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'No Haki, no special weapons. Can Onigumo actually beat Ikki like that?'
Zephyr stroked his chin, turning it over quietly. As Onigumo's teacher, he wanted the answer to be yes. But the more he thought about the swordsmanship Ikki had developed on his own terms, the less certain he felt.
"Onigumo has no chance of winning." Gion shook her head. "If Ikki wanted to end it, he could do it in an instant."
Zephyr frowned. "You have that much faith in him?"
"Teacher Zephyr, you haven't sparred with Ikki, so you still think Onigumo might have a shot. I have. Many times. I know exactly how precise his swordsmanship is." Gion paused. "And that's setting aside Tsubame Gaeshi entirely. His other techniques are just as dangerous."
She had firsthand experience with that. During one of their past bouts, Ikki had used the Thirteenth Form of Sun Breathing against her, and it had been a genuine headache to deal with.
The principle behind it was not complicated: cycle rapidly through the first twelve forms of Sun Breathing in sequence, then loop back and keep going. Understanding the principle and being able to stop it were two entirely different things.
Breaking through that cycling pressure required either overwhelming force or the precise window that Tsubame Gaeshi demanded. The problem was that executing Tsubame Gaeshi required her to get her body and footwork into exactly the right state. While Ikki's continuous assault was already pressing in, there simply was not enough time to find that window.
"Wait." Mihawk's voice came from the side, carrying a faint note of surprise. "Ikki can use Tsubame Gaeshi?"
"Why wouldn't he? He's the one who taught it to me."
More precisely, Gion had learned Tsubame Gaeshi from studying Sasaki Kojiro's technique directly. But without Ikki, she would never have had the opportunity to see it. Saying he taught her was not wrong. As for whether Ikki could use it himself, she had seen him do it. She knew.
"I see." Mihawk's gaze drifted toward the training ground, his expression sharpening with quiet interest. "Another reason to watch this match closely."
He had faced Tsubame Gaeshi through Gion not long ago. Now he was hearing that Ikki knew it as well. He wanted to see it with his own eyes.
"You're still looking for an excuse to go after Ikki, aren't you?" Hancock's voice came in, flat with displeasure. "Shall I remind you what happened last time?"
Mihawk glanced at her briefly and said nothing.
He had lost, technically. Though in his own reading of it, he had been caught off guard by the combined pressure of both Hancock and Gion at once. That was not the same as a clean defeat. He was still the world's number one swordsman. But the question of where Ikki ranked relative to him was one he genuinely wanted answered.
Hancock's displeasure deepened as Mihawk continued to ignore her. She began quietly working out how she would make him pay for that later.
Gion watched Mihawk with a different kind of attention. He was not like Moria. If Mihawk ever seriously challenged Ikki, it would not be a one-sided affair. The Marineford War was coming soon.
The last thing Gion wanted was for Ikki to take damage in a bout with Mihawk before the real fighting even started. If that led to something worse during the war against the Whitebeard Pirates, if it cost him more than he could afford, she was not sure she would ever be at peace with it.
"Are you ready, Ikki?"
Onigumo activated Life Return and let it flow through his hair, the long strands rising and coiling around the four blades sheathed at his back. He drew the remaining two with his hands, six swords now held in total, and looked across the training ground.
"I don't even have a sword yet and you're asking if I'm ready?" Ikki spread his hands. "Vice Admiral Onigumo, you're the one who said no special weapons. The least you can do is find me something to use."
Onigumo's eyes moved to a nearby Marine. The soldier understood immediately, drew his longsword, walked it over to Ikki, and retreated quickly. Standing between Ikki and Onigumo was not somewhere an ordinary Marine wanted to be.
"Good now?"
"Not quite. I'm not planning to use the One-Sword Style."
Onigumo's interest sharpened. "Dual swords, then?"
He thought back to their previous encounter in the East Blue. Ikki had used a single blade that time. The same was true in most of the reported battles since. The world had very little information about Ikki's dual-sword capability. For Onigumo, who had come here specifically to avenge that earlier loss, fighting an unknown style meant fighting with less ground to stand on. That was not a comfortable position.
He was already thinking about having another blade brought over when Ikki spoke again.
"Who said anything about dual swords?"
Ikki was smiling as he walked toward the cluster of Marines standing at the edge of the ground. He took five more swords from them, one after another.
Onigumo's brows drew together. "What exactly are you..."
"Six-Sword Style." Ikki laughed. "Any objections?"
"Six-Sword Style?" Onigumo's voice went hard. "Are you mocking me?"
The Six-Sword Style was his. It was the technique he had spent years building, using Life Return to animate four blades through his hair while his hands controlled the remaining two. As far as the Marines were concerned, no one else in the entire organization could use it.
What Ikki was doing right now read as nothing but provocation.
Onigumo was not alone in that reading. Zephyr, watching from the side, had his own frown in place.
"He's taken this a bit far. Using Onigumo's own style to taunt him."
"You're reading it wrong, Zephyr." Gion's voice was calm. "Ikki does want to get under Onigumo's skin, yes. But that's not the whole of it. He actually intends to fight with the Six-Sword Style. He's not just mimicking it to make a point."
Zephyr looked at her. "You're saying Ikki can genuinely use it?"
Before Gion could answer, Ikki's hair began to move.
It was not a slow change. In the span of a breath, the short hair lengthened visibly, strand by strand, until it fell past his waist in long dark waves.
"Is that... Life Return?"
Onigumo stared, the shock plain on his face.