Crimson flowers bloomed across the harbor.
Kairos killed with terrifying efficiency.
Each strike was clean. Each death effortless.
Five bounty hunters had already fallen without resistance.
The remaining dozens felt a chill crawl up their spines.
"Kairos! Let me fight you!"
A thunderous roar erupted from the crowd, like a raging beast howling at the sky.
A massive man stepped forward.
He was huge—his body packed with bulging muscle, a sleeveless shirt stretched tight across his frame.
In his hands was a massive blade.
The weapon was coated entirely in jet-black Armament Haki.
"ROAR!"
His battle cry rolled through the harbor like thunder.
The surrounding bounty hunters instinctively stepped aside, opening a path for him.
"That's Bruce!"
"The Pirate Hunter!"
"He once took down a pirate with a bounty of 200 million!"
"If it's Bruce, Kairos won't win easily!"
Amid the shouts, Bruce charged forward like a rampaging beast.
Each step shattered the ground beneath his feet, cracks spreading across the harbor stones like spiderwebs.
Bruce was one of the strongest bounty hunters present.
His charge whipped up violent gusts that lifted Kairos' black hair slightly.
Kairos inhaled slowly.
Then he lowered his body.
His chest expanded with a deep breath.
His right hand slid down to the hilt of Sandai Kitetsu.
Battōjutsu stance.
A faint breath of white mist escaped Kairos' lips.
Then—
Slash.
Clang!
Sandai Kitetsu left the sheath like a bolt of black lightning.
A terrifying killing aura exploded outward.
Boom!
The two blades collided.
Kairos' Sandai Kitetsu slammed against Bruce's massive sword.
A violent shockwave burst outward.
Wind roared.
The pressure alone forced nearby bounty hunters to stagger back.
Crack!
Sparks erupted continuously.
Both fighters had coated their weapons in Armament Haki.
This was not just a clash of strength—
but a clash of Haki.
Savage killing intent surged from Bruce like crashing ocean waves.
The overwhelming power transmitted through his blade into Kairos.
At the same moment—
the ground beneath both of them shattered.
A crater nearly five meters wide burst open beneath their feet, dust and stone flying everywhere.
Kairos felt the force pressing against Sandai Kitetsu.
His eyes glowed faintly crimson.
Observation Haki surged to its limit.
Then—
his wrist moved.
The flame-shaped markings along Sandai Kitetsu seemed to come alive.
Combined with the dark coating of Armament Haki, the blade burned like black demonic fire.
Kairos spoke calmly.
"Swallow Return."
The words fell like cold steel.
Kairos swung forward lightly.
But the moment the blade moved—
a terrifying shockwave erupted.
The slash rolled forward like a tidal wave.
Nothing could stop it.
Not the air.
Not Bruce's Haki-coated blade.
Everything split apart.
Three intersecting black arcs cut through space itself.
The air filled with overlapping blade trails—an impossible storm of slashes.
"Wha—?!"
Bruce froze.
Reflected in his widening pupils were three approaching arcs of darkness.
They closed the distance at an impossible speed.
Slash.
The attack landed.
Bruce's Armament Haki shattered.
Blood burst from his chest.
"Ugh…"
Bruce slowly dropped to his knees.
A cross-shaped wound split open across his chest.
The giant sword in his hand had already broken down to the handle.
His eyes dimmed.
Life faded from them.
Until the moment of his death—
Bruce couldn't understand.
A moment ago they had been locked in a stalemate.
How had Kairos suddenly killed him?
Behind him, Kairos had already sheathed Sandai Kitetsu.
He never even turned around.
Through Observation Haki, he already knew Bruce was dead.
After all—
once Swallow Return was unleashed,
there was no surviving it.
"Bruce… is dead…"
"The man who killed pirates worth 300 million… just died like that?!"
Every bounty hunter in the harbor felt their stomach drop.
Bruce had been the strongest among them.
If even he had fallen—
who could stop Kairos?
Then—
Kairos slowly raised Sandai Kitetsu again.
His glowing eyes swept across the remaining hunters.
And suddenly—
Whoosh!
A violent gust exploded.
Kairos vanished.
Smoke and dust burst outward across the harbor.
He had already begun killing again.
"Run!!"
"Has Kairos gone insane?!"
"He's trying to kill us all!"
The harbor of Whiskey Peak descended into chaos.
More than forty bounty hunters scattered in every direction, fleeing desperately.
But behind them—
a white figure flickered through the battlefield like a ghost.
Each time the figure appeared—
it was beside a hunter.
Or in front of them.
Or above their heads.
Each appearance came with a single graceful swing of Sandai Kitetsu.
A simple arc.
Then Kairos vanished again.
A moment later—
a line of blood would open across the hunter's body.
Terror.
Panic.
The hunters were completely broken.
Kairos moved through them like a phantom of death.
He never rushed.
He never wasted movement.
Each strike was elegant.
Precise.
Fatal.
Within minutes—
in less than half the time it takes a stick of incense to burn—
the harbor fell silent.
No bounty hunter remained standing.
Bodies covered the ground.
Whiskey Peak's harbor had become a field of blood.
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