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"It seems Rayleigh is in for a tough time..." Shakky, watching the show from a safe distance, shook her head.
In this brief exchange, she could already see that this young Marine was every bit as powerful as the intelligence report she had received yesterday described.
The newly appointed Admiral Candidate of Marine Headquarters, codenamed 'Byakko'!
Of course, Rayleigh, as the right hand of the Pirate King, was no pushover. The gap between top-tier powerhouses like them was not that large.
If either one was determined to escape, almost no one could stop them.
A winner might be decided between the two, but by then, at least half of Sabaody would be gone.
Therefore, Shakky was not worried about Rayleigh's safety in the slightest; otherwise, as his old flame, she wouldn't be standing by watching the show.
In the centre of the clearing, Rayleigh slowly stood up.
He activated his Observation Haki to its fullest, constantly monitoring the movements of his surroundings, while his eyes remained warily fixed on Atlas.
This guy's abilities were even more troublesome than Shiki's!
Although Rayleigh didn't know how Atlas had developed his abilities to this extent in such a short time, his intuition told him that the Marine before him was far stronger than before!
Atlas's lips curled into a contemptuous grin, and his figure abruptly vanished from Rayleigh's sight.
Not good! Rayleigh's heart skipped a beat. He moved like the wind, his body shifting slightly to the side as he tightened his grip on his sword.
POW!
A massive fist grazed past Rayleigh's head. The powerful airflow sent his golden hair flying, and a terrifying sonic boom echoed in his ears.
SWISH! At the same time, the longsword in Rayleigh's hand was instantly coated in Armament Haki, and with a swing of his arm, he launched an upward diagonal slash!
CLANG! The familiar sound of metal clashing rang out.
This old guy's strength is no joke... Atlas casually glanced at the blade by his ribs.
Black and red Haki pulsed, stopping the premeditated slash at the surface of his skin, unable to advance an inch!
"Heh!" Atlas sneered contemptuously.
He took a deep breath, coated both his fists in Armament Haki, and his muscles bulged.
"Iron Body Fist Method: Explosion: Shatter!"
With a slight turn of his body, his suddenly swelling fists transformed into a storm of afterimages that rained down on Rayleigh.
Seeing this, Rayleigh took a slight step back with his right leg, trying to create distance, while raising his pitch-black longsword to block.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
His blade spun, forming an impenetrable defence. Every second, he perfectly blocked the incoming fists, but his body couldn't stop sliding backwards.
This guy... In a gap between their exchanges, Rayleigh glanced at Atlas's cold face, a sense of awe in his heart.
Last time, he had already felt that Atlas's strength was extraordinary. He hadn't expected it to be still growing at such a terrifying rate after just a few months.
At his age, it was already a feat not to have his strength decline. Thus, facing Atlas's monstrous, chaotic attacks was proving to be quite difficult.
Seeing Rayleigh's tight defence, a thought flashed in Atlas's mind.
The earth beneath his feet churned, and a thick rock spike shot out from the soil, stabbing straight toward the space between Rayleigh's legs!
A sudden thrust!
Rayleigh's eyes narrowed, the Observation Haki in his mind screaming a warning. He subconsciously moved to evade.
However, an opening often appears in just such a fleeting moment. Atlas's fist seized the opportunity and slammed viciously into Rayleigh's chest!
BANG!
Unsurprisingly, Rayleigh was sent flying. Atlas pressed his advantage, leaping into the air and closing the distance.
He coated his leg in Armament Haki and delivered a side kick that whistled through the air toward Rayleigh's face!
Rayleigh ducked, barely dodging the sweep. At the same time, he turned slightly, bent his free left arm, and, coating his hard elbow in Haki, slammed it into Atlas's abdomen.
Seeing his attack miss and now facing Rayleigh's elbow strike, Atlas abandoned his defence and brought his still-outstretched leg crashing down!
POW!
Rayleigh had no choice but to retract his arm and cross his sword above his head to block.
An immense force hammered down on him, driving his legs dozens of centimetres into the ground. Shattered rocks and dust flew everywhere!
Atlas retracted his leg, retreated, and his figure instantly shifted into the air. His already powerful body swelled, growing to a height of five meters.
Haki coiled around him, black and red Armament Haki slowly tracing patterns over his skin, revealing his muscle definition in a profound, powerful beauty.
