All the sword energy shattered simultaneously.
Before the sword light had even dissipated, she had already burst out from it, heading straight for Hawk Eyes's face.
Hawk Eyes's pupils contracted.
That's too fast.
Tashigi not only blocked all the sword energy.
Her speed wasn't affected much.
Black Blade Yoru fell from above.
Hawk Eyes could only raise his knife to parry again.
boom!
The shockwave exploded.
The ground beneath Hawk Eyes's feet instantly collapsed.
His legs also sank into the rock.
Tashigi pressed down on the Black Blade Yoru, her sword intent and Haki continuously converging on the blade.
The two Supreme Grade Sword clashed together, producing a piercing sound.
Hawk Eyes looked up at her.
Your strength is not just in swordsmanship.
So what?
Tashigi continued to press down on the blade.
"Didn't you just say that realm doesn't equal strength?"
"Now I'll show you my strength!"
She abruptly withdrew the knife.
Hawk Eyes lost the pressure and swayed forward.
Tashigi has moved to the side.
Black Blade Yoru slashed horizontally toward his shoulder.
Hawk Eyes forcefully twisted the longsword.
clang!
The sound of impact rang out again.
This time, he couldn't steady himself.
He was thrown out of the deep pit and crashed into the rocks behind him.
Hawk Eyes landed on the rock face mid-air.
Bend both legs.
The rocks beneath their feet cracked instantly.
He used the momentum to break through and finally widened the distance.
However, Tashigi had already caught up.
Straight cut.
Cross-section.
Pick up.
Every cut was executed flawlessly.
The Black Blade Yoru was incredibly heavy, yet it moved faster and faster in her hands.
Hawk Eyes parries consecutively.
With each clash of blades, he took a step back.
Tashigi, on the other hand, kept moving forward.
The two figures swept across the center of the island.
Numerous sword marks were left on the ground along the way.
One rock after another crumbled and broke apart.
The sounds of metal clashing together blended into one.
None of the Red Hair Pirates members in the distance spoke.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the battlefield.
Tashigi pressed down on Hawk Eyes as they drove backward.
Such a scene has almost never occurred since Hawk Eyes became famous.
Shanks shook his head.
Hawk Eyes made two mistakes.
Beckman looked at him.
"Disrespecting Tashigi."
"And Black Blade Yoru."
Shanks nodded.
"He saw Uchiha Xin give away the Black Blade Yoru, and his mind went blank."
"His anger made his sword stronger, but it also slowed his judgment by half a step."
Tashigi caught that half-step.
Raki Lu finally came to his senses.
"Will Hawk Eyes really lose?"
"It won't be that fast."
Shanks stared at Hawk Eyes, who had retreated hundreds of meters.
He is the World's Greatest Swordsman.
"If that's all the skill he had, he would have been brought down long ago."
In the center of the battlefield.
Hawk Eyes blocked Black Blade Yoru once again.
He did not retreat further.
Armament Haki suddenly erupted.
A loud crash came from between the two knives.
Tashigi was knocked back several meters.
Hawk Eyes also took the opportunity to escape her attack range.
He steadied himself and regulated his breathing.
He forcibly suppressed the anger he had felt earlier because of Black Blade Yoru.
He regained his grip on the knife.
Tashigi did not rush to pursue.
She could sense that Hawk Eyes's demeanor had changed.
Although Hawk Eyes was furious, his strikes were not steady enough.
Now, that swordsmanship aura has solidified once more.
"Finally getting serious?"
Hawk Eyes gripped the knife with both hands.
"I admit, I underestimated you just now."
There won't be a second time.
As soon as he finished speaking, Hawk Eyes charged out.
The long sword slashed upwards towards Tashigi.
Tashigi raised her Black Blade Yoru.
The two knives clashed again.
This time, it was she who stepped back.
Hawk Eyes didn't stop.
He slashed out one after another.
His power no longer clashed head-on with Tashigi's.
