The air screamed, and the entire Level 6 seemed to freeze for an instant.
A crescent-shaped golden Slash condensed from raw power left the blade, tearing through the gloom faster than the eye could follow as it hurtled straight at Shiryu of the Rain.
"What?"
The savagery and murderous intent on Shiryu of the Rain's face gave way to horror.
He had expected Lin Xuan to counterattack, but not with such a simple, brutal strike.
There was no time to think, let alone dodge.
That golden arc of death had already sealed off every avenue of escape.
His instincts as a swordsman drove him to roar. He poured every ounce of strength and Armament Haki into the Famous Sword Raiu without reservation, gripping it with both hands and holding it across his chest in the strongest guard he could muster.
Clang!
The clash of metal rang out as loudly as a war drum.
Blinding sparks burst forth the instant the two blades met, illuminating the frozen expression on every prisoner's face.
Catarina Devon's laughter cut off abruptly, as though someone had seized her by the throat.
The drunken haze in Big Drink Barrel Vasco Shot's eyes instantly cleared by half.
The scene they had imagined, of Lin Xuan being cut in two, never materialized. Instead, they witnessed something that made their very souls tremble.
Shiryu of the Rain, the former Chief Warden of Impel Down, the Great Swordsman renowned for his Slashes...
After blocking that golden Slash head-on, he shot backward uncontrollably as though struck squarely by a battering ram, his feet plowing two deep furrows through the stone floor.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, Shiryu's burly body slammed into the wall in the deepest reaches of Infinite Hell, leaving enormous, spiderweb-like cracks across its sturdy surface.
Pfft-
Blood sprayed