Under the pressure of El's Conqueror's Haki, shaped like a raging Shura field, every ferocious beast on the island rolled its eyes back and collapsed to the ground, bodies twitching as their will was completely crushed.
"…What terrifying Conqueror's Haki."
Hovering in the air, Shiki the Golden Lion took a slow breath. A sinister grin soon crept back onto his face.
"A new generation's Shura-type Conqueror's Haki, huh?"
"Boy, you remind me of a certain brat who once sailed on Roger's ship."
"You mean the Demon Heir, Douglas Bullet?" El replied calmly. "I've heard of him as well."
Seeing that Shiki had no intention of releasing his own Conqueror's Haki to clash, El withdrew his aura and smiled faintly.
Shiki studied El's young face, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
"I didn't expect someone your age to know so much about the previous era."
"Is your father… or your teacher… an old acquaintance of mine?"
"They're just ordinary people from the East Blue," El answered honestly.
"East Blue?!"
For an instant, Shiki's expression changed.
Nostalgia surfaced—only to be quickly drowned by impatience.
He shook his head and cut the conversation short, laughing wildly.
"Jihahahaha! A little devil from the weakest sea!"
"Since you want my head—then let me see what you're made of!"
"That's exactly what I was hoping for."
El raised his sword and slashed toward Shiki, who floated more than a hundred meters away.
In an instant, the air screamed as it was torn apart.
A Flying Slash (Tobu Zangeki) hundreds of meters long roared forward, its pressure no weaker than the one before.
Shiki raised an eyebrow.
So that earlier attack… wasn't even serious?
The weakest sea—had it produced another genius swordsman, like Gol D. Roger or Silvers Rayleigh?
Snapping out of his thoughts, Shiki lifted his right prosthetic leg and slashed downward.
"Lion: Thousand Slice Valley!"
Boom—!
A massive Flying Slash erupted from Shiki's strike and collided head-on with El's.
Before his injuries, Shiki could have crushed or twisted such an attack with sheer Armament Haki.
Now, he could only meet it with pure swordsmanship.
One slash horizontal, one vertical—
They crossed in the sky, forming a gigantic X.
For a brief moment, neither could advance.
Then—
BOOM!
Both Flying Slashes detonated simultaneously, exploding into countless wind blades that howled like a hurricane, engulfing El and Shiki alike.
The storm tore through the air.
Whether it was Shiki floating freely or El standing firm atop the White Sea clouds, both were forced back dozens of meters.
With just that exchange, El understood clearly:
In terms of Flying Slashes alone, he held no advantage over Shiki.
Even stripped of full Haki usage, Shiki was still a master swordsman, capable of unleashing slashes that could cleave the sea itself.
The steering wheel in his head and the loss of his legs weakened him—but they did not erase decades of combat experience.
El stabilized himself mid-air, then activated Razor, surging toward Shiki in a flash.
Since swordsmanship and Haki were now Shiki's relative weaknesses, El needed only to press those points to increase his odds of victory.
Shiki, unaware of El's internal calculations, chuckled.
"With mastery like that over the Six Powers," he said,
"if I hadn't felt your Conqueror's Haki, I'd have thought you were one of those CP trash."
But then—
His expression changed.
He saw El's blade turn pitch black, a dark-purple aura coiling tightly around it as the slash descended.
This wasn't ordinary Armament Haki.
Yet that alone wasn't what shocked him.
When Shiki raised his right prosthetic sword—Oto—to block—
The blade, forged from metal of astonishing density, bent slightly.
An overwhelming force surged through the sword, rattling Shiki's entire body.
His figure was blasted backward, spinning uncontrollably through the air.
"…What monstrous strength."
Shiki barely stabilized himself after several rotations, staring at El—who was already pressing forward—with open wariness.
If El had used advanced Armament techniques to send power flowing through the blade, Shiki wouldn't have been surprised.
But he hadn't.
El had merely coated his sword—
And relied on the raw strength of his body to knock Shiki away.
Even accounting for the loss of Shiki's legs—
This was strength no human of El's age should possess.
This was one of the true成果 of El's three-year retreat.
Just as Douglas Bullet refined strength, speed, technique, and physique to near perfection—
El, as a natural monster, had done the same.
Over three years, he hadn't only honed swordsmanship and combat skill—
He had forged a body whose physical power could no longer be measured by numbers.
Anyone who underestimated him because of his appearance—
Would pay dearly.
Shiki had just learned that lesson.
And with their very first clash of blades—
He had been caught completely off guard.
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