Life Return: War God Body!
Atlas looked down on Rayleigh from above, his body suddenly beginning to spin. The high-speed rotation even generated fierce flames from the friction with the air!
Rokushiki Secret Art: Tenbu Horin!
A powerful force gathered in his fists, and he dove straight toward the now-unavoidable Rayleigh below!
BOOM!
The ground shattered. A large crater appeared on the already ravaged land, and a dense network of cracks spread out in all directions!
Under this impact, Rayleigh was sent tumbling backwards like a toppling jade pillar, crashing through countless trees along the way, until...
"One more kick!" Atlas's figure appeared behind Rayleigh as if by teleportation.
He lifted his right leg slightly and delivered a sweeping kick!
BANG!
At this moment, Rayleigh was like a punching bag, taking all the punishment, and was sent flying back the way he came.
Forcibly halting his momentum, a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. The Armament Haki on his back slowly dissipated. Rayleigh gave a bitter smile.
"It seems I've really gotten old..." Although his presence had only been slightly damaged, he felt a faint inability to keep up with Atlas's storm-like offensive.
This guy had grown far too much compared to before, and not just in terms of raw power!
His experience in fighting top-tier opponents was also constantly being enriched!
"Heh... then let me help enrich your lonely old age!" Atlas had no intention of letting such a huge bag of experience go so easily.
Rayleigh hadn't even used his Conqueror's Haki Coating yet. As the right hand of the Pirate King, he surely had more tricks up his sleeve!
Rayleigh suddenly felt a pang of regret. That Marine had clearly not been too keen on pursuing Tiger and the others back then.
He just had to get involved and invite such a huge problem. It seemed the days ahead would not be easy...
Thinking of this, Rayleigh asked tentatively, "Can't you just give this retired old man some face?"
"Hah? Face?" Atlas sneered.
"You didn't offer me any 'face' when you slashed me last time. Besides, do you really think you're a user of the Face-Face Fruit?" Atlas had made up his mind today.
No matter how much Rayleigh begged and pleaded, he was going to test all of his techniques on him.
"..."
Although he didn't understand what Atlas meant by "Face-Face Fruit," it didn't stop him from understanding that this Marine was not going to back down.
"Lions: Govern Place Earth Coiling!"
As soon as he spoke, the weather changed abruptly. The once-peaceful sky instantly turned dark and oppressive.
Seawater poured down, and sand and stones flew, as if a storm was sweeping through. A heavy snow began to fall from the sky, and a chilling wind rose.
"This is..." Rayleigh was startled by the sudden change and looked up. A ferocious lion was half-concealed in the clouds.
Its body was pure white, and even from a great distance, he could feel its bone-chilling cold. Its sharp fangs and claws let out a ghostly wail as they moved.
At this moment, the entire Grove 13 of Sabaody was shrouded in shadow!
"Hey, hey, hey! What the hell is that thing?"
"Is that big guy's target the entire Sabaody Archipelago?"
"Just what kind of powerhouses are fighting to be able to cause a disaster of this magnitude!"
"..." The people in the other areas of Sabaody had naturally seen the enormous snow lion. Sometimes, the most direct sense of oppression comes from sight alone.
This snow lion was even larger than the Golden Lion's 'Goshichien,' which caused the uninformed residents of Sabaody to start panicking.
--Grove 66, the Marine Base--
"Is that a phenomenon caused by the Vice Admiral?"
Mejes stared blankly at the roaring lion in the sky and turned to ask Smoker and the others, who had just returned.
"It... should be..." Smoker's mouth twitched.
Right now on Sabaody, only Brother Atlas could create such a massive spectacle.
Hearing this, a look of joy flashed across Mejes's face. He turned and gave orders to the Marines.
"All hands, split into patrols! Take this opportunity to arrest all the resurgent underworld forces and pirates!"
"Also, dispatch personnel to calm the panic among the island's residents. Tell them the Vice Admiral is engaged in battle with a pirate."
Mejes was adept at seizing opportunities. Atlas's absence had caused him considerable trouble.
The remaining Marine forces on the island were barely enough to contain the illegal trade and the pirates who continued to land.
...
Now, with Atlas creating a diversion and the added combat power of Smoker and Vergo, he had enough to make a real move.
