After folding Armament Haki through every fiber of his body, Neo turned his attention to the new special sword granted at fifty percent roleplay — the cursed blade Shusui.
Shusui had once been the prized sword of the Wano swordsman Ryoma, a national treasure of Wano. After Ryoma fell, Moria stole both his corpse and the blade. Later, having been tested and acknowledged by the role he now wore, Roronoa Zoro received Shusui. It was stolen back, returned to Wano, and its reputation only grew.
Among the three swords Zoro once carried, Shusui was the deadliest. It could draw strength from the other blades, merge their force, and explode into something far stronger. Backed by a spine that could take monstrous pressure, Shusui represented a qualitative leap in killing power. Zoro once said it would not bend even under a dinosaur's foot.
Neo smiled inwardly. Then he stepped forward.
"Fine. You two can come at once. I am a bit pressed for time."
He walked directly toward the arguing pair of Adam Smasher and Goro Takemura, returning Wado Ichimonji and the nameless blade to their sheaths as he moved.
At that moment, Neo was the center of every voyeur's gaze on Konpeki Plaza. For half a century, since the man who once marched to Arasaka Tower with a portable nuke, no one had dared confront Arasaka's legends under Arasaka's nose. And yet here he was, walking into their playground. Arasaka's machines and weapons were stronger than ever, grown through decades of upgrade and war.
Neo's steps were steady. Around him, Arasaka's security poured out, the smiling attendants snapping into combat mode. Golden-suited agents lifted rifles and aimed. Triggers clicked.
Rat-a-tat-tat.
Bullets filled the air like a rain of black needles. Neo did not break stride. Just as the volley threatened to tear him apart he reacted.
"Armament Haki: Hardening."
Black armor bloomed over his skin, turning it the color of dark chocolate. The hail of bullets struck and rang. Metal struck Haki, clanged, and fell harmless. Neo absorbed the storm as if his body were a forge.
Adam Smasher moved with a predator's calm, taking heavy steps toward him. The sound of his approach was the sound of doom. To prevent Takemura from stealing the prize, Adam spat one line.
"I don't care if you are Saburo's blade or from Tokyo's headquarters. If you take my prey, I will kill you too."
Takemura swallowed the insult. He could draw against Adam, but his orders were to fetch Neo's head for Saburo, not to bicker and waste strength in internecine bloodletting. If Adam wanted to rage, let him. Takemura's loyalty required discipline.
Adam bellowed his command. "Nobody moves. If anyone interferes, I kill them with the rest."
He pointed one finger at Neo and spat, "He is my prey. Stay out of my hunt."
Adam was, in truth, Arasaka's door-warden by name, but he was a war engine by nature. When anger welled, pride and madness made him unstoppable.
Across the midair platform they faced each other like two peaks ready to collide. Adam represented Arasaka's apex of war tech and cybernetic completion. Neo was the unaugmented anomaly in the center of that system.
"Die, fleshling!" Adam raised both arms and the heavy-caliber barrels spat thunder. A rain of massive rounds screamed toward Neo.
Neo advanced. Haki hardened his flesh into armor and turned the incoming shells into useless noise. Adam leapt forward with a savage motion, extracting a special alloy rib like a blade and bringing it down.
"Armament Haki: Projection."
Neo's punch launched forth, the outward projection of Armament Haki snapping the alloy rib like a twig. Adam stared, a single instant of disbelief shaking his bulk. How had flesh folded and snapped his reinforced metal so easily? For a being who'd replaced ninety percent of himself with chrome, this was an affront.
Adam recoiled then surged again. Neo's Armament Haki wrapped like a living shell. He wrapped Armament Haki into his fist and struck, one fist compressing reality with bone-crushing force.
THUD!!!
Adam flew backward, a mountain toppled by a fist. He slammed tens of meters away, metal screaming and falling from his frame. His pride would not let him beg for aid. He rose and rushed Neo again, only to be battered, thrown, and battered anew.
When the assault ended, Adam was a ruin of limbs and sparking parts. He howled and opened every limiter. The roar grew into a catastrophic cascade as multiple grenades locked on Neo and a thick beam cannon charged.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The entire midair platform shook. Smoke and burning oil rolled like storm clouds. A few NCPD skycars hung at a distance, displaying token authority. One officer asked his sergeant, "Should we fire to support Arasaka?"
The sergeant answered with the practiced coldness of the city's compromise: "You are young. You don't understand. Corporations resolve their own matters. We keep the line so they don't cross it. That's our job."
The reality unsaid was clear. The NCPD stayed put because the line kept them alive. Intervening in corporate war would mean nothing but frying their badge and careers.
Back on the battlefield, Adam unleashed his final, limit-broken beam. Neo strode straight through it, Armament Haki hardened like a black star, and arrived at Adam's face. He drew Shusui and it slid free of its scabbard like a storm breaking horizon.
A single slash.
Shusui sang. It cut clean through the charged beam and the metal around it. The voice of the blade was the sound of destiny. Neo's words were measured yet thunderous.
"My name is Neo."