However, strange and abnormal as this man's behavior was, he had indeed awakened Observation Haki.
At the moment the slash passed beside him, Gedatsu reacted with startling speed and agility, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike at the last possible instant.
Yet the power of that Rankyaku slash was nowhere near so simple.
It did not vanish simply because he dodged it. Instead, it continued tearing forward like a bolt of lightning, unstoppable in its momentum.
Everywhere the slash passed, whether towering trees or the clouds beneath their feet, everything was split cleanly in two, as if they were nothing more than fragile sheets of paper.
Trees toppled with crisp cracking sounds, and sunlight poured through the gaps in the leaves, revealing a stretch of clear blue sky above.
The force of that Rankyaku continued for nearly two hundred meters before it gradually faded, as though the power behind it had been almost endless.
"Hiss!"
The subordinates around Gedatsu witnessed the scene and sucked in a cold breath at the same time.
Their eyes widened in shock, especially when they saw the long ravine cut into the ground.
Their jaws nearly dropped, mouths hanging open so wide they almost could not close them.
"Gulp!"
Someone could not help swallowing hard, then instinctively retreated several steps, as though only by keeping a certain distance from Blueno could he feel even the slightest sense of safety.
Only now did they finally understand.
The people who had come up from the Blue Sea this time were absolutely nothing like those ordinary intruders from before.
They were genuine powerhouses.
In that instant, the arrogance and contempt on their faces vanished completely, replaced by deep awe.
Gedatsu's heart also leapt from tension, almost as if it were about to jump into his throat.
Then, just as he raised his guard to its peak, an astonishing discovery tightened his nerves to the breaking point.
The man who had launched that fierce attack at him had vanished like a ghost in the blink of an eye.
That eerie situation made Gedatsu instantly alert. His entire body went on guard, not daring to relax in the slightest.
He knew very well that since these people could kill the inspector of Heaven's Gate without mercy, they would absolutely not hesitate if they truly wanted to kill him.
Just as Gedatsu focused all his attention on the movements around him, his Observation Haki suddenly sensed something strange.
To his horror, he discovered that the man who had disappeared had somehow appeared behind him.
The sudden change shocked Gedatsu badly enough that a layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
He could not understand how his opponent had managed to circle behind him so quickly without him noticing.
One had to know that his Observation Haki was quite powerful. Even when facing abilities like Mantra, he had never made such an oversight.
His body seemed to be controlled by some invisible force as he involuntarily turned his head.
In that instant, his eyes widened sharply, as though he had seen the most unbelievable sight in the world.
His gaze locked onto the man who had just disappeared.
That man had actually opened a door out of thin air.
Half of his body was sticking out from inside it.
And that door seemed as though it had always existed there. Even more shocking was that behind the door, there appeared to be a room.
It was simply impossible to comprehend.
Because there had originally been nothing there at all.
Gedatsu's heart filled with shock and horror.
How could something like this happen?
He even began to wonder whether something was wrong with his eyes.
Yet no matter how he blinked or rubbed them, the scene before him did not change in the slightest.
His brain worked rapidly, trying to explain the phenomenon, but he could not find any reasonable answer.
How could such a thing exist in this world?
It had completely exceeded the limits of his understanding.
And yet the truth stood right before his eyes, leaving him no choice but to believe it.
Gedatsu took a deep breath and quickly adjusted himself.
He decided to stop obsessing over the origin of that door and instead focus all his attention on the enemy before him.
His reaction was extremely fast.
He immediately shaped the Swamp Cloud into a sphere, then threw it at Blueno like a grenade.
Once Swamp Cloud touched an enemy, it would rapidly spread out and wrap tightly around them, as though they had fallen into a marsh.
If the enemy's head were trapped inside the Swamp Cloud, then all they could do was wait to suffocate to death.
But Blueno had clearly planned ahead.
He quickly reached out and pulled.
The spatial door that had been closed a moment earlier seemed to come alive, instantly shifting in front of him like a sturdy shield and blocking his entire body.
In that instant, the cloud shot forward like lightning and slammed straight into the Air Door.
Blueno's eyes narrowed slightly, and he secretly felt fortunate.
If Urouge had not reminded him in advance, then by his usual habits, he would definitely have thrown a punch without hesitation and destroyed the incoming attack head-on.
It was precisely because of Urouge's warning that he had avoided making such a reckless move.
Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
"Shigan!"
Blueno opened another Air Door without hesitation, his figure flashing out like a ghost.
He stepped through the air as if walking across flat ground, taking several rapid strides with astonishing speed.
In the blink of an eye, Blueno shot toward Gedatsu like a cannonball.
At that moment, Gedatsu had clearly not yet recovered from the previous exchange.
Facing Blueno's sudden and ferocious attack, he had no time to react at all.
Blueno's index finger stabbed out like an arrow, piercing Gedatsu's heart with lightning speed.
Gedatsu's body trembled violently.
In the next moment, he froze completely.
Then his body began to sway slightly, as though it had lost all support and might collapse at any second.
The corner of Blueno's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
There was confidence in that smile, as well as contempt for his opponent.
It had to be said that although Shigan was only one technique among the Rokushiki, its offensive power could not be underestimated.
Especially in the hands of someone like Blueno, who had mastered the Rokushiki to a high degree, it unleashed frightening power.
The true strength of Shigan lay in its piercing force.
Compared to other techniques, Shigan concentrated the strength of the entire body into the index finger.
By hardening the finger and thrusting at extremely high speed, the fingertip gained an offensive power like that of a bullet.
That concentration of power and high-speed stabbing made Shigan the most focused and penetrative technique among all of the Rokushiki.