"Oh? Shiki's move, is it..." Rayleigh's eyes narrowed, a nostalgic look on his face, but his hands showed no hesitation.
He instantly coated his blade in Armament Haki, the pitch-black energy flowing over it like liquid.
The veins on his arm bulged, and a powerful aura erupted from his body. His curly golden hair fluttered in the airflow as he raised his longsword!
RIP!
The longsword cut in. The Haki pulsed.
The moment the blade made contact with the snow lion—no, to be precise, the moment before it made contact, a fierce wave of Haki had already surged into the snow lion's massive body.
BOOM!
As if struck by a thousand sword slashes, the behemoth that had been split in two by Rayleigh exploded, turning back into a flurry of snowflakes!
Advanced Armament Haki, Internal Destruction!
"A nice technique, but..." Atlas's right hand had quietly moved to the Futsunomitama at his waist.
He said coldly, "So what?"
SWISH!
He drew his sword instantly. The entire space seemed to be cut by the sharp sword aura.
A skin-prickling sharpness, an indescribable speed—Rayleigh only saw a flash of light, and the gleaming blade was already before him.
Raikiri! This was a drawing-and-slashing technique, focused on ultimate speed and sharpness!
CLANG! The lightning-fast slash fell, and a shockwave erupted from the point of impact.
SIZZLE!
Haki clashed against Haki, like two hunting beasts viciously tearing at each other.
Atlas's blade moved upward, and with a flick of his wrist, the Futsunomitama strangely appeared above Rayleigh's head.
The intense cutting sensation pressed down on Rayleigh's scalp, and dozens of golden hairs instantly fell.
CLANG! CLANG!
Two metallic sounds rang out simultaneously. Sparks flew from above Rayleigh's head and from Atlas's ribs.
The two looked at each other for a moment, then with a tacit understanding, they both lifted their legs and began to exchange kicks, a back-and-forth collision of flesh and bone, their nearly equal Haki clashing.
Atlas grimaced internally. This old guy's Haki is in no way inferior to mine, and he's even more experienced in its application.
In terms of quantity, that half-crippled Shiki couldn't even compare. Rayleigh's abilities were the most well-rounded.
His physical skills, Haki, and swordsmanship were all undoubtedly at the world's top level, only slightly inferior in certain aspects to the Four Emperors of a decade later.
The reason the Four Emperors were who they were was that, in addition to their various abilities being at the world's peak, they also possessed one ability that set them apart—they were hexagonal warriors with a seventh side.
Whitebeard had the strongest attack power, Charlotte Linlin had the strongest defence, Kaido had the strongest recovery, and Red-Hair had the strongest Conqueror's Haki.
This was why it was said that the Admirals were on the same level as the Emperors, but there was still a gap.
However, this gap was not absolute; the factors that influence the outcome of a battle are not just strength alone.
At this thought, Atlas began to slash wildly with Futsunomitama, adopting a reckless, no-defence, trade-blow-for-blow style. Rayleigh's body had neither Kaido's recovery nor Big Mom's defence.
He was easily cut by Atlas, receiving several wounds of varying depths. But Atlas, relying on the healing power of the Horse Talisman, only suffered some damage to his clothes.
BANG! Another exchange of kicks!
Rayleigh was sent flying, forced to plant his sword into the ground to stop his momentum.
"The young people these days..." Rayleigh smiled bitterly, but the aura around him grew even stronger.
His Conqueror's Haki was charged but not yet released. Black and red lightning coursed over his blade, and his Armament Haki flowed over his longsword just as fiercely.
The terrifying power generated a massive wind pressure. For a moment, sand and stones flew, the dust kicking up a storm no less intense than Atlas's 'Govern Place Earth Coiling '!
"Flowing Haki and... Conqueror's Coating, is it?" Atlas's eyes narrowed, a hint of excitement unconsciously welling up.
The Futsunomitama in his hand, as if responding to his call, also began to course with black and red Haki.
Combined with the arcing electricity, it had a hint of the power of a Conqueror's Coating.
He didn't actually know how to use Conqueror's Coating, but he had just recently learned the internal destruction technique of Armament Haki.
Rayleigh will be the perfect person to practice on...
(T/N: Please give me some power stone, I hope it can at least reach the top 100)
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