"Let's see which is tougher-your ironclad ship, or my slash!"
Indigo's shrill, arrogant voice echoed through the chaotic sea of stone.
The fierce sword energy on the Famous Sword Sakura Ten in his hand had gathered to its utmost limit, forming a visible, ever-extending blade of blue-green light that radiated a terrifying sharpness capable of slicing through steel with ease!
Yet faced with this terrifying sword pressure, enough to make any Marine Vice Admiral pale, Yas merely curled his lip in disdain.
"A slash?"
He slowly rose from the captain's throne and stepped forward, his figure passing straight through the bridge's floor-to-ceiling window like a phantom before arriving at the bow of the Leviathan.
The sea breeze whipped his spotless white Justice Coat, making it snap in the wind.
He stood alone, facing those dozens of pirate ships and that terrifying swordsman poised to strike. There was not a trace of tension on his face, only pure indifference that regarded all things as worthless.
"With a slash at that level, you think you deserve to wield a sword before me?"
Yas's voice was quiet, yet it reached the ears of everyone present with perfect clarity.
"What did you say?!"
The smile on Indigo's face instantly froze, replaced by the fury of someone whose sorest spot had been touched.
He, Indigo, was the chief officer of the Golden Lion Pirate Crew, one of the finest swordsmen on this sea!
This Marine brat who had crawled out of who knew where actually dared... dared to question his swordsmanship?!
Unforgivable!
"Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish!"
Indigo let out a frenzied roar. Holding nothing back any longer, he poured every ounce of his strength and Haki into the Famous Sword in his hand!
"Lion Style: Thousand-Cut Valley!"
He swung his sword forward with a violent sweep!
Shing!
A terrifying blue-green Flying Slash over a hundred meters long, so enormous it seemed capable of cleaving the sky itself, instantly left the blade!
That slash was so condensed, so sharp, that everything along its path, whether enormous floating Sky Island wreckage or the hard surface of the sea, was effortlessly split in two, leaving smooth cuts with no bottom in sight!
With the might to destroy everything and a terrifying speed beyond sound, it descended head-on toward the tiny Leviathan and the even tinier white figure at its bow!
"Captain Yas!"
"Get out of the way!"
Aboard the Leviathan, Brannew and every crew member cried out in anguish.
Though they had witnessed Yas's divine might, the pressure of the slash before them was simply too terrifying, too hopeless!
That was not an attack human strength could withstand!
Yet faced with this killing blow capable of cutting through an island, Yas remained where he stood, utterly motionless.
He could not even be bothered to take a defensive stance.
He merely raised his head in silence, watching the blade of blue-green light that kept growing in his pupils, as though it would split the entire world in two.
One second before that slash was about to touch him.
Something changed once again!
Boom!
An invisible, overbearing, terrifying pressure that seemed to stand above everything in the world erupted from Yas, sweeping across the entire scene like a nuclear explosion!
It was not chakra!
It was not Armament Haki!
It was not Observation Haki, either!
It was something more fundamental, more exalted, formed purely of "will"... the aura of a king!
Conqueror's Haki!
Under the impact of this sudden, almost tangible, terrifying pressure, hundreds upon thousands of pirates aboard the surrounding ships, still shouting as they charged, had no time even to scream. Their eyes rolled back, foam spilled from their mouths, and they collapsed unconscious in swathes like harvested wheat!
Even that whistling Flying Slash, condensed to its utmost limit, showed a momentary, almost imperceptible... stutter and tremor under the impact of this Conqueror's Haki!
Though it lasted only a brief hundredth of a second.
For Yas, it was already enough!
"Now!"
An unprecedented, brilliant gleam burst from Yas's eyes!
This fleeting opening was exactly what he had been waiting for!
"Too weak!"
He let out a long cry that resounded through heaven and earth. Faced with the terrifying slash already inches away, he did not retreat. Instead, he took a fierce step forward into that edge capable of tearing everything apart and threw his fist with all his might!
He did not use a spear-hand strike.
He did not coat it in Black Lightning.
There was only an iron fist covered in the purest, toughest blue-black Lightning Release Armament!
He would use the indestructible body he took the greatest pride in to meet this legendary great pirate's killing slash head-on!
"Madman!"
Watching Yas neither dodge nor evade, but actively swing his fist to intercept the attack, Indigo cried out in disbelief.
Taking my Thousand-Cut Valley head-on with his fist?
Even a Marine Admiral would never dare do something so insane!
The next instant.
Under everyone's vacant gazes, their minds having completely stopped working.
Yas's fist, wrapped in heavy blue-black armor, finally collided with that hundred-meter-long blue-green Flying Slash in the most savage, utterly unreasonable way!
Crack!
A crisp, thunderous sound like shattering glass rang through the clouds!
That terrifying slash, which Indigo believed could cut through anything and split even an island in two, actually... actually began breaking apart inch by inch from the point of impact the moment it touched Yas's fist, then shattered with a crash!
It became a sky full of blue-green motes of light and dissipated into the air!
One punch!
Just one punch!
He had... shattered the Flying Slash of the Golden Lion's chief officer head-on!
The world fell into a deathly silence at that moment.
Every pirate still conscious stood as though petrified, staring blankly at the white figure slowly withdrawing his fist, without even a single scratch on his body. They felt their very souls trembling.
Indigo himself froze on the spot as though struck by lightning.
His horrified gaze first swept over the subordinates around him who had collectively fainted for some unknown reason, then locked firmly onto the unscathed Yas. For the first time, boundless horror and bewilderment, as though he had seen a ghost, appeared on that face always filled with madness and confidence!
"Was that just... Conqueror's Haki?!"
Indigo's lips trembled. As he looked at Yas, his voice grew shrill and distorted with extreme shock.
"Impossible! A brat as young as you... how could you awaken the kingly potential that only one in a million possesses?!"
Conqueror's Haki?
Yas shook his hand. Not even a faint white mark had been left on the fist that had clashed with the slash.
Hearing Indigo's words, a cold, intrigued smile appeared on his face.
"Conqueror's Haki? I don't know what you're talking about."
An unprecedented, burning light flared in his ice-blue eyes, like a predator fixing its gaze on its prey.
"All I know is that your move just now finally... finally let me feel a little something."
As Yas spoke, he slowly raised both hands.
Bzzzt!
This time, it was no longer ordinary Lightning Release Chakra.
Instead, something deeper, more violent, and filled with an aura of destruction... pure black lightning began leaping and gathering wildly over his arms, ultimately forming a ferocious-looking suit of black Raijin Armor, brimming with the aesthetics of violence!
"As a reward for giving me some enjoyment, I'll let you become the first enemy to experience this new 'armor' of mine firsthand."
Yas moved his neck, covered in Black Lightning armor, producing a series of sharp cracks from his bones.
He ignored Indigo's gaze, which had become incomparably grave and wary, and even ignored the Famous Sword in his hand that still radiated a cold gleam.
Just like that, he walked toward Indigo step by step, as leisurely as if strolling through a courtyard.
"But before that..."
Yas spread his lips, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth in a cruel, arrogant grin.
His gaze fell on the Famous Sword Sakura Ten in Indigo's hand.
"First, let me see whether that scrap metal you're so proud of can actually... leave a white mark on my body."
Before you continue