Chapter 236: Old Friends from the East Sea! The Collision of the Worlds Greatest Swordsman and the Black Flame
Following the charred path Tatsuya forcibly cleaved open with a single blade, a brief vacuum channel appeared on the ice that still held traces of faint blue electric arcs.
Luffy did not hesitate to activate Gear Second, hot pink steam rising from his entire body.
Sabo wrapped his arms in deep, high-level Armament Haki and Dragon Breath.
The two brothers turned into a red and a black streak of lightning, sprinting wildly along the shattered ice toward the execution platform.
Seeing this, the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates standing around the Moby Dick were infected by this unstoppable momentum.
Marco, Jozu, and the others immediately waved their arms, leading their subordinates in a fresh, morale-boosted, violent charge toward the Marine main force.
The Marine Vice Admirals, who had just recovered from the shock of the thunderous slash, knew they absolutely could not let these two approach the execution platform by even half a step.
They bit their tongues hard, using the sharp pain to force themselves to calm down from that sense of desperate oppression, shouting orders for their troops to reorganize the defensive line.
"Stop them!"
"You absolutely cannot let Straw Hat and that Revolutionary Army member get past!"
Several powerful, sharp sword auras and vacuum slashes generated by the Six Styles "Tempest Kick" rained down like a dense storm from the blind spots on both sides, attacking Luffy and Sabo as they sprinted.
However, before these lethal attacks could land.
Ivankov, the Knight of the Sea Jinbe, and even Sand Crocodile, who was currently annoyed by the Marines getting in his way after being punched by Luffy just a moment ago, decisively acted at the same time.
Wild sand turned into sturdy shields, and water waves formed huge currents. Combined with Ivankov's destructive Death Wink, they intertwined to block all the attacks coming from both sides.
"Straw Hat BOY, Sabo BOY! You just keep charging forward; leave these Marines on the sides to us!" Ivankov shouted loudly.
In the midst of this unstoppable charge.
Standing at the very front in the Shichibukai camp, the "Worlds Greatest Swordsman" Dracule Mihawk, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened those sharp, hawk-like eyes.
He quietly watched Luffy sprinting on the ice, as well as Tatsuya, who had just sheathed his blade.
This solitary swordsman did not swing his sword to test the distance between himself and Whitebeard as he had in the original trajectory of fate.
Instead, he slowly raised his arm and drew the black blade "Yoru", one of the twelve Supreme Grade Swords, which he carried on his back.
As the massive cross-shaped longsword was drawn, a sharp sword aura that seemed capable of slicing through souls instantly swept across the entire battlefield.
A rare flash of interest flickered in Hawkeye's eyes.
In his mind, images of that time at the Sea Restaurant in the East Sea involuntarily surfaced.
Back then, these few fledgling young people were still just weak existences who had only just stepped into the Grand Line.
Hawkeye's calm yet highly penetrating voice echoed clearly across the cannon-fire-filled battlefield:
"What a nostalgic reunion... Straw Hat, Crimson Lotus."
"Since we parted in the East Sea, your growth is truly astonishing."
Hawkeye gripped the wide hilt with both hands, his gaze locked firmly on the two people in front of him.
"Let me personally weigh just how much weight you, who walked out of the weakest sea, now carry!"
Before the words had even faded, Hawkeye swung the black blade "Yoru" with both hands, without any hesitation or holding back.
"Swish—!"
A terrifying, giant, dark-green flying slash, massive enough to split a huge iceberg in two, erupted along the broken ice surface.
This sword light, carrying the force of splitting heaven and earth, kicked up ice shards into the sky as it whistled directly toward Tatsuya and Luffy.
Seeing the scale and power of this slash, even the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates in the rear showed looks of horror.
This was no casual swing, but a strike delivered in earnest by the Worlds Greatest Swordsman.
Facing this green slash that seemed as if it would cut the world in two, Tatsuya decisively stopped his steps.
He turned his head slightly and shouted in a low voice to the two people behind him: "You keep going, leave this to me!"
Luffy and Sabo did not hesitate for a second, immediately bypassing from both sides.
Tatsuya faced this green sword aura that blocked out the sky all alone, and in his deep black eyes, a fanatical fighting spirit ignited instantly.
In his eye sockets, his crimson Eternal Mangekyo spun rapidly, emitting a heart-stopping ocular power.
Accompanied by a crisp "click" of metal friction, the black blade shusui was drawn once again.
