White Ghost didn't answer.
The strange aura coating his blade was, of course, the power of wind—and wind had a terrifying cutting nature of its own.
He studied Shura in front of him.
Something felt off.
The man's movements were… slightly sluggish, like his body hadn't fully "warmed up" after a long sleep.
Whatever.
White Ghost swung.
A hundred-meter sword wave ripped forward.
Shura raised his great blade to block.
CRACK—CRACK—!
Steel howled as the slash hammered against it, the impact ringing nonstop.
Shura cursed inwardly.
If I hadn't slept for so long—if my body weren't this stiff—I would've dodged that.
Now his facial wound was healing, but a foreign force kept tearing at it—trying to split it open again and again.
He knocked the sword wave aside, but he had no time to think.
White Ghost was already in his face.
CLANG—CRACK—CRACK—!
The two bared their teeth, glaring at each other through sparks.
"Your body's not right," White Ghost said.
"Heh."
Shura deflected White Ghost's blade and slashed back with a cold grin.
White Ghost's wings beat—
whoosh!
He rose into the sky, dodging the strike, huge sword raised overhead.
The storm clouds had already been blasted apart earlier by their Conqueror's clash.
Now the sky was flooded with glowing sunset colors.
BZZZT—!
Lightning crawled across White Ghost's blade.
Shura's body tensed.
"Hey, hey—this is getting excessive!" he snapped.
"Creating one element was bad enough. Now you're pulling out lightning too?!"
White Ghost's mouth curved.
"Mythical Zoan," he said. "Perfectly reasonable."
He finished charging, then brought the blade down.
"Thunder Sever!"
SHAAAA—!
A pure lightning sword wave cleaved downward.
"Tch… what a pain."
Shura held his great blade diagonally.
The four extra arms on his back pressed in, pouring something into the weapon.
White Ghost's brows tightened.
That wasn't regular Haki—
It was Shura's aura.
No—more precisely—
Ghost Qi.
"Nether Slash!"
Murky green flames coated Shura's blade as he carved through the lightning wave.
BOOOOM—!
Ghostfire exploded outward, scattering in every direction. Wherever it landed, it burned—hissing on the ground like poison.
Shura's skin tingled, numb from the electricity.
He grinned.
Good. Helps me loosen up.
White Ghost didn't move.
He simply watched, smiling—like he'd been waiting for Shura to "wake up."
A moment later—
HUM—!
Shura cleared the remaining electricity and looked up, smiling too.
"That deliberate?"
White Ghost nodded.
"Otherwise it won't be satisfying."
Shura laughed loudly.
"Hahahaha! Brat—I'll acknowledge you."
"Young people these days… you're entertaining."
Then his smile dipped, sharp and cruel.
"And you really don't put anyone in your eyes."
"I don't need your approval," White Ghost said calmly.
"I just need to be myself."
He leaned forward.
"Now then—"
He dove like a meteor.
"From here on, show me everything you've got!"
"As you wish, you little bastard!"
Shura planted his stance and swung upward with full force.
BOOOOM—!
Another Conqueror's-coated collision detonated.
CRACK—CRACK—!
Both of them laughed—eyes wild—then simultaneously pulled their Conqueror's pressure back.
No more brute shockwaves.
Now it was raw technique and Armament.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—!
Shura had fully warmed up now.
Everything about him climbed—speed, power, timing.
Their exchanges became so fast the eye couldn't track them.
They vanished—
reappeared—
vanished again—
Sword waves screamed through the air.
Small hills were split clean down the middle.
White Ghost deflected a slash—
then twisted his hips and spun.
A spike-weapon on Shura's arm skimmed past White Ghost's waist by a hair.
White Ghost countered with a kick to the face.
BANG—!
His foot was stopped by Shura's fist.
Shura's lips curled.
"Why do you like hitting people in the face so much?!"
He raised the great blade and chopped down—
"With this many hands," he snarled, "I can afford to be reckless!"
"Shave!"
White Ghost flashed away.
No sneak attack this time.
Shura's speed was up too.
Elsewhere—
"Franky Iron Fist!"
BOOM—!
A wave of lackeys screamed as they flew back.
Franky wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead.
"What the hell is wrong with these guys?!"
"We've been slaughtering them all day!"
Urouge crushed the skull of a pirate captain with one punch.
"These are death-row types," he said grimly.
"For money, they'll do anything, Franky."
"Tch. Annoying."
Franky's mechanical palm shifted form—
and he opened fire into the crowd.
DA-DA-DA-DA-DA—!
"AAAH—!"
Dozens dropped, blackened and twitching.
"Damn it, that robot!" someone shouted, eyes lighting up.
"His energy's almost out—look at that chest light!"
"Get him! Rush him!"
"RAAAH—!"
A swarm leapt at Franky with blades raised.
What a pain.
Franky yanked the laser-modified sword from his back—
then froze.
A massive tail whipped through.
WHAM—!
The jumpers were sent flying.
A battered Allosaurus roared and lunged—
CRUNCH—!
One man was bitten clean in half.
"PTUI!"
A-Er spat the meat out, eyes bloodshot.
"Hey, A-Er!" Franky shouted. "Fall back and rest—you won't last like this!"
"No."
A-Er's voice came from inside the beast body.
"I'm the man who fights for the boss until the very end."
"I'm not going down now!"
His tail whipped again—more bodies flew.
Above—
A-Da swooped down and began pecking the ground in a brutal rhythm.
Enel, wearing a crude first-generation silver armor he'd forged from trace silver on the island, charged forward.
"Silver-Armor Impact!"
BOOM—!
He slammed into enemies like a battering ram.
He paused beside Franky, scanning the front.
"Good thing the captain always forces us to train our bodies," Enel said.
"Otherwise we'd be in real trouble today."
"WHOOSH—BANG—!"
A dying black bear was thrown into the crowd, smashing people and setting off screams.
Señor Pink walked over, slightly winded.
"The captain always said it," he muttered.
"Physique and Haki… those are the fundamentals of this world."
"And the most important."
He stared at the regrouping crowd and coated his fists again.
"I've felt that truth today."
Franky whistled, impressed.
"Now that is manly."
"He's been fighting all day and he's only breathing a little heavier."
Nearby, Django blew his opponent away with a punch.
"Heavy Tiger Fist!"
A Zoan hedgehog-type enemy collapsed, unmoving—his spines literally beaten broken.
"Haki is the strongest!" Django roared.
Across from him, the enemy crowd stared in terror at the saber-toothed tiger drenched in killing intent.
Django was furious for one simple reason—
He'd been stuck fighting trash.
Even Pedro got a giant crocodile.
Django got… these scraps.
So he vented on them.
The squad regrouped into formation, facing the enemy line gathering again.
"One last push," Django said.
"Even the fearless have a limit."
"Agreed," Señor Pink nodded.
"They're not Marine elites. They can't keep this up forever."
"Then we crush them," Enel said lazily, lifting his eyes.
"One more wave. Kill them hard enough that they'll remember it for life."
Franky struck his signature weird pose.
"Then let's charge together—two handsome robots!"
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/StrawHatStudios