An Extended Engagement

Roar!

Kaido broke the ice, transformed into a giant dragon, spitting hot breath in anger.

And he broke the ice together as well as Akagami, pretending to shiver the body, "It's really cold!"

"Arara, I am watching you guys fight with sweat so I can cool you down." Kuzan spoke in this way, but his heart is incomparable gloom.

Whether it is against Kaido or Akagami, he is not much sure; to block the two at once is even more difficult.

The good thing is that he is strong enough to control the field and should still delay some of the time if he has to fight with severe injuries as a cost.

Akagami stepped forward and juxtaposed with the wildly dancing dragon, "You attack from the sky, I'll fight on the ground, clear this up as soon as possible ..."

Before Akagami could finish, he was slapped by the dragon with a tail, "Are you ordering old me, you son of a bitch?"

"In the way, all dead!"

"This idiot!" Akagami rubbed his waist; even if he covered his whole body with Busoshoku Haki in time, his body still seems to be almost broken up in a way.

Kuzan, on the other hand, silently retracted his previous intention to hold them back, as if there was no need to fight at all.

...

"It's messy enough!" Apophis's scarlet pupils flashed with cold light when the ice layer broke, seemingly enraged by Kuzan's indiscriminate attack.

Just at this time, a sharp-eyed man was stopped in front of him.

"Hawkeye, we haven't seen each other for almost ten years, right?" Apophis asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"To be precise, it's nine years, seven months and thirteen days." Hawkeye said with a serious face.

"Heh! You do remember quite clearly." Apophis said with slight surprise.

"After all, I've waited too long for this day!" Hawkeye solemnly said, "Without defeating you, this title of the world's number one swordsman would be just a joke."

"After nine years of engagement, it is indeed too long!" Apophis also sighed, "Today, let's make a conclusion!"

Seeing the atmosphere between the two is gradually solemn, even hundreds of meters away, can feel the sword's power as if it can pierce the skin.

Those pirates who were preparing to escape were even a bit reluctant to leave.

"Nine years ago that engagement continued to today, has become the battle between the world's first great swordsman and the Yonko!"

"Akagami has lost a hand, in terms of pure swordsmanship, it should only be Apophis can match Hawkeye!"

"I must be crazy, knowing that this island may sink at any time, but why, I just do not want to leave?"

In this world, swordsmanship is authentic.

Just as in the future path, Zoro did not use Haki in a sword but could split Monet in half.

Hawkeye does not have Haki; he has only the overpowering to the extreme swordsmanship.

On the other hand, Apophis returned the same fierce to the extreme swordsmanship with the etiquette of a swordsman.

There is an invisible aura that seems to be colliding fiercely between the two eye gazes.

The surrounding pirates had not appeared the kind of a fainting stun when Haoshoku collided. Instead, it is as if the painful wailing of needles pierced into the soul.

Almost at the same time, Hawkeye pulled out from behind him Black Blade Yoru and swept horizontally; Apophis is holding Nidai Kitetsu and slashed vertically down.

A horizontal and vertical two cuts collide with each other, bursting out with great power, as bright as the cross star shining in the night sky.

The ground beneath the intersection of the two slashes was even more devastated with crisscrossing trenches.

Without any pause time, the two dived headlong into the diffuse dust and mist.

The earth-ripping slash was just a test; the actual result will depend on the close combat.

Apophis power slashes down; Hawkeye wielded a sword to block.

Apophis is taller than Hawkeye, and from the outside, it looks like the Nidai Kitetsu's blade is on top of the Black Blade Yoru's edge.

After a few moments of stalemate, they both retreated at the same time and then struck out at each other at nearly the same time.

The scarlet blade impacted with the lake blue slash, erupting into a powerful wave of air.

Unlike the usual shock wave, the airwave that escaped from the two slashes' collision was more solid, like a needlepoint, leaving countless tiny holes in the thick ground and hard rock.

The pirates who were closer were directly hit by the impact of the wave into a sieve.

Apophis pointed his toes on the ground, using the force of the recoil, holding the demon sword with both hands and sweeping violently to the opposite side.

It cut the air, emitting a sharp sonic boom.

Mihawk, on the other hand, took a half-step back with his left foot, stepped forward with his right foot, and struck out with a powerful slashing blow.

Two people's weapons once again in a cross, sharp eyes stare at each other, gaze like a knife stabbed at each other.

This time, Hawkeye spoke up.

"It's not the same!"

"What's different?"

"Your sword!"

Apophis naturally understood Hawkeye's meaning; his Seven Star Sword back then is between Ō Wazamono and Saijō Ō Wazamono, the current Nidai Kitetsu, instead, is much worse than back then.

"In the transformation!" Apophis changed the pressure into a sweep, sweeping Hawkeye directly out.

"Transformation?" Hawkeye stopped his tendency to fly backward and asked with a burning gaze.

"The more blood of the strongest people it drink, the stronger the quality, and the Seven Star Sword is now in the transformation period." Apophis is not wrong; the so-called demon sword, most of them are killing too much, and violent nature devouring the master.

The more you kill, the stronger the demon sword, the greater the backlash will be.

As a demonic sword that has absorbed countless killing intent from thousands of years ago, the Seven Star Sword is naturally not comparable to the Nidai Kitetsu.

It was also suppressed for too long so that its ferocity faded a lot. And even the quality of the sword is regressing.

But since Apophis got his hands on it, the dusty demon sword has finally begun to recover with the increasing number of kills.

To be able to leave a mark on the ancient stone monument is the best proof that the Seven Star Sword has recovered to the point where it can be ranked among the top of Saijō Ō Wazamono.

Of course, the metamorphosis stage is pure nonsense.

"How far will it metamorphose?"

"Although the Seven Star Sword is not one of the 12 Saijō Ō Wazamono, its quality is already completely not inferior to any of Saijō Ō Wazamono."

"If it can metamorphose to the final stage, perhaps it will be the pinnacle of Saijō Ō Wazamono, or perhaps, a realm completely above Saijō Ō Wazamono!"

"Above Saijō Ō Wazamono!" Even with Hawkeye's mind, he couldn't help but feel a little stirred, "How long will it take for your weapon to completely metamorphose."

"Ten years." Apophis coldly spat out two words.

"I'm starting to look forward to fighting you again in ten years!"

"What, are you looking down on the current me?"

"This time it was me who had the advantage in weapons, even if I beat you, there's nothing to be proud of."

"It's too early to say such things!"

As the words fell, the two powerful slashing strikes collided once again.

The pact, it seems, has been renewed!

Published in Qidian, August 11, 2019