Lulusia Kingdom, Port Town. Yamakaji chewed on a cigar, his right hand resting on the hilt of the saber at his waist. He squinted at Perona, who was floating in mid-air.
"Surrender!" Yamakaji said, his voice serious. "I don't want to draw my blade against a little girl like you..."
Upon arriving at the scene, Yamakaji had sensed a hint of the truth behind the incident. But Akainu had ordered them killed, and that gave him pause.
It was because of this brief hesitation that the other Vice Admirals had already chosen their opponents, leaving only an unarmed Perona for him.
"Don't look down on me!" Perona snapped. With a wave of her hand, a giant white ghost instantly formed from her palm, detached itself, and rushed toward Yamakaji. Meanwhile, she soared upward, creating distance and drifting toward a nearby building.
Yamakaji watched the white ghost rush toward him. He didn't know the ability of Perona's Devil Fruit, and he was unsure of its effect. However, most Devil Fruit creations couldn't resist strong Haki. Therefore... just slash it!
Swish! The saber at Yamakaji's waist suddenly unsheathed. With a flash of the blade, a blue Flying Slash imbued with Armament Haki shot out, splitting the approaching white ghost in two. But under Yamakaji's surprised gaze, the giant white ghost exploded with a "boom," releasing a strong shockwave. It sent countless thumb-sized white ghosts, like blooming spores, shooting toward him.
Yamakaji: "!?" Subconsciously, he wanted to cover his entire body with Armament Haki to defend, immunizing himself against the attack. But just as he began to mobilize his Haki, a thumb-sized Negative Hollow had already entered his chest. Negative emotions such as sadness, powerlessness, negativity, and despair surged into his heart.
As a result, Yamakaji abandoned the thought of using his Armament Haki for defense. He threw away the saber, his knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground in a pose of dejection. "What is the meaning of my life? I just want to become a rock...!"
When Yamakaji completely lost the will to resist, more and more Negative Hollows attached themselves to his body, entering him and continuously refreshing his negative state.
This made him unable to even generate the thought of mobilizing his Haki of Armament; he only wanted to remain negative and stay kneeling on the ground. Seeing this scene, a Lieutenant Commander standing nearby quickly shouted:
"Pull yourself together! Vice Admiral Yamakaji!"
"As long as we deal with that ability user, Vice Admiral Yamakaji should be able to recover!" A soldier in the crowd suddenly shouted loudly. "Take down that woman!"
"That's right, take her down!"
Swish! Swish! Swish! Dark muzzles aimed at Perona, who floated in the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out continuously in the central plaza. Perona, already prepared, slipped away like a wisp of smoke and entered a building through a window.
"Quick, chase her! Don't let her escape!" the Major shouted. Hundreds of lower-ranking officers quickly chased after Perona.
Layer upon layer, like ocean waves, continuous and brilliant sword slashes covered the vital points all around Momonga, forcing him to retreat and create some distance. "Such fast swordsmanship!"
Momonga held his Saber with both hands, looking at Iska in front of him. She held Ame no Habakiri and had long orange-red hair. He wore a serious expression. The young girl moved extremely fast when attacking, and her techniques contained many variations, making it difficult to predict her attack trajectory accurately.
"You're not bad either!" Iska stared intently at Momonga, not daring to relax in the slightest.
Although she seemed to have the advantage, she knew the opponent was constantly looking for her weak points, waiting for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow. In a duel between swordsmen, unless the strength difference between them was vast, they would constantly use probing attacks to find the opportunity for victory.
Clang!
Two Sabers collided, sparks flew, and metal struck metal. Kuina, holding Wado Ichimonji, did not engage in a long standoff with Doberman.
Instead, she used clever force to quickly deflect the direction of his Saber attack, while her own figure moved sideways and retreated into the nearby alley.
If it were a one-on-one fight with Doberman, Kuina wouldn't be afraid in the slightest. After a brief exchange, she had roughly figured out his swordsmanship level and was confident she could defeat him within the next hundred moves. However... The Marine soldiers in the distance occasionally fired sneak shots at her, which was truly annoying!
As a result, Kuina often had to divide her attention to avoid being caught off guard. Therefore, she planned to gradually move the battlefield between them to an area outside the plaza, preventing the Marine soldiers from continuing to ambush her.
"You want to fight me in the alley? I'm sorry, but I won't grant your wish..." Doberman's face was ashen. Holding his Saber in his left hand, he raised his right hand and touched a shallow bloody scar on his chest. In the recent fight, he had made a fatal mistake due to underestimating his opponent and being careless.
If that wound had been an inch or two deeper, he would definitely be heavily injured and unable to get up by now.
However... The culprit behind all this was merely the young girl before him, who looked only seventeen or eighteen years old!?
After a brief exchange, Doberman clearly realized that apart from the strength of his Haki of Armament and his advantage as a male physique, his swordsmanship and Observation Haki were completely suppressed by the girl!
If it weren't for the Marine soldiers nearby firing in support when Kuina attacked him, forcing her to quickly change her move to block, he wouldn't even be standing here talking...
"If you enter the alley, I will choose to give up attacking you and instead go support the other Vice Admirals," Doberman said with a cold laugh.
Hearing this, Kuina couldn't help but glare and curse, "Despicable!"
"Heh! That's called strategy and tactics. It's essentially no different from your desire to move the battlefield into the alley..."
As he spoke, Doberman once again swung his Saber with his left hand, launching an attack on Kuina.
...
On the edge of the central plaza, Ain had been directing the Marine soldiers who had endured Yamato's Haoshoku pressure but remained conscious to quickly move the other unconscious people behind Aokiji and Zephyr, preventing them from being affected by the battle.
However, Ain's eyes would always involuntarily glance at Kozuki Hiyori, Iska, and Kuina.
Ain keenly noticed that their sword techniques contained a strong swordsmanship style and trace of a certain person...
After a year of swordsmanship guidance from a certain person, she herself had unconsciously imitated and learned some of their swordsmanship. Therefore, she could see the hints in the three girls' swordsmanship. What is their relationship with him...?