"This feeling!"
Intense pain instantly spread throughout Rayleigh's body. He felt the long-numbed pain nerves completely activated by an unknown force.
"Ugh..."
As blood overflowed from Rayleigh's mouth, the power within him began to tremble violently. The Conqueror's Haki he had forcibly condensed and mobilized was on the verge of collapsing.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Rayleigh detonated his Pluton: Chaotic Strike, willing to take damage himself to create distance between them.
"No wonder Whitebeard and Marco both died by your hand back then. So that's how it is."
Rayleigh, spitting blood and flying backward, looked at Renji. Only now did he understand why a Phoenix Fruit user, whom few in the world could kill, would fall into Renji's hands.
Experiencing the intense pain within him, even his strong willpower couldn't ignore it. No, this wasn't a question of whether his physical will could endure it, it was truly a pain that reached the soul.
Even now, even if he fought with his life... he couldn't even break through the obvious flaw in front of him?
Despair flickered in Rayleigh's eyes.
While stopping him from killing these Marine soldiers, Renji also managed to injure him.
Such combat power...
Had his own power declined too severely from his peak, or had this guy's strength reached an inconceivable level?
Boom!
Rayleigh was knocked back to the ground.
"Cough cough!"
As he coughed up blood, the violent Haki all over his body began to recede, no longer as unrestrained as before. Instead, it became purer, condensed at a certain point.
The changes within Rayleigh did not escape Renji's Heavenly Six Eyes. It could be said that every step of their duel so far was completely within his calculations.
However...
A cold light flickered in Renji's azure eyes. It was just as he had expected.
An elderly powerhouse of Rayleigh's caliber was easy to suppress, and he wouldn't dare to exchange blows with Renji easily. But if this old man dragged it out for too long, the Straw Hats would successfully set sail.
Renji's eyes narrowed. It seemed that if he wanted to kill him quickly, it wouldn't be easy without paying some price.
There were still many Marine soldiers on the island, and Miguel was among them. If he couldn't use his ultimate moves, then to quickly kill Rayleigh, this was the only way.
A smirk appeared on his lips. With his Reverse Cursed Technique at Lv. 8, when it came to exchanging blows, he had never feared anyone.
Renji's figure vanished from his original spot, reappearing in front of Rayleigh the next second.
Kurai in his hand was imbued with an incomparable sharpness, and he brought his blade down.
A fierce glint flashed in Rayleigh's eyes. His Haki condensed to a single point, and he actually abandoned defense, thrusting his blade towards Renji's heart.
Knowing that he was no longer a match for me, he changed his strategy?
Is he confident that I won't decide to suffer such a serious injury just to kill him in a hurry?
Seeing this, Renji instantly saw through Rayleigh's thoughts.
After all, under normal circumstances, a young genius with unlimited potential would not destroy his own talent just to kill someone who was destined to die.
In Rayleigh's opinion, if Renji took that sword strike, even if he could kill him, he would certainly be laid up for a long time because of that strike, not to mention the risk of death and the delay to his talent.
So, under normal circumstances, Renji would abandon his fierce offense to block this attack, and this would achieve Rayleigh's goal of stalling for time.
It was a very obvious intention, and most people wouldn't have any other way, as Rayleigh's attack power was no joke.
But unfortunately, Rayleigh met Renji.
To Rayleigh's horror, Renji did alter his body's trajectory slightly, but only enough to avoid the very center of his heart. He still couldn't avoid the damage caused by the powerful Haki and slash.
Kurai slid across Rayleigh's chest, spraying a large amount of blood.
The sharp blade, imbued with Conqueror's Haki coating, simultaneously pierced Renji's chest.
Even with the physical body enhanced by Lv. 8 martial arts and Lv. 9 Armament Haki, Renji still couldn't withstand such an attack.
Intense pain reached Rayleigh soul. No matter how shocked and confused Rayleigh was, it couldn't change the fact that his vitality was rapidly dissipating.
"Heh heh... this kid really has guts." This thought flashed through Rayleigh's mind.
He hadn't expected Renji to actually dare to trade blows, but Renji's action was exactly what he wanted.
With such injuries, even if he didn't die, he wouldn't be able to continue pursuing Luffy and the others, right?
And it was very likely that he would suffer lasting pain, and his combat power wouldn't be able to increase even after recovery.
Trading his death for the decline of such an Admiral was absolutely worth it.
Rayleigh thought so and was about to muster his last strength to unleash Haki and a slash, inflicting the maximum amount of damage on Renji.
However, the next second, Rayleigh witnessed a terrifying scene.
The flesh that he had just pierced began to heal visibly.
Rayleigh's eyes widened in utter disbelief, but then his vision went blank, and his consciousness completely ceased.
Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void!
The black and white world descended.
[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for killing peak pirate Silvers Rayleigh!]
[Obtained 355,600 Bounty points! Proof of the Strongest * 1!]
Looking at the dark gold emblem in the system space, Renji showed a satisfied smile.
Finally!
...
Time returns to the present.
Deep underwater, as Renji's words fell, Zoro and Sanji immediately moved, rushing towards Renji at top speed.
"Hey, curly-brows! I'll be the main attacker! You cover me!"
Without time to tie his bandana, Zoro held wado ichimonji in his mouth, gripping two swords, and a terrifying green tornado swirled around them.
"I know! Moss-head!"
Sanji's two years of hellish memories flashed through his mind, and both his feet simultaneously ignited with the strongest crimson flames he could achieve at the moment.
Sanji, who always bickered during battle, now, facing Zoro's request for him to play support, acted without a moment's hesitation.
At this moment, under unprecedented pressure, the two giants of the Straw Hat Pirates began to cooperate without a word.
...
Dressrosa.
"Doffy... are we really going to use these two Devil Fruits as rewards?"
Trebol, with snot running down his nose, continued excitedly, "Logia: Flame-Flame Fruit and a Paramecia. Either of these alone is enough to stir up a bloody storm in the outside world."
"Fufufufu..."
Doflamingo laughed, his gaze fixed on the Devil Fruit in the third box.
Blue flame patterns, like a phoenix reborn from fire, appeared quite mysterious.
"Zoan: Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Beast type: Phoenix Form."