Chapter 350 - 189

Chapter 189: The Final Game of Pluton and the Sun!Boom—Crack!!!A giant lightning storm connecting the churning thunderclouds to the shattered earth tore through the center of the battlefield like a spear of judgment thrown by a god!Violent ions and hurricanes formed a brief, impassable barrier, forcibly separating the two who had been locked in combat.On this side of the storm, Rayleigh drove his longsword deep into the scorched, cracked ground, barely supporting his body.He was drenched in blood, his originally proper clothes now reduced to tattered rags, sticking to countless fine and deep wounds.Every heavy breath brought burning pain and the smell of rust, his chest heaving violently.He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the turbulent currents and dust, looking to the other side of the storm.He saw Luffy standing steadily in the sky; apart from torn clothes and some dust and old, dried blood, he was almost unscathed!The vitality, abundant to the point of despair, made it seem as if the intense battle that had lasted half a day—enough to wipe a country off the map—was merely a satisfying warm-up for him."—Huff...!!!"Rayleigh exhaled a breath of turbid air mixed with blood foam, a look of exhaustion, admiration, and genuine helplessness appearing on his face.He twitched the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse from exhaustion, yet still clear:"Fighting a monster like you... whose vitality is even more unreasonable than a Mythical Zoan Type, I've finally realized what it means to 'hit a cotton ball'—no, it's like hitting an indestructible Sea Stonespring!"It was so infuriating! Even though his state of mind had long been calm as an ancient well, he couldn't help but feel a sliver of helplessness now.Can you imagine? Every full-force slash landed, and he could feel the tangible feedback of damage, but in the blink of an eye, the wound would heal at a visible speed under the opponent's boiling blood energy and outrageous recovery!This wasn't a battle; it was like futilely adding fuel to a bottomless furnace!"Heehee!!!"Luffy's signature laugh came from across the storm, as hearty as ever, even brighter from the exhilarating battle.This half-day of battle beyond his limits was an irreplaceable treasure to him.He could clearly 'hear' every cell deep in his body groaning with satisfaction and cracking with growth during the high-intensity confrontation.Especially his Conqueror's Haki, which became more refined and aggressive as it constantly collided, squeezed, and fused with Rayleigh's tempered kingly will.And his physique was further tempered under this level of pressure.Internal rough assessment:Hmm... although the improvement magnitude couldn't compare to the extreme special training with Teacher Kaido where he was 'beaten to death and evolved after,' Rayleigh's 'teaching' was more comprehensive, focusing more on the 'quality' of Haki and the 'technique' of combat. This experience was immensely profound![Physique: 92.94 → 93.36][Conqueror's Haki: 91.36 → 92.08]Numbers were just abstract quantifications; what really mattered was the tangible feeling of getting stronger.Luffy grinned, looking at Rayleigh with eyes full of gratitude and undisguised fighting intent.'In the future, whoever dares to say Rayleigh is a mediocre teacher who only knows basic teaching...'Luffy clenched his still-hot fist, determined in his heart,'I, Monkey D. Luffy, will be the first to reason with him using my fists!'This was a top-tier sparring partner who could perfectly fuse 'Haki' and 'actual combat'! This battle was far from over!— — — — — — — — —"Eh...?! "Seeing the pure fighting intent in Luffy's eyes not only failing to extinguish but burning brighter, almost turning into physical flames, Rayleigh's mouth twitched uncontrollably.Was this kid... a perpetual motion machine from somewhere?The remaining strength in his own old bones was almost squeezed dry in the previous burst, yet he seemed to have just entered the zone!A long-lost feeling of being 'powerless'—typical of an old man—surged into his heart.Rayleigh poked the ground with his scabbard, sighing half-jokingly and half-seriously, his tone full of 'give me a break' helplessness:"Hey, Luffy... you aren't determined to exhaust these old bones of mine until they fall apart, are you?""Huh?!"Hearing this, the excited expression on Luffy's face froze instantly, like a high-speed train suddenly hitting the pause button.He scratched his messy hair in confusion:"Not... not fighting anymore?"His voice was filled with huge disappointment and disbelief, as if Rayleigh had said something extremely disheartening.Seeing Luffy's expression, like a child whose candy had been taken away, Rayleigh paused, and then, a more complex emotion surged up.