"Gum-Gum... White Tornado!!!"
Whoosh!!!
A howling white gale suddenly rose from the ruined ground of the Room of Flowers, like an invisible giant hand stirring the winds and clouds of heaven and earth.
And at that very moment, two whip-like arms suddenly shot out from the roaring white storm, sweeping rapidly across the bodies of the Five Elders.
The first to suffer was Saint Mars in his Itsumade form, who could not fully display his strength within such an enclosed space.
As Luffy's giant hand swept past, Mars—lacking any ability for high-speed low-altitude movement—was instantly snatched into Luffy's grasp, like a pitiful sparrow caught in the hands of a mischievous child in winter. His eyes bulged, and then he was immediately dragged into a horrifying endless cycle of spinning torment.
Luffy's other arm, meanwhile, caught Saint Peter in his gigantic sandworm form amid the chaos.
It was just that, perhaps because Luffy failed to control his strength properly, the sandworm only spun around with the tornado a few times before its body was violently torn apart by the terrifying centrifugal force. More than half of its enormous body was flung from Luffy's hand into the ceiling of the Room of Flowers, splattering blood everywhere before crashing back down to the ground.
Fortunately, the Five Elders possessed limitless regeneration, and Saint Peter's sandworm form in particular had astonishing recovery power.
So while it looked miserable—and painful—it did not truly inflict any fundamental damage on them.
But compared to Luffy's battlefield, where he was fighting one against five and still held the upper hand, Zoro and Sanji were locked in a bitter struggle in another corner of the Room of Flowers.
"What the hell is this darkness?!"
"Why can it absorb all the damage into itself?!"
Within an area shrouded in darkness—
Sanji, transformed into a flame knight, stepped on blazing fire and appeared behind Saint Shamrock at a speed almost like teleportation. Then he lashed out with a kick!
"Ifrit Jambe · Collier Strike!!!"
Endless flames surged forth behind Sanji like a monstrous tidal wave, then rapidly condensed into the sole of his foot, causing it to erupt with a brilliance as dazzling as the sun itself, piercing through all the darkness before him.
Boom!!!
The surging sea of flame crashed forward like an explosion of impact, instantly engulfing both Shamrock, who was locked in a contest of swordsmanship with Zoro, and Zoro himself.
"Black Curtain!!!"
Sensing the scorching heat behind him, Shamrock had no time to react in any other way. He could only contract the darkness he had spread outward, forming a massive curtain behind himself to block all the flames and impact.
Within the dark mist, it was as though another world lay connected beyond it. In the blink of an eye, all the fire and impact were swallowed away, revealing Shamrock and Zoro completely uninjured.
Even so, Shamrock's face twisted with furious rage.
"You damned insects!!!"
The power of darkness could contain everything in the world. Objects, life, souls, abilities, energy—everything could be devoured by the endless dark.
But that did not mean the user of the Dark-Dark Fruit could contain things without limit.
The more he contained, the greater the pressure he had to bear.
If it was merely physical objects, he could release them at any time to relieve that pressure.
But if it was energy or impact, he could not casually let it out in the middle of battle.
If he was even slightly careless, then with the Dark-Dark Fruit's heightened sensitivity to pain, he might end up suffering even worse injuries than he would have originally.
"Oi! Curly-brow cook! Are you trying to roast me alive too?!"
Ignoring Shamrock's furious cursing, Zoro shifted his gaze past the man's head and roared at Sanji behind him.
These Celestial Dragons always said the same few lines over and over again.
Either "insect" or "lowly creature" and the like...
They'd dealt with the Five Elders several times before. They were already immune to this kind of meaningless barking.
Compared to that, he cared a lot more about what exactly Sanji had been trying to do with that kick just now.
And as expected, Sanji did not hold back in response to Zoro's questioning. He shouted right back:
"What are you yelling for?!"
"It's not like that kick could kill you anyway!!!"
"You bastard!!!"
A sharp light flashed through Zoro's eyes.
Just as Shamrock was baffled by why the two of them were acting like he didn't even exist, a surging aura suddenly burst from Zoro's body.
At that moment, in Shamrock's eyes, it was as if a pair of enormous dragon eyes had appeared behind Zoro, staring directly at him and bringing with them an inexplicable pressure.
At this moment, Zoro was unleashing the Pressure Ability without the slightest reservation.
Its effect was even more astonishing than ordinary Conqueror's Haki.
Of course, pressure alone was not enough to cause substantial harm.
So after repeated sparring with Mihawk, Zoro had successfully comprehended an entirely new kind of swordsmanship...
Using aura to command the blade!!!
