"Then let's go and try it. Now, take a good look at how strong those Great Pirates are and update their information in time."
Kong rubbed his brow after hearing Tsuru's words.
The Marine had no right to recruit experts from the Allied Nations, after all, the Allied Nations were their protected targets.
In the Battle Pyramid, 17th Floor, Arena 1, Golden Lion and Nox stood facing each other, looking at each other with serious gazes.
"Golden Lion, thinking back to when we were in the Rocks Pirates, you really beat me up badly when you had just advanced to Grand Swordmaster! This time I'm going to get my revenge, so don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Nox couldn't help but think back to the last time he fought with Golden Lion, which seemed like a very long time ago.
"Gurarararara, Nox, you were the one who begged me to beat you up back then, it wasn't because I wanted to beat you up!"
"By the way, didn't you say you owed me a favor back then? What, you still haven't planned on repaying it by now?"
Golden Lion also seemed to recall this matter, and also remembered the promise of a favor Nox had made back then. Up until now, he hadn't seen a single bit of that favor.
"What are you anxious about? What I, Nox, have said is like spilled water, it always counts. If I said I owe you a favor, I owe you a favor. When the time is right, I will naturally repay it!"
"For now, let me first get my revenge for back then!"
Nox pouted and said.
Back then, he was still weak and needed Golden Lion and others to spar with him to grow as quickly as possible, but since he owed a favor, he would naturally remember it.
"Limitless - Sky Breaking Sword Draw!"
As he spoke, Nox's figure suddenly disappeared from his original spot and appeared in front of Golden Lion. The Seven Star Sword was drawn instantly. Among the people present, only those top-tier powerhouses could clearly see Nox's sword drawing action.
"Cross Thousand Valley Shred!"
Holding Sakura Ten and kogarashi, Golden Lion crossed his swords instantly, covering the blades with black Busoshoku Haki, and unleashed a brilliant cross slash. The sharp slash created huge cracks even on the incredibly hard ground.
However, such a sharp cross slash was easily broken in front of Nox, and the Seven Star Sword followed the momentum to slash towards Golden Lion's neck.
However, as the Seven Star Sword came, Golden Lion withdrew his swords and blocked Nox's attack.
"Nox, are you looking down on me? Why are you only using one of your three Sword Intents!"
Golden Lion swung forcefully, deflecting the Seven Star Sword, then roared like a raging lion. Afterwards, Sakura Ten and kogarashi attacked wildly.
If Golden Lion, who possessed the Float-Float Fruit, was like a ghostly lion resembling a phantom in the sky, then the current Golden Lion was like a wild land lion, his sword attacks wild and aggressive.
"Hahaha, Golden Lion, since you want to be beaten up, I'll oblige!"
Seeing the enraged Golden Lion, Nox forced him back, laughed heartily, and his Limitless Sword Intent, Bloodlust Sword Intent, and Sea Abyss Sword Intent simultaneously surged up.
The next moment, the three Sword Intents perfectly fused together, forming a Yin-Yang Fish resembling the Yin-Yang Taiji.
Using Limitless Sword Intent to encompass Bloodlust Sword Intent and Sea Abyss Sword Intent, keeping the three Sword Intents in perfect balance, he broke the record in the Pirate World where no Grand Swordmaster could simultaneously use two Sword Intents.
At this moment, Golden Lion stopped his attack, and the Swordsmen around the entire arena also held their breath, looking at Nox with burning eyes.
Especially those Great Swordsmen, they all wanted to see something in Nox, why Nox could simultaneously use three Sword Intents, while they couldn't even use two Sword Intents at the same time!
"Three Elements Combined Mystery - Blood Dragon Severing Sky Cut!"
As the three Sword Intents flowed, they merged onto the Seven Star Sword's body. As the blood dragon coiled, an incredibly powerful Sword Intent erupted.
With one slash, the blood dragon soared into the sky!
"Lion Majesty · Thousand Valley Shred!"
Although without the power of the Float-Float Fruit, relying on the power of Sword Intent, the moment Golden Lion slashed with his two swords, a massive lion sword slash still formed.
However, the blood dragon formed by the fusion of the three Sword Intents easily crushed Golden Lion's slash, and even slammed into Golden Lion's swords, blasting him flying onto the steel wall at the edge of the arena.
The walls of the 17th floor arena had an extra layer of five-meter-thick hard steel wall compared to the 16th floor, precisely to prevent the arena from being broken through.
"Gurarararara, Again, Again!!"
Even with just one slash, Golden Lion clearly perceived that Nox's strength was greater than his own currently, but he was not discouraged by this. Instead, he took the initiative to attack.
Since he ate the Float-Float Fruit, he rarely engaged in head-on battles with enemies. He always relied on the power of the Float-Float Fruit to gain aerial advantage, flexibly dodging enemy attacks, and then seizing opportunities to counterattack.
But it was precisely this fighting style that made it difficult for his sword road to advance.
After all, the Sword Intent of a Swordsman emphasizes advancing fearlessly and cutting down everything, no matter how strong the enemy is, they can rely on the sword in their hand to slay them.