Facing the Worlds Greatest Swordsman, Tatsuya held nothing back.
With a thought, he wrapped both his Armament Haki and the "Amaterasu", which could never be extinguished by external forces, onto the blade of Shusui without reservation.
Dark red Haki lightning and the pitch-black, eerie flames intertwined and fused together.
The terrifying high temperature and aura of destruction it emitted scorched the surrounding air, causing it to severely twist and deform.
Tatsuya gripped the hilt with one hand, and from bottom to top, he fiercely slashed out a pitch-black, domineering sword aura to meet Hawkeye's dazzling green slash!
"[Amaterasu · Eclipse Slash]!"
"Boom—!!!"
One green and one black, two peerless sword auras representing the pinnacle of this sea, collided with a roar in the very center of the battlefield.
The pitch-black karmic fire leaped wildly, as if transforming into a greedy giant beast, ruthlessly devouring Hawkeye's pure green sword light along with the sky above.
A terrifying energy storm centered at the point of impact instantly swept across the entire field.
The hard ice layers, which were already full of cracks, began to shatter inch by inch under the violent collision and crushing pressure of the two extreme sword auras, turning into ice shards and white mist flying all over the sky.
The two forces, capable of cutting through anything, remained deadlocked in mid-air.
Neither would yield, and eventually, in a violent surge, they both rushed toward the sky together.
The aftermath of that sword aura, shooting straight into the clouds, actually tore a huge gap in the thick, lead-gray clouds that hung over Marineford all year round, revealing the long-lost blue sky!
Luffy, who was sprinting at high speed, felt the earth-shattering commotion coming from behind him.
He looked up, glanced at the huge gap in the sky, and a large, bright grin spread across his face:
"Heeheehee! Tatsuya! You guy really have gotten stronger!"
The storm and ice shards gradually dispersed.
Hawkeye stood in place, watching the flying slash in mid-air that had been completely negated by the black flames and lightning.
On his usually calm and cold face, the corners of his mouth actually hooked into a rare, excited arc.
He held the black blade "Yoru" horizontally in front of him, watching Tatsuya, who held his own black blade, from a great distance, and gave his evaluation as the Worlds Greatest Swordsman:
"You are no longer the fledgling from the East Sea with sharp edges...", "Now, you truly possess the qualifications to stand at the pinnacle of this sea, Crimson Lotus Victor!"
However, just when everyone on the battlefield was captivated by the shocking collision between these two top swordsmen, the situation on the battlefield took another sudden, instantaneous turn.
A dazzling golden cross flash suddenly lit up without warning directly in front of the sprinting Luffy and Sabo.
Marine Admiral Kizaru had, who knows when, already transformed into golden photons filling the sky.
Using the "Yata Mirror" to refract back and forth on the smooth ice surface, he moved at light speed, bypassing all the outer defensive lines, and like a phantom, firmly cut off Luffy's path forward.
Kizaru stood with his hands in his pants pockets, pouting slightly, a dangerous glint flashing beneath his signature tinted sunglasses.
"Speed is power... Straw Hat Luffy."
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light~"
Before the words had finished, Kizaru's right leg was already raised high.
Dazzling, blinding golden light flashed on his toe as he ruthlessly swept it toward Luffy's head!
The lethal attack at the speed of light caused Luffy's Observation Haki, honed on the edge of life and death, to issue a frantic warning.
However, while in the high-speed sprinting state of Gear Second.
The massive inertia meant his body simply could not make an effective dodging maneuver in an instant, and he could only watch helplessly as that golden light rapidly magnified in his field of vision.
Just at this critical, life-or-death moment.
"Snap!"
A palm covered in deep, pitch-black high-level Armament Haki, resembling a dragon's claw, reached out from the side out of thin air.
This hand, with a completely unreasonable posture, directly ignored the Logia element transformation and firmly gripped Kizaru's right leg, which was flashing with blinding golden light and about to land!
The powerful impact force turned into ripples of air waves, blowing the black top hat on Sabo's head until it fluttered loudly.
Sabo stood firmly in front of Luffy and slowly raised his head.
On that face with burn scars, beneath his left eye, it was filled with cold, bone-chilling killing intent and unshakable determination.
The corners of his mouth curled into an arc, and his gaze stared fixedly at the stunned Kizaru:
"Sorry, Marine Admiral."
"I can't just stand here obediently and watch you kick my brother away!"
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