This was not some mystical sword control art from a fantasy world, but simply a method of swinging the sword by condensing one's spirit, energy, and will into the slash, similar to coating a strike with Conqueror's Haki.
That was all.
But once Zoro fused the tyranny of the Dragon type, the hardness of the Steel type, and the eeriness of the Ghost type together with the mental suppression brought by Pressure into his swordsmanship...
This move was born!!!
"I originally meant to save this for that curly-brow cook... but using you to test it first seems like a pretty good idea too."
A crimson gleam flashed across Zoro's eyes.
He abruptly stepped back, crossing both arms before himself in an X-shape, then slowly raised his head.
At that moment, it was as if endless slashes filled his gaze, streaming through his body like flowing light before pouring into his swords.
The blade of Sandai Kitetsu—already transformed into a black blade—flickered darkly, becoming the centerpiece among the three swords.
"Three Sword Style Secret Technique: Dark Extinction · God-Slaying!!!"
Whoosh~
A mysterious storm suddenly surged up around Zoro, forming a spiraling current that swept up the surrounding black mist and made it coil around him.
In the end, influenced by an unknown power, that darkness rapidly condensed toward Zoro's three swords.
In the blink of an eye, Narukami and Wado Ichimonji—originally radiating thunderous might and holy brilliance—were quickly dyed black by the darkness, becoming black blades just like Sandai Kitetsu.
At that point, wielding three black blades, Zoro looked like the true ruler of this dark domain as his gaze locked onto Saint Shamrock.
Shamrock: ???
This isn't right, is it?!
Why is the darkness I created being used by this brat?!
Sadly, he could never understand the truth of noble dragons ruling over all elements in the world.
And Zoro had not been wrong, either.
After developing the characteristics of the Dragon type, he had originally intended to use this on Sanji's flames.
The slash naturally would not have been called "Dark Extinction," but would have been named after fire or light instead.
Who would have thought this battle would interrupt things before he and Sanji could resume their rivalry?
And when it came down to it, whoever showed up first got to enjoy it first!
Besides, for someone like Zoro, who also possessed the Ghost type, dark energy was even easier to wield than other elements.
Slash—
A line of light, as if cleaving the world in two, abruptly appeared within the darkness and passed through Shamrock's body.
Clang!
The sound of metal striking metal flashed by.
Shamrock, having blocked Zoro's attack, froze in confusion. He turned around in astonishment to look at Zoro, who was already withdrawing from his slashing stance.
Only a moment later, after confirming that he had not suffered a single wound, did he ask in bewilderment:
"Insect... what are you doing?!"
With all that overwhelming spectacle—even slipping past his control of the dark energy—and after all that, nothing happened?
What exactly was that supposed to be?!
Even Sanji flew over to Zoro's side, looking at him in confusion.
"Mosshead, are you even capable or not?!"
"You actually missed with that?!"
Though the two of them were fighting together against a common enemy, there was no way either of them would ever miss a good chance to mock the other.
Yet upon hearing Sanji's question, Zoro merely curled his lips and said a line he had learned from Red:
"Don't rush. Let the bullets fly for a while."
"Bullets? What bullets?!"
Shamrock was utterly baffled.
But just as he assumed Zoro had simply messed up and wasted his stamina for nothing, and was preparing to raise his sword and attack again...
His expression suddenly froze.
"This... how is this possible?!"
Shamrock hurriedly looked down at the sword in his hand in alarm.
Unsurprisingly, this blade too was one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Meito.
It was the sword he had wielded ever since he first began learning swordsmanship.
And yet...
Just now, he had suddenly felt a terrifying sense of estrangement from it.
As though this were some random blade he had casually picked up, and he needed to start learning swordsmanship from scratch all over again.
"This... this is impossible!!!"
Shamrock abruptly raised his head and pointed at Zoro in shock.
"It was you!!!"
"What did you do, you lowly insect?!"
"Heh. You Celestial Dragons really are ridiculous. Can't you come up with a different line?"
Zoro sneered, but then proudly explained:
"Stop struggling."
"You know just how terrifying your darkness is, don't you?"
"Just now, your swordsmanship was completely swallowed by the darkness!!!"
"I've got to say, your darkness is really useful~"
As he spoke, Zoro wore an expression of lingering satisfaction.
And this was his newly developed ultimate move...
Temporarily named by him as God-Slaying Swordsmanship!
Of course, the "god-slaying" here did not refer to slaying actual gods, but to severing the spirit!
This was an entirely new move developed by using Pressure's mental suppression as the foundation.