Golden Lion now also realized this problem, so back during the war in the New World, he specifically used John and World to temper his Sword Intent.
Now he is even using the Sword Art Tournament to continue tempering his Sword Intent, making his Sword Intent stronger!
Golden Lion would not give up the advantage of his Float-Float Fruit, but he was also seriously making up for his shortcomings, or rather, making himself stronger, because to achieve his ambition, he needed to become stronger, at least not worse than Rocks was back then!
"Golden Lion, just as you beat me up back then, I will now return it in full!"
Seeing Golden Lion like this, Nox already knew Golden Lion's thoughts. Just like when he was a Sword Master and had Golden Lion spar with him to hone his swordsmanship, Golden Lion wanted Nox to be his whetstone.
"Three Elements Combined Mystery - Blood Moon Soaring Sky!"
A blood-red crescent moon appeared above the arena. With just a flash, a streak of blood shadow flew past.
As Nox's figure flew with the blood shadow, the Seven Star Sword instantly appeared in front of Golden Lion.
"Lion Majesty - Tornado!"
Golden Lion instantly clamped down with his two swords, trying to block the power of the Seven Star Sword, but the next moment, he was blasted away again by the incredibly powerful force from the Seven Star Sword.
"Cough cough, the three Sword Intents are truly powerful!"
Golden Lion wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, cracked a smile, stood up, and attacked again.
He admitted that without using the Float-Float Fruit, he was no match for Nox at all, but it was precisely this that made him even more excited.
It had been a long time since he, Golden Lion, had encountered an opponent he couldn't defeat. This feeling only appeared when he was in the Rocks Pirates.
The battle between Nox and Golden Lion continued. Everyone present could see that Golden Lion was being severely suppressed by Nox.
"It seems Golden Lion is going to lose!"
"Hmph, this is just due to the rules, Golden Lion hasn't used his Devil Fruit ability. Otherwise, how could Golden Lion be suppressed!"
"Speaking of which, it's fine if they don't use Devil Fruit abilities, but why haven't they used Haoshoku Haki?"
"Are you stupid? This is a Sword Art Tournament, what's being competed is the sword road, not Haki. Didn't you notice that they barely even use Busoshoku Haki? At most, it's just used to reinforce the sword body, they hardly even use it for defense."
"So that's how it is. I was wondering why the strength of those Great Swordsmen seemed less than before. So this is the reason!"...
Many spectators present were amazed and discussed animatedly after seeing the arrogant Golden Lion being suppressed by Nox.
However, neither Nox nor Golden Lion cared about what those people were discussing.
Golden Lion now only wanted to break free from this situation of being constantly beaten by Nox by relying on his swordsmanship.
As for Nox, he wanted to use this crushing method to get revenge for Golden Lion beating him up back then, after all, Nox was someone who held grudges.
Although he had asked to be beaten up back then, thinking back on it now, it was truly embarrassing. To prevent Golden Lion from bragging about it in the future, he decided to get his revenge fiercely this time!
While Nox and Golden Lion were fighting fiercely, the other three matches were also happening simultaneously: Red Count vs. Rayleigh, Roger vs. Silver Axe, and Wang Zhi vs. Genryusai Shigegoku.
"Rayleigh, this is our second match, isn't it?"
Red Count turned into a streak of light, holding his umbrella sword and slashing towards Rayleigh.
"This is indeed our second match. You've become much stronger than before."
Rayleigh seriously held griffin and blocked Red Count's umbrella sword.
"Hahaha, back then Roger messed things up, so there was no decisive victory. This time I will definitely defeat you, and then go challenge that guy Nox!"
Red Count flashed behind Rayleigh with ghost-like speed and slashed again.
"Then come on, let me see if you have the ability!"
Rayleigh's Kenbunshoku Haki detected the anomaly behind him, and he flashed away, dodging the slash.
The sword wave slashed onto the ground, carrying terrifying power towards the wall. With Red Count's strength, this slash was likely to cut through the wall!
At the critical moment, Chinjao appeared in front of the wall, infusing Busoshoku Haki into the wall, reinforcing it, causing the slash to only cut into the steel plate of the wall by a few dozen centimeters.
Between each arena, Nox had arranged two people to prevent the wall from being unable to withstand excessive battle repercussions. Busoshoku Haki combined with the already indestructible wall was enough to block the battle repercussions!
Silver Axe himself was a Grand Swordmaster, but his weapon was an axe. To participate in this Sword Art Tournament, he specifically replaced his giant axe with a giant sword.
However, his swordsmanship was not very strong, even weaker than Wang Zhi by a margin, so he was naturally no match for Roger.
Meanwhile, during Wang Zhi's match against Genryusai Shigegoku, he was somewhat surprised because Genryusai Shigegoku used Elemental Flow Sword Intent, using Sword Intent to unleash flames like the Natural-type Mera Mera no Mi.
The terrifying flames transformed from powerful Sword Intent could even burn his slashes.
It was just a pity that Genryusai Shigegoku was currently in his forties, a bit young, and his Sword Intent was not tempered enough. In the end, Wang Zhi narrowly won.