Chapter 336: Who Dares to Provoke Him?!
"Come!" Shane beckoned to Garling and Sengoku with a finger. "Either one of you alone is just a punching bag. It's no fun beating you up! So I'll give you two punching bags a chance. Let's see if you can do anything to me together!"
"Don't get cocky, brat!" Garling, in his Tsukuyomi form, let out a heaven-shaking roar. Purple-black flames erupted around him, and his massive body charged at Shane.
At the same time, on the other side, the Demonic Buddha Sengoku, gritting his teeth against the pain, lit up all eight crimson demonic eyes. He clasped his palms together, and an even thicker beam of purple-black light shot out!
"Buddha's Wrath: Amaterasu!"
Facing the pincer attack, Shane didn't dodge. Instead, he laughed wildly, clenched his fists, and met them head-on!
"Just in time! Let me have some fun for once!"
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The Supreme Grade Blade "Sakura Snow" and the Supreme Grade Black Blade "Yoru" clashed repeatedly, sending sparks flying. In a flash, they had exchanged over a dozen blows.
SWISH!
Kuina and Mihawk crossed paths and leaped back several steps, looking at each other.
"As expected of the man who held the title of World's Strongest Swordsman for so many years," Kuina said, her hand slightly numb, but her excitement growing. A rare smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Hmph, you're even stronger than the rumors say."
"You're not bad either," Mihawk narrowed his eyes and said calmly. "I recall you're the same age as Tashigi? To have cultivated such swordsmanship at such a young age… no wonder Shane values you so highly, even entrusting you with the position of First Mate."
Just now, when he was about to go confront Shane, he had been stopped by this swordswoman. At first, he had almost mistaken her for his foolish apprentice Tashigi, as their appearances were nearly identical. But the fierce aura was completely different, and his keen swordsman's sense had picked up on it. And good thing he hadn't been careless. If he had treated that strike casually, thinking it was Tashigi…
Mihawk's eye twitched. "You are stronger than Vista the Flower Sword," he said, slowly raising Yoru and pointing it at Kuina. "But that is all. To defeat me, you still have a long way to go. So, Miss Kuina, please step aside. I have an opponent I want to challenge more than you."
"I know that, of course. Why else would I be here?" Kuina sneered, twirling Sakura Snow. "The title of World's Strongest Swordsman rightfully belongs to Lord Shane. You want to take that title back from him? You'll have to get through me first!"
She also wanted to measure just how far she was from the former World's Strongest Swordsman!
With that, Kuina said no more. She took a step forward and swung her sword with a speed imperceptible to the naked eye!
"Steel Tempest!"
In an instant, a tornado appeared, roaring like a giant dragon as it swept towards Mihawk!
What a strange swordsmanship. Mihawk was slightly surprised, but his movements didn't slow down. Yoru slashed without hesitation, the sharp sword qi instantly splitting the tornado in two.
Hmm? No! Mihawk's pupils shrank. The ground revealed before him was empty. Where was Kuina?
SWISH!
At almost the same time, Kuina's figure flashed beside him like a phantom. The tip of Sakura Snow, condensed with bone-chilling cold, thrust straight for Mihawk's throat without mercy!
CLANG!
In the nick of time, Mihawk had no time to think. He could only block with a backhand. The two Supreme Grade Blades collided again, sending out countless dazzling sparks.
Good thing I reacted in time… Her speed was even faster than he had anticipated. As Mihawk's thoughts raced, he suddenly noticed that the curve of Kuina's smile hadn't disappeared. A warning bell rang in his mind! His rich combat experience made him look back immediately. The tornado he had just split apart had re-formed in the air, turning into countless sharp wind blades attacking from behind!
HISS HISS HISS!
With a continuous sound, even though Mihawk tried his best to dodge, his black coat was instantly shredded with dozens of cuts. Two wind blades even grazed his cheeks, one on the left and one on the right.
Blood? Mihawk touched his cheek, finally showing surprise. Seeing the wind blades and Kuina attacking again in coordination, he had to retreat temporarily to create distance.
