Mihawk, who had just arrived, saw Lan Luo and his group, and a smile played on his lips as he happily said, "It seems there's a huge surprise today."
Lan Luo hadn't reacted to Mihawk's words yet, but Zoro pushed through the crowd and stepped forward, sweat beading on his forehead as he said to Mihawk, "I set out to sea to meet you." He then untied the bandana from his arm and tied it around his head, indicating he was serious.
Mihawk calmly said, "For what purpose?"
"To be the strongest. You must be quite free, how about we have a match?" Zoro said with an incredibly firm gaze.
"Pathetic weakling. If you were a first-rate swordsman, you wouldn't need to cross swords to see the gap between you and me. Is the courage to draw your blade against me your will? Or is it due to ignorance?" Mihawk said as he walked onto the ship he had just cut in half.
Zoro drew his sandai kitetsu and yubashiri and said, "It's because of my ambition, and a promise with a good friend." After speaking, he glanced at Kuina and Lan Luo.
Hawkeye took out the small knife from around his neck and drew it.
Seeing this, Zoro was a bit angry and asked, "What are you trying to do?"
Hawkeye remained expressionless: "Unlike foolish beasts who use all their strength to chase a rabbit, unfortunately, I don't have a smaller knife than this." He finished with a look of surprise.
"Don't regret it if you die." Zoro said, then charged forward just like in the original story.
The outcome was also similar to the original; Zoro becoming a Swordsman didn't give him many opportunities. A Great Swordsman and incredibly strong Haki allowed Mihawk to easily defeat Zoro.
During the match, Zoro earned recognition by spreading his arms and taking two direct slashes from Mihawk.
Everyone was deeply shocked. They had heard Lan Luo talk about how Haoshoku forms, and when they saw Zoro's swordsmanship, which he would uphold even if it meant death, they knew he would surely awaken Haoshoku.
Without giving everyone too much time to react, Kuina flashed onto the ship where the battle had just taken place.
Kuina drew her black blade and said to Hawkeye, "Dragon Slaying Flame Slash, that is the name of my blade. Today, it will accompany me in claiming the title of World's Greatest Swordsman."
Seeing Kuina, Hawkeye finally drew the enormous black blade from his back and said, "Black Blade Yoru. If you want the reputation of World's Greatest Swordsman, then come!" He shouted excitedly.
The two continuously unleashed slashes, leaving the onlookers wide-mouthed and unable to close them, watching everything in astonishment.
Their intertwining figures flickered constantly; only those with Observation Haki could clearly see them. In terms of sword skills, Hawkeye was far superior, but in terms of stamina and recovery, Kuina was winning. When Mihawk saw Kuina get injured and then fully recover, he no longer held back.
He had previously feared that Lan Luo and his group would not fight fairly and gang up on him, but since it wasn't as he imagined, he let go and began to seriously compete with Kuina.
At the start of the battle, Lan Luo used the power of the Sea King to push the spectators fifty miles away. Besides Lan Luo and his group, no one knew the situation at the center of the battle, but the continuous slashes and the towering giant waves made all the onlookers yearn to go to the battlefield and witness it firsthand.
This battle lasted for eight days and seven nights, finally ending with Mihawk collapsing from exhaustion. Both Kuina and Mihawk had used their full strength. Kuina did not use her Devil Fruit or succubus powers, as the Heat-Heat Fruit combined with the Mera Mera no Mi could generate nearly ten thousand degrees of high temperature, which no one could withstand.
Mihawk was more distressed about his Black Blade, which now had fine nicks on it, breaking the heart of this blade-lover.
Mihawk lay on the ground, panting heavily, and said, "You won, young female Swordsman. Someone has finally defeated me, hahahaha." His words revealed a hint of madness. Although his sword skills surpassed Kuina's, her monstrous stamina and recovery completely wore him down, leaving him no temper left.
Kuina then sheathed her blade and said, "My sword skills aren't as good as yours; I just had some advantage in stamina. Back then, I desperately wanted to catch up to your pace, but I didn't expect that in the end, I would still have to rely on that guy." Although her words were cold, the hidden glee in her tone was audible to any normal person.
"I also didn't expect to lose due to stamina. I will find a way to reclaim my throne; for now, it will be kept with you. You probably haven't used your strongest power yet, whether it's the Devil Fruit power or that strange blade." Mihawk also felt the disparity in the world; the completely unreasonable stamina and recovery. He had fought Swordsmen with Mythical Zoan types before, but none of them were as terrifying as Kuina.
At this moment, Morgans, who had arrived days earlier, stepped forward and said, "Miss Kuina, please, you must use your strongest form. I can then take a promotional photo of you." This was what they had agreed upon earlier: she would help his news department with publicity, and Nami and the others would just collect the money.
Kuina gave Nami, who had her hands on Lan Luo's shoulders, a reproachful look. She had no choice but to draw her Dragon Slaying Flame Slash, activate her succubus abilities, and transform into her vampire form, with flames constantly erupting around her and a cloud of fire swirling about.
Morgans, at this point, disregarded the heat of the flames. His fur was singed black, but he instinctively pressed forward to take photos. The strangest thing was that his camera was perfectly intact and continuously clicked away, uttering words like "Perfect," "Yes, just like that," "Powerful," "This is even more captivating."
Sanji, who had been unpetrified days ago, was turned to stone again upon seeing the Empress. There was nothing he could do; this wasn't an ability they actively released, but rather an instinct of Sanji, the perverted cook.
Luffy, seeing Kuina in this state, disregarded the scorching heat and stepped forward to invite her, "A-amazing, can you join our Pirate Crew?" He completely failed to notice that his red shirt and blue shorts had been burned to charcoal.
Zoro, standing nearby, heard this and his face turned dark. This was his Captain, after all!
He was making such a fool of himself in front of Lan Luo and his group. So, he quickly stepped forward, punched Luffy on the head, tossed him aside, and then said to Kuina, "I will definitely defeat you, just like I said when we were kids, even if you are now the World's Greatest Female Swordsman."
Kuina wasn't angry. She was quite happy now that she had achieved her childhood dream. She took out her old wado ichimonji from her ring.
"This blade has been with me for a long time. Seeing your determination today, I can confidently entrust this blade to you." Kuina said, then handed over the snow-white wado ichimonji.
"You clearly have better ones, give me the ones you don't want, just like that bastard Lan Luo." Zoro angrily shouted at Kuina, but he was quite touched in his heart; this was one of the 21 Great Grade Swords, after all!
The current Zoro could be said to be an enhanced version. His three swords were sandai kitetsu, which possessed the Sickle-Sickle Fruit, and yubashiri, which possessed the Dice-Dice Fruit. They were both ranked among the 50 Skillful Grade Swords. However, a sword with a Devil Fruit is at least in the Great Grade category. If these swords were forged into Black Blades, they would be at the level of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords.
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