The conical impact hit Vane dead-on without the slightest deviation. Under Erkoya's excited gaze, Vane's figure was swallowed by the dust and smoke.
But when the smoke cleared, Vane had his arms braced in front of him. The clothes on his upper body had already been torn to shreds, yet his body bore only slight wounds.
At least, these were not the kind of marks an ordinary body should have after facing Erkoya's attack.
Vane lowered his arms and softly mouthed two words. Although Erkoya couldn't hear his voice, from his lip movements it was clearly [Tekkai].
This man learned [Tekkai] just by watching my Rokushiki? What kind of talent is that… no, maybe he already knew Tekkai.
But in the very next moment—
"Geppo!"
Vane, too, stepped out rings of small air blasts in midair and shot up into the sky.
"As repayment for Rokushiki, I'll beat you down hard."
The wavering in Erkoya's heart grew stronger and stronger: "Brat, you just happened to learn Rokushiki by luck, and you want to duel me in Rokushiki, someone who's trained in it for more than ten years?!"
"Geppo."
Erkoya raised both hands over his head and clasped them together, his whole body stabbing forward like a spear.
Vane knew his ten fingers must be using the effect of Shigan, so he really was an iron spear.
Vane combined Geppo and Soru in midair, completing a short-distance instantaneous movement in the air and dodging Erkoya's attack.
Not only did he learn the Navy's Rokushiki in a short time, he even showed signs of mastery, combining two techniques.
"Whirlwind Cutting Fist!"
Vane's body swung in a big arc, and a rather large Rankyaku kicked toward Erkoya.
Erkoya was startled and hurriedly used Tekkai to defend.
When most people use Tekkai, their bodies become unable to move—this is one of Tekkai's common drawbacks. Even a Rokushiki genius like Rob Lucci is like that.
However, Lucci's colleague, the Devil Fruit wolf-form Jabra, does have achievements with Tekkai. He can move his body while using Tekkai, and on that basis he even developed some techniques.
Clang! Boom!
Erkoya's figure was directly blasted into the ground by this Rankyaku.
There was damage in that blow, but it wasn't enough to knock him down outright. He quickly climbed out of the human-shaped crater.
What greeted him was a storm of Rankyaku.
"Rankyaku!"
Rokushiki must be combined with one's own martial arts for development and execution; otherwise, it will never improve.
The Rankyaku slashes kicked out combined with Flowing Water Fist were actually continuously curved in shape, making their trajectories even harder to predict.
"Kami-e!"
Vane's eyes lit up—he had finally forced out all of the opponent's Rokushiki.
Kami-e lets the body move like paper, making evasive motions.
If Tekkai is a weakened version of Armament Haki, then Kami-e has a bit of the shadow of Observation Haki.
Erkoya's figure made one slightly strange and high-difficulty movement after another, dodging the Rankyaku attacks one by one.
"Shigan."
The battle between the two entered a completely white-hot stage. The surrounding terrain began to suffer small-scale destruction. Now no pirate could remain within their range—an easy stray shockwave could cost them their lives.
Mad Dog Gutt and the lion-man Tant's fighting style leaned more toward you punch me, I kick you. They had fewer evasive movements and just used their bodies to tank the damage.
Gutt had learned Tekkai, and Tant had the powerful physique of a Zoan.
The two were locked in a stalemate, waiting to see who would fail to hold on first and fall.
...
"This is it. If I remember correctly, behind this wall is the treasury. But this wall is really thick, and the underground is also paved with several meters of rock, all to prevent someone from digging their way in."
The Rose Princess led Bonez and the others to a wall.
Bonez had the two step back, and pressed both of his palms against the hard stone wall.
"Daisy Slash!"
...
The gang successfully entered the treasury. Inside, there was a pirate skull flag that looked very old, with thorns coiling around the skull.
It was the Thorn Pirates' flag.
Under the illumination of orange-red firelight, chest after chest of treasure was piled in the treasury. Some of the chests couldn't even be closed because they were filled with too much treasure.
If pirates had rushed in here, they would definitely have already started swimming in the piles of treasure. This group of gang members was still well-trained. Although they also longed for these treasures, before the boss gave the order they could still restrain their hands and feet.
In the center of a pile of chests was a small box, and a cruciform sword stuck into a chest.
In the pirate world, the distinction between sabers and swords is actually very vague. By Earth way of classification, anything with only one edge is a saber, and a sword should have edges on both sides.
So whether it's the black blade Yoru in the hands of the future World's Greatest Swordsman, or Zoro's three blades, they should all belong to sabers.
The one stuck into the chest right now looked somewhat like the cruciform sword used by knights.
But this sword's design looked very anti-human. On the handle where a person would grip it, there were actually sharp protrusions. With just a little force, those sharp protrusions would stab into the wielder's palm.
They wouldn't pierce through, but it would definitely hurt.
No wonder the Rose Island gang boss said this was a self-harming sword.
The Rose Island gang boss quickly stepped forward and snatched a box into his hands. He opened it and saw that inside lay a gray Devil Fruit.
Capone Bege felt a surge of joy when he saw the fruit in the other man's hand:
"According to our agreement, this Devil Fruit belongs to me."
"Of course it belongs to you. I'm not interested in this fruit. What I want is the treasure here."
The Thorn Rose King was shocked: "I guarantee it in the name of a king of a World Government member nation—if you dare touch anything other than the Devil Fruit, from now on you will all be wanted by the World Government."
Capone Bege frowned. This was troublesome. He wanted the Devil Fruit, but he didn't want to offend a World Government member nation for nothing.
How about just snatching the Devil Fruit… but the Devil Fruit was in that man's hands. If he pushed him too far and he ate the Devil Fruit, the risk would be huge.
"King? I am the king. This treasury should have belonged to me in the first place… the World Government? They will acknowledge me as king."
As the gang boss spoke, he tore off a layer of face skin with his hand.
Beneath the fake face was a face exactly the same as the king's.
"From the moment I cooperated with your plan to join the World Government, I had already decided to replace you. I prepared this face a long time ago."
Everyone present, people and Meowth alike, was stunned. They hadn't expected the gang boss to have prepared such a move.
His goal was never to move the treasure out of the treasury, but to push himself onto the throne.
The same face, the same build, knowing the king's plans… even if the World Government discovered something amiss, as long as he was willing to spend money and give the World Government money, the World Government wouldn't ask too many questions.