Chapter 17: "Close Quarters Brawl! You Didn't Blow Up the Jail?"

With Ozz making the first move—

The all-out brawl exploded into full swing!

Thanks to Marco being the first to go down, and Ozz—the wild card who crashed the party—the balance of power tilted heavily in the Roger Pirates' favor.

Not to mention, the Whitebeard Pirates had only one major hitter on the field: Kozuki Oden.

Meanwhile, on Roger's side, you've got Rayleigh and the others casually flexing Advanced Conqueror's Haki. Against them, a single finger would be enough.

So, calling this a "battle" was a bit generous.

It was more like an intense sparring match.

Ozz, of course, dove in headfirst like a madman. He might not have the raw strength to match, but with his freakish physical power and honed dual-color Haki, he was holding his own surprisingly well.

Even though he was technically on the losing end, Ozz actually managed to go toe-to-toe with Oden for a while.

And in that moment, Ozz finally got it—

Why so many "even match" battles existed in the One Piece world.

It's not necessarily that both sides are evenly matched.

As long as one side isn't overwhelmingly stronger, they could go at it for days without a clear winner.

Everyone's a walking health bar!

Compared to legends like Captain Roger and Rayleigh—masters of Advanced Conqueror's Haki—Oden was clearly a step below. His Haki was powerful, but not quite in that world-class tier.

So while Ozz might not be able to win, he could absolutely use this fight for training.

Sure, it hurt like hell.

"One Sword Style—"

Crackle... hiss...

Dense Armament Haki surged across Ozz's blade, black lightning of Conqueror's Haki sparking violently.

With his monstrous strength and swordsmanship behind it, his slash seemed to tear through the very air itself.

This was the first time Ozz unleashed everything he had.

Eyes glowing red with future sight—

"Extreme—Black Light!"

Oden hadn't expected Ozz to go all-out right from the start, but he wasn't about to back down either.

His mastery of Armament Haki even exceeded Ozz's. His twin swords surged forward, cloaked in lethal precision.

"Oden Two-Sword Style: Great Spirit of the Samurai!"

In a blink, the two warriors clashed and passed each other—

The sheer shockwave shattered the ground beneath them. The earth fractured. Dust and rocks blasted into the sky.

The surrounding fighters who were still trading punches and basic slashes paused in disbelief.

Wait, are these two actually trying to kill each other?

After the clash, Ozz's brows knit tightly together. His eyes flared with crimson light.

Something felt... off.

I dodged that...

The next second—

Spurt!

Blood gushed from his mouth.

From a distance, Shanks and Buggy—both a little worse for wear—visibly panicked.

There were no visible wounds, yet Ozz was coughing blood.

The moment they clashed, he'd seen it coming—

But now he understood.

So this was Ryuo.

Thanks to Ozz's inhuman body, even a direct hit from Ryuo didn't take him down immediately. Most of the internal damage had been minimized thanks to his precognition.

What landed was only a portion of the attack—what his Observation Haki hadn't caught.

But with a body rivaling young Whitebeard's in durability, Ozz wasn't going down that easily.

"Ryuo... Internal destruction that flows through the body..."

Ozz focused intently on the sensation from that last hit. Observation Haki scanned Oden over and over, while he tried to will the Armament Haki in his own hands to start flowing too.

"Damn... that was one scary slash."

Truthfully, Oden wasn't exactly unscathed either.

Ozz's slash had nailed him square in the chest, leaving a long, bleeding gash.

When you're up against someone who can see the future, it's just frustrating. Unless you have overwhelming power, you're going to get hit—again and again.

No matter how you block or dodge, it all gets read in advance.

The battle continued in the same rhythm.

Oden clearly had the upper hand in raw strength, but he still couldn't shake Ozz's freakish combo of monstrous might and future sight.

If they were purely wrestling, Oden might've even lost.

And worse, Ozz was getting stronger as they fought—

Clashing Conqueror's Haki with Oden, experimenting with Ryuo, practicing Advanced Conqueror's Coating...

Ozz had ridiculous stamina, and he just kept adapting.

For the first time, Oden felt truly oppressed in a fight.

Even getting instantly KO'd by Whitebeard or Roger hadn't left him this frustrated.

Worse still, what once worked—his Ryuo-infused strikes—were now being gradually countered. Ozz was slowly figuring it out.

Two days passed in this intense battle.

By then, Ozz had squeezed every last drop of learning out of Oden.

He wasn't growing anymore from this fight.

In fact, now Oden had to watch out for Ozz's strange slashes and the occasional sneak attack with his black lightning spear.

"Uncle Jaba! Tag in for me!"

After another fierce clash with Oden, Ozz didn't turn back for a black spear sneak—he just called for backup.

"You really are a monster, Ozz..." Jaba muttered.

He'd been stuck brawling with a bunch of unripe brats, not allowed to kill them. Boring.

Now, with Ozz calling him over, his eyes lit up with amusement.

"Alright then—leave this one to me."