Capítulo 71: Rising as the Supreme Swordsman! Haki-Infused Conqueror’s Will!
In Golden Lion's base, the minions and Indigo, the gorilla, stared at the monitor, eyes wide.
"Boss Shiki got hit!" one of the underlings exclaimed in panic as Sanders' Thunder Fist sent Shiki plummeting toