To be fair, although Kozuki Oden was being completely suppressed in front of Valthior right now—
his physique was undeniably monstrous. He could really take a beating.
No wonder he was the kind of man who could be boiled alive by Kaido for so long before finally dying.
Suppressing the pain raging through his body, Oden coated himself in Conqueror's Haki, his expression grave as he stared fixedly at Valthior in the sky.
At that moment, his retainers finally arrived.
They came rushing in from afar, only to freeze in shock at the scene before them.
How could this be!?
It hadn't even been that long—how was it possible that Lord Oden, someone so powerful, had already fallen into a disadvantage!?
"Oden-sama!" Kin'emon shouted anxiously, about to rush forward to assist.
"Don't come over here!" Oden barked immediately. "This isn't a fight you can take part in! Go and rendezvous with my father—gather more samurai!"
The moment his words fell, Oden kicked off the ground and charged toward Valthior in the air.
Mid-flight, he crossed both arms, gripping his blades as he gathered power. His expression turned deadly serious as he roared:
"Oden Two-Sword Style: Paradise Totsuka!!!"
This was his ultimate technique.
The strongest sword strike he possessed!
In the original story, this very attack had severely wounded Kaido, leaving behind a scar that could never fade.
After several exchanges with Valthior, Oden had already realized something—
this man was using him as a whetstone.
And throughout the fight, Valthior hadn't dodged a single attack. He had taken everything head-on!
That was exactly why Oden chose to charge straight at him and unleash this full-powered strike infused with Conqueror's Haki!
If the man before him dared to stay arrogant and take this hit head-on, he was in for a massive surprise! Once the opponent showed a weakness, Oden would seize the opportunity to expand his advantage and overturn this unfavorable situation!
Thoughts raced through his mind, but in reality, only an instant had passed.
In the blink of an eye, the surging, torrential cross-slash reached Valthior . Seeing this, a flash of excitement crossed Oden's eyes!
At this distance, the opponent could no longer dodge. Sure enough, that guy had chosen to take it head-on again. Now, it was his turn to...
As this thought surfaced, Oden instantly concentrated every drop of his Conqueror's Haki onto his blades. He clearly intended to abandon all defense to slay Valthior with total power!
However, a split second before his "guaranteed" Paradise Totsuka could hit, Oden suddenly noticed a minute, subtle change in Valthior's crimson pupils.
Mangekyō!!!
"Shiji no Mikoto!" Valthior's left Mangekyō spun, forming a radiant four-pointed star as he spoke softly.
Under the gaze of his Mangekyō, space itself rippled like disturbed water.
And in the next instant—
Oden's much-anticipated Paradise Totsuka… vanished.
The sudden change left Oden, who had already rushed in front of Valthior, completely stunned.
Where… did it go?
Where the hell did my slash go!?
That was my ultimate attack!!!
"Winter…" Valthior smirked as he looked at the rapidly approaching Oden, softly uttering the word.
Where his gaze fell—there Oden stood.
In the next instant, space rippled again before Oden, and his own "Paradise Totsuka" reappeared right in front of him. With no time to react, he slammed straight into it!
And before this, he had already concentrated all his Conqueror's Haki into his blades, leaving himself completely defenseless in pursuit of maximum offense!
The cross-shaped slash erupted in midair with a spray of blood. Oden was brutally torn apart by his own ultimate attack—his chest bursting open as a massive cross-shaped wound appeared, deep enough to reveal cracked ribs beneath flesh and blood.
Immediately after, his charging body was overwhelmed by the force of the slash, sent flying backward with explosive force.
Boom!!!
With a thunderous crash, he slammed into the frozen ruins once more, shattering the ice and collapsing into a crater!
His vision blurred by blood, Oden felt his body grow incredibly weak. Even his grip on his swords loosened. He tried to sit up—but couldn't move at all.
His chest had already been heavily damaged by Valthior's punches and kicks earlier. Now, taking his own "Paradise Totsuka" head-on without any defense pushed him to the brink—his consciousness beginning to fade.
If not for the intense pain barely keeping him awake, he felt like he would have already blacked out.
At that moment, he heard the sound of ice cracking under footsteps. Through his blood-blurred vision, he saw Valthior's towering figure standing before him.
"You… you…" Oden's lips trembled as he tried to speak.
"In a closed-off country like Wano, you've run rampant for too long," Valthior said mockingly. "You've lost your sense of respect for true strength. Your fighting style is far too reckless… beast."
Information was power.
Against an unknown enemy, one should gather intel during battle, analyze step by step, and find a way to counter.
Roger, Rayleigh, and Gaban had all taught Valthior this.
It was wisdom forged through countless life-and-death battles.
And Valthior took it seriously.
Especially since he already knew the fighting styles of many powerful figures—
that gave him a massive advantage.
But Oden?
A complete brute.
Whether in this fight or in the original timeline against Whitebeard and Roger—
he was always the same.
Charge in recklessly, roaring—
and get crushed.
Honestly, if Whitebeard and Roger hadn't had any intention of killing him, someone with Oden's fighting style would've died the moment he first met Whitebeard.
But Valthior wasn't Whitebeard.
Nor was he Roger.
He had no intention of sparing Oden.
He came to Wano for one reason—to take this man's life.
Not giving Oden any chance to gasp out final words, Valthior stepped down hard on the grotesque cross-shaped wound on his chest.
In the distance, the Nine Red Scabbards—who hadn't yet retreated as ordered—snapped out of their shock. Shouting and crying, they charged forward, desperate to save their lord.
But in the next second, a chilling frost surged from beneath Valthior's foot. The barely-breathing Kozuki Oden was instantly frozen solid—then, with a brutal stomp—
Crack!!!
Oden's body shattered into six or seven frozen chunks of flesh and blood, completely erased within the icy ruins.
Valthior didn't even spare a thought for the so-called Nine Red Scabbards.
Watching the nine samurai charging toward him, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. Raising his hand, his fingers sliced through the air as he unleashed a frigid attack:
"Ice Age…"
In an instant, everything before him turned white.
The once-lush forest outside Hakumai transformed into a frozen world. The land was consumed by biting cold and frost-covered woods.
The Nine Red Scabbards didn't even have the strength to resist. They were instantly frozen into ice sculptures, each still frozen in their cries, their desperate charges, their grief-stricken faces.
Perhaps they hadn't died yet—but the freezing cold would end their lives within moments.
Bending down, Valthior picked up the two swords still clutched in Oden's severed hand. He examined them briefly, nodding in satisfaction.
"Not bad, not bad. One for Buggy, one for Shanks… Hmm, wait. Would Enma drain them dry and kill them outright? Yeah… better study it first when I get back."
Valthior wasn't much of a swordsman. Though he had dabbled in swordsmanship under Rayleigh and Roger's guidance, he had never developed much interest in it.
So even these two famed Great Grade Swords—treasures that countless swordsmen dreamed of—didn't mean much to him.
Given his past life of luxury and excess, he felt no hesitation in giving them away as gifts. To him, this level of value wasn't even worth bending over to pick up if it fell on the floor.
...
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