Hmph, then you're only heading toward death." The pirate captain spat the words like venom. He hadn't expected Passat to be so stubborn. He'd even offered a way out though whether or not he would have honored that promise was another matter. Either way, this man clearly didn't fear death.
"Then come at me! Let's find out are your claws quicker, or is my blade?" Passat tightened his grip on the Bone-Erosion Blade, a katana said to be forged from the spine of a sea king, passed down from Wano's hidden provinces. A wave of intimidating aura pulsed off him, if not Haki, then something remarkably close to it, sharpened by battle and intent.
"Sakura Cross Chopper!" Passat shouted. It was the same cross-slashing technique he had used before but now with the word Sakura added to its name. It was unclear what had changed… but the energy was undeniably different.
"Eh? What's that?" Linnana's eyes widened as she saw cherry blossom petals real ones—floating gently through the air above their home, despite there being no tree in sight. A subtle wind carried them, glowing faintly with sword energy.
At that exact moment, Passat raised the Bone-Erosion Blade high. The petals fluttered toward him, drawn as though by a magnetic pull, then clustered around his weapon. He traced an elegant arc in the air a perfect cross and the blossoms followed, forming an ethereal blade of energy in the shape of a sakura-marked "X." That spectral cross shot through the air like a Divine Judgement slash, heading straight for the pirate leader.
The petals twisted mid-air, becoming sharp like forged steel. The attack wasn't just spiritual, it was lethal. A moment later, the cross-shaped energy tore toward the pirate leader, aiming to cleave him into eight clean pieces with a single, silent blow.
"What—what is that?! This… this energy!" the pirate leader gasped, eyes going wide. That feeling, it was just like the ghostly slash from earlier, but stronger. The sharpness in the air made his skin crawl. He ducked and rolled toward a moss-covered vine stump, avoiding the full brunt by a hair's width.
The Sakura Cross carved deep into the ground where he'd just been, leaving a massive X-shaped fissure, as though a giant's blade had bisected the island itself.
"So strong…" muttered the injured swordsman, eyes narrowed in disbelief. "He only watched that sword style for a little while and he's already using it at this level?" He'd never seen someone learn so fast. Even among top swordsmen in the New World, such adaptability was rare.
"Yeah… this Sakura Sword Art is incredible," Passat said between breaths, eyes still on the carved cross in the earth. "Thanks, by the way." His satisfaction showed, but so did his exhaustion channeling the technique drained him heavily, like swinging a cursed blade infused with Sea Prism Stone.
"If I hadn't dodged that… I'd be dead meat!" The pirate leader stared at the gouged ground where the cross had landed. That cross should've been on his body. Even more terrifying, the energy still lingered sharp, decaying, as if it would prevent wounds from healing. Like a poison that eroded life from the inside. He shivered. That sword technique wasn't normal, it was cursed, possibly imbued with spiritual decay.
"What's the matter? Scared now?" Passat taunted with a smirk. "Where was all that big talk from earlier—when you were tearing through our home like you owned the place?"
"You… Don't get cocky!" the pirate leader snarled, trembling slightly. "So you've got your precious Sakura Blade technique. Big deal. Once I recover, I'll wipe you and your whole village off the map!" But even as he spoke, he was calculating escape routes. The house was in ruins, vines from the battle had grown wild thick tendrils winding across the exits like the Green Bit flora. Even if he tried to run, the paths were blocked. And he couldn't fly he had no Sky Walk like CP9, nor any Devil Fruit that could lift him into the air.
He was trapped.
"Don't hide come out and fight me like a man!" Passat roared, his grip tightening on the hilt of his Bone-Erosion Blade. His voice echoed through the shattered remains of the house. He wanted to finish this the pirate leader had gone too far.
"Tch… fine! Let's settle this!" The pirate captain, clearly bloodied and furious, was now ready to fight Passat to the death, determined not to be bested by a nobody.
Passat waited for a long time half a minute turned into a full one but the pirate leader didn't emerge from behind the twisted vine stump. So, sword raised, Passat slowly crept closer. His fingers flexed around the blade's hilt, instincts sharp, every step calculated. He knew a sneak attack was coming. With the pirate's reputation and the way he'd fought so far, Passat expected nothing less than a dirty trick.
Just as Passat reached the stump nothing. The space behind it was empty. A cold breeze passed, unsettling him.
"Die!" roared the pirate captain, leaping out from the side with only one clawed arm left intact. He had wrapped himself in one of the vine shadows and flanked Passat with animalistic rage, his jagged claw slicing through the air.
"Not good!" Passat gasped, rolling sharply to the side. His battle instincts had paid off, but not quite fast enough. The claw grazed his arm deep enough to draw blood, though not enough to disable. Still, the burning pain was real, and crimson trailed down his sleeve.
"Passat!" Linnana's voice rang out as she saw her husband wounded. Panic tightened her chest he was bleeding, and the pirate leader was too close for comfort. If Passat collapsed now, he'd be finished.
"Hahaha! Suffer and die!" The pirate leader laughed madly, fangs bared, and lunged again only to be blindsided by nature itself. A vine, thick as a mast and infused with Linnana's life-force, cracked through the air and smashed into the pirate, hurling him across the ruins like a cannonball.
....
"Whew! That was close!" Linnana exhaled sharply, adrenaline running high. She'd acted purely on instinct, summoning her Devil Fruit ability just in time to stop the final blow. The Mori Mori no Mi—Wood-Wood Fruit wasn't meant for combat, but her connection to nature was powerful.
"Blugh!" The pirate coughed as he rose, face bruised, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth and several teeth missing. He spat out another one with fury.
"You damn woman you've ruined everything for me!" he screamed, rabid with rage. "You'll pay for that with your life!" She had cost him his perfect kill and now, he wanted vengeance. The vines, the elemental tricks they had pushed him to his limits. He launched at her like a beast with no mind left but hatred.
"Wood Leaf Barrier!" Linnana's hands slammed to the ground. The earth pulsed with green energy, and in an instant, a massive, glowing leaf unfurled between them dense as ironwood, infused with her Haki-charged life-force, and standing as a wall between her, the wounded swordsman, and the incoming monster.
"RAHHHH!" The pirate howled, biting and clawing at the leaf wall like a savage animal, his claws shredding fibers, bark splintering beneath his fury.
"Go! Run!" Linnana turned to the injured man behind her. Her voice was firm, her eyes hard. "This leaf won't hold him for long!" She knew the barrier was only a stall tactic. It might buy them seconds not minutes. If she could summon two, she would have. But her stamina was draining these powers came at a cost.
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