"Helping Pirates? You're twisting the truth and slandering good people!!"
Nami's face flushed red with anger, her teeth grinding audibly. It was the first time she had encountered someone so shameless—
"If it were just about capturing Pirates, who would care about you! Clearly, you disregard the lives of the residents! We wanted to save people, what's wrong with that? And you! Why don't you take a look down there, see the good deeds your Navy has done!"
Nami's trembling index finger pointed angrily at the collapsed shops and houses on both sides of the square.
"Little girl, some words should not be spoken carelessly."
Vice Admiral Onigumo's eyes glinted with a cold light as he stared at Nami, his right hand unknowingly resting on the hilt of his sword.
"Those were just collateral damage, unavoidable costs when capturing Pirates. Didn't your elders teach you to show respect when facing someone of higher status when you're out in the world..."
Whoosh!
Before he could finish, his vision blurred, and a fist the size of a sandbag rapidly enlarged in his sight, instantly sending him flying backward!
Thud! Vice Admiral Onigumo crashed heavily onto the ground, his cigar snapped and extinguished. With a spurt, he clutched his chest, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Sorry about that."
Xiano stood tall, one foot pressing down on Vice Admiral Onigumo's chest, looking down at him:
"I just recalled, seems like I wasn't taught that."
...
The vast square fell into dead silence, save for the sound of rain.
Countless gazes from all directions focused on Vice Admiral Onigumo lying on the ground.
Vice Admiral Onigumo also noticed these stares, his face instantly turning beet red.
—He had been knocked flying with a single blow in front of everyone, and now a young brat was stepping on him?
Since being promoted to Vice Admiral, wherever he went, he was respected and admired, Pirates fleeing at the mere mention of his name.
When had he ever suffered such humiliation?!
"You damn brat!"
Vice Admiral Onigumo suddenly drew both his swords, crossing them horizontally, slashing at Xiano's ankles.
Xiano chuckled, retracting his leg and stepping back. Vice Admiral Onigumo seized the moment to flip up, his dual swords swinging wildly, one strike after another, weaving a dense crimson net in the rain.
"Die!!!"
Daring to step on his chest, he couldn't be blamed for being ruthless!
At this moment, he seemed to already see the image of this detestable black-haired brat being sliced into countless pieces by his blades.
However.
The suddenly amplified sound of rain shattered Vice Admiral Onigumo's illusion.
The other party seemed to barely move, strolling leisurely with his hands behind his back, letting him slash away, but all the rapid strikes were effortlessly dodged.
Not a single cut, not even a scratch.
How... how is this possible?
Vice Admiral Onigumo's pupils contracted.
The precision of the other's dodges was almost down to the millimeter.
Countless times, his blade had just grazed the surface of the other's skin.
It was so close, yet just out of reach, as if everything was within the other's expectations.
Observation Haki?
No, that's not it!
Those bizarrely twisted angles of the body, that was Paper Drawing! Paper Drawing mastered to the extreme!!!
And earlier, the Moon Walk they had displayed...
"Cowardly rat, is hiding all you can do?!" Vice Admiral Onigumo roared in fury. "To think someone in the East Blue could master the Six Styles so thoroughly! Who taught you?!"
"Sakazuki."
Huh?
Onigumo's eyes widened in shock, and in that brief moment of distraction, Xiano had already extended his right arm, gripping Onigumo's neck with a fierce grin:
"You asked for it yourself—told me not to hide anymore."
Thud! The muscles in Xiano's arm bulged like steel shackles, tightly locking around Onigumo's neck.
Then, with a sudden burst of strength, he slammed Onigumo hard into the ground!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!!!
Once, twice, three times… Xiano relentlessly slammed Onigumo back and forth over his shoulder, his terrifying strength on full display.
The ground on both sides quickly cracked into spiderweb-like fissures.
Onigumo felt like a ragdoll in the hands of a giant, momentarily losing control and unable to break free.
In his disoriented, swaying vision, he seemed to see the distant figures—both Pirates and Marines—pointing and laughing mockingly at him…
"Enough!!!"
Veins bulged on his temples as he let out a furious roar.
Ssshh! The tangled hair at the back of his head suddenly began to wildly extend and grow.
In an instant, it transformed into six spider-like braids, writhing like tentacles, breaking free from Xiano's grip. Then, from seemingly nowhere, he drew a long sword with each braid, firmly grasping them.
Splash!
Onigumo stepped on the waterlogged ground, regaining his footing.
At this moment, with the terrifying, coiled spider-like arms behind him, he coldly stared ahead, exuding an overwhelming presence in the heavy rain.
