"Once is enough!"
A dark red gleam flashed in Shanks's eyes, and his imposing aura abruptly drew inward.
He unleashed Observation Haki Killer at full power!
Gern's sensory network, sharp enough to foresee the future, became like a pebble cast into the deep sea at that moment.
It instantly lost track of Shanks's precise movements.
Almost the instant his senses were blocked, the ice beneath Shanks's feet shattered into powder with a crack!
He became an elongated dark red afterimage, charging forward not in a straight line,
but with an almost imperceptible Z-shaped zigzag, shooting before Gern in the blink of an eye!
Griffon's blade trailed a savage crimson arc through the air and came straight down without any flourish!
Though robbed of his predictive advantage, Gern relied on his combat instincts and decisively bent backward at the waist,
barely letting the crimson blade skim past the tip of his nose. The cold slash even severed several strands of hair fluttering over his forehead.
"Heh."
Gern smoothly spun Eight Desolations in his palm. Its pitch-black blade flipped over, trailing a pale quake wave as it swept upward to slash across Shanks's waist!
Shanks's strike missed, leaving his sword fully extended, but he remained calm. He lightly tapped his right toes against empty air,
and abruptly drifted half a foot backward, precisely escaping Eight Desolations' reach.
At the same time, he flicked his wrist, spinning Griffon half a turn in his palm and striking Eight Desolations' blade with its guard!
Clang!!!
The two blades collided fiercely once more!
An even more piercing metallic crash erupted. Black-red and dark purple Haki arcs tangled and burst like lightning serpents gone berserk,
and the shockwave shaved another few inches off the ice beneath their feet, spraying ice chips outward in a ring!
A deadlock!