"Damn it, don't underestimate me, Uncle Beckman!"
Unable to struggle free of Beckman's large hand, Luffy shouted angrily that he shouldn't underestimate him.
But Beckman had no time to humor Luffy now. His attention was focused on the duel about to begin.
Kazu and Shanks stood on the shore, a little over ten meters apart.
"Rookie, let's see what you've got."
Suddenly, Shanks kicked off hard and shot forward, coating Gryphon in his right hand with Armament Haki as he swept the blade straight at Kazu.
"Hahaha, bring it on!"
Kazu didn't hold back either. His right hand gripped his cursed blade, Muramasa, and coated it with Armament Haki as well.
"Battō Slash!"
A blindingly fast flash of steel swept past. Shanks's Observation Haki instantly warned him, and he swung his sword into Kazu's Battō Slash.
Boom!!!
The two attacks canceled each other out completely, and Shanks used the force to spring back.
One move was enough to tell an expert's worth.
Shanks had initially thought Kazu was no ordinary fighter, but after exchanging a single strike, he realized his opponent was powerful and couldn't be underestimated. He would have to go all out.
"I never thought I'd meet a man like you in the East Blue."
"Hahaha, I never thought I'd run into you so soon either, Red-Hair."
Smiles tugged at both their lips. It was the exhilaration of meeting a formidable opponent against whom they could cut loose.
The next moment, Shanks unleashed his Conqueror's Haki at full force, and Kazu released his own.
But Kazu's Conqueror's Haki was simply no match for Shanks's. In less than ten seconds, Shanks's Conqueror's Haki had pushed his back more than halfway.
"Tch, damn talent freak."
Shanks was the character with the strongest openly displayed Conqueror's Haki in One Piece.
Roger was dead, Joy Boy was dead, and before Kazu's rebirth, Imu's strength had still been unknown, with no clear indication of its extent.
Against a man who had risen to the ranks of the Four Emperors through swordsmanship and Conqueror's Haki, it was only reasonable for Kazu's Conqueror's Haki to lose.
But that didn't make it any less frustrating, so he could only try another approach.
"Space Slash."
"Chain Slash!"
Kazu decisively refused to keep competing with Shanks in Conqueror's Haki and casually unleashed five spatial slashes.
Shanks used his Observation Haki to predict and dodge four of the slashes, then raised his sword to strike the last.
Hm?
The feel of this slash was completely different from the earlier one, leaving Shanks puzzled.
Suddenly, his Observation Haki sounded a fierce warning from behind him.
"Space Swap."
That was right. Kazu had deliberately sent those five attacks toward five different positions, forcing Shanks to deal with at least one rather than dodge them all.
While Shanks was neutralizing the Space Slash, Kazu used Space Swap to appear behind him instantly.
"Phantom Sword Dance!"
The instant Kazu sneaked behind Shanks like a dirty ambusher, he unleashed Phantom Sword Dance, showing no idea what "courtesy" meant.
"Shanks!"
"Boss!"
Luffy and the members of the Red Hair Pirates broke into a cold sweat. This man who had suddenly appeared really was powerful.
How had he gotten over there just now?
Despite their numbers, none of them had managed to see Kazu move.
Had Kazu known, he wouldn't have been able to resist mocking them.
I used Space Swap to get over here, not my own speed. Of course you couldn't see it.
Shanks moved as fast as he possibly could, hurriedly turning to evade Kazu's attacks.
But Kazu's Phantom Sword Dance unleashed dozens of strikes in an instant, leaving Shanks nowhere to dodge.
Shanks's brow furrowed deeply as five wounds were slashed across his body. Using that brief moment, he hurriedly swung Gryphon at Kazu, blocking the remaining attacks of Phantom Sword Dance.
Even so, Shanks still suffered three more wounds.
"You're a Devil Fruit User?"
Shanks took the opportunity to step back, his gaze frighteningly grave. Kazu's ability was far too troublesome, impossible to guard against.
And his swordsmanship belonged to a school Shanks had never seen on the seas, but judging by his Flying Slashes and strength, he was undoubtedly a great swordsman.
Besides, Shanks had only recently lost his left arm. His dominant hand was gone, and although his right hand was formidable too, it still fell short of his left.
"That's right. I'm a Devil Fruit User, and a swordsman as well."
Kazu wasn't foolish enough to go around announcing what kind of Devil Fruit ability he had, even if that was a hallmark of pirates.
"This is bad. Not only is his ability troublesome, but his physique and swordsmanship are also impressive, and he has Conqueror's Haki too. He has no obvious weaknesses. Shanks is in trouble."
Beckman lit a cigarette. Watching this clash between powerhouses, he couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat for Shanks.
Beckman wasn't the only one worried about Shanks. His crewmates in the Red Hair Pirates had stopped grinning and joking too.
"Shanks will definitely win."
Hearing Beckman's words, Luffy immediately grew anxious, but he still firmly believed in Shanks.
Meanwhile, Masuno and the others who had come to see the Red Hair Pirates off had long since hurried back more than a hundred meters.
At first, they had thought Shanks would finish the fight quickly, but now it seemed better to stay farther away to avoid getting caught in it.
"A swordsman, huh."
"I see. From here on, I'll use my full strength."
Holding Gryphon, Shanks's aura suddenly surged. Conqueror's Haki coiled around Gryphon, and black-and-red lightning raged around him.
Shanks unleashed his aura in full, his terrifying Conqueror's Haki even beginning to affect Kazu's Devil Fruit ability.
No wonder, at the end of the Wano Country arc in the original story, Shanks's Conqueror's Haki had intimidated Ryokugyu into standing motionless from so far away.
Shanks hadn't reached that level yet, but at such close range, Kazu was already greatly affected. This was partly because Kazu's current mastery of his Devil Fruit ability was still shallow.
If he had developed his fruit much further, the effect would have been greatly reduced.
This is bad.
Kazu felt immense pressure too. He still didn't know Conqueror's Haki coating, and he had no confidence in a head-on clash.
I'll have to use that move.
Kazu roared, coating Muramasa's blade with Armament Haki as he used the Space-Space Fruit's ability to compress the surrounding space.
One layer.
Two layers...
He compressed five layers in total, reaching his current limit.
A milky-white orb of light appeared on the blade as he fixed his gaze on Red-Hair's figure.
"Divine Departure!"
"Space Compression Slash!"
Muramasa and Gryphon never even touched, but the violent crash was already deafening. Black-and-red lightning enveloped their surroundings, and the fierce wind forced Makino and the village chief back again and again over a hundred meters away, leaving them unable to open their eyes.
The surrounding space seemed to shatter. With five compressed layers of space, every layer that struck out made space quake violently.
After five such tremors, Shanks's Divine Departure was finally canceled out.
I blocked it!
Kazu felt a surge of joy. It seemed he had still underestimated his current strength.
Sure enough, only by fighting someone strong could he learn exactly where he stood.
Now that Kazu had the power to withstand Shanks's Conqueror's Coating, he felt much more reassured.
After exchanging that attack with Shanks, Kazu hurriedly stepped back. Then, taking advantage of the weakened pressure from Shanks's Conqueror's Haki, he immediately used Space Swap, attacking from overhead this time.
Thanks to his outstanding Observation Haki, Shanks still struggled, but he was no longer as flustered as he had been at the start.
Kazu and Shanks attacked each other, but most of the offense came from Kazu using his Devil Fruit ability, while Shanks's attacks had difficulty catching him.