Redfield slowly exhaled a long breath, and the killing intent that had been dormant for many years completely awakened within him.
"Then prepare yourself to die in this sea," he said coldly.
The moment the words fell, his figure was like an arrow leaving a bow, instantly disappearing from where he stood.
In the next instant, a blood-colored afterimage pressed close to Kane's body. That elegant red umbrella transformed into the world's most sharp and lethal weapon, bringing with it countless piercing sounds of breaking wind. The tip pointed straight at Kane's throat, heart, and brow with lethal precision!
His fighting style had no flashy Devil Fruit abilities; it was a pure, perfect combination of a tempered physical body, Haki, and master-level swordsmanship.
"So fast!" Kane's pupils constricted slightly, but the corners of his mouth split into an even more exaggerated, reckless arc.
His Observation Haki had long been pushed to its limit, and his ability to see into the future activated. Countless afterimages of the future flashed before his eyes, accurately predicting the trajectory of every one of the Red Count's attacks, allowing his body to perform the smallest possible evasive maneuvers to stay alive.
The zangetsu in his hand also turned into a black stream of light, whistling through the air.
If the Red Count was an elegant vampire, then the current Kane was a berserk God of Death who cared nothing for his own safety.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The blade of zangetsu and the red umbrella constantly collided in the air, sending sparks flying everywhere like fireworks.
The speed of the two was so fast that the naked eye could barely capture their movements. Only two blurred afterimages could be seen entangled together on the frozen sea and in mid-air, constantly engaging in teleport-like collisions that defied logic! Every collision would explode into a circle of visible white airwaves that pushed back the ocean itself!
The trio of Marines watching from afar had varying expressions as they witnessed the intensity of the fight.
"My~ that's truly an exaggerated speed~" Borsalino said, pushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. Although his tone was still lewd and casual, a drop of cold sweat slid down his temple. "Only by using elementalization could I keep up with this rhythm... This Kane guy is something else..."
"It's not just speed." Sakazuki stared fixedly at the battlefield, his fists clenching with a cracking sound that mimicked shifting stone. "It's that reckless, suicidal madness! He isn't just fighting; he's enjoying the slaughter!"
At the center of the battlefield, the chaos continued.
The Red Count grew more alarmed the more he fought this young Marine.
He was astonished to find that Kane could always predict his movements half a step ahead, either parrying with zangetsu or performing an extreme dodge that seemed impossible.
"This kind of Observation Haki... are you seeing into the future?" A trace of solemnity entered the Red Count's voice, realizing he was facing a top-tier opponent.
As soon as this thought arose, he no longer hesitated and activated the other ability he was truly proud of—Mind Reading!
As long as the opponent had a thought of attacking, he could see through all their motives and trajectories a step ahead, making all predictions useless against him!
However... when he tried to read Kane's heart, what he heard wasn't 'left slash,' 'right thrust,' or 'defense,' but a pile of chaotic noise that almost caused his brain to crash!
'If this hit lands solidly, would it count as excessive law enforcement? It should be worth at least 200 discipline points!'
'What material is this guy's umbrella made of? If I snatch it and sell it to Vegapunk, how much funding could I get in exchange?'
'No, I need to destroy more public property! Make an even bigger commotion! It would be best if I could change the underwater topography for my own benefit!'
This... what the hell is all this nonsense?! Redfield could hardly believe the greed and lack of discipline he was sensing.
Just as the Red Count was momentarily stunned by these absurd inner thoughts, Kane's blade arrived with a vengeance!
"You dare to get distracted while fighting me?!" Kane shouted.
Kane laughed wildly, his eyes wide with excitement. tensa zangetsu showed no mercy at all. Upon the blade, Ryuo Haki as black as ink surged frantically as he swung the blade down in a furious slash toward the Red Count's head!
The Red Count hurriedly raised his umbrella to block the incoming strike.
BOOM!
The massive force blasted him directly into the sea. The hard ice shattered instantly, stirring up hundred-meter-high giant waves and ice shards that filled the sky like deadly shrapnel.
[Ding! Detected that the host is maliciously destroying the Marine ecological environment during combat; the fish-blasting behavior is egregious!]
[Disciplinary Violation! Discipline points +500!]
"That's more like it!" Listening to the sweet notification sound ringing in his mind, Kane only felt the blood in his entire body burning. His fighting spirit climbed to its peak.
"Again!!"
The ice surface exploded violently, turning into countless sharp arrows shooting in all directions.
The Red Count stepped on the broken ice and soared into the sky. That pale face was now covered in frost, his legendary composure shaken.
Elegance? Composure?
Before this madman Marine, those qualities had long since vanished!
"You bastard..."
This time, the Red Count's aura completely changed. A Haoshoku Haki far more terrifying and profound than before soared into the sky, with black and red lightning tearing the heavens apart in a display of pure power.
"It ends here, brat!"
His speed was actually thirty percent faster than before! The tip of the umbrella drew a bizarre arc in the air that neither the naked eye nor Observation Haki could easily capture, instantly breaking through the sensory limit of Kane's 'future vision'!
