In that instant, a towering aura erupted outward from Captain John's body in all directions, blasting away the surrounding smoke and dust.
Yemu felt as if every part of his body had been locked onto by the twin blades in the man's hands. It was as though the slightest movement would get him cut, with nowhere to dodge.
"So this is the aura of a Grand Master!"
Back then, Bullet had given him the feeling of being crushed by overwhelming brute force, the sense that he simply could not win. But the John in front of him now gave off a feeling of ultimate danger. Yemu could almost already see the image of himself drenched in blood.
But what was there to fear?
Yemu instantly grew excited.
Waiting to die was never his style.
Even if he could clearly feel that the gap between them in swordsmanship was like a chasm that could not be crossed, so what?
Under the pressure of John's aura, Yemu showed no intention of retreating. Holding his twin blades horizontally before him, eyes burning red, he said,
"What a terrifying feeling. So this is the power of a Grand Master from the previous era? Even so, I'm not going to sit here and wait to die."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yemu's Shishimaru and Tengoku moved.
One was wrapped in black Haki, while flames burst from the other and coiled around its blade.
In an instant, Shishimaru and Tengoku became a black sword and a flaming sword.
"Boom..."
The aura around Yemu exploded as well.
Captain John, the Grand Master, watched the scene without much change in expression. He simply began rotating the twin blades in his hands, Haki swirling around them, and said with lowered eyes,
"Not bad. Quite a presence. But you don't understand what a Grand Master truly is. A sword that relies only on the body will never strike me."
"Is that so? Then let's test it."
"As you wish."
In an instant, the two men hovering in midair both kicked off the air beneath them, turning into black bolts of lightning as they shot toward each other.
"Clang!"
Sparks flew through the air, flashing brightly enough to illuminate the entire sea.
And in that moment, Yemu immediately sensed the difference.
John merely shifted his twin blades slightly, and the force behind Yemu's strike was instantly redirected away.
"Phantom Sword!"
At the same moment, a flash of light swept out. In Yemu's vision, countless afterimages began appearing from John's twin blades, weaving into a dense net as they slashed toward him.
Through his Observation Haki, a powerful sense of danger surged over him. He could clearly tell that the countless blade-lights before him were not fake illusions, but real slashes.
What made it even worse was that while Yemu was fast, he knew perfectly well that his swordsmanship could not keep up with a barrage this dense.
But he had never expected to defeat John through crude sword skill alone.
So...
"Tengoku. Flying Flame Soothing Slash."
Since he had no way to unleash such an exquisite attack himself, then he would have to rely on his Devil Fruit ability.
In an instant, violent heat burst outward. Brilliant flames took the shape of a giant flaming blade and slammed into the dense barrage of slashes, swallowing them up.
But Yemu could not relax in the slightest. Looking ahead, he could see that the flames had only blocked part of the attack. Some of the slashes had cut straight through the fire and were still coming at him.
Seeing that, Yemu swung the Shishimaru in his left hand and unleashed a dazzling slash, intercepting the blade-light below him.
At that same moment, John dropped from above and appeared directly over his head.
"Meteor Flying Slash!"
Yemu could only raise both swords over his head to block the blow.
"Boom..."
A blinding burst of light lit up the entire sea...
...
"So... so incredible..."
As the princess of Harrot, Dana's eyes were shining brightly.
On the deck of the warship, the Harrot people stared in stunned disbelief at the dazzling battle above the island. Every clash seemed to stir the wind and clouds. A fight between monsters on this level had already gone far beyond anything they could imagine.
Every strike in that battle seemed to carry the power to destroy heaven and earth.
Even so, everyone could still tell that Yemu, the captain who had saved them, seemed to be getting suppressed by the other powerful pirate.
Against those dazzling sword techniques, Yemu looked as though he could barely keep up.
"So this is a Grand Master!!!"
Erik stared at the battle in the sky, eyes blazing. The power John displayed as a Grand Master made him understand many things in an instant.
The others on the ship did not know much about swordsmanship, so they all asked anxiously,
"Erik, what exactly is a Grand Master?"
Erik recalled what he had once been told.
"Rayleigh-san once told me that a swordsman's training is really the training of three things. Man, sword, and qi. 'Man' means the body, 'sword' means swordsmanship, and 'qi' means all kinds of energy. When those three become one, when immense power, refined sword skill, and supporting energy like Haki are combined, then you can unleash a slash that cuts through everything in the world, a slash that cannot be defended against. That is a Grand Master."
"Cannot be defended against?"
"That's right. Because when man, sword, and qi become one, the swordsman's control over the blade in his hand reaches an incredibly precise level. He can seize on even the smallest opening his opponent reveals and deliver a killing blow!"
And as if answering Erik's words,
in the sky, Yemu remained completely focused, not daring to relax for even a moment as he dealt with John's dense web of blade-light.
But even so, after more than ten minutes, just when Yemu thought he was starting to get used to John's Phantom Sword technique, his Observation Haki suddenly sent him a sharp warning of extreme danger.
Yemu looked toward the source of that warning.
Within the dense defensive web formed by the clashing blades, a flaw appeared, as thin as a needle.
A streak of black light shot through...
Yemu's reaction was already fast, and he made one last evasive move.
But even so, a blade-light still sliced across the clothes at his waist.
"Rip..."
Blood spilled out...
Seeing that, John was surprised, but he immediately pressed the advantage.
On the deck of the warship, Erik's expression changed slightly when he saw it.
"This is bad..."
"What do you mean?"
Everyone froze.
"A little wound like that shouldn't be a big deal, right?"
"It's not the same."
As a swordsman, Erik could naturally see certain details in a swordsman's battle.
"Though swordmaster and Grand Master differ by only one word, the gap in strength between them is enormous. But the captain is different. In terms of physical strength, he's no weaker than John, maybe even stronger. But in swordsmanship, the captain is far behind Captain John. Fortunately, the captain has been making up for that gap with his Devil Fruit ability. But as the fight goes on, John is starting to adapt to the captain's Devil Fruit powers through the advantage of his swordsmanship. That strike just now means John has already begun adjusting and has found openings in the captain's attacks. If the captain doesn't change something soon, those openings will only become more and more frequent. And don't forget, John now has a Devil Fruit ability too..."