Facing the oncoming fist, Yahn's body dissolved into an afterimage and vanished before Barak's eyes.
So fast!
In that instant, Barak couldn't even catch Yahn's movements. His gaze lost track of him entirely.
Through the perception of his Observation Haki…
"Behind me!"
Barak swung his elbow backward with force. But just as he felt a faint sting at his elbow, he realized Yahn had slipped away once more.
"What speed is this?!"
Even as a CP0 operative, accustomed to impossible feats, Barak found his heart shaken by Yahn's inhuman swiftness.
"But… his strikes are weak. My Haki senses no true danger from them…"
So he judged. Yet as he glanced at his elbow out of the corner of his eye, he froze—there, a strange honeycomb-shaped mark had appeared.
The next moment, Yahn struck again. Under the moonlight, a streak of yellow light flashed toward Barak.
"Finger Gun/Shigan!"
Barak's fingertip hardened with Armament Haki, condensing destructive force into a single thrust aimed at Yahn.
But the instant they clashed, Yahn's form once more vanished.
Right rear—again!
Battle instinct took over. Barak launched another quick, efficient elbow strike to the side.
Yet this time, his Observation Haki screamed warnings of mortal danger. His elbow halted mid-swing, recoiled, and he spun into a sweeping whip kick instead.
"Boom!"
The kick tore the air with a deafening roar. Yahn, unwilling to meet such power head-on, retreated in a flash, withdrawing tens of meters to reestablish distance.
Only then did that suffocating sense of imminent death recede from Barak's chest.
What was that just now?
The wave of killing intent had nearly drowned all his thoughts. Even now, Barak felt cold sweat soaking his back.
"What Devil Fruit ability is that?" he demanded darkly, his voice edged with the relief of narrowly escaping death.
Yahn raised his right middle finger, glancing at the golden finger-guard upon it. His voice was calm, almost mocking.
"Not a Devil Fruit. Just poison—this finger guard is called Suzumebachi."
(This idea was taken from the filler)
He paused, then deliberately exaggerated his motions, dragging his tongue across the finger-guard with a twisted grin.
"Keh-heh-heh… It's a strange venom, incurable. You'd best be careful."
---
Meanwhile, within Yahn's inner world—his spirit realm—the zanpakutō Suzumebachi took form as a petite girl with twin pigtails and a wasp-like waist. She clutched her rear with a pout, muttering under her breath.
"Perverted master!"
"Pervert, pervert—huge pervert!"
"I'm never teaching him Shunpo again… big, big pervert…"
She grumbled endlessly, though only in whispers, terrified that the other zanpakutō spirits in the space might overhear.
---
Yahn, however, focused wholly on the fight, reviewing the information gleaned from their first exchanges.
Unlike his Bankai, Suzumebachi Raikōben, with its missile-like form and instant-kill destructive power…
In Shikai, Suzumebachi took the shape of a sharp, stinger-like finger-guard. Its ability: "Two-Step."
The first strike inflicted only a pinprick of pain, leaving behind a black wasp-mark called hōmonka.
The second strike, if delivered to the same spot, brought certain death.
Yahn's first strike had landed without resistance. But when his stinger aimed again for Barak's elbow, Barak had suddenly evaded—his Observation Haki warning him at the last possible instant.
That alone revealed the truth. Yahn smirked as he spoke.
"If I'm not mistaken, your Observation Haki lets you sense danger directly, doesn't it?"
Barak's expression hardened.
"You're correct. My Haki grants me an instinct for danger. Anything that threatens my life, I can foresee."
He added grimly:
"I don't understand your poison, but that killing intent cannot be hidden. As long as I guard against the second strike landing on the same spot, you cannot kill me."
"Is that so?"
Yahn forced his face into a manic grin, licking the finger-guard once more.
"Then let's see… whether you can dodge Suzumebachi's sting at my speed."
He vanished again, unleashing the supreme Shunpo he had mastered through his zanpakutō.
"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—!"
Afterimages multiplied, encircling Barak. Yahn darted between his guard, his stinger flickering in strike after strike.
In seconds, Barak's body was covered with dozens of wasp-marks, scattered across his arms, chest, and legs.
But never twice in the same place.
Each time Yahn nearly forced him into a corner, Barak's danger-sense blared, and with Armament Haki hardening, he barely warded off the fatal second strike.
It was as if, at the final instant, the stinger simply refused to pierce.
Damn this body…
Yahn cursed inwardly. His Armament Haki was crude, his physique frail—he couldn't punch through Barak's defenses. His other techniques were either too destructive or too revealing to risk.
Even so, the threat of Two-Step forced Barak into a constant state of high tension. Every flicker of the golden stinger made his nerves scream, his Haki locking down on Yahn without rest, leaving him no room to focus on anything else.
---
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