Pfft!
Blood splattered onto the white ice!
Kane's pupils shook violently. He hadn't even been able to see this strike clearly; the tip of that red umbrella had already heavily pierced into his chest!
"Hmph!"
Kane let out a muffled groan, a trail of blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth.
However, far from retreating or showing fear, a sharp light of success flashed in his eyes instead.
"Got you!"
His chest muscles, forged like steel through brutal training, suddenly contracted and hardened. Then they were infused with high-density Armament Haki, death-gripping the umbrella tip that had entered his body!
"What?!"
A flash of astonishment once again crossed the Red Count's eyes as he found his weapon stuck.
"You were careless!"
Kane's empty left hand instantly clenched into a fist, immediately covered in Armament Haki. The pitch-black Haki was as thick as ink, entwined with the powerful force of Ryuo, and slammed solidly into the Red Count's astonished face!
BOOM!
The flow of time seemed to slow down at this moment of impact.
The Red Count's high bridge of his nose instantly collapsed at a visible angle. His handsome facial muscles underwent a wave-like distortion under the terrifying force, and teeth mixed with blood foam sprayed from his mouth.
Immediately following was an explosive sound that shook heaven and earth!
The Red Count's entire person turned into a shrill red line, flying backward at a speed several times the speed of sound!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His body successively smashed over a dozen reefs protruding from the sea before finally slamming into the mountain body of a medium-sized island five kilometers away.
Boom!
The entire mountain peak let out a pained wail and then collapsed with a roar, rolling dust obscuring the moonlight.
"Life Return."
With a single thought from Kane, the muscles at the wound wriggled like living things, stopping the bleeding and scabbing over. In a few moments, it had mostly recovered, leaving only a hideous scar as proof of the strike.
Under the double enhancement of 90 points of monster-level Physique and Life Return, his recovery power had long since surpassed common sense.
In the distance, the Red Count slowly walked out from the pile of rubble and dust.
His face had become even paler, and a trail of blood also overflowed from his mouth. He moved his jaw back and forth, the bones making a "clack clack" sound. Clearly, having taken Kane's suicidal punch, he wasn't feeling well either.
"Cough..."
The Red Count spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, looking at that figure standing proudly with a blade in the distance.
"Good Physique, good calculation... It's been a long time since anyone could wound me like this!"
There was no longer the slightest bit of contempt in the Red Count's eyes. It was replaced instead by an intense fighting spirit of having finally met his match.
"Brat, state your name."
Kane flicked the blood droplets off zangetsu with a sharp motion. The blade pointed from afar at the Red Count, and his voice was loud and clear, spreading across the entire sea area:
"Remember it well. I am the G-5 Base Commander, Kane!"
"Also, the bill has been updated."
Kane held up four fingers with a perfectly serious face, as if he were an accountant rather than a warrior:
"Medical fees, passage fees, mental damage fees, plus the industrial injury compensation for that umbrella stab you just gave me."
"A total of four billion Berries!"
"Short by one cent, and even if G-5 is sunk today, don't think of leaving!"
"Again!"
Before his voice had even faded, Kane's figure flashed, once again turning into a black lightning bolt pouncing toward the Red Count.
zangetsu swung, the black blade light turning into an airtight offensive. Every strike carried the power to cleave mountains and part the sea.
The umbrella in the Red Count's hand danced like the wind, sometimes defending, sometimes counterattacking, engaging in a frantic exchange with Kane.
The battlefield of the two had completely spiraled out of control as they moved across the horizon.
They fought from the sea surface to mid-air, and from mid-air to the distant group of deserted islands.
BOOM!
An uninhabited small island was forcibly torn apart by the Haoshoku shockwaves of their clash. After a bout of violent shaking, half the island collapsed into the seabed, stirring up monstrous waves!
Crack!
Kane slashed down, leveling the mountain top of another island. The Red Count's umbrella tip counterattacked, carving a deep wound on Kane's shoulder that reached the bone.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
Kane fought more and more wildly, his fighting spirit and Haki climbing to the absolute peak. Holding the blade with both hands, a huge black crescent-shaped slash over a hundred meters long roared straight at the Red Count. It carried Haki compressed to the limit.
"Hmph!"
The Red Count snorted coldly. Without retreating or evading, the umbrella in his hand suddenly spun, and an even more concentrated blood-colored full moon slash met it head-on!
RUMBLE!
The two terrifying slashes collided in the air, erupting in a deafening roar! The destructive shockwave completely leveled the third deserted island, turning it into a field of smoking ruins!
Kane's Haki continuously sublimated in these collisions that surpassed limits time and again. The power of the Storm-Storm Fruit was also unconsciously integrated into every move and style by him.
zangetsu's black blade light almost obscured half the sky with its intensity.
"This madman... this monster... could his stamina be infinite?!"
The umbrella in the Red Count's hand trembled slightly from the sheer weight of Kane's slash. His breathing also began to become somewhat hurried, the strain of the battle finally showing on the legendary pirate.
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