After obtaining the Sword Card, Mihawk not only enhanced his black blade, Yoru, but also became stronger in swordsmanship and Haki.
However, the overall power level of this world had risen dramatically. This led to the awkward situation where "everyone became stronger, which basically means no one became stronger."
Of course, this only applied to the strongest fighters.
They were still the Four Emperors, and they still represented the highest level of power in the world. They had simply found ways to keep up with the latest changes. Those who had failed to keep up naturally did not count as "everyone."
Lucci, however, was one of those who had kept up. He had not only obtained an even more powerful Zoan Devil Fruit, but had also avoided wasting several years while working undercover. On top of that, he had gained incredibly powerful psychic abilities through the superpower training chamber.
Although Lucci was still somewhat weaker than Mihawk, it was not as if Mihawk's arrival meant he had to obediently retreat.
He had defended against the previous slash too hastily, which was why he had suffered such a heavy blow. In a direct battle, Mihawk's casual slash would never have nearly cut him in half.
A murderous aura seemed to rise from Lucci's body. His head transformed into that of a tyrannosaurus, while a faint black aura appeared behind him. His originally invisible psychic power seemed to merge with Armament Haki, forming an energy that was both unreal and undeniably present.
In an instant, pressure appeared out of nowhere. The sea beneath the Merry seemed to sink under it. Uta, lying nearby, felt an unfamiliar force pressing down on her, making her even more uncomfortable. Even the blood inside her body seemed to slow.
Mihawk remained seated in his little boat, completely unaffected by the aura.
"Not a bad presence."
He praised Lucci without much emotion. Then he said nothing more and made no unnecessary movements. He simply stood up.
That single movement seemed to dissolve Lucci's pressure. Mihawk then made an ordinary-looking slash.
A powerful blade wave tore through the air ahead of him. The crescent-shaped slash cut straight through Lucci's aura.
Lucci threw a punch directly at the blade wave. His fist had not even touched it when the two attacks collided. The sky itself seemed to shake under their power. Pressure forced the clouds apart, creating a huge circular opening overhead.
Lucci did not possess Conqueror's Haki, but by combining psychic power with Armament Haki, he had achieved an effect similar to coating attacks in Conqueror's Haki. In other words, he could attack from a distance. And in terms of power, his attack was even stronger than a Conqueror's Haki coating.
As a result, the clash between his attack and Mihawk's produced an effect that seemed capable of splitting the sky. It caused enormous physical destruction while also creating overwhelming mental pressure. Even Luffy and the others, who had been searching for an exit inside the virtual world, woke up at that moment.
Uta had already lost consciousness. She had been injured earlier, and this new impact struck her on top of those wounds. Even after years of training under Zephyr, she could no longer endure it.
Once Uta lost consciousness, the virtual world created by her Song-Song Fruit naturally began to collapse. The minds of Luffy and the others, who had been trapped inside, broke free and returned to their bodies.
They opened their eyes, still unsure of what had happened.
"Uta?!"
Luffy was the first to notice Uta lying a short distance in front of him. Blood ran from the corner of her mouth and had already stained the Merry's deck red. She looked seriously injured.
He was about to run over to her when he realized that he was tied up. He was wearing seastone handcuffs, and the power of the sea contained within them had left his entire body weak.
The others, however, had not eaten Devil Fruits. Once Sanji came to his senses, he broke free of his chains and immediately unlocked Nami's restraints. After that, he freed Ben, Usopp, and Luffy, and finally Zoro.
Zoro had actually regained consciousness as well, but he had not moved. Instead, he seemed to have been drawn toward something.
Luffy quickly ran to Uta's side, and Nami followed to examine her injuries. Nami was a Marine and had even been their enemy before, but Uta was still Luffy's friend, so she went to help.
Sanji had wanted to go too, but in the end he stayed beside Zoro. Seeing the excitement on Zoro's face, he could not help asking,
"What are you doing?"