"Are you a Devil Fruit user?" he couldn't help but ask after steadying himself. Was that kind of control over the wind really something a pure swordsman could achieve?
"Devil Fruit? Like Lord Shane, I don't need that kind of power," Kuina lifted her chin proudly. "When you walk the path of the sword you excel at to the extreme, nothing is impossible!"
Mihawk was silent. "Interesting," he said after a long pause, taking a deep breath, a fighting spirit finally igniting in his eyes. "It seems I underestimated you. In that case, I take back my previous words. To have cultivated swordsmanship to this level, you are fully qualified to be my opponent! Come, Miss Kuina, let me see where the limits of your swordsmanship lie!"
Miss Kuina? The address had changed. Kuina remained impassive on the surface, but she couldn't help feeling a little smug inside. After all, this was respect from the former World's Strongest Swordsman!
Just then, Mihawk's figure flashed. Yoru slashed down, and a massive black-and-red sword qi howled out, heading straight for Kuina. This slash was infused with… Conqueror's Haki Coating!!!
"Cut!" Kuina's face changed slightly. A familiar feeling. Very terrifying, similar to the Divine Departure Lord Shane used! But in terms of quality, it was clearly a notch below!
She shouted, unafraid, and Sakura Snow slashed horizontally with full force. The wind pressure condensed into an azure sword qi, colliding with Mihawk's black-and-red sword qi.
BOOM!
The moment the two sword qis collided, a shocking shockwave erupted, tearing countless cracks in the hardwood ground, rendering it unrecognizable.
"Not done yet!" Mihawk's face was expressionless as he closed in like a phantom, Yoru slashing continuously. Every slash was infused with Conqueror's Haki Coating, carrying a devastating force! Kuina responded calmly, Sakura Snow dancing like the wind, neutralizing Mihawk's attacks one by one. The battle between the two intensified, sword qi crisscrossing, wind pressure raging, the shockwaves affecting the surrounding battlefield, keeping everyone at bay.
"I smell a kindred spirit," Mihawk said in a deep voice as he attacked. "There's no mistake. Even though you are a subordinate of that man, you have awakened that potential… But you seem unable to coat your attacks with it?"
"So what!" Kuina snapped unhappily. Was mastering Conqueror's Haki Coating so great? Okay, it was pretty great… But she couldn't help it. It had been months since she awakened Conqueror's Haki during the War of Whole Cake Island. She could clearly feel her mastery of emitting Conqueror's Haki improving, able to release it at will and precisely knock out her intended targets in a crowd. But the ultimate application of Conqueror's Haki—Conqueror's Coating—eluded her.
Lord Shane was very concerned about this and had personally trained her in private, demonstrating and explaining hand-in-hand, even beating her up with Conqueror's Coating in spars, forcing her with terrifying pressure. But she still couldn't succeed. Perhaps God was fair. She was exceptionally talented in the way of the sword, but completely inept in this area.
This made Lord Shane very distressed. He kept muttering things like "It doesn't make sense, Kaido did it this way," and "Am I really a terrible teacher?" blaming himself. I'm really sorry, Lord Shane…
"I didn't mean anything by it, Miss Kuina," a rare look of speechlessness appeared on Mihawk's cold face. As expected, he had no way of dealing with stubborn little girls like this. He said helplessly, "To have the potential but not yet mastered the coating, and still be able to fight me to this extent, doesn't that just prove that you still have plenty of room for improvement on the path of the sword?"
"Once you truly master Conqueror's Haki Coating, perhaps you really can surpass me!"
Kuina was slightly stunned. She could tell that this guy was speaking from the heart. No wonder Tashigi was willing to live with him for a whole year. It seemed this man named Dracule Mihawk, though on the side of the Marines, was actually a decent guy at heart.
"Thanks for the compliment, I appreciate the sentiment. However, perhaps we don't need to wait for the future!" Kuina's gaze quickly turned sharp again, and Sakura Snow slashed out a massive wind blade. "Right now, on this battlefield, I can defeat you!"
