The street buckled.
Kai came down from the sky in a straight line. The shock of his landing jammed through stone and spine alike. Grin's knees hit first. Garson's balance blew apart.
"Too slow," Kai said.
Garson lunged anyway—pride before pain—and met a looping blur.
"Rankyaku!"
A clean, pale blade unspooled from Kai's shin and bit the air. It clipped the wolf's leading wrist, then carved a gouge into the street beyond. Garson staggered, eyes wild.
Grin puffed hard, skin ballooning to grotesque size. "Spines—!"
"Kami-e."
Kai slipped the spray. A single step put him shoulder-to-shoulder with the pufferfish-man. Two knuckles found a nerve cluster beneath the arm.
"Shigan — Shave Point."
The arm went slack. Spines tumbled harmlessly.
"Sleep," Kai said—and drove a short Tekkai punch into the diaphragm.
WHUMP.
Grin folded around the impact and stayed down.
Across the plaza, ten meters of bear-man plowed forward like an avalanche. Oren snatched up a broken mast and swung it like a club. The wind of it knocked market awnings flat.
Kai exhaled once, unclenching the last of his focus from the officers. He turned to face the shadow that filled the street.
"You picked the wrong sea to roar in," Oren rumbled. His voice vibrated the glass in nearby windows.
Kai set his feet. "Then stop roaring and show me your best."
Oren obliged. The mast came down like a guillotine.
"Soru."
The world blinked. The mast pulverized stone—and Kai stood on the haft, weight light, toes pointed.
"You—!" Oren twisted, swiping with his free hand.
"Geppo!"
Air held and released; Kai stepped sideways in the sky. The bear-man's palm scraped empty air and howled.
At the edge of the fight, Aokiji watched without expression. Frost crawled in filigree along the broken street, stopping at a circle around the boy—a line no ice crossed.
"Vice Admiral," Colonel Miz breathed, "should we—"
"Hold," Aokiji said. "If he breaks, I'm here."
Oren's shoulders rolled. Veins roped across his chest. He wrenched the mast free, snapped it in two, and hurled both halves like spears.
Kai lifted a hand.
"Rankyaku — Cross!"
Two intersecting blades flashed. Wood became confetti.
Oren's eyes narrowed. "So you're one of theirs… Rokushiki brat."
Kai shook his head. "I'm just me."
He dropped to the ground, dust kissing his ankles. The Ghost Back lines across his shoulders seemed darker in the sun.
"Come, then," Oren snarled, bending his knees. The cobbles under his feet cracked. "Break."
They moved at once—
—and the shock of their first true clash stung every ear on the street.
To be continued…
Would you like me to send CHAPTER 96 next?
You said:
yes
ChatGPT said:
CHAPTER 96 — The Awakening of the Ghost Back! [8/10 Subscribe Request]
The second clash was heavier.
Oren's brute force didn't stop at muscle. Something old and mean rode his blood—a giant's echo beating in his bones. Each swing came with a pressure wave that pushed dust before it.
Kai felt it. He let it roll past him, not through him.
"Soru!"
He split to the left, reappeared at Oren's hip, and drove a tight Tekkai jab toward the kidney.
"Gh—!" Oren half-turned, arm catching enough of it to dull the shock. He hammered down with the other fist.
Stone shattered. Air screamed.
Kai slid back, boots skimming, and exhaled. The lines across his back tightened—ink that wasn't ink, pattern that wasn't just skin.
Something in him clicked.
A quiet chime rang where no bell hung.
[Ghost Back Completion: 10.01%]
[Cultivation Efficiency Multiplier: ×50]
Heat lifted from his shoulders like mist, then settled deeper.
Aokiji's eyes thinned. "There it is," he murmured. "So that's what Garp meant."
Oren didn't care about systems or numbers. He charged. Kai met him and didn't give ground.
Their fists touched once.
BOOM!
The shock stacked and came back. Oren's step skidded. Kai's frame didn't waver.
"Again," Kai said, voice soft.
They traded in bursts—
Soru to flank, Shigan to tendon, Tekkai to core, Kami-e to slip the return.
Finally, Kai drew one breath and cut the space between them.
"Rankyaku!"
An air blade stitched a long white line across Oren's shoulder. Blood followed it a breath later.
Oren grinned, more animal than man. "Now we're talking."
He bent, grabbed a half-buried anchor, and flung it. The iron spun end over end toward the Marine line.
"Tch." Aokiji flicked two fingers. Frost raced. The anchor froze solid mid-arc, then shattered into glittering hail.
"Eyes on me," Kai said—and Oren looked back just in time to meet a fist.
"Tekkai — Steel Fist!"
CRACK.
The bear-man's jaw snapped to the side. He staggered, then caught himself on one knee, breathing hard and smiling through blood.
Somewhere above the square, a Den Den Mushi lens clicked softly.
"Confirm: Rokushiki-capable minor. Conqueror's Haki confirmed. Flag for Cipher Pol."
Kai's head tilted. He didn't look up.
To be continued…
Visit my patreon for more chapters
Advance 60+ Chapters Available
patreon.com/ZeusOp