—It was nostalgia, relief, and perhaps a trace of stubbornness, refusing to admit he was old, ignited by this pure fighting spirit.His gaze swept over the 'purgatory' they had destroyed with their own hands, and finally returned to Luffy.This kid's stamina was bottomless; while his own stamina was truly reaching its limit.Continuing to fight like this had little meaning.So be it.Rayleigh took a deep breath and suddenly sheathed his longsword completely.This movement was not a surrender; rather, it was a ritualistic convergence, compressing and condensing all his aura, fighting intent, and even his lifelong insights inward.He straightened his blood-stained back, and despite his exhaustion, the dignity belonging to the 'Pluton' rose again, his eyes like lightning, looking straight at Luffy:"Come on, Luffy!"His voice was not loud, but carried a decisive power that clearly pierced through the remnants of the storm."Forget defense, cast aside all distractions! Give it your all!"He slightly parted his feet, his right hand pressed firmly on the hilt, his whole person entering a state of extreme'stillness'.That was not emptiness, but the calm at the center of the storm, the extreme compression of all power before eruption."We will decide the winner in one strike!"Crackle—Buzz!!!Around Rayleigh, the mellow Conqueror's Haki, like a sea of blood that had settled for decades, surged like the water of a breached underworld river into the seemingly ordinary silver longsword in his hand.The blade did not become brilliant; instead, it became increasingly restrained and dark, as if it had swallowed all light.An indescribable aura of extinction quietly permeated from the blade's edge.It was not the coldness of death, but the absolute tranquility after all things ended, the 'nothingness' where even time stood still.This was unique to him, 'Pluton' Silvers Rayleigh, refined from his lifelong experience and kingly will—Supreme Swordsmanship: Underworld Truth.Where the sword tip pointed, space cracked and collapsed silently, revealing the deep void behind it.Echoing in response—High in the sky, Luffy laughed up at the sky, the final shackles seemingly broken completely!Pitch-black thunder containing the will of destruction and scorching golden flames burning with unyielding fighting spirit erupted from his body like two violent giant dragons.Instantly driving away and devouring all anomalies in the sky, turning the entire pitch-black firmament into a blazing white purgatory of intertwined lightning and fire!The light was so intense that it made the night as bright as broad daylight!Dark red Conqueror's Haki gushed out endlessly like a volcanic eruption, spiraling and intertwining with his tempered, ink-black Armament Haki, blending and sublimating.The violence of thunder, the wildness of fire, the supremacy of Conqueror's Haki... all forces were no longer distinct,In that Iron Fist carrying dreams and promises, they were violently compressed and fused, evolving into a chaotic and domineering power of the end that transcended a single attribute!The two stood across the shattered void, their gazes colliding through the lightning, fire, and underworld energy.No hesitation, no fear.At the same time, their mouths curled into a hearty, uninhibited arc.In that smile was the warrior's highest respect for a strong enemy, and the unspoken acknowledgment of the inheritance of an era."End—of—everything—"Two battle cries merged into one, like a declaration, yet also like a requiem.The next moment, both figures disappeared from where they stood.Speed and power instantly broke through the limits of perception, turning into two world-destroying comets rushing in opposite directions!One trailing a dark underworld river trajectory that devoured everything, the other a brilliant tail flame of lightning and fire that burned everything!Carrying the power to completely wipe the island beneath their feet off the world map, they collided with a boom!"—Yomi Bira Saka!!!"Rayleigh swung his sword.The movement was simple and ancient, as if not a slash, but drawing a boundary between life and death for the world.Where the blade passed, a deep, silent, pure black channel that seemed to connect the 'living world' and the 'underworld' suddenly appeared.At the edges of the channel, fine black spatial cracks spread like spiderwebs, emitting an irresistible suction, greedily devouring and annihilating all matter and energy that passed by, even light could not escape."