Within the Mirror World, the ground was distinctly divided into two regions: one transformed into mochi and the other infused with Internal Energy.
At the center of the battlefield, energy surged constantly, like a boiling sea.
"Mochi Chant!"
"Mochi Chant!"
Taro and Katakuri activated their abilities almost simultaneously.
Both wore solemn expressions, crimson light flashing in their eyes as their future-sight Observation Haki perceived each other's attack patterns.
Immediately after, dozens of Doughnuts rose from within their respective Awakening Domains.
Then, massive fists wrapped in Armament Haki extended from them.
"Second Gear!"
"Conqueror's Haki Infusion!"
"Vibration Energy Infusion!"
Taro stacked his buffs, relaxed his palm, and thunderstorm hovered quietly by his side!
Katakuri clearly hadn't expected Taro's sword to gain the ability to float after just a few days apart. His expression darkened further, and his gaze shifted towards it.
In the future foreseen by his Observation Haki, he detected no attacking movements from that sword, which finally put his mind somewhat at ease.
This was still a battle testing stamina and endurance!
Back on Sicily Island, Katakuri had already noticed that although Taro's attack methods were varied and his offensive power formidable, his physical durability was clearly inferior to his own, even lagging behind Doflamingo's.
This gave Katakuri great confidence. Defeating Taro was a foreseeable future; it was merely a matter of spending a bit more time!
Thinking this, Katakuri flicked his wrist. His entire right arm instantly turned into mochi, pure white mochi enveloping the tsuchiryū in his hand.
"Mochi Thrust!"
"Whoosh~"
The trident shot from his hand, spinning at high speed as it pierced towards Taro. Simultaneously, he bent his legs slightly, swung his arms, and the massive fists with sharp, angular spikes from the Doughnuts began their assault.
At the same moment, the massive fist phantoms from the Internal Energy Doughnuts also launched their attacks!
"Boom boom boom boom~"
Hundreds of fists attacked frenziedly within the space of a few dozen meters.
Their Observation Haki was on the same level, so every attack resulted in a direct collision of fist against fist.
Katakuri's fists were materialized, while Taro's were condensed from Internal Energy, giving Katakuri a slight upper hand in pure, hard-hitting clashes!
However, Taro's fists were infused with Conqueror's Haki and Vibration Energy, each clash erupting with a secondary attack!
Overall, he was subtly gaining the upper hand!
"Rumble Rumble rumble rumble"
Within the narrow battlefield spanning only a few dozen meters, space shook violently, and blue-red lightning ran rampant.
"Crackle~"
The ceiling and walls cracked, thread by thread, before finally collapsing with a thunderous crash!
A hundred meters away, Brulee braced herself against the wall with force, resisting the tremors caused by the air vibrations.
The collision of their powers was tightly restrained within that battlefield by their respective Awakening Domains, but the vibrations in the air still leaked out!
She could never have imagined that in the short span of over a month since parting at Fish-Man Island, Taro had grown so much!
Even though Taro had already possessed the strength to Slash through Carrot's shell back then, she clearly understood that the power he was displaying now far surpassed that time!
Brulee secretly bolstered her own courage in her heart.
Brother Katakuri, you... you definitely won't lose, right?
A trace of worry that surfaced in her eyes could not be concealed.
Taro's attacks carried additional energies, something Katakuri had actually sensed during their previous battle.
Coupled with the eeriness of the sword hovering beside Taro, which made him wary,
Therefore, in this duel, Katakuri still held back a portion of his strength.
However, now that Taro was clearly attacking with all his might and he himself was subtly falling behind, Katakuri took one final, intense look at that sword, his expression growing even colder and more severe.
Gritting his teeth, he pushed his entire ability to the extreme, holding back not a single shred!
"Hum~"
The range of the mochi Domain suddenly expanded, more Doughnuts rose up, and Katakuri's arm-swinging movements became even faster!
The pressure on Taro sharply increased; he was losing in terms of fist quantity!
If this continued, he would inevitably be struck first by Katakuri!
"Not enough yet, need to wait a bit longer! He's still wary of thunderstorm!"
Thinking this, Taro mobilized the last trace of refined Internal Energy from his internal organs. This was the protective Internal Energy reserved for guarding his vital points.
Within his Internal Energy Domain, over a dozen more Internal Energy Doughnuts rose and joined the attack!
"Have you pushed your ability to the limit?"
Katakuri thought to himself upon seeing this, "I hold the advantage in numbers. Hitting you is just a matter of an instant!"
Sweat poured like rain from his forehead. Katakuri appeared frenzied, the afterimages of his swinging arms slicing through the air, emitting the sharp shriek of a sonic barrier.
"Taro, the outcome is decided!"
This was the moment of final confrontation!
Taro's face was covered in sweat, the area above his neck flushed red from surging blood and Qi. He managed a difficult, strained smile and said breathlessly,
"That's right, the outcome is decided!"
Katakuri's expression froze for a moment, then a flicker of shock flashed in his eyes the next second!
"Gravity Command!"
thunderstorm, floating mid-air, trembled.
"Hum~"
Azure Internal Energy surged out, circled the blade once, then a cyan-purple Internal Energy vortex violently erupted, rushing towards Katakuri's half of the battlefield!
Katakuri immediately felt an abnormality in his body. His arms felt as if tied to the weight of an entire building, and the speed of his swinging fists instantly slowed!
"Armament Hardening!"
"Conqueror's Haki Infusion!"
"Vibration Energy Infusion!"
"Mihawk Slash!"
thunderstorm trembled even more violently. More concentrated Internal Energy surged out, vortexes of energy swirled around it, and the azure glow on thunderstorm's blade blazed brilliantly.
Immediately after, the longsword, intertwined with flashes of blue-red lightning, slashed down!
The light within the Mirror World seemed to be devoured in that instant, plunging into boundless darkness!
Only the cluster of cyan-white Vibration Energy at the forefront of the Slash still emitted a faint fluorescent glow!
The sharp Sword Qi carved a deep trench in the ground as it slashed towards Katakuri with an unparalleled, powerful Aura!
"Brother Katakuri!"
Brulee's shrill, terrified scream echoed.
Even if she knew nothing about combat, she could see that, having exerted his full strength, Katakuri had no remaining power to block this Slash!
But she, a support-oriented ability user, where could she find a solution in the face of this life-and-death, decisive battle!
Helplessly watching the Sword Qi Slash towards Katakuri, tears instantly streamed down her face!
Katakuri glanced towards Brulee. Reflected in his two cold, severe pupils was Brulee's shocked, fearful, grief-stricken, tear-streaked figure.
"Brulee...!"
He softly called her name.
Immediately after, an overwhelmingly powerful force struck his chest!
"Boom~"
The Vibration Energy exploded first. The powerful shockwave instantly sent Katakuri, who had held nothing back, flying off the ground.
Then, the blue-red lightning detonated.
"Cough, Gah!"
Katakuri coughed up a trace of blood, his chest heaved violently once, then he vomited a large mouthful of blood with a 'gah'!
And after that, the pursuing Slash caught up to his body!
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.