242 The strongest swordmaster

Masa knew that Usopp had come to this island, but even so, he didn't care since even if Luffy and his group came, it wouldn't change anything.

Still, as he thought so, Mihawk made his move. 

Raising his blade high, Mihawk made a powerful slash from a high altitude and swung it down. 

This was a common swing and often used by many swordmasters since it caused the target to be overwhelmed by the pressure generated by this swing, and at the same time, it would bring a powerful slash that would cut down anything. 

More importantly, as this swing was done by Mihawk, this slash would definitely be on a different scale than one could imagine. 

Sword skill, powerful physical ability, experience, quality of the sword, and Haki. 

Combined them all together, even the strongest man would be trembling by the might of this slash. 

Mihawk was serious and he released his everything. The moment he saw Masa, he felt that his life would be threatened if he wasn't serious, so he gave his everything, ready to end this battle in one attack. 

Yes, instead of exchanging their blades so many times and fighting for so many days to determine the victor, the real battle would be determined in a single moment. 

In an instant and in a single moment when one had to die and the other would be the victor. 

This was the real battle! 

Still facing this attack, Masa once again had to say that the martial arts in this world, including a sword technique, was simple, but then again, if the technique was complicated, then creating this story would be even harder. 

While he might say that it was complicated in the beginning, once he understood the essence of the sword technique in this world, it was quite simple since, in the end, only two types of sword technique styles existed in this world. 

Strong and gentle. 

Those were the only two types of styles that existed in this world, and their explanation was quite simple since the strong style relied on physical ability, and the gentle style relied on speed. 

Unlike the strong style, a swordmaster who relied on a gentle style was hard to find, and only a few mastered it, such as Brook, who relied on his lightweight to master an ultra-fast slash that couldn't be followed by eyes. 

On the other hand, the strong style was the common type since everyone had a strong physical ability, and it was probably the easiest one to master since as long as one had incredible strength, one could create a powerful slash despite not having mastery over the blade at all. 

If Masa had to give an example, it would be like Whitebeard, who just swung his giant naginata, but even if he wasn't a master of a sword, as long as he swung the blade of his naginata, one would definitely be cut down mercilessly. 

This was also the reason why most of the swordsmen said that they wouldn't be the strongest since all of those masters relied on their strength more than on their sword skill. 

Was it wrong? 

No. 

After all, this fighting style had brought them victory, but it was kind of a shame that most of the swordmasters were small-minded pricks who believed that one could win only by relying on brute strength, even though the essence of the sword was far deeper than that and even if one lacked strength, one could find another way to become stronger. 

This was why martial arts, weapons, and many others were created. 

Moreover, if one only relied on brute strength, it would be too boring, right? 

This was probably also the reason why Zoro's progress was lost to Koby, who trained 200 times more than anyone.

Well, there was also an author's reason, but regardless, Masa knew that it was the time for him to show Tashigi that she could even become the strongest even though she was a woman. 

"Tashigi, don't close your eyes!" 

As Masa said so, Tashigi did so and forced her eyes to open, watching this short moment of life and death battle between two sword masters. 

Or rather, the moment she knew Masa was going to fight Mihawk, she had made up her mind to watch this match closely. 

At this moment, no one could get close, everyone was either passed out, closed their eyes in fear, hiding, or opened their eyes as wide as possible to watch the fight between Masa and Mihawk. 

Yet, at this moment, no one thought that Masa could win. 

Mihawk was like a meteor, hurling down from space, ready to destroy everything. 

Meanwhile, even if Masa's Supreme Haki was powerful, it was just for a moment, and by then, it was suppressed by Mihawk's aura, especially when Masa appeared like he was in a daze with his blade on the lower side, and being held in a slack manner. 

The battle was determined, and the winner between them was clear, yet when they thought so, the world became still, lulled, as if a calm surface of boundless ocean emerged before their eyes. 

Not only Mihawk but Tashigi and everyone who could open their eyes were dumbfounded. 

However, at that moment, Masa's senses were at their peak, whether it was his eyesight, smell, hearing, touch, or everything worked together before his body was all soft, suddenly snapped, tensed, and moved in a manner that no one expected. 

The moment their blades met, instead of a clash between two powers whose impact would blow off everything and bring nothing but destruction, their vicinity turned into a strange exchange as Mihawk felt like his blade was sunk, swallowed as if being pulled into a quagmire, missing its target, and slashed deep into the earth. 

However, Mihawk wasn't the strongest swordmaster for nothing, and he quickly tried to fix his form, ready to raise his blade to send a counter, cutting Masa's body into half, but his speed was far slower as a black gleam appeared before his eyes and his vision suddenly rotated, turned as if the earth was twisted. 

'Ah, I lost...' 

Lost. 

However, this loss didn't mean the beginning or the mother of learning. It wasn't something tame and gentle, such as giving the other a chance to grow stronger. Instead, it was a real battle between two sword masters.

Death and life.

Mihawk lost, and he died.

His head was beheaded and rotated in the air before it fell on the earth with a plop.

Meanwhile, his headless body stood for a while with blood spurting continuously, then also fell, yet strangely enough, his palm still held tightly to his sword.

However, Masa swung his blade lightly, causing the dirty blood on his sword to splash, which made his blade clean once again.

"I told you. You will die." 

Yet, it was meaningless to talk anymore since Mihawk had died. 

Still, Masa stretched his hand and was ready to take his gains. 

However, the others widened their eyes in disbelief as they saw the strongest swordmaster being born