Bang, bang!
"Hahaha, Shiryu, thanks!"
Roy laughed and reached out.
Under Shiryu's horrified gaze, he actually seized the blade with his bare hand, then violently twisted it!
Crack!
The incredibly sharp sword Raiu was forcibly snapped in two.
But what truly chilled Shiryu was the ink-black layer of Armament Haki covering Roy's palm.
"You monster... you really were using me as a whetstone."
"You only just learned Armament Haki, yet it's already at least intermediate... what the hell are you!"
Despair filled Shiryu's eyes, and conflicting feelings churned within him.
Back in Impel Down, he had considered no one but Magellan worth his attention.
He had even been confident he could take on many of the Vice Admirals at Marine Headquarters.
But now?
He had encountered a monster.
No, perhaps a devil.
In that short time, his opponent had gone from toying with him to fighting at full strength.
He had unleashed everything he had, yet could not even damage a corner of his opponent's clothes.
In the blink of an eye, his opponent had even completely mastered Armament Haki.
And he had started at the intermediate level.
How could he not be shocked?
"Armament Haki really lives up to its name. It feels great to use."
"Shiryu, you've done me quite a favor."
A bloodthirsty smile appeared on Roy's face, and he shot forward, heading straight for Shiryu.
Hearing this, Shiryu gritted his teeth, coated his fists in Armament Haki as well, and met Roy once more.
"Roy! You bastard, are you mocking me?"
He even pushed his Observation Haki to its limit, desperately tracking Roy's movements.
But faced with Shiryu's relentless attacks, Roy did not take the initiative to strike. Instead, he concentrated.
He carefully sensed Shiryu's breathing, sounds, and rhythm as he threw his punches.
He had no interest in even fighting back.
He simply kept turning sideways, stepping back, and tilting his head, as though the furious assault before him were nothing more than wind and rain.
At first, the wind from Shiryu's punches still grazed the edges of his clothes.
But a few breaths later, those once-fierce punches could no longer keep up with his movements.
Bang, bang!
Explosions of energy and bursts of air kept echoing through the corridor.
Shiryu had already been more than a level below Roy.
Even with Roy deliberately holding back, his attacks could only strike empty air again and again.
"Argh! You bastard! Stop dodging if you've got the guts! Fight me head-on!"
Shiryu was frustrated beyond measure. He had never experienced such a hopeless battle.
Suddenly, realization struck him, and disbelief filled his face.
"You... you're using me to practice Observation Haki?"
"There's no mistaking it! You're deliberately pressuring me, forcing me to keep attacking, while you only dodge without striking back. You're honing your Observation Haki, aren't you?"
"Roy, you're a fucking monster!"
Roy had just learned Armament Haki through him, and now he was only dodging his attacks without fighting back.
His opponent's goal could not have been more obvious.
Shiryu completely lost his composure and attacked Roy wildly, heedless of everything.
The two kept clashing in the corridor, moving so fast that only afterimages remained.
The prisoners and jailers around them, whose battle had already ended, hurriedly retreated, watching in terror.
"We haven't lost yet! As long as Lord Roy defeats that Chief Warden Shiryu, we still have a chance at freedom!"
"That's right! Lord Roy was only using Shiryu as a whetstone all along! He's so strong! We believe in him!"
The prisoners' words instantly shattered the composure of the jailers, who had already suffered heavy losses.
"You damned criminals, what nonsense are you spouting? You've already lost! If we didn't want to drag you back and torture you slowly, how could you still be alive?"
"That's right! You still expect Roy to save you? He can barely save himself! Are you blind?"
It was Vice Warden Domino who shouted those words.
By now, none of her usual quiet composure remained. She was utterly disheveled and exhausted.
During the earlier battle, she had brought jailers and the Jailer Beasts from the upper levels as reinforcements.
The prisoners of Level 1, already physically weak and lacking in strength, had been completely unable to withstand them.
Working together, they had killed more than two hundred pirates on the spot, brutally suppressing the situation.
Even Yake, the strongest of the prisoners, had been subdued under their combined assault, suffering multiple broken bones.
They had not spared Yake out of mercy.
