"Zoro, you're finally back! A boy barged into Isshin Dojo just now, and then the dojo's roof was blown clean off. Hurry back and take a look."
Zoro hurried toward the dojo.
He, too, had taken in every detail of that strange spectacle just now.
But at that moment, Zoro had only one thought in his mind.
The person facing Bai Yu this time absolutely could not be Koshiro.
Under Zoro's desperate sprint, the thousand-meter distance quickly shrank.
Just as he charged into the training ground's clearing-
"Let's fight to the death!"
Bai Yu gave a savage grin, took a great stride, and vanished into thin air.
Koshiro moved as well.
Both had clearly pushed their speed to the limit, colliding in the blink of an eye.
Bang!
Their wooden swords slashed down with the sound.
The dull collision exploded like thunder.
The storm their clash stirred up swept through the entire courtyard like a hurricane.
Zoro, who had just charged into the training ground, was forced two or three steps back before he could steady himself again.
Looking at Koshiro, normally so gentle and refined, who now seemed like an entirely different person-
Zoro was dumbfounded.
At that moment, he finally understood what Bai Yu's words had meant.
It wasn't that his teacher was too much of a goofball; Zoro was simply so weak that he didn't even qualify for a serious fight.
Facing Bai Yu, who could make Koshiro take things seriously-
Zoro suddenly had the illusion that Bai Yu had pulled another enormous stretch ahead of him.
"One Sword Style: Star Point!"
The wooden sword in Koshiro's hand instantly shifted into thrusts, stabbing straight at Bai Yu like stars filling the sky.
The boy before him truly did give him a sense of danger in swordsmanship.
But in Koshiro's eyes, Bai Yu was too young.
When it came to actual combat experience, Koshiro was confident he could outclass Bai Yu.
At the same time, the moment Bai Yu dodged, he could unleash a rapid combination to suppress him.
Yet just as that thought flashed through Koshiro's mind-
The bloodthirsty grin on Bai Yu's face grew even more ferocious.
Facing the incoming assault, he made no attempt to dodge. The instant his Armament Haki spread, he raised his hand and delivered a slash.
Bang!
With that single slash, Bai Yu scattered more than half the sky-filling thrusts.
The greater part that remained all landed on Bai Yu's body.
But under the protection of his Armament Haki, this assault clearly did not cause much damage.
Instead, the slash Bai Yu had unleashed pursued Koshiro without losing any of its remaining force.
Trading his life for a blow!
Watching the attack rapidly grow larger in his pupils, Koshiro instantly understood why Bai Yu gave him a sense of danger.
It came from his insane way of fighting.
With his attack broken, Koshiro immediately raised his wooden sword to block.
Bang!
Immense power poured forth. Koshiro felt as though a Sea King had slammed into him head-on, and he flew backward more than ten meters before bringing himself to a halt.
The stinging pain in the web of his hand brought shock to Koshiro's face.
What incredible strength!
But before he could react, a dark figure followed close behind, like a maggot clinging to bone.
There were no sword techniques to speak of. Every attack was nothing but a broad, sweeping slash.
With every slash, beyond sheer strength, there was only the simplest impact of Spiritual Pressure.
Kenpachi Zaraki, who served as his base template, had been classified as a special war power in the original story.
It was all because he possessed overwhelmingly domineering, boundless Spiritual Pressure pushed to the extreme.
Even without Shikai or Bankai, he could use that power to crush his opponents with ease.
This was a Spiritual Pressure bully!
Bang!
Koshiro was sent flying again, the wooden sword in his hand nearly slipping from his grasp.
Facing Bai Yu's life-risking fighting style-
Armament Haki quickly spread over Koshiro's right hand as well.
Moreover, the moment this Haki appeared, it covered his entire body.
Full-body Armament Haki!
Only after cultivating Haki to great mastery could one afford such an extravagant expenditure.
Faced with Bai Yu's crazed, utterly unstructured slashes, Koshiro was clearly getting serious.
"Brat, the warm-up is over. Next, I'll get serious and give you a fight like I haven't had in a long time."
Koshiro smiled.
It was a smile tinged with fighting spirit that he had not worn in a long time, especially as he felt the blood in his body gradually begin to boil.
This finally made Koshiro regard the junior before him seriously.
"The warm-up is over?"
"Then it's time I got serious too!"
Bai Yu stopped attacking and planted his wooden sword diagonally in the ground.
Under Zoro's and Koshiro's gazes, he removed the modified wrist guards from his hands for the first time.
Bang!
The fifty-kilogram wrist guard hit the ground, cracking it on impact and smashing a huge pit into it.
With the suppression of one wrist guard gone, the Spiritual Power that had been held down suddenly surged!
Rumble!
His aura shot up through the sky.
Koshiro's and Zoro's pupils abruptly contracted.
Especially when they saw that Bai Yu still had another wrist guard on his wrist.
This left the two even more shocked.
Could this boy have been holding back from the very beginning?
No!
Rather, Bai Yu had been holding back an entire ocean!
Rumble!
An even larger pillar of golden light erupted like raging waves and a wild tide.
This was the first time Bai Yu had unleashed his full power.
Faced with this scorching Spiritual Pressure as vast as an ocean, Koshiro, locked onto by his aura, regretted accepting the challenge a little.
But that trace of thought was soon drowned by the hot blood boiling within him.
Unprecedented fighting spirit welled up in his eyes as he looked at Bai Yu.
"Come on, let's keep fighting to the death!"
Bai Yu gave a savage grin.
As he took a great step, the entire dojo floor rumbled.
The next instant, he had crossed more than ten meters and appeared before Koshiro.
The wooden sword in his hand slashed straight down, carrying a streak of golden Spiritual Pressure tens of meters long.
"One Sword Style: Yokozuna!"
Koshiro roared.
Relying on the absolute defense granted by his full-body Armament Haki-
He had clearly fought himself into a true fury now.
A casual slash of his sword likewise erupted with a massive blade aura tens of meters long.
As a deafening explosion rang out-
Enormous waves of wind rolled back.
Everything placed in the thousand-square-meter training ground carved out in the hills behind the dojo was shredded.
At the same time, as the blast surged into the sky-
Bai Yu had already thrown all caution aside and charged straight at Koshiro.
The explosive storm along his path, mixed with razor-sharp gales, tore apart the white robes on Bai Yu's body.
Bloody cuts opened across his exposed skin.
Yet none of this could stop Bai Yu's bloodthirsty, frenzied fighting spirit.
It could be said that Koshiro's most immediate impression, standing on that battlefield, was that he was fighting a bloodthirsty war demon.
Bang!
A powerful, heavy slash struck Koshiro's wooden sword directly.
As the floor beneath his feet shattered on impact-
Koshiro flew backward, smashing straight through the enclosing wall and crashing into the forest behind it.
Numerous trees along his path snapped in half as he struck them.
By the time he reacted and steadied himself, his Observation Haki had already warned him of danger once more.