The training ground fell silent.
The silence wasn't deliberate; it was as if everyone was holding their breath at the same moment, even their heartbeats were suppressed to the lowest possible level.
The wind stopped, and the sound of the ocean waves seemed to have been erased from the world by something.
Sunlight poured down from the gap in the clouds torn open by the Conqueror's Haki above the training ground, illuminating the area within a radius of several dozen meters in the center of the training ground in a dazzling silvery white.
The two people stood in that light.
Roy Shanks.
They were exactly twenty paces apart.
Shanks placed his right hand on Gryphon's sword hilt and slowly drew it.
The sound of the blade rubbing against the scabbard was exceptionally clear in the silent training ground, like the prelude to some kind of ritual.
The moment Gryphon was fully drawn, jet-black Armament Haki spread from the hilt to the tip, turning the entire sword black.
Immediately afterwards, dark red arcs of electricity began to dance on the blade— Conqueror's Haki Coating.
It started with a series of faint crackling sounds, then grew denser and brighter, until finally the entire Gryphon was enveloped in a layer of dark red lightning.
A crackling arc of electricity exploded in the air, causing fine cracks to appear on the stone floor beneath Shanks' feet.
Shanks raised his head, and in the shadow of his Straw Hat, his eyes burned with a pure, undisguised fighting spirit.
It is the excitement that wells up from the depths of a warrior's soul when he finally finds an opponent worthy of his full strength.
He grinned, revealing his signature smile.
At the same moment, Roy also drew his Black Blade Shusui.
The blade was covered in jet-black Armament Haki, followed by bursts of dark red electricity, and Conqueror's Haki condensed and took shape on the blade.
Two Conqueror's Coating auras collided in the center of the training ground, causing the air to vibrate and the fine pebbles on the ground to tremble and then float in the air.
The Telekinesis Domain silently unfolded, enveloping the entire training ground.
In Roy's perception, Shanks, twenty paces away, was no longer a humanoid silhouette, but a burning flame—
The frequency of heartbeat, the rhythm of breathing, and every imperceptible contraction of muscles are all broken down into countless possible trajectories in the Observation Haki that Future Sight.
They both moved at the same time.
No signal, no countdown, no agreement.
In a fleeting moment, they both sensed a subtle, almost imperceptible change in each other's aura.
The time to strike has come.
The next second, both figures vanished from their original positions simultaneously.
It's not high-speed movement, it's pure spatial displacement.
The speed was so fast that even the battle-hardened officers around the training ground could only catch two blurry afterimages.
Gryphon and Shusui clashed violently in the center of the arena. The world fell silent the instant their blades met.
Then--
boom--!!!
A dark red shockwave exploded from the center of the collision between the two swords, spreading wildly in all directions.
The ground of the training ground suddenly collapsed around the point of impact, and spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards, with the largest cracks reaching half a meter in width.
The soldiers in the stands were blown about by the shockwave, and those who were weaker were knocked unconscious by the aftershocks of the Conqueror's Haki.
Yamato one hand, her legs billowing in the wind, but the excitement in her eyes was almost overflowing.
"Here it comes, here it comes—this is the real showdown!"
Bullet stood motionless in the shockwave, arms crossed, but a large, frightening smile had spread across his face:
"These two guys... they were serious from the very first strike."
Beckman, a cigarette dangling from his lips, the glow of the cigarette butt flickering in the shockwave.
He squinted at the two figures in the center of the training ground, and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Very similar."
The first cut resulted in each side taking three steps back.
The stone slabs beneath their feet were crushed, each footprint deeply embedded in the ground.
Shanks glanced down at his right hand, which was gripping the sword—a small gash had appeared on his hand from the clash, and blood was seeping from the wound, but his smile only widened.
Roy glanced at his hand; it wasn't bleeding, but his entire right arm was slightly numb from the impact of the knife.
He had already activated 70% of his Armament Haki and Conqueror's Coating, yet the power of Shanks's slash was able to penetrate his defenses and reach his body.
This level of strength is more than one level higher than when he fought Garp three years ago.
Roy!
Shanks laughed loudly, took a step forward, and the ground beneath his feet cracked.
"This strike is my thank-you gift for these three years of venturing into New World!"
