Kizaru could be said to have seen countless people in his lifetime.
Over the past twenty years he had watched many individuals rise to fame, including witnessing Shanks step out from the influence of Gol D. Roger and become one of the Four Emperors.
Even so, he still gave the title of "most promising" to Renji.
Using the word "most" in an evaluation always carried the risk of offending people.
During these twenty years, countless Supernovas had appeared.
Some fell along the way, while others became powerful rulers in the New World.
Among them were many astonishing talents, even individuals whose potential rivaled the Four Emperors.
Yet even so, Kizaru still believed Renji deserved the title of most promising.
"So this is praise from an Admiral?" Renji said.
"Should I accept it modestly?"
[You picked up a Devil Fruit growth experience!]
[You picked up an Armament Haki insight!]
[You picked up a strength attribute!]
[...]
Their battle had already lasted seventeen full hours.
The once-bright sky had long since turned dark.
During these seventeen hours, Kizaru had nearly reached his limit.
Renji also looked exhausted, though the occasional stamina attributes he picked up had allowed him to hold on.
The rewards, however, were tremendous.
Renji's strength had gradually reached the point where he was slightly stronger than Kizaru.
"Are you some kind of monster?" Kizaru said.
Clang! Clang!
Their swords collided even more fiercely.
Both blades had already been struck countless times, causing their edges to curl.
Yes.
Even swords made entirely of light had become warped.
"Is your stamina endless?" Kizaru asked.
Renji shook his head.
If not for the occasional stamina attributes dropping during the fight, he would have already been forced to retreat.
But the results of this relentless battle were obvious.
His strength had risen dramatically.
Originally he had been clearly weaker than Kizaru.
Now he had reached the point of slightly surpassing him.
His mastery of the Glint-Glint Fruit had risen to the highest level short of awakening, matching the level of mastery he had with his quake-type ability.
His Armament Haki had also improved again.
Now he could even use it to construct weapons or objects, similar to how the Light Fruit created constructs.
His Observation Haki had evolved as well.
It had begun to resemble the future sight ability used by Charlotte Katakuri.
Renji could now predict roughly one second into the future.
In other words, he could sense Kizaru's moves a full second before they happened.
His other attributes like strength, agility, and flexibility had all experienced massive growth.
In short, aside from Conqueror's Haki which Kizaru did not possess, Renji had achieved the greatest improvement possible from this battle.
Looking at Kizaru's shocked expression, Renji slowly circulated the light energy within his body.
The Eight-Sided Han Sword in his hand gradually repaired itself.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Renji said.
"Don't be polite," Kizaru replied.
"That really was praise."
As their words ended, the two swords collided once more.
Clang!
A metallic sound rang out.
Light scattered like fireworks from the collision.
Those sparks were fragments of Light Fruit energy dispersing into the air.
The battle continued for another three hours.
[You picked up an Armament Haki insight!]
[You picked up an Observation Haki insight!]
[You picked up an agility attribute!]
[...]
"Huff… Huff…"
By now they had fought for twenty hours.
The sky had begun to brighten again.
Kizaru panted heavily as he stared at Renji.
"You bastard… you're impressive."
Renji was also breathing heavily.
Theoretically, Renji now had the strength to defeat Kizaru.
But both of them had consumed too much stamina.
The gap in strength between them was not large enough to decisively end the battle, and even with occasional stamina recovery, Renji himself was reaching his limit.
"You're not bad either," Renji said.
He tried to attack again.
But in the next moment, the Eight-Sided Han Sword in his hand disappeared.
His stamina had been exhausted.
He could no longer maintain the Light Fruit ability.
Kizaru lasted only a few seconds longer.
Then the greatsword in his hand also vanished.
"Good," Renji said.
He was satisfied with this result.
This battle had been completely fair.
"Want to continue?" Renji asked.
"Of course," Kizaru replied immediately.
His arms turned dark.
A swirling black energy wrapped around them.
That was advanced Armament Haki.
Although Kizaru relied heavily on his Devil Fruit, his Haki was equally powerful.
"If you want to fight, then fight!"
Renji's eyes burst with battle intent.
He also activated Armament Haki coating.
Both of them charged forward.
Boom!
Their fists collided.
The battle resumed once again.
[You picked up an Armament Haki insight!]
[You picked up an Observation Haki insight!]
[You picked up a strength attribute!]
[...]
Another four hours passed.
Renji and Kizaru had now fought for twenty-four hours.
A full day and night.
The sky was completely bright again.
Both fighters had exhausted their stamina.
Even standing had become difficult.
"I'm done," Kizaru said.
He removed his coat and casually tossed it aside.
A rainbow briefly appeared in the sky.
It was formed by sunlight refracting through the sweat droplets from his coat.
After saying that, he turned and left.
Sentomaru quickly came forward to escort him.
The surrounding Marines glanced toward Silvers Rayleigh and wisely withdrew.
Even when Kizaru was fresh, defeating Rayleigh was uncertain.
Now that he was exhausted, restraining Rayleigh was impossible.
"Kizaru!" Renji shouted.
"I look forward to our next battle!"
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