"Today has been one unexpected event after another, completely beyond my expectations."
Onigumo twisted his neck, producing a series of cracking sounds, and emotionlessly looked down at Xiano below:
"I was just planning to play around with you, kid. I didn't expect you to actually have some skill, making me lose face. But… now, the game is over."
The two swords in his hands, along with the six long swords behind him, all took on a pitch-black, ink-like sheen.
"Eight-Sword Style · Strangulation!"
With Onigumo's icy voice, the eight long swords simultaneously converged and slashed downward!
Whoosh!
Crossing sword energy surged toward Xiano from different directions, instantly sealing off all escape routes.
"Storm Leg · White Lightning!!"
Without hesitation, Xiano spun around, kicking up a vacuum.
A crescent-shaped, ghostly blue blade of light expanded to several meters long, colliding head-on with all the sword energy!
Boom!!
A deafening explosion erupted as the shockwave from the Storm Leg shattered all eight crossing sword energies!
Thud, thud, thud.
Onigumo, caught in the shockwave, staggered back several steps before regaining his balance. He looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief.
All eight sword energies he had unleashed in one go… were blocked by a single Storm Leg?
Xiano grinned, having anticipated this outcome.
The system had judged his Six Styles to be at their peak, and for good reason.
His mastery of the Six Styles had truly reached the pinnacle!
In terms of skill alone, even Lucci during the Enies Lobby arc would be slightly inferior!
"So, you're an Eight-Blade Master Swordsman?"
He looked at Vice Admiral Onigumo and laughed wildly, "What a coincidence, so am I!!"
Whoosh!
The scene from earlier seemed to replay itself at this moment. Xiano's black hair, just like Onigumo's, began to wildly extend and transform into over a dozen steel-hard braids.
"My math isn't great, seems like I have a bit more."
Feeling the braids dancing wildly atop his head, Xiano tilted his chin toward Onigumo, "Hope you can handle it."
As soon as the words fell.
His figure suddenly vanished from where he stood, and in the next instant, he appeared above Onigumo, his braids lashing out like a storm, fiercely attacking Onigumo's face!
How does he know this too!
Onigumo's expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly swung his blades to counter.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The spider-spear-like hair, wrapped in dense Armament Haki, clashed with Onigumo's blades. Amidst the metallic clashing sounds, countless black lines danced wildly, sparks flying everywhere.
The onlookers were instantly dazzled by the spectacle.
Meanwhile, the arms of both combatants were also busy, constantly clashing and colliding.
However, one was using blades, while the other had transformed his arms into blade-like shapes, relying entirely on his steel-forged physical strength to fight!
At first, the two seemed evenly matched.
But as time passed, with each collision, the intensity of the Armament Haki on Onigumo's blades gradually began to weaken.
In contrast, Xiano's strength remained as fierce as ever!
The four major techniques of Armament Haki.
Wrapping, hardening, flowing emission, and Internal Destruction!
Except for Internal Destruction, which he had mastered later and was still somewhat unfamiliar with, he had already fully grasped the other three!
Moreover, through years of relentless training, his strength had reached a level that ordinary people could hardly imagine!!!
——Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The explosive sound of metal clashing echoed through the rain. Onigumo's eight long blades were finally, in that instant, all knocked away and fell to the ground!
The immense force Xiano exerted with his arms pressed Onigumo down, causing him to slide backward in a disheveled manner, his military boots carving two deep grooves into the stone brick floor of the plaza.
"Out of blades, huh?"
Xiano slowly closed in, looking at the ugly face so close to his, and grinned with a sinister smile, "——But I still have mine!"
Thud!
His arms suddenly pierced into Onigumo's shoulders, then instantly reverted from their blade-like form to their normal state, grabbing Onigumo's wrists and twisting them inward with a fierce motion.
"Ugh—"
A searing pain shot through Onigumo, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. But the weakness in his shoulders made it difficult for him to break free.
He could only watch helplessly as the joints of his arms were twisted into grotesque angles under the terrifying force, the broken bones piercing through his skin and sending a spray of blood into the air.
Boom!
The rain grew heavier, and distant flashes of lightning began to flicker in the sky.
"Strength, speed, Six Styles Martial Arts, Armament Haki intensity... and even your pride, Life Return! I surpass you in every aspect!"
Xiano lifted Onigumo by the neck as if he were a chicken, his mocking gaze meeting Onigumo's eyes:
"Tell me, is this really the level of a so-called Marine Vice Admiral?"
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