Chapter 128: Light-Speed Kick
Issho tried to pin Kizaru down with everything he had.
Gravity pressed from above, dragging at the Admiral's limbs, distorting his movement, interfering with the moment he tried to turn into light. Every step Kizaru took had to tear itself free from that invisible weight.
Even so, Kizaru was still Kizaru.
One fraction faster.
One angle sharper.
Bit by bit, the battlefield shifted according to his will.
Their clash gradually moved toward the half-spherical space Axel had created, until the two of them were locked in a fierce stalemate beside the prison of wind blades.
A sword of light met an iron blade.
Clang!
Sparks and golden fragments scattered.
Kizaru's objective was simple. He needed to find an opening and rescue Sentomaru. To do that, all he had to do was keep attacking, keep pressing forward, and force Issho to react.
Issho's objective was the opposite.
He had to stop Kizaru from interfering with Axel.
One attacked.
One defended.
At first glance, it looked even. But between opponents of this level, prolonged defense was never a comfortable position. If a fighter only blocked and retreated, defeat would eventually follow.
Kizaru was slowly gaining the upper hand.
Still, under Issho's tight defense, he could not interfere with Axel in the short term.
Compared to Issho, Sentomaru was clearly the one more likely to collapse first.
Axel watched Sentomaru endure the storm of blades inside the prison.
The man's defense really was impressive.
Being able to withstand that many attacks for so long was no small feat. Anyone else would have been shredded by now.
But whether it deserved the title of "strongest defense in the world" was another matter.
At the very least, Sentomaru could not compare to Kaido.
That monster had once jumped from a sky island ten thousand meters in the air and walked away unharmed. He wanted to die and still could not do anything about his own absurd body.
His durability had long since passed the line of common sense.
Fortunately, Sentomaru had been too confident in his defense.
Or perhaps Axel's appearance had made him careless.
Either way, Sentomaru had chosen to stand still instead of dodging. That was the only reason the Imperial Blade Prison had swallowed him so cleanly. If he had moved with his full strength from the beginning, Axel might not have been able to trap him so easily.
Inside the storm, Sentomaru was far from relaxed.
He had sensed danger when Axel took that sword-drawing stance, but his moment of confidence had cost him his chance to escape.
The individual wind blades were not overwhelming.
Each strike remained within the limits of what his defense could bear.
But Haki was not infinite.
The dense, recurring attacks scraped against his Armament Haki again and again, wearing it down layer by layer. After enduring for so long, even Sentomaru's powerful defense began to strain.
Small wounds opened across his body.
Thin lines of blood seeped out.
Pain sharpened his thoughts.
Sentomaru clenched his teeth, forcing himself to hold on.
This kind of attack could not last forever.
No matter how strange that brat's ability was, no technique could continue without a limit. He only needed to endure.
Besides—
The old man was there.
Kizaru would find a way to help him.
That belief kept Sentomaru standing.
And he was right.
Axel could not maintain the Imperial Blade Prison indefinitely.
This move consumed far too much mental strength. Making violent, unstable energy behave obediently was even harder than he had imagined.
He had to maintain the boundary of the space to prevent energy from leaking out.
At the same time, he had to calculate the flow of energy inside it, change its form, compress it into blades, and guide each attack toward the target.
That was not a simple matter of stacking one step on top of another.
Compressing a single stream of energy into the shape of a blade was not too difficult.
But creating dozens, hundreds, and then continuously replacing them while the energy thrashed like a wild beast?
That was another matter entirely.
Only after awakening Observation Haki had Axel's mind developed enough to support this kind of calculation. But mental strength was not something that could be raised overnight.
Axel could tell Sentomaru was forcing himself to stay upright.
That made him feel a little better.
He still had some strength left.
Now it was a contest of endurance.
The question was whether Sentomaru's will would give out first, or Axel's mind would reach its limit first.
Nearby, Kizaru also noticed Sentomaru's condition.
