This time Hawk Eyes Mihawk finally left the center he had barely moved from all along. His fashionable black coat had many tears in it now, and the scattered small wounds had increased quite a bit.
Vane's situation was similar to Hawk Eyes Mihawk's. However, small wounds like these healed in the blink of an eye; it was just that his clothes looked a bit torn.
"I'm not fighting anymore. That strike just now was my strongest move."
Vane sheathed the Cursed Sword. His objective had already been achieved, and there was no need to go all out against Hawk Eyes. Hawk Eyes' main target today was still Shanks—he couldn't let that red-haired guy keep watching from the sidelines.
Seeing Vane put his sword away and show no fighting intent, Hawk Eyes indeed turned his blade and pointed it at Red-Haired Shanks.
"What? You're really going to keep going? You're not in your best condition right now, are you?"
Those two sword clashes just now were evenly matched. Hawk Eyes' stamina and Haki had been heavily consumed, and at most he had less than seventy percent of his usual strength left.
"Other people's swords won't only fall when you're at your best."
With that understanding, no wonder he would later become the world's greatest swordsman.
When Red-Haired didn't attack, Hawk Eyes took the initiative, forcing Red-Haired to engage him.
Now it was Vane's turn to watch from the side. Red-Haired's swordsmanship was very strong, but like Vane, it wasn't as pure as Hawk Eyes'. What made him even stronger was his Haki.
Observation, Armament, Conqueror's—later the number one in Haki, perfectly integrating Haki into his swordsmanship, with astonishing destructive power.
Vane combined the Armament Haki training insights he had read with the Haki displayed by the two before him, greatly improving his understanding of Armament Haki.
The auction house… no, it should be said the ruins—inside, the fight was exhilarating. The ones who suffered were the others outside, especially the gang forces with businesses nearby. Each of them took massive losses.
Building collapse was one thing, but half of Gambling Street had collapsed as well, and damned enough, the collapsed area happened to include the places where they held gladiators.
The long-imprisoned gladiators directly rushed out and clashed with the gang members.
"Get back into the cages!"
"The ones who should be in cages are you. Kill our way out!"
The gang side, after all, had muskets and weapons. These captured gladiators didn't. After several failed attempts to break through, the gladiators' casualties surged.
"What do we do? We can't break through at all!"
"If we had weapons in hand…"
Boom! Boom!
Just as the gladiators had no idea what to do, heavy footsteps came from behind them.
Dice charged out holding a stone block three to four meters tall and over a meter thick, then hurled it fiercely at the gang members.
The gang members hurried to dodge. If they got hit by that, they'd be smashed into meat paste. How much Belly do they make in a month anyway? They never fight losing battles, alright?
And that wasn't all. With plenty of stones at the collapse site, Dice directly grabbed one after another, turning into a human-shaped siege engine. Even a stone wall would be smashed down, let alone a wall of people afraid of death.
"This is great—charge out! These people don't dare stop us!"
"I grabbed a knife! Kill those bastards!"
With Dice opening the way, the gladiators imprisoned on Gambling Street finally rushed onto the street.
Some formidable enforcers from Gambling Street finally arrived.
"You guys, get back!"
"Damn it, if we can't deal with big-name pirates, we can still deal with you!"
They didn't have the guts or the strength to interfere with what was happening at the auction house, but cracking down on these gladiators was something they could do.
However, reality was harsher. The expected one-sided situation didn't appear. The gladiators' resistance was extremely strong, and there was also a fierce fighter like Dice.
The two sides ended up in a stalemate.
...
Ruins.
The battle between Red-Haired and Hawk Eyes continued. Because he had crossed blades with Vane beforehand, Hawk Eyes' condition was poor from the start. No matter how much this fight dragged on, it wouldn't last long.
Vane stood to the side, a piece of rubble pinched in his hand—his experience with Shigan and Tekkai, his Armament Haki training insights, and the demonstrations from the two in front of him, both with considerable achievements in Armament Haki.
Vane captured that instant of energy, like grabbing hold of a loose thread. The more he pulled, the more came out, until he stripped away all the stitching of someone else's clothes and finally saw the essence beneath.
A stream of black energy with a faint bluish glow wrapped around Vane's hand.
This layer of energy was harder than steel. Covering the body, it enhanced defense; attached to the fist, it increased attack power; wrapped around blades, it made sword techniques even stronger.
He had previously trained on the basis of Tekkai. This auction had given him insights, and with someone demonstrating in actual combat, he finally gained a preliminary grasp of Armament Haki. From now on, if he encountered Logia-type Devil Fruit users, he'd have ways to restrain them.
"Looks like wrapping Armament Haki around weapons still needs practice."
Wrapping Armament Haki around one's body was one level of difficulty; wrapping it around weapons was another, requiring constant practice.
The two fought with increasing intensity. Red-Haired used a move akin to an ultimate technique—the vanished gryphon shadow appeared once more.
Hawk Eyes Mihawk's condition was poor. In this exchange, his momentum was gradually suppressed. With his Observation Haki constantly active, Vane knew Hawk Eyes couldn't hold on.
If not for his own involvement, the two should have ended in a draw.
Soru!
Vane's figure instantly appeared between the two. With an upward flick, he separated their swords. The remaining sword force was also lifted into the air and exploded, causing no small commotion.
Vane: "Give me some respect. Let's end it here today. If anyone wants to continue, I'll accompany you."
"I don't have a problem with that. I didn't want to fight in the first place… it just got a bit hard to stop later. Hawk Eyes, your condition isn't good. Even if I beat you, it wouldn't be an honorable win. If you want to fight, let's do it next time."
Hawk Eyes himself simply enjoyed crossing swords with others and wasn't foolish. After such an exhilarating battle, he clearly understood his condition wasn't there. Continuing would only end in defeat.
"I'll come find you later."
"You plural? Hey, just look for him. No need to look for me."
Hawk Eyes Mihawk ignored Vane's words, pressed his sword against his back, and left the scene.
Shanks stroked his chin. "What a cold person. Forget him. Kid, your strength is pretty solid. How about joining my pirate crew? The kind where I make you vice-captain."
Vane shook his head. "I have my own team. You'd better save the vice-captain position for someone else."
Red-Haired's crew was still in its early stages. The three main cadres probably hadn't been fully assembled yet. In terms of personnel, just on paper, it might not even be stronger than his.
Even without considering Meowth's support from another world, his subordinates already included four Devil Fruit users: Dice-Dice, Through-Through, Lion-Man, and Vision.
For a newly formed crew, it could be said to be especially luxurious.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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