The sea fell eerily still for an instant, then exploded outward as though struck by an invisible sledgehammer! Swathes of fish and shrimp floated belly-up to the surface, interspersed with enormous, grotesquely shaped deep-sea beasts, some over a hundred meters long.
Rumble-rumble-
A vast, unfathomably deep fissure tore open across the sea.
After a brief, deathly silence, seawater surged madly back in, forming countless violent whirlpools and raising towering waves.
Beyond the whirlpools and waves, the wreckage of a nearly disintegrated warship rose and fell with the swell.
A man in a white uniform, his face covered by a black-and-white mask, lowered the arm he had raised to shield himself. A dark red stain was slowly spreading at his cuff.
His gaze crossed the turbulent waters and locked onto the distant figure swinging a sword.
"Haki and swordsmanship of this caliber... aren't something bloodline alone can provide."
He murmured to himself, his voice sounding somewhat muffled through his mask.
"Do you still insist on making him your target?"
He turned his head and questioned the black-cloaked figure beside him.
The figure in the black cloak merely gave a short snort.
"Haki? How could it compare to the great power bestowed by 'God'?"
The corners of the mouth behind the black-and-white mask seemed to twitch.
He said no more, but had already reached a judgment inwardly: Then we'll see just what you're relying on when the fighting starts.
As someone who had honed his body to its limits through the "Six Powers,"
he had always lacked respect for those who relied on "abilities,"
and their ilk.
In his eyes, only a body tempered through countless trials formed the foundation for overcoming every challenge.
Those so-called ability users who feared seawater and dreaded Seastone would ultimately crumble before physical techniques perfected to