Chapter 348 - 187

Trial!"Come on, Luffy, let's have a fight!"Rayleigh gently folded the yellowed newspaper in his hands and set it on the rough tree stump beside him.He rose slowly, his hand, accustomed to gripping a sword for years, resting steadily on the hilt of his old but polished blade, his knuckles bearing the heavy calluses forged by time and the sea.His weathered eyes, which had seen countless storms upon the sea and witnessed the changing of eras, were now fixed like a calm deep sea upon the grinning Luffy.The legends of this boy had long since spread to every corner like the sea breeze:His fist had shaken the authority of the world; at Marineford, he had stood tall against the Three Admirals, remaining unyielding amidst the flames; above the clouds of Onigashima, he had struck down the so-called "Strongest Creature," Beast Kaido, with a blood-stained fist...Every single feat was an epic that ordinary people could never reach, even in their wildest imaginations.This was an "emperor of the sea" who could truly stir the currents of the era with his own power.However, rumors were ultimately just storms on paper; real combat was the true tide.A faint, yet blade-sharp smile tugged at the corners of Rayleigh's mouth.This child had reached such a realm that he might no longer be able to offer much more in terms of "instruction,"but the perspective forged from decades of life-and-death battles, that insight into the essence of "combat," might still serve as another kind of gift.—Not to teach techniques, but to illuminate the subtle shadows on the path ahead that he had yet to notice."Heehee, then let's go!!"Luffy's voice was as warm as sunlight. He couldn't wait to dash to the center of the island, pushing off the ground with both feet and kicking up a spray of fine sand.His cheeks were flushed with excitement, and his eyes burned with battle intent like raging flames, as if the entire world had been left behind, leaving only this former first mate of the Pirate King before him.The wind, too, seemed to grow heavy under the weight of their presence.The cigarette between Sanji's fingers burned with a straight trail of blue smoke, but at one moment, it trembled, startled by the suddenly tightening atmosphere.He and Law looked up almost simultaneously, their gazes shooting like arrows toward the center of the island—where the air was faintly vibrating with a silent hum."It's finally here!!"Sanji's voice was low, yet it could not mask the thrill that bordered on trembling.He took a deep drag of his cigarette, sparks scattering in the sunlight as if echoing the flames ignited in his eyes.Law held his kikoku, the cold metal scabbard pressed against his arm.He didn't speak, only nodded slightly, his eyes sharp as a hawk's beneath the brim of his hat.The two figures confronting each other in the distance—one like a steady mountain, the other like a surging volcano—had completely rewritten the atmosphere of the entire island just by standing still."The'Sun' of the new era, and the 'Pluton' of the old era..."Law's voice was steady, yet it sliced through the essence as precisely as a scalpel,"This contest itself is already history."Sanji turned his head slightly, the sea breeze ruffling his golden hair.He looked at Law, a smirk playing on his lips, carrying his usual provocation, yet also hiding an irrepressible curiosity:"Hey, tell me... who do you think will win?"Law did not answer immediately.His gaze remained fixed on the distance, as if calculating some invisible variable.A moment later, he slowly threw the question back, his tone carrying a rare hint of playfulness:"What do you think, black leg?""Is that even a question?!"Sanji shrugged almost without hesitation, spinning his cigarette stylishly between his fingers.The look in his eyes as he gazed at Luffy's back was a burning light bordering on faith."Our Captain is the man who will become the Pirate King."The moment the words fell, the two fell into a silent, tacit understanding.The next instant, an invisible aura spread from them almost simultaneously.Observation Haki was pushed to its limit, the tentacles of their senses stretching and tightening to the extreme, locking firmly onto the center of the battlefield.For those at their level, watching such a duel at the pinnacle of the world meant every detail could become a key to breaking through bottlenecks and glimpsing a higher realm.Sanji and Law held their breath, their pupils contracting. The world faded of color in their eyes, leaving only those two figures about to ignite the era, and the earth-shattering first collision that was about to arrive.Boom—!!!Thousands of pale electric serpents crawled frantically across the pitch-black sky, shrouding the entire island under a web of interlaced azure and deep purple lightning.That was not a natural phenomenon; it was the wrath of the heavens.Immediately after, two auras, deep as a bottomless abyss and vast as a torrential mountain flood, erupted without reservation!Zzzzt—!!The atmosphere let out an unbearable groan.Purple and crimson, two forces of Conqueror's Hakithat seemed to possess life and weight, turned into a towering tsunami and clashed violently above the island!Each crushing impact burst forth with black and red lightning that tore through the field of vision, and every collision sent out visible ring-shaped shockwaves.The outline of the island began to blur and tremble amidst this confrontation of pure will.The gale was no longer wind, but shredded currents of air, carrying sand, broken wood, and the salty stench of seawater, fleeing outward with a destructive posture.Right in the center of this chaos, Luffy's laughter pierced through the thunder:"Heehaha, Rayleigh, take this!"The moment the words fell, the ground beneath his feet suddenly sank into a giant crater due to the extreme explosive power,and he himself had appeared at the summit of the high sky, as if stepping on the thunder!His right fist was raised high.It was wrapped in deep, violent black and red Haki, like a mixture of boiling lava and a silent abyss.The starry sky paled before his fist; that familiar cross-shaped star burst was frantically devouring all light, heat, and energy around it, rapidly expanding into a miniature, impending black hole!"Galaxy Impact!!!"The moment he threw the punch, time fractured.Sound, wind, and even light were all drawn in by the fist.It was not stillness, but rather that all currents were forcibly twisted, pointing toward that end of