like it!" With those words, he too stepped forward, advancing rather than retreating!
He swung Eight Desolations fiercely with his right hand, and high-frequency vibrations instantly coated its pitch-black blade.
"Heavenquake: Sky Rend!"
Clang-BOOM!!!
The slashes collided head-on with force far beyond their previous clash!
Black-and-red arcs of Conqueror's Haki intertwined wildly with pale shockwaves of vibration!
The blinding light robbed everyone of their sight for an instant. A violent shockwave expanded outward in a sphere, shaving another layer off the already devastated ground!
At the center of the clashing slashes, Gern flashed in front of Shanks and raised his foot to strike!
Shanks's pupils contracted. Gern's perfectly combined assault of Physical Combat and swordsmanship forced him to divide his attention.
He jerked his leg up, gathering dark red Haki around his shin to block the attack head-on!
Thud! Their legs collided with a