"What kind of guy is that..."
"What's wrong? It's just a scratched eyelid. How you attack is how you attack, isn't it?"
Suddenly, Grimm spoke, appearing completely unharmed. He raised the Ashbringer. "If you don't make a move, I'll go first."
As soon as he finished speaking, Grimm shot forward like an arrow. The Ashbringer dragged along the ground, sparking a long trail of flames. Then Grimm stopped, planting his greatsword into the earth.
Although the injury to his eye affected Rayleigh quite a bit, for someone like him, it wasn't enough to diminish his fighting strength.
Buzz—
Suddenly, a strange noise sounded in his ear. Rayleigh felt a bizarre fluctuation beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw the ground suddenly split, a golden light shot straight into the sky, forming a golden sword that pointed directly at Rayleigh's forehead.
[Sword of Justice]: Summons countless holy light swords that penetrate the ground to attack enemies, lasting until the host actively cancels the skill.
"What kind of move is this?" Rayleigh wondered aloud. With a swift swing of his long sword, he blocked the Sword of Justice. In the next instant, the Sword of Justice shattered into points of holy light and disappeared. But less than a second later, it re-emerged, and more holy light swords kept springing out.
"What a bother." Rayleigh snorted coldly. He suddenly sped up his sword swings, unleashing dozens of strikes in an instant. Countless swords emerging from the ground were shattered again, and new swords kept appearing.
If it were an ordinary opponent, they would have been frightened into losing their fighting spirit by such endless attacks.
Rayleigh cast a glance at Grimm and saw that his movements had become still: "He's making strange moves. What happens if I interrupt his actions?"
Rayleigh confidently believed that, and once again, his and Grimm's greatswords clashed. The swords emerging from the ground indeed disappeared.
Grimm leapt back, standing firm. A bright light flashed across his body. A pair of golden wings rose from his back, radiating pure, holy light. [Revenge's Fury] activated.
The two then transformed into streaks of residual shadows, continuously colliding.
Bucky, this trainee pirate, completely couldn't see the fight clearly, but on the surface, it seemed evenly matched. He couldn't help but pretend to understand and said: "Oh~~ is that kid pretty good? He's fighting Mr. Rayleigh to a draw."
"Bucky, are you sure you're watching carefully?" Gaban, nearby, ruthlessly exposed Bucky's lie: "Rayleigh has the upper hand. That kid is indeed a freak, but he's still young. His strength is limited."
In fact, as Gaban said, Grimm was in a passive defense state. Even his attack-type [Blood Holy Seal] had been changed into a defensive [Insightful Holy Seal].
[Insightful Holy Seal]: Has a chance to completely see through the opponent's skills and moves, and after a successful block, recover injuries.
This chance isn't low. Coupled with [Blessing of Wisdom], it can block at least 80% of Rayleigh's attacks. But Grimm was still being hit repeatedly.
"No—wait!" At this moment, Roger spoke up. "On the surface, Rayleigh has the advantage, but look carefully."
"Hmm?"
Everyone in the pirate crew immediately magnified their observation, and the actions of Rayleigh and Grimm became clearer to their eyes.
They saw clearly.
Indeed, in terms of moves, Rayleigh had the upper hand, constantly attacking Grimm successfully. Many times, Rayleigh's attacks hit Grimm dozens of times, but Grimm hardly managed to land a single blow on Rayleigh.
However, every time Grimm hit Rayleigh, it caused damage. No matter how many times Rayleigh attacked and how severely he wounded Grimm, Grimm's wounds healed rapidly, even if hit in the head or chest. They would flash with a divine light and fully revive.
"Immortal Archangel, Grimm. Now I understand why the newspapers praise him so much!" Sikal gritted his teeth.
As the second-in-command of the Roger Pirates, Rayleigh, even as a Marine Admiral, couldn't leave more than a dozen wounds on Rayleigh in a short time. Although the opponent was risking his life for fame, he couldn't help but heal and reborn.
This was a full-on super battle.
"Roger, let's go help! Mr. Rayleigh's injuries are already very heavy. That guy's a freak—an absolute freak!" A man with a round disc head, wooden clogs, and two swords hanging at his waist, dug his nose and said.
The battle had already lasted over ten minutes. The western coast of Water 7 was badly scarred.
After thousands of exchanges, Grimm finally slashed a sword—"Knight's Judgment"—across Rayleigh's chest, leaving a shallow wound that made him stagger. Seeing Rayleigh covered in wounds, while Grimm was completely unharmed, Roger, who had just "borrowed" the Moonlight Moria from Whitebeard's ship, looked anxious.
There was an odd rule in the Roger Pirates: if the opponent only had one person, they would never take advantage of him; they had to fight one-on-one to settle it.
That was also why, after so long fighting Rayleigh and Grimm, no second person from the Roger Pirates had stepped in.
But, Sunflower, who had just joined the crew a few days ago, didn't understand this rule very well. If he were in Whitebeard's crew, he'd have already started a brawl.
Now, seeing Rayleigh gradually losing, Sunflower was anxious—or maybe just itching to fight.
Roger chuckled and said: "Why rush? My partner won't lose that easily!"
On the chaotic, battered edge of the coast, Grimm stood on a huge pile of rubble, smiling. "I recognize you. You're Silvers Rayleigh, the Vice-Captain of the Roger Pirates, known as the Dark King!"
Meanwhile, Grimm checked his task in his mind: Fight Rayleigh, 25/30.
Five minutes left. Grimm sighed. Damn it, he wanted to die. Time was passing very slowly. Grimm was in pain because, in just twenty-five minutes, he had used up 23 Resurrection Coins—almost killed himself once every minute.
The over 100 Resurrection Coins he had finally accumulated were now down to 81. He had to use them sparingly.
"Oh, what an honor!" Rayleigh said with a calm smile. They had long been famous throughout the Grand Line, not just in the first half, but also in the New World.
However, because Roger was terminally ill, he had given up adventuring years ago, temporarily seeking famous doctors to cure him. Eventually, he found Crocus, which supported Roger for a period.
During that medical search, King Stelly and Edward Newgate, overtook Roger, establishing themselves firmly in the New World. Now, with Roger's comeback, his crew was considered a latecomer, and they needed a good ship to head to the New World.
But Roger wouldn't last a few more years. He planned to use his remaining life to conquer the Grand Line.
Grimm couldn't help but sigh: "This Vice-Captain Rayleigh is truly formidable—Pisarro couldn't kill me in two hours, but Rayleigh has already killed me twenty-three times in twenty-five minutes."
"Vice-Captain, you're really impressive. I'm a bit scared, but I won't admit defeat, Rayleigh!" Grimm said and attacked again, "Don't die here, Rayleigh!"
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