Every encounter changes the course of Black Blade Yoru's journey.
Tashigi's offensive was interrupted for the first time.
Hawk Eyes stepped forward.
The blade grazed Black Blade Yoru, aiming straight for her shoulder.
Tashigi immediately turned to the side.
The blade grazed the surface of the clothing, leaving a tear.
She then slashed horizontally.
Hawk Eyes sheathed his sword prematurely, the tip striking the side of Black Blade Yoru.
clang!
Tashigi's slash was forcibly deflected.
The massive blade fell to the ground.
boom!
A rift valley was split open in the ground.
Hawk Eyes has retreated to a safe distance.
Yasopp a sigh of relief.
"It's stable."
Beckman nodded.
" Hawk Eyes is starting to take control of the rhythm."
Shanks, however, did not let his guard down.
"Not yet."
"Look at Tashigi."
On the battlefield, Tashigi once again wielded her Black Blade Yoru.
She didn't panic when Hawk Eyes turned the tide.
The altered slash didn't make her pause.
She attacked again.
Hawk Eyes swung his sword to meet the attack.
The blades of the two men clashed repeatedly.
Hawk Eyes's timing remains superior.
Each strike can preemptively block Tashigi's attack.
However, as the number of collisions increased, Tashigi's movements began to change.
She no longer relies solely on force to suppress others.
The angle of the blade is also constantly being adjusted.
Hawk Eyes deflected the first strike.
The second cut avoided the same spot.
Before the third strike even landed, she had already changed the force of her attack.
Black Blade Yoru slid along Hawk Eyes's blade, slashing towards his wrist from the other side.
Hawk Eyes immediately retreated.
The blade grazed my arm.
The cuff was cut off on the spot.
Hawk Eyes glanced down.
Tashigi's sword continued to grow faster.
Their strength is also growing.
More importantly, she became increasingly proficient in using her own swordsmanship.
"I see."
Hawk Eyes blocked Black Blade Yoru once again.
"You didn't break through in battle."
You already possessed that level of understanding.
"It's just that I hadn't fully grasped it before."
Tashigi used both hands to forcefully push his long sword aside.
"It's too late now that we've discovered it."
Hawk Eyes did not refute.
Tashigi is right.
She possesses the skill level of a top-tier Great Swordsman, but lacks experience in fighting against opponents of the same level.
The enemies of the past were too weak.
It was impossible to force her to use her full strength.
Now, facing Hawk Eyes, the swordsmanship she had been cultivating finally found a worthy opponent.
Each strike.
Every collision.
She is adapting to this power.
After absorbing decades of swordsmanship from the Golden Lion, Uchiha Xin also achieved the same improvement in swordsmanship through her family connections.
What's lacking is never a higher level of understanding.
Just practical experience.
Hawk Eyes's presence perfectly filled this gap for her.
boom!
The Black Blade Yoru.
Hawk Eyes gripped the knife with both hands, blocking the attack head-on.
The rock beneath their feet could not withstand the force and crumbled in large sections.
Tashigi did not sheathe her sword.
The second strike followed immediately.
Hawk Eyes blocked again.
The third cut.
The fourth cut.
Tashigi's attacks are getting faster and faster.
The sword energy unleashed by Black Blade Yoru covered the battlefield.
The surrounding ground kept exploding.
The situation that Hawk Eyes had just regained is beginning to crumble again.
He has put away all his disdain.
Swordsmanship, Haki, and physical prowess were all unleashed.
No matter how much he suppressed her, Tashigi was always able to make a change in the next encounter.
Hawk Eyes blocked one blade, so she changed her approach.
Hawk Eyes found an opening, and she capitalized on it before her next strike.
It was as if she was using this battle to gradually refine the swordsmanship that didn't originally belong to her into something of her own.
Shanks looked at the two who were now locked in a stalemate, his expression turning completely serious.
She's still getting stronger.