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"That was truly exhilarating!"

After the battle, Roger felt incredibly refreshed.

He walked through the stairs below the Arena back to his seat in the Audience Stands.

The second battle would begin directly after half an hour.

If one felt hungry, they could leave at any time, eat something on the lower level of the Sky Arena, and then return.

Although they might miss some exciting duels, there was nothing that could be done about it.

As for the other Great Pirates and important guests, it wasn't so troublesome.

The Pluto Pirates would directly deliver food to the venue for them to enjoy.

This great battle of the Top 16 entering the Top 8 would not stop once it began.

Of course, if you had money, you could pay to obtain membership service inside the Sky Arena.

The Sky Arena would provide a special membership card.

After topping up a certain fee, you could pay by simply swiping the card through a card reader.

As long as you called the Sky Arena's dedicated customer service, someone would buy the food you wanted and deliver it to you.

Even in a sea of people, they could still determine your position because the membership card contained a positioning device.

Moving between the upper and lower levels took a considerable amount of time, as the Sky Arena was simply too large.

This kind of service was favored by many wealthy individuals and even Nobles, as it further highlighted their status.

They didn't have to run up and down like everyone else.

Some of the more intelligent ones had already prepared food in advance, learning from the experience of the previous great battle.

What outsiders didn't know was that the Sky Arena alone had a service staff count of 80,000.

Among them, 40,000 were permanent service staff, and the other 40,000 were specially employed, or rather, they were staff from other parts of Paros Island.

The entire Paros Island belonged to the Kronos Kingdom, including all the industries on it.

The second battle began.

Amidst numerous gazes filled with expectation, Zoffy and "Yuanhong" stepped onto the Arena.

Regarding "Yuanhong," even the many newspaper reporters, who were the uncrowned kings, didn't know his name.

They only had the simple intelligence that he was from the East Blue.

The Great Xia Kingdom, like the Eternal Kingdom, was closed off, and outsiders simply couldn't enter.

Zoffy, as the Grand General of the Kingdom of Kronos, was a major General who resisted the rebellion instigated by the World Government.

He held a formidable reputation among many great nations and powerhouse nations.

Outsiders were still unaware that the Kronos Kingdom had already undergone restructuring.

Zoffy's current identity was Army Marshal.

The famous sword "Cosmos" in his hand was not well-known on The Great Sea, but it was forged by a top-tier swordsmith and bestowed upon Zoffy's ancestor by a previous King of the Kronos Kingdom, passed down through generations to this day.

After being tempered by Haki generation after generation, this sword had completely turned into a black blade.

Zoffy's gaze was fixed on the young Swordsman before him.

In terms of age, he was the youngest among the Top 16.

However, he would not hold back easily.

His son, Zoro, had grown up smoothly.

In another two years, he would retire behind the scenes.

This could be said to be the last time he would make a move.

He actually had no confidence in entering the Top 8.

But he was lucky and encountered "Yuanhong," whose strength was not too strong.

Looking at the calm-faced Zoffy, Gaine knew that he was expected to make the first move.

His figure silently disappeared from his original spot, moving with ghostly speed.

A hissing sound came from beside Zoffy's ear.

The next moment, a flying sword carrying extreme sharpness stabbed towards his head.

The speed of this sword was simply too fast, and Zoffy had no time to block.

Instinctively, his figure shifted to the side, coincidentally avoiding the sword.

This was not over.

Gaine was like a peerless assassin.

Just as "Yuanhong" swept past Zoffy's neck, a hand suddenly appeared and tightly grabbed the sword hilt.

Gaine's figure just happened to appear behind Zoffy, drawing an arc in the air, and stabbed towards Zoffy's head with the sword.

Zoffy held his sword in a backhand grip to block, and at the same time, swept a foot through the air, forcefully striking Gaine's waist.

The overbearing power sent Gaine's body shooting out like a cannonball.

Gaine's performance was very stunning.

His lethal flying sword was hard to block, and his own speed was so fast that people simply couldn't react.

And his own speed was even faster than the flying sword.

However, his flaws were very obvious.

Compared to Zoffy, his strength was insufficient, his physique was weak, and he was too specialized.

Zoffy merely seized an opportunity and injured him.

"Teacher probably hasn't really experienced physical training, right?"

The young man named Wind asked with a frown upon seeing this scene.

Like Yun, besides practicing swordsmanship, he also trained his physique and body technique.

If Gaine was their Swordsmanship Teacher, then in terms of body technique, they were guided by Old Man Guo.

"Yes, he is a swordsmanship genius.

Before, he didn't need it.

Merely relying on the sword in his hand was enough to sweep across all the Swordsmen inside the Kingdom."

Old Man Guo nodded and smiled.

"But when it reaches this level, merely relying on speed and technique is completely insufficient.

The gap in terms of body directly turns into an obvious disadvantage.

You two cannot be like him."

"Coming this way all along, if he changes, it will also have an impact on his fighting style.

However, if he wants to compete for the throne of the World's Strongest Swordsman, this is something he must experience."

Training the physical body, increasing muscles, and gaining weight would make Gaine lose his agility.

If he didn't want to lose it, he would need to train body technique and use superb techniques to make up for this lost agility.

For him, an exceptionally pure Swordsman, the effort required would not be small.

That sharp kick, like a blade, tore Gaine's clothes, leaving a grievous bloodstain.

Merely in the opening, Zoffy gave Gaine a profound lesson.

In some aspects, the Great Xia Kingdom had been closed off for too long.

It was time for them to properly sober up.

Intense pain spread throughout Gaine's body.

It had been a long time since he was injured.

Ignoring the pain, he once again charged towards Zoffy.

Now, he forgot the so-called honor, forgot the title of World's Strongest Swordsman, and just wanted to have a good battle.

Their fighting styles were completely different, unlike the terrifying collisions between Roger and Rayleigh.

Yuanhong's speed and technique, and Zoffy's repeated calm responses, all made people feel extremely exciting.

Especially Yuanhong's flying sword, it was really somewhat unsolvable.

The speed was simply too fast.

Even if Zoffy possessed the Future Sight ability, he only blocked two-thirds of the attacks.

For the remaining one-third, Zoffy had to avoid them.

After half a day, "Yuanhong" was defeated.

His body could only be described as "frail" compared to those Monsters.

However, the spectators had to admit his strength.

Precisely because his flaws were too obvious, after compensating for the flaws, his combatant strength would increase to a terrifying degree.

It could be predicted that next time, he would return with a stronger posture.