Mental pressure infused with the Steel type became a blade of the mind; combined with the Dragon type's power to command the elements, and the Ghost type's ability to strike directly at the soul...
It directly attacked the enemy's soul and spirit!
And because different elemental attributes could be fused into the move, it could also produce different effects.
For example, if fire was infused, it would burn the enemy's soul.
If ice was infused, it would freeze and slow it.
If water was infused, it would drown and suffocate it...
And if the enemy lacked elemental attacks, Zoro could simply draw out the thunder power within Narukami to directly destroy the enemy's soul.
This was the entirely new combat method Zoro had developed!
And just so happened, this time their opponent was a user of the Dark-Dark Fruit.
The effect of dark power had exceeded even Zoro's expectations!
God-Slaying swordsmanship infused with darkness could permanently devour portions of the enemy's soul and spirit!
Though only a small part was lost, for the truly strong, the loss of any part of the soul was unbearable damage!
Take Shamrock right now, for example—he could no longer release Conqueror's Haki at the level he had at his peak just moments ago.
And because part of his soul was missing, even using a technique like Conqueror's coating had become much more unfamiliar to him.
Once all these losses stacked together, how could his strength possibly have declined by only a tiny amount from losing just that little bit of soul?
"What did you say?!"
After hearing Zoro's explanation, Shamrock's eyes widened in disbelief and terror.
No matter how much he wanted to deny Zoro's words, the obvious weakening of his soul was a fact he could not ignore.
The one equally horrified was Sanji standing beside Zoro.
"Hey, hey..."
Beneath his flame armor, Sanji frowned deeply.
"You bastard, didn't you just say this move was supposed to be for me?!"
"Damn it! You actually wanted to murder your own crewmate!!!"
After hearing Zoro's explanation, even Sanji—who was on the verge of developing the Speed-Speed Fruit to its awakened state—could not help but break out in a cold sweat.
Devouring the enemy's soul and permanently lowering their talent...
This ability was way too terrifying, wasn't it?!
However, hearing Sanji say that, Zoro immediately rolled his eyes and cursed:
"Idiot!!!"
"You can't even use dark energy!!!"
"A fire-based God-Slaying strike would at most make your soul feel like it's burning and hurt so much you'd drop to your knees begging for mercy!!!"
"Then we'd just go to the Pokémon world and heal it up casually!"
Being injured and being devoured were two completely different things.
In the Pokémon world, as long as you still had a sliver of life left, even if most of your body had been reduced to ashes, you could still be instantly restored.
Even the soul was no exception.
But devouring was different.
Because once something was devoured, it was not considered an injury. It was simply that compared to its previous complete state, it was now missing a part of itself.
"Oh, right~"
Sanji paused in realization.
The reason Zoro's new move had such a horrifying effect on Shamrock was all thanks to the dark energy of the Dark-Dark Fruit!
However...
Coming back to his senses, Sanji secretly glanced at Zoro.
This bastard's talent really was so monstrous that it felt like he wasn't even from the same world as the rest of them!
Using the built-in effect of the Pressure Ability and fusing it with Pokémon-type powers, he had actually created such an astonishing and terrifying form of swordsmanship!!!
At that moment, Sanji could not help but wonder—
if Zoro had eaten the Speed-Speed Fruit instead, maybe he would have developed it to the awakened stage long ago.
This mosshead was practically even more absurd than Luffy!!!
At least Luffy's absurdity still had some traceable logic behind it.
But this guy's growth was enough to make people's jaws drop!
The first to merge Pokémon moves into swordsmanship,
the first to develop Pokémon-ization,
the first to grasp the true essence of Pokémon energy and use Pokémon-ization · Complete Form...
And now he was the first to turn a passive Ability into an active combat style, and one with astonishing power at that.
Even though with the power of the Speed-Speed Fruit, Sanji could sometimes gain the upper hand over Zoro in sparring...
For some reason, though...
Sanji always had the feeling that he was constantly chasing after Zoro.
Every time, with Zoro's help, he finally reached the same height as him, this bastard would reveal some even more outrageous new method.
"Damn it!!!"
"You bastard, are you even a normal human being at all?!"
Sanji, a genetically modified man carrying the Lineage Factors of multiple powerful races, felt for the first time in his life that he was somehow the normal one.
At the same time, his mind began racing...
If he fused the power of Pokémon types into his Battle Armor Ability, would it also produce an equally powerful effect?
But how was Battle Armor supposed to be developed!?
That wasn't an enemy-suppressing Ability like Pressure!!!
Damn that mosshead!!!
When your crewmate's talent is this absurdly monstrous, it really can drive a person insane!!!
(End of Chapter)