Beneath the night sky, three figures tore at one another like three whirlwinds.
Amid the ceaseless clashes of blades and claws came the occasional feline yowl and canine bark.
For once, Xie Wen had neither taken any potions nor used Flurry Rush for a surprise attack, much less used Empty Soul Possession to ban their Observation Haki. Instead, he fought Inuarashi and Cat Viper in the most conventional way.
Just as he had predicted, Inuarashi and Cat Viper working together in their Sulong forms were evenly matched with him in his normal state, and even seemed to hold a slight advantage...
After all, it was two against one. When the gap in strength was small, the side with greater numbers naturally had more of an advantage.
However, Xie Wen had been studying close-quarters fighting techniques lately, and he also had Mirror Flower Structure to turn things around at crucial moments. So even when he was at a disadvantage, he showed no signs of defeat. Instead, Inuarashi and Cat Viper, who had maintained their Sulong forms throughout, gradually began showing signs of fatigue.
Except...
Weren't you two already panting like this half an hour ago?! How come you're not getting any weaker, but actually fighting harder and harder?!
Blocking their claws with White Calm once again and feeling the force behind them grow even heavier, Xie Wen couldn't help ranting inwardly.
Does the "Oden Virus" seriously come with buffs for getting back up and continuing to fight?
Of course, complaints aside, Xie Wen actually wished the two of them could keep going indefinitely, because as Inuarashi and Cat Viper fought harder and harder, he was improving rapidly too.
It really was just as those two old men, Chinjao and Garp, had said: only by fighting an evenly matched opponent could you