This slash was sharp to the extreme. Before it even reached its target, its edge tore through the air, sending waves of piercing pressure outward and causing everyone watching to change color.
Yet Rosinante, the person at the center of it all, made no move at all.
Just as the slash was about to land on him, Rosinante casually extended one hand and blocked it head-on.
The moment everyone saw this, their hearts jolted.
This was not a stick, nor a rock. It was a blade-like slash capable of cutting steel and iron, released by a quasi–Great Swordsman. And Rosinante was blocking it with his bare hand, casually, almost lazily.
Wasn't that far too arrogant?
Even if you possessed Armament Haki, how could you block a swordsman's slash like this, and so casually at that, without even launching an attack in response?
Most importantly, no one could see any trace of Armament Haki on Rosinante's hand.
Blocking a Great Swordsman's slash with flesh and blood alone?
But the instant Rosinante raised his hand, Mihawk's slash stopped dead.
It could not advance even the slightest bit further.
"A fine slash. One step short, no, half a step short of the realm of a true Great Swordsman," Rosinante said calmly. "In terms of swordsmanship alone, you are stronger than me. But I was never a swordsman to begin with."
Rosinante closed his fingers.
Mihawk's slash began to crumble, inch by inch, and then completely vanished in Rosinante's grasp.
"Hey, hey, hey. Am I seeing things? He stopped Mihawk's slash with his bare hand and crushed it just like that. Mihawk is a top-tier swordsman, only half a step away from becoming a Great Swordsman. And his slash was erased that easily?"
"So strong. Is this the power of a Yonko?"
"Blocking a slash barehanded isn't unheard of. Anyone with Armament Haki can manage it to some extent," a pirate said gravely. "But blocking the slash of a high-level swordsman is extremely difficult. And Mihawk is half a step into the Great Swordsman realm. That requires Armament Haki at an incredibly high level. Yet just now, Rosinante didn't use Armament Haki at all. He used something even stronger, a power capable of effortlessly erasing Mihawk's slash."
Devil Fruit ability.
Those four words surfaced in everyone's mind at the same time.
Seeing his slash crushed so easily, Mihawk frowned. Then he stepped forward, surging toward Rosinante at high speed.
"That was a powerful slash. As a duel between swordsmen, I should return one in kind," Rosinante said with a faint smile as Mihawk charged. "But although my swordsmanship is inferior to yours, if I were to release a slash here, the damage to No Night City would be far too great. So…"
Before Rosinante finished speaking, Mihawk had already reached him and slashed downward.
The strike was unbelievably fast.
But it missed.
When Mihawk's blade passed through the space where Rosinante had been standing, he instantly realized something was wrong.
He had cut nothing but air.
At the very moment his blade fell, Rosinante vanished.
Mihawk was confident in his Observation Haki. He believed no one could disappear from his perception right in front of him.
Yet just now, Rosinante, who had clearly been standing before him, had truly vanished. Even with Mihawk's Observation Haki, he could not sense how Rosinante disappeared, nor where he had gone.
"So, let's end it like this."
A voice suddenly sounded behind Mihawk.
Mihawk swore that before hearing that voice, he would never have believed someone could appear silently behind him, and at such an absurdly close distance.
But by the time he realized it, it was already too late.
A hand rested lightly on his shoulder.
Just a gentle touch.
Yet in that instant, an overwhelming force crashed down upon him, something he simply could not withstand.
The pressure forced him to one knee. The ground beneath him shattered inch by inch as he knelt, clearly showing just how terrifying that power was.
"What just happened?"
"Rosinante disappeared?"
"I couldn't detect his movement at all. That's terrifying."
"Forget detecting his movement. Even when he reappeared, Observation Haki couldn't sense him. It's like he truly vanished."
"Is this the power of a Yonko? Mihawk lost in a single exchange?"
"Moria, I'll leave him to you," Rosinante said, patting Mihawk's shoulder once more.
Mihawk felt a force surge through his body. Blood burst uncontrollably from his mouth as his strength drained away. He collapsed to the ground, his consciousness rapidly fading.
"Hee hee hee. Don't worry, I'll take good care of him."
In the last flicker of Mihawk's awareness, he heard Moria's eerie laughter. Then everything went black.
Moria walked over, grabbed one of Mihawk's legs, and dragged him away just like that.
"Let's go. We've wasted a bit of time," Rosinante said, casting a glance toward the Supernova pirate captains nearby.
That single look was enough to make cold sweat pour down their foreheads nonstop.