Impel Down existed to imprison these pirates and let them slowly die amid forced labor and suffering.
That was true punishment.
"That monster is terrifying... Chief Warden Shiryu is no match for him at all. If he weren't using Chief Warden Shiryu as a whetstone, he would have subdued him long ago."
"He's terrifying... Sadi, Hannyabal, if Chief Warden Magellan doesn't get here soon, something will happen to Chief Warden Shiryu!"
Looking back at the battlefield, Domino pressed her palms together and prayed incessantly.
Naturally, she knew about Haki.
Roy's strength was already monstrous. Once he learned Observation Haki as well, Shiryu would truly be of no further use.
But sometimes, the more one feared something, the more likely it was to happen.
Bang, bang!
On the battlefield, facing Shiryu's punches that fell as thick as a torrential downpour, Roy actually closed his eyes, yet still easily dodged every one.
"Hahaha, so this is Observation Haki!"
"Sensing an opponent's breathing and sounds, predicting the path of their attacks... it really is amazing!"
"Now I have both Armament and Observation Haki. I'm missing nothing!"
Roy laughed uproariously, his arrogance reaching its peak.
His gamble had paid off.
Not killing Shiryu instantly had indeed been the right choice.
He had known it.
With Ryomen Sukuna's terrifying analytical ability, learning Observation Haki and Armament Haki in such a short time was child's play.
Seeing every one of his attacks dodged, Shiryu laughed like a madman.
"Bastard... you devil..."
After wildly throwing who knew how many punches, he suddenly stopped in place, as though every last ounce of strength had been drained from him.
His head hung low, his chest heaving.
Sweat mingled with blood, dripping from his chin onto the ground.
After several seconds of silence.
He slowly raised his head and looked at the man whose breathing had never once faltered, then suddenly laughed.
"Hahaha... I never thought I, Shiryu, would live to see this day!"
"What a cruel twist of fate! What a cruel twist!"
Taking advantage of the lull, he pulled a cigar half-soaked in blood from his shredded clothes, lit it with trembling hands, and took a deep drag.
"When I was little, my family was killed by pirates, and I vowed to become a Marine. But after joining the Marines, I was transferred to Impel Down as a jailer because of my bloodthirsty nature."
"That may be my nature, but I've always been proud. I would never admit defeat."
He slowly exhaled a mouthful of smoke, tossed the cigar onto the ground, crushed it beneath his foot, and took a fighting stance again.
"Roy, you want to defeat me? Not a chance!"
All the jailers clenched their fists, watching the battlefield with complicated expressions.
There was no denying that Shiryu had done plenty of evil.
But right now, he was, after all, Impel Down's Chief Warden, fighting to the death for this prison.
Seeing him so frenzied and desperate, everyone fell silent.
They wanted to rush forward and help as well, but they were simply unqualified to intervene in a battle of this caliber. They could only watch helplessly.
At the same time, Roy opened his eyes and calmly watched Shiryu charge toward him.
"There are too many unfortunate people in this world. You're only saying all this to excuse your own incompetence."
He paused briefly and raised a finger.
"Still, I have to thank you for letting me learn Armament and Observation Haki."
"I think I'll remember you."
The instant his words fell, the battlefield before Shiryu's eyes suddenly shattered.
It was as though an invisible force had crushed it.
All sound, light, shadow, and warmth shattered into countless tiny fragments in an instant, rushing away behind him.
The scene shifted, and he found himself within a Special Space.
Shiryu suddenly realized that he had become a child again.
Before he could understand what had happened, the scenes before him kept shifting, and his life rewound along with them.
A burning village, flames soaring into the sky.
He hid beneath a rock, watching in despair as pirates brutally murdered his parents.
"Is this... when pirates massacred my village when I was little...?"
The windblown sand was rather fierce, and a hint of redness appeared in his eyes.
It had even blown rain out of them.
He reached out to touch it, but grasped only emptiness.
The scene changed again, to when he had joined the Marines as a youth.
But withdrawn and bloodthirsty, he was ostracized everywhere in the ranks.
He continued doing as he pleased.
The scene shifted once more, and he arrived at Impel Down.
This time, the scene froze completely.
Before you continue