—Conqueror's Thunder-Fire Requiem!!!"Luffy threw a punch.On the fist, that chaotic energy fused to the limit finally revealed its fangs.It was not simple lightning and fire, but a strange existence that constantly evolved and clashed between 'destruction' and 'rebirth', emitting an absolute dominance that obliterated all things and suppressed everything.Where the punch reached, space was forcibly squeezed, twisted, and then crushed into the most basic particles by this domineering energy!One was the underworld channel that cut through everything and returned to nothingness.One was the thunder-fire finale that crushed everything and suppressed with dominance.The collision of the end, at this instant—Exploded!In an instant—Time lost its meaning.Space lost its form.At the singularity where those two ultimate powers representing different eras and different paths made contact, what appeared first was not an explosion, but an absolute 'nothingness'.Light, sound, and even the most basic material particles were completely annihilated the moment they made contact, forming a micro 'black hole' that continuously collapsed inward and devoured everything.Immediately after—Hum—!The primordial roar that transcended all sounds burst forth from that 'nothingness' point!That was not a sound, but a terrifying shriek from the structure of space itself, on the verge of disintegration!Centered on the point of collision, a destructive ripple whose color could not be described in words expanded infinitely at a speed exceeding thought!!Luffy's Iron Fist and Rayleigh's sword tip pressed firmly against each other.Power was still crazily clashing, annihilating, seeking that sliver of possibility to overwhelm the other.Boom—!That was not a sound, but the ultimate fury of the world itself, unable to bear the burden!The black-red sphere of light pulsing crazily between the two's fists and swords finally broke its critical point of instability.The first to bear the brunt were the two who created this destruction."—!!"Two figures were ejected from that pure white core of destruction at a speed that exceeded perception!Trailing behind them were scorching tails several kilometers long, caused by violent friction with the atmosphere,Like two meteors flying in opposite directions, cutting through the sky that had just begun to render color again.Splash!!!One of the figures helplessly drew a long parabola, finally falling heavily into the churning sea, splashing a huge water column that blocked the sky!It was Rayleigh.Beneath the sea, this former 'Pluton' felt his bones falling apart, every cell emitting an overload groan.The cold, salty seawater enveloped him, and in his ears, there was only the buzzing of blood flow and the echo of visceral tremors.The extreme exhaustion and the mental shock brought by the collision caused his thinking to fall into a brief blankness and chaos, only the hand gripping the hilt still retained a final trace of instinct.On the other side—Whoosh!!!The air was torn apart with a piercing screech.Luffy stomped his feet violently in the void, white air-burst clouds exploding under his feet, forcibly stopping his body during the backward flight.He knelt on one knee, suspended in mid-air, his chest heaving violently, every breath like a broken bellows, exhaling scorching white steam.A shocking sword mark ran diagonally from his left shoulder to his right abdomen!At the wound, the absolute swordsmanship dignity of Rayleigh that cut through everything and returned to silence remained, not dissipating, like the most stubborn brand, resisting any form of healing.Hot blood, containing vigorous vitality, was uncontrollably gushing out along the edges of the wound,Turning into strings of crimson blood beads, dripping one after another into the boiling sea below, making a 'hissing' sound, and then swallowed by the huge waves.And the stage where they had just fought... that once-existing, considerable-sized uninhabited desert island.At this moment, it had completely disappeared from this sea area.On the original site, only a huge, deep void of water remained, its edges still emitting high-temperature red light and turbulent energy.The seawater was crazily pouring into the central depression, forming a continuously rotating, unimaginably large giant vortex, as if it were a scar left by the sea for this battle that could not heal for a long time.Between the sea and the sky, only the roar of the vortex, the aftermath of energy, the dripping blood, and the two exhausted warriors remained.