Rumble!
The entire sky seemed to respond as the winds and clouds suddenly shifted.
The originally clear sky turned gloomy in an instant, large swathes of dark clouds gathered and rolled, and streaks of red-black lightning flashed and roared frantically deep within the cloud layers.
The entirety of Loguetown was shrouded by this sudden pressure. A gale rose, whipping up dust and debris from the ground. The flickering light made the square feel even more eerie.
Ryoma himself was somewhat surprised as he felt that invisible aura originating from within him. So this was the King's disposition that only appeared in one in a million people in the world of One Piece.
He hadn't expected that the first of the three types of Haki he would acquire after coming to this world would actually be Conqueror's Haki.
The opportunity to awaken this power stemmed from anger, but also from his irrepressible killing intent.
"You..."
Onigumo forcibly broke free from his initial shock, a look mixing wariness and madness surfacing on his cold face.
He realized that everything happening before him was no longer a simple matter of maintaining order, but an incident sufficient to shake the World Government, and an enemy with the terrifying King's disposition had appeared. He had to make a decision immediately.
Should he fight to the death to strangle this man here, or prioritize protecting and evacuating the unconscious Celestial Dragon?
"You..."
Onigumo's voice became incredibly dry as he stared fiercely at Ryoma, every word squeezed out from between his teeth.
"Do you have any idea what you're doi..."
Swish!
Before he could finish his sentence, his vision blurred.
The figure that should have been standing on the execution platform vanished without any warning.
In the next instant, a terrifying blast of wind carrying a bone-chilling coldness rushed toward his face.
Onigumo's Observation Haki sent out a warning, but his body's reaction speed couldn't keep up.
A fist encased in ice rapidly enlarged in his sharply contracting pupils, smashing heavily into his chest.
Bang!
A heavy, dull thud rang out.
Onigumo felt as if his sternum had been hit head-on by a siege hammer. His entire body instantly curled like a cooked shrimp as he was sent flying backward, feet leaving the ground.
He bounced and rolled pathetically several times on the hard stone road, crashing through several walls before finally stopping amidst the wreckage, a sweet taste rising in his throat.
"Pfft!"
A mouthful of hot blood sprayed out, staining the ground in front of him red.
Before he could even catch his breath, a shadow loomed over him.
Ryoma was already standing before him at some point, one foot slowly lifting before stepping heavily onto Onigumo's head, grinding his face ruthlessly into the cold rubble.
"I have no interest in hearing you speak." Ryoma looked down at him from above, his calm declaration containing an unquestionable disdain.
Onigumo's face turned a purplish-red. Ever since he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Marines Headquarters, he was respected and feared wherever he went. When had he ever been so insulted?
This bastard actually dared to step on his head.
"BASTARD!!!"
Rage completely overwhelmed his reason as Onigumo let out a beast-like roar.
The loose black hair behind his head seemed to come alive, twisting and spreading frantically like living venomous snakes, transforming into six tough 'arms'.
He drew standard-issue long swords from somewhere, gripping them firmly along with the two swords drawn by his hands.
Seimei Kikan!
Eight-Sword Style!
Swish... Swish...
The 'arms' formed by the six strands of hair brandished the long swords, slashing frantically at the ankle of the leg Ryoma used to pin his head down from various tricky angles, accompanied by the whistle of tearing air.
Ryoma lightly tapped his toe against Onigumo's helmet and drifted backward gracefully. All the slashes missed, carving a series of sparks and furrows into the ground.
Onigumo sprang up from the ground with a roll, regaining his footing. His eyes were bloodshot as he locked onto Ryoma, the blades of all eight long swords simultaneously taking on a deep, pitch-black luster.
Armament Haki, Hardening!
"Eight-Sword Style: Asura Slash!"
Onigumo roared, brandishing the eight Haki-wrapped swords simultaneously. The intersecting black slashes instantly wove into a dense, inescapable web of death, whistling toward Ryoma from all directions and completely sealing off all his paths of retreat.
Buzz—
Crack...
Cold air rapidly condensed in the air before Ryoma, and thick ice shields shimmering with a crystalline luster were generated out of thin air, meeting every slash head-on.
Clang! Clang! Clang...
The slashes collided violently with the crystalline ice shields, erupting in loud clangs like clashing metal. Shattered ice fragments and dissipated slashes flew in all directions.
In the moment the dust shrouded them, a strand of hair no thicker than a thread but similarly wrapped in pitch-black Armament Haki, like a lethal poison needle, silently bypassed the ice shield from a bizarre angle and stabbed straight for Ryoma's heart.
This was the true killing move!
However, the hair only pierced a slowly dissipating afterimage.
"What?!"
Onigumo's expression changed drastically. His Observation Haki captured the man's presence... appearing behind him.
Without even thinking, he spun his body around, slashing the eight long swords wildly toward his back with all his strength.
Clang!
The blades wrapped in Armament Haki were steadily blocked by a palm that appeared out of thin air, covered in a layer of ice crystals as brilliant as diamonds.
Ryoma's figure emerged from behind the ice crystals, approaching step by step. He allowed the eight swords to slash frantically at the ice armor condensed around him, producing a series of ear-piercing metallic clangs, yet they couldn't even leave a single white mark.
"Your Observation Haki, and your Armament Haki..."
The corners of Ryoma's lips curled into a nearly ferocious arc as he forced Onigumo back repeatedly.
"Compared to that old man Garp, the difference is more than just a little bit."
Garp?
Onigumo didn't understand the meaning of the other party's words at all. How could that marine hero be related to this man?
But the vigilance in his heart had risen to the extreme, this man's strength was unfathomable. He had to retreat and then reorganize his offensive.
He just wanted to pull back when he discovered to his horror that a bone-chilling coldness was coming from his feet. He hurriedly looked down and was shocked to find that, at some point, a thin layer of ice had already spread along the ground to his feet. And the frost was climbing up at a speed visible to the naked eye, firmly freezing his legs in place.
"Shatter!"
Onigumo roared, the muscles in his legs bulging as he concentrated his Armament Haki at his feet, attempting to forcibly shatter the ice on his ankles.
Crack... Crunch...
Several cracks appeared on the ice layer, but it only delayed the speed of the frost's spread, he couldn't break free at all.
Instead, the Haki in his body was being consumed by this bizarre cold ice at an alarming rate.
Fear began to creep into the heart of this Vice Admiral.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Onigumo went completely mad, brandishing his eight Haki-wrapped swords and hacking wildly at the hard ice on his legs.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang...
The blades collided with the cold ice, but what erupted wasn't the crisp sound of ice shattering, but a series of metallic booms.
Just as he was struggling desperately, several incredibly sharp ice spikes suddenly grew out from the spreading frost on the ground beneath him.
Pfft! Pfft...
Dozens of razor-sharp ice spikes suddenly shot up from the ground, precisely passing through the gaps in Onigumo's sword swings and instantly piercing through his arms and shoulders.
Several flowers of blood blossomed in mid-air.
"Arghhhhhh!!!"
A piercing pain instantly spread throughout his body. Onigumo let out a shrill scream of agony, and a large mouthful of blood sprayed from his mouth.
On the ice spikes that pierced his arms, a deathly white cold air rapidly diffused, and his arms were covered by frost at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Blood flowed down the ice spikes and was immediately frozen by the bone-chilling cold.
With the rapid spread of the frost, his arms and those six bunches of hair completely lost all sensation. The eight long swords fell powerlessly from his grasp, clattering to the ground.