His brows drew together slightly.
He had warned Sentomaru not to be careless.
He simply had not expected the man to fall into such a miserable position so quickly.
Then Kizaru's attacks changed.
The sword of light in his hand flared brighter, and the force behind his swings grew heavier.
Clang!
His shining blade slammed into Issho's sword with a harsh metallic cry.
Kizaru drew back, gathering power into a clear slashing posture.
Issho's expression tightened.
Against an opponent like this, any fully charged attack could be devastating. He adjusted his stance, both hands steady on his sword, prepared to receive the blow.
But the attack never came.
The slash was a feint.
Kizaru's body burst into light.
In the next moment, he shot toward Axel.
Exposing one's back to a swordsman was never wise.
Issho hesitated for only a fraction of a breath.
Kizaru had turned his back in order to save someone. As enemies, they stood opposed, but Issho did not dislike people who acted for that reason.
Still—
They were enemies.
And if he allowed a man as fast as Kizaru to go unchecked, stopping him afterward would be far too difficult.
Issho made his decision.
His blade swept out.
The strike was slightly lighter than it could have been.
Even so, it cut straight into the ball of light Kizaru had become.
But the light did not stop.
It shattered beneath the slash, scattering into fragments, then reformed and continued forward. In a flash, Kizaru broke into the space around Axel.
Axel reacted the moment the Admiral entered.
The energy inside the Imperial Blade Prison shifted at his command, abandoning the attack and gathering into defense.
Almost at the same time, Kizaru appeared in front of him.
His body materialized from golden light.
One leg rose.
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
The kick came down.
Axel had already drawn energy together to block the direction of the strike, but this time he had no buffer.
Previously, his wooden blade had bought him that brief instant. It had delayed the kick just enough for him to alter its direction.
Now, there was nothing.
Kizaru had broken free too quickly.
Axel's defense was assembled in haste, guided only by the warning from his Observation Haki. Compared to the preparation he had made before, it was crude and fragile.
The light-speed kick tore through it.
Boom!
Kizaru's foot struck Axel squarely in the abdomen.
Axel's body shot upward.
A golden beam dragged him into the sky at a steep angle, nearly seventy-five degrees from the ground. The force of the kick carried him like a cannon blast, pulling his small frame into the air.
Fortunately, there was nothing behind him but open sky.
The beam did not strike an obstacle and explode.
That gave Axel time.
Pain tore through his nerves.
Because he could manipulate energy, he understood the state of his body with painful clarity. Two ribs were broken. The force lingering from the kick was still spreading through him, and although his reflexes had softened part of the damage, his injuries could worsen if he lost control.
Axel bit down on the pain.
He gathered the last of his strength and began neutralizing the energy of the beam, shaving away its force little by little.
Then he shifted its direction.
His body twisted sharply in midair.
A full turn.
With a violent spin, Axel broke free from the beam's pull.
The light shot past him and vanished into the distance.
Without its drag, gravity seized him.
Axel fell.
He tried to use his ability again to alter the direction of his fall and slow himself down, but the pain in his abdomen shattered his focus. His descent wavered, crooked and unstable.
Just before he hit the ground, gravity wrapped around him.
Issho's power caught him gently.
Axel's body landed as lightly as a feather.
By the time his feet touched down, Issho was already standing in front of him, sword in hand, blocking Kizaru from attacking again.
But Kizaru did not pursue.
He had already turned toward Sentomaru.
The Imperial Blade Prison had collapsed after Axel was struck.
Sentomaru stood where the storm had been, no longer carrying the same imposing presence as before. His body was covered in countless shallow cuts, thin streams of blood slowly tracing down his skin.
When Kizaru approached, Sentomaru's eyes opened little by little.
His body trembled once.
Then he forced himself upright.
Kizaru looked him over.
His expression remained lazy, but his voice carried a rare edge.
"How pathetic, Sentomaru."
.....
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