"This... is simply unbelievable."
Oni forgot to close her mouth as she watched.
She had never seen a battle like this.
Anok, who had once served as an instructor for a certain group at sea, simply closed his eyes. Killing him would be no more trouble than dealing with a fish for either of the two men in the arena.
And although Tani's white mask concealed her expression, her fingers trembled unconsciously against her folded arms.
From the moment Rossi vanished into silence, no one in the stands could track him anymore, while the predictions they sensed from Mihawk were always the exact opposite of his actual movements.
Crack.
The cigar snapped between his teeth.
Crocodile stared at the intersecting flashes of blades below, his pupils trembling slightly.
This sense of helplessness... he had never felt it so strongly even when facing that man.
If he had to compare it to anything, only the monstrous white figure in his memories had ever made him feel a similar despair.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible-
These two were younger than him. How could they possibly be this strong?
Under gazes taut with tension, focused, excited, or disbelieving, the two locked in combat kept unleashing sharp arcs of light, cutting the enormous arena, large enough to hold tens of thousands, into pieces.
Neither used the Flying Slashes capable of tearing the earth apart. The mere aftershocks of their blades crossing at close quarters made the air hum under an unbearable strain.
Their auras were still rising.
Like an undercurrent gathering immense force beneath the sea before suddenly bursting through its surface, two invisible pressures kept surging upward, almost shattering the clouds.
The stands were deathly silent. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the final moment that would decide it all.
"Silence: Swift Shadow."
As