Learned from Golden Lion, understood from Whitebeard, and honed from Kaido —catch this!
Gryphon raised his hand high above his head, and Shanks ' entire aura changed.
It's no longer the carefree, playful attitude of before, but a more profound, powerful, and domineering aura.
Conqueror's Haki Coating on Gryphon's sword, forming a massive, dark red phantom. The phantom's shape constantly shifted, displaying the arrogance of Golden Lion, the domineering power of Whitebeard, and the ferocity of Kaido—
Three distinct auras were merged together in that single strike.
" Divine Departure ·Change-- The Four Emperors Hunt!"
The blade fell.
This strike was devoid of any fancy techniques; it was simply a pure, unadulterated slash.
But as it cleaved downwards, space itself twisted and deformed under the blade, and dark red arcs of electricity extended from the blade, tearing a crack a hundred meters long in the ground.
Wherever the crack passed, the stone slab was not cut open, but directly vaporized by the Conqueror's Coating force, and even the fragments were shattered into dust before they could fly away.
A red light flashed in Roy's eyes.
With his Future Sight Observation Haki fully activated, he clearly saw the trajectory, landing point, power distribution, range of energy spread, and potential for further attacks of the strike.
Holding the sword in both hands, Shusui held it horizontally in front of him, and the Telekinesis Domain beneath his feet suddenly contracted, condensing into a semi-transparent barrier in front of him.
At the same time, Shusui wielded his blade, striking repeatedly within a very short distance, each strike carrying relatively little force.
However, the strikes all landed precisely on the weakest points of the Divine Departure's power.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Seven consecutive strikes, each unleashing a ring of dark red shockwave.
After seven strikes, Divine Departure's sword momentum was abruptly cut off in the middle. The sword shadow dissipated, and the blade stopped less than an arm's length above Roy's head, unable to advance any further.
Roy swung his sword backhand, Shusui drew a dark arc in the air, sweeping towards Shanks ' side with a full-force attack wrapped in Conqueror's Haki Coating.
Shanks laughed and drew his sword to defend, but Gryphon blocked the blow from Shusui's side.
clang--!!!
The two swords clashed again, but this time Roy attacked Shanks defended.
Shanks was jolted sideways by the impact of the blow, his feet carving two furrows, each over ten meters long, into the stone slab.
Raki Lu, standing on the sidelines, had forgotten to gnaw on his bone; he stared wide-eyed at the two figures clashing on the training field.
He muttered to himself, "They're only stopping short? They're clearly trying to destroy the entire island..."
No one answered him, because everyone was looking at the center of the training ground.
That could no longer be called a "duel". It was two dark red storms colliding wildly.
Gryphon and Shusui's swords clashed in the air, each strike exploding into a blinding dark red light, shockwaves spreading outwards in waves.
The ground of the training ground had been plowed over and over again, and was covered with knife marks and cracks.
In the fierce battle of hundreds of rounds, Shanks ' swordsmanship was expansive and powerful, combining the arrogance of Golden Lion, the domineering spirit of Whitebeard, the ferocity of Kaido, and the Divine Departure inherited from Roger. Every strike was upright yet extremely domineering.
Roy's fighting style became more precise and efficient. His Telekinesis Domain allowed him to predict Shanks ' every strike, and his Gravity Suppression disrupted Shanks ' movement rhythm.
His Spatial Translocation allowed him to switch between offense and defense without leaving any openings, and each strike of his Conqueror's Coating's Shusui precisely landed on the weakest point in Shanks's sword stance.
In the 150th round, Shanks made the first change of tactics. He took a step back to create distance, with Gryphon positioned in front of him, his Conqueror's Haki Coating activated to its maximum.
The air in the entire training ground seemed to freeze, and the oppressive atmosphere made it hard for those in the stands who were slightly weaker to breathe.
Shanks closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them again.
In that instant, it seemed as if Roy wasn't standing before Shanks, but rather Roger from back then.
Roy.
Shanks ' voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard it clearly.
"This strike is my promise to Captain Roger."
It is also my vow to this sea.
Caught it--
This is the fusion of all my swordsmanship and willpower, Red Hair ' ultimate technique!