"Courage and conviction are commendable, but that's not for you to decide!" Mihawk finally stopped holding back, unleashing his trump card. Yoru erupted with even stronger black-and-red lightning, and sword qi poured out like a tide.
"Hey, hey, that Hawk-Eye Mihawk, this is the first time I've seen him fight for real like this."
"After all, his opponent is Kuina. As expected, none of the Curtain Call's top officers are weak. She looks young, but even Hawk-Eye, the strongest of the Warlords, can't suppress her!"
The duel between the two great swordsmen was attracting more and more attention.
"…" Vista the Flower Sword had just casually dealt with a few Marine officers who had surrounded him. Watching this scene, he was momentarily dazed.
So strong… really strong, both of them. He murmured to himself, his twin swords lowering unconsciously. As the saying goes, laymen watch the excitement, experts watch the technique. He could see far more than the others. Whether it was Kuina's wind-like swordsmanship or Mihawk's domineering black blade, he was deeply shaken. The strength Mihawk was displaying now was completely different from when they had fought earlier.
"What the hell," Vista shook his head with a bitter smile. "So he wasn't even using half his strength against me earlier?" As a veteran commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and a long-established great swordsman, he had always been confident in his swordsmanship. He thought that even if his swordsmanship wasn't as good as Mihawk's, it should be in the same league, with a negligible difference. As for that Kuina of the Curtain Call, he should be above her! But now it seemed… that idea was laughable, completely wrong, wrong to the core!
"Hey! What are you daydreaming about, Vista? Watch out, behind you!" Diamond Jozu's angry shout suddenly came from the distance.
Vista snapped out of it, a red glint flashing in his eyes, and then his hair stood on end! Something incredible was attacking! He instinctively rolled to the side, and in that split second, two massive black shadows whizzed over his head, crashing heavily onto the hardwood floor in front of him.
BOOM! BOOM!
Two deep craters were smashed into the ground, dust flying. If I hadn't had Jozu's warning, I would have been flattened, Vista looked back in shock, his mouth hanging open, eyes wide—
Lying in the craters were the Demonic Buddha Sengoku and Saint Garling, the head of the Five Elders, who had just joined forces to fight Shane!
But at this moment, these two Admiral/Yonko-level powerhouses showed no trace of their former imposing, majestic appearance. Sengoku's purple-black demonic Buddha body was covered in cracks, his eight crimson demonic eyes swollen shut, his left arm torn off, revealing a horrifying black cross-section; and Garling, transformed into Tsukuyomi, was even more miserable! Not only was his entire face beaten into a pig's head, with several front teeth missing, but the moon-wheel behind his head symbolizing his divinity was dim and black, and his clothes were tattered and torn.
"Ugh… ah… ah…" Garling clutched his chest, moaning in pain. If it weren't for his massive size, Vista would have thought at first glance that this was some pitiful beggar…
"Th-this is impossible?!" Vista finally recovered, gasping. As a veteran of the Whitebeard Pirates who had followed Pops across the seas for decades, he knew exactly what the Admiral/Yonko level meant. It represented the strongest tier on the sea, those who truly stood out from the millions, standing at the pinnacle of the world! And the two of them teamed up, how long has it been? Not even an hour at most, and they were both beaten into this miserable state?
Although he knew Shane was strong, this was too exaggerated! When Rocks was active, he was still young and didn't know how strong that man was, but he had witnessed Pops in his prime! Even if prime Pops were here, he might be able to easily fight two at once, but could he beat them to this extent within an hour?
Looking at the black-haired figure walking step by step through the air towards them with an indifferent expression. "Hey, that's too scary…" Vista's scalp tingled, and he instinctively swallowed. To have a monster of this level exist, perhaps I should be thankful that the Whitebeard Pirates have never provoked him, and instead have maintained a good relationship…
(Author's Note)
Hawk-Eye's official Vivre Card doesn't currently list Conqueror's Haki, this is a secondary setting. However, with Garp's precedent, and the Five Elders all having it, and Hawk-Eye's disciple Zoro having learned it, I estimate that Hawk-Eye, as a finalist with a bounty of 3.5 billion Berries, will likely be given Conqueror's Haki later on.