destruction.The sea below sank into a massive bowl-shaped crater out of thin air, while the sky seemed to have been gouged with an invisible hole by this punch.Rayleigh looked up, his silver hair pressed tight against his skin by the incoming wind pressure.That familiar stance instantly dragged him back decades.That terrifying figure known as "Iron Fist" had once, with this same star-shattering momentum, forced the entire Roger Pirates to brace for battle."Oh? Garp's move?!"A complex trace of nostalgia flickered in his eyes, then instantly transformed into blade-like sharpness."What a... nostalgic sense of pressure."No dodging, no blocking.This former "Pluton" chose the response of an old-era king—a counterattack."Crackle—!!"Dark red Conqueror's Haki lightning no longer scattered, but, as if possessed of life, tamely yet violently wrapped around the seemingly ordinary longsword in his hand.The blade had not yet moved, but the surrounding space had already begun to twist and wail, emitting an aura of law that made all things instinctively tremble.The next moment, the earth beneath his feet silently turned to dust.His body transformed from absolute stillness into a crimson comet shooting toward the heavens, rising from below to meet the falling "Galaxy."Condensing his life's swordsmanship, hegemony, and legend into this one move, inherited from his Captain and refined by himself—"Kamisari!!!"The two forces finally collided.Hum—!!!What sounded first was not an explosion, but an extreme roar capable of annihilating all sound, or perhaps, silence.A blinding white sphere of light was born at the point of impact, instantly devouring all color.Then—The clouds were torn open, creating a ring-shaped gap that pierced through the field of view.The island's structure let out a final groan. With the point of impact as the center, canyon-sized cracks spread like lightning to the coast, and the entire land heaved upward like a wave!A tsunami hundreds of meters high, like an awakened giant wall, crushed outward in all directions, as if to completely reshape this sea area.In the center of this apocalyptic scene, the two figures stood amidst the blinding light and ripples of destruction, one above and one below, their fist and sword locked tightly together.The torrent of power continued to clash, annihilate, and erupt.This was a clash spanning eras, and the roar of will and dreams.The embers of the old legend and the flames of the new sun illuminated the prologue of the entire new era at this moment."Heehee, Rayleigh, you're really as strong as a monster!!"Luffy's laughter burst forth in the intervals between the thunder and explosions, hearty and unrestrained.The recoil force coming from his fist carried a sharpness in its numbness that threatened to shake his very soul.That was "Kamisari," a slash that could force even "gods" to retreat.Even with his current physique, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of wonder from the marrow of his bones.However, under this extreme pressure, something even hotter awakened within him.He could clearly "hear" every muscle fiber and every wisp of Haki screaming, reshaping, and becoming stronger in the intense confrontation.Although the improvement was as small as dust, for someone already standing at the summit, this "dust-like" growth was more precious than gold."Again!!!"What burned in his eyes was no longer just battle intent, but more like a greed for "evolution" itself.He clenched his fists, and two muffled peals of thunder exploded in the air. Black and red lightning wrapped around his body even more violently, as if draping him in armor woven from lightning and Haki.On the other side, Rayleigh used the great force of the collision to drift back dozens of meters, his toes tapping lightly in the air. Each step sent out a ripple of air, offloading that incredible brute force.His hand holding the sword was steady as a rock, but in his heart, he felt a trace of helplessness that only a seasoned warrior would understand."Compete in stamina with a little monster whose energy is bottomless?" He could almost imagine his old bones protesting.That kid opposite him was practically a humanoid perpetual motion machine; pain and fatigue seemed only to serve as his fuel.A contest of endurance was definitely not a wise move.But Luffy's desire to attack, so pure it was unreasonable, washed over him like a tsunami, giving him absolutely no room to catch his breath or maneuver."Really... there's just no way around it."Rayleigh whispered, yet a nearly wild curve tugged at the corners of his mouth.Since he couldn't dodge, he would just fight to his heart's content!The Haki that had settled within him for decades was no longer restrained; like a beast released from its seal, it erupted explosively.His silver hair danced in the chaotic airflow, standing in rivalry with Luffy's scorching crimson aura.One steady as a dark abyss, the other violent as a burning sun, they cleaved the battlefield into two distinct domains."Whoosh—!"The next second, both figures vanished from their spots simultaneously.It was not teleportation, but speed that had broken through the limits of what the naked eye and even ordinary Observation Haki could capture!"This...?!"At the edge of the island, Law's pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpricks.Within his "ROOM" perception domain, the two massive life signals he had been able to clearly lock onto just a moment ago had now turned into countless flickering afterimages and broken trajectories.One moment they were clashing in mid-air, the next, the aftershocks of their slashes were exploding from the ground.His Observation Haki was like a fishing net trying to catch a hurricane, torn to shreds.Even the battle-hardened Sanji bit down hard on the cigarette butt in his mouth, the embers flickering rapidly.He could only "see" flashes of power erupting briefly and blurred trajectories, but could not coherently predict the next actions of those two, which were as wild and unconstrained as a Pegasus in the sky.That had already exceeded the category of "speed"; it was the "art of combat" born from the perfect fusion of battle instinct, Haki flow, and bodily instinct, approaching the level of instinct itself.In the center of the battlefield, one could only hear the continuous, indistinguishable roars:"Dong! Clang! Rumble—!"Each exchange briefly illuminated a patch of twisted space, revealing the fleeting, demon-god-like figures clashing within.