Chapter 84: Fierce Battle — Rayleigh and Jabber
Luo Han's outburst made Rayleigh pause for a moment. Looking around the battlefield, he had to admit that up to this point, all the casualties had been from the Rocks Pirates. Everyone from Golden Lion's crew had joined the fray, but aside from those with Vice Admiral-level strength, most were instantly taken down by the Roger Pirates.
But Rayleigh didn't care about any of that. His comrades were his brothers—if someone dared to hurt them, they had to pay the price.
Rayleigh's eyes locked sharply onto Luo Han.
"I can't do anything about the others… but breaking my brother's arm? You better be ready to die for that, brat!"
With that, Rayleigh lunged forward with his sword. Luo Han and Cole charged as well, engaging Rayleigh and Jabber in an all-out clash. The battlefield erupted once more, even more chaotic than before.
The battle intensified as Luo Han continued using Kyoka suigetsu combined with his Mind Force Armament Mode. Wounds accumulated on all sides, and things grew bloodier by the minute.
Rayleigh and Jabber launched furious assaults on Luo Han. Seeing how dangerous this was, Sister Shao no longer tried to intercept Rayleigh and instead turned her attention to other enemies.
As time passed, more Roger Pirates began to fall to Luo Han's interference. He kept finding openings to disrupt their actions—one slip in the middle of battle could mean death, especially when interference was involved.
"Stop him!!" Rayleigh roared. He knew that if this went on, someone on their side would eventually die. That was something he couldn't accept.
"Got it!" Jabber replied, cleaving past a pirate with a single strike and dashing toward Luo Han. "We have to pin that brat down!"
"Everyone stay close together—don't give him a chance to interfere!" Rayleigh shouted to the crew as he ran toward Luo Han, sword ready. He and Jabber closed in from both sides.
Clang!
Luo Han narrowly dodged Rayleigh's slash, then twisted to avoid Jabber's swing from behind.
Boom! Luo Han leapt into the air. Two slash waves shot up at him.
Whoosh! Luo Han performed an aerial backflip that defied physics, slipping through the slashes.
Zing! He shot away from Rayleigh and Jabber, landing at the edge of the battlefield. Turning back, he muttered, "Impressive teamwork!"
Boom! Boom! Rayleigh and Jabber landed below him, looking up.
"We won't let you interfere with our comrades again," Rayleigh said coldly.
"Exactly. You won't act so freely anymore," Jabber added, sword pointed at Luo Han, ready to cut off his movements.
"Haha! What an honor… to be treated this seriously by Roger's top men," Luo Han laughed, pausing. "I must be the first, huh?"
Clang!
Clang!
In response, two slash waves flew in from the left and right, trying to seal off his escape.
"Too bad!" Luo Han sighed. His form blurred as he plummeted straight down, slipping between the attacks.
Rayleigh and Jabber rushed in to intercept. One in front, one behind, one left, one right—all striking toward Luo Han.
On the ground, Luo Han accelerated straight toward Jabber, ducking and twisting to the right to bypass the sweeping blade.
Clang! A slash wave shot in. Luo Han had to recoil and respond with a punch toward Jabber.
Clang! Jabber blocked with his sword across his chest. "Haha! Gotcha, brat!" he laughed, pressing down with his sword to keep Luo Han from escaping.
At the same time, Rayleigh slashed downward at Luo Han's head. It looked like a fatal blow—until Rayleigh's eyes widened in confusion.
Clang! The sword missed Luo Han's head and instead slashed toward Jabber.
Whoosh! Luo Han seized the opening and slipped from their pincer attack, landing atop a rock 300 meters away.
"That was close…" Luo Han wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead. "Almost fell into their trap."
"What just happened?" Jabber asked, heart still racing. If his blade hadn't been vertical, Rayleigh's sword would've cut him in two.
"I forgot that kid has an invisible attack. It suddenly raised my arm, causing my strike to miss and hit you," Rayleigh explained, annoyed.
"To react that fast and with such precise timing… paired with that speed—it's a problem, Rayleigh," Jabber said with a grim look.
Rayleigh fell silent, then his eyes lit up. "His one weak point is defense. Let's focus on that. Overwhelm him with brute force!"
"Alright!"
Jabber nodded, and the two charged Luo Han together, launching a relentless assault. They refused to let him retreat, pushing him to the brink more than once.
But Luo Han kept disrupting them.
Clang! Another slash wave veered off-course midair, missing Luo Han.
"That invisible attack again?" Rayleigh groaned. Every time they got close to landing a decisive blow, it slipped away.
"Dodged again!" Jabber muttered as he returned to Rayleigh's side, face dark.
Luo Han watched them and thought, Their coordination is terrifying. If not for my mental technique activating bullet-time mode during danger, I wouldn't have been able to interfere with Rayleigh's slash just now.
But that bullet-time state consumes too much stamina—I can only use it during critical moments, or I won't last long!
And so, the battle continued. Rayleigh and Jabber's deadly coordination clashed against Luo Han's bullet-time and evasive skills, locking them in a tense stalemate.
With Rayleigh and Jabber drawing Luo Han away, the tide of battle on the main front began turning in Rocks' favor. Hank's presence put massive pressure on the Roger Pirates, forcing them to split off two Admiral-candidate-level fighters to hold the line.
The situation grew dangerous.
Fortunately, Sister Shao, still concerned with what was happening between Luo Han and Rayleigh, showed no desire to fight seriously. She merely floated through the fight, and this lack of commitment caused the battlefield to settle into a fragile balance.
…
Elsewhere, on Roger's battlefield, things had turned into a chaotic three-way clash after Whitebeard's arrival. It wasn't supposed to be like that.
None of the three were the kind to gang up on one opponent—doing so would suggest their own strength wasn't enough. So the fight had begun as one-on-one clashes, trading blows in rotation.
But all three of their attacks were massive in scale. Whitebeard's tremors, Golden Lion's sweeping terrain attacks—none of it could be neatly directed.
And so, the fight naturally devolved into an all-out free-for-all where everyone hit everyone.
…
(END CHAPTER)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Bankai10