Zoro's eyes were shining as if he had just seen the most beautiful woman in the world. Sanji followed his gaze and saw only two people fighting.
The two fighters moved incredibly fast, and their strength was immense. Even the wind pressure created by their battle made the others feel uncomfortable.
"Dracule Mihawk, the world's greatest swordsman!"
Zoro was completely absorbed in Mihawk's battle. When he heard Sanji's question, he answered without thinking.
"The world's greatest swordsman…" Sanji remembered the name. He had probably seen it in the newspaper, but he had never been very interested in that sort of thing and had ignored it.
But still…
The world's greatest swordsman?
"Isn't he your goal?" Sanji took a cigarette from his clothes and drew a deep puff.
"Yeah." Zoro tightened his grip on his sword, a sharp light shining in his eyes. "But I'm still far too weak. One day, sooner or later, I'll challenge him!"
In the original story, Zoro challenged Mihawk without understanding how vast the world really was. Now, however, Zoro had Kenshin as his master, so he knew exactly how long and difficult the path of swordsmanship was.
Under these circumstances, he would not foolishly challenge Mihawk and humiliate himself. The two of them were simply not living in the same world yet.
Mihawk belonged to the world of the strong. In front of Mihawk, Zoro clearly belonged to the world of the weak.
For a weak person to challenge someone far stronger without knowing his own limits was itself an insult to the strong.
For now, Zoro was only memorizing Mihawk's fighting stance. He carefully watched every movement Mihawk made with his sword, because this was how the strong fought.
Without realizing it, he began comparing Himura Kenshin with Mihawk. In the end, he still could not tell which of them was stronger. Only then did he realize how childish his earlier thoughts had been. There were simply too many powerful people in this world. His master was strong, but the others were not weak either.
"Who's he fighting?" Sanji knew who Mihawk was, but no matter how hard he thought, he could not recognize the other man. After all, that man was practically a monster.
Lucci in his human-beast form looked completely different from his human form.
"I don't know. But since he can fight Mihawk, he probably came from the Grand Line." Zoro did not know Lucci either. In fact, among the great pirates of the New World, he only knew Mihawk.
But someone else did know him. Ben poked his head out and said in shock, "That's Rob Lucci, a criminal wanted by the World Government. I can't believe he came to the East Blue."
"Ben? How do you know that?" Sanji asked.
"I know a little about the Land of Wano. Rob Lucci joined the Land of Wano, and I happened to find out about him while gathering information on ancient Zoan species." Ben's voice became serious.
"The Land of Wano…" Zoro quietly repeated the name of the country. His interest in it was growing.
"Who hurt Uta?" Luffy's voice came from nearby. He was furious. He pulled his straw hat down, and although his face remained calm, his eyes were filled with murderous rage.
"There are no sword wounds on Uta," Zoro said after taking a glance.
The answer was obvious. Of the two people fighting, Mihawk used a sword while Lucci fought bare-handed. If there were no sword wounds, then Mihawk was not the one who had hurt her.
At that moment, the battle in the distance also seemed to have reached its conclusion.
Lucci flew backward, standing on a platform of psychic power beneath his feet.
"Dracule Mihawk, we'll meet again."
Lucci opened the distance between them. Two more sword wounds had appeared on his shoulder and abdomen. He was not defeated yet, but if the battle continued, he had no chance of winning.
There was no reason to keep fighting.
His goal was to find the Shikon Jewel shard, not to battle Mihawk to the death. Since Mihawk had ruined his plan this time, he could simply look for another opportunity.
However…
The troubling part was that Lucci did not know whether Mihawk and the Marines understood why he had come to the East Blue. If they did, they would certainly take the Shikon Jewel shard away.
Lucci gave Mihawk a deep look. Without waiting for a reply, he used teleportation and disappeared. He had already activated the ability during the earlier battle, but because of its delay, it only took effect now.
Since Mihawk had interfered, Lucci would have to prepare for the possibility of becoming enemies with the Land of Wano.
The Beasts Pirates would have to make a move as well.
There was a good chance Mihawk would take the Shikon Jewel shard, so Kaido could keep an eye on Mihawk while Lucci continued watching the Straw Hat Pirates.
However…
Lucci could not personally take action again anytime soon. The Marines already knew what he looked like and what he was capable of. Compared with the still-inexperienced Straw Hat Pirates, the Marines would definitely prefer to make him their main target.
The Marines had not had time to deploy their forces this time because the operation had been so rushed. But next time, they might use the Straw Hat Pirates as bait to lure him out. Unfortunately, Lucci's teleportation ability had too many restrictions.
If he could move without delay like the nameless man who had served aboard the Pirate King's ship, how could he be restricted at every turn?
Lucci appeared in the distance with an ugly look on his face. The nameless man's teleportation was truly instant. Lucci's teleportation was more like delayed movement!
Even so, delayed teleportation was still an extremely powerful ability. The Marines had wanted to capture Lucci for a long time, but he had remained cautious all these years. Naturally, he would not give them a chance to catch him now.
The first half of the Grand Line and the Four Seas were basically within the Marines' sphere of influence. Pirates only gained more freedom after entering the New World.
As Lucci considered the situation in the first half of the Grand Line, he suddenly thought of a certain country.
"Straw Hat, come to the Grand Line. Kallet will be waiting for you."
His body vanished again as he headed toward the Grand Line.
......
Luffy had been preparing to attack Lucci, but Lucci's body suddenly disappeared.
Luffy's eyes widened. He had never heard of an ability like teleportation, and the others had no idea how Lucci had vanished either.
Mihawk glanced at the Straw Hat Pirates but could not see anything unusual about them.
He coldly swung his sword. Although he used very little force, it was still far beyond what an ordinary pirate could block.
A slash from the world's greatest swordsman was still the world's greatest slash, no matter how much he restrained its power!
No one had expected Mihawk to attack so suddenly. Except for Zoro, the others had no time to react.
Zoro suddenly drew his black blade, Dark Moon. It was not yet time for him to challenge Mihawk, but he was still incredibly excited to exchange blows with him.
Although he knew the difference in their strength, he attacked anyway. There was no time to use his Three-Sword Style in the confusion, but whether he used one sword or three made little difference against this slash.
"Moonlight Slash!"
Zoro swung his sword with all his strength. Moonlight gathered along the blade. Combined with Dark Moon's natural dark属性, it caused the moonlight to dim and seemed to add a trace of evil and curse-like power.
Black and white light appeared together in a strange contradiction, then merged as they crashed into Mihawk's slash.
"Zoro!"
Only then did the others react. They shouted Zoro's name while he forced himself to withstand the pressure of Mihawk's slash.
Zoro should not have been able to block the attack at all. But perhaps stimulated by Mihawk's sword wave, a force seemed to surge out of Dark Moon and enter Zoro's body, helping him fight against Mihawk.
"?"
Mihawk had been focused entirely on Luffy and had not noticed Zoro at all. Now, seeing that this green-haired boy had actually blocked his slash, he could not help showing a brief look of surprise.
Mihawk knew the strength of his own attack better than anyone. It had been a very weak slash, but even some pirates from the New World might not have been able to withstand it.
Yet this completely ordinary-looking young man had…
Wait.
Mihawk looked at the sword in Zoro's hand. He seemed to see something within it.
"I never expected you to take on a disciple in the East Blue."
Mihawk spoke in a low voice. His normally calm heart had begun to stir with excitement. He had only wanted to see the Straw Hat chosen by fate, but he had not expected to see the successor of Battosai as well…
A successor?
Then how would they handle this slash?
Mihawk swung his sword again. This time, he used a full thirty percent of his strength. In theory, there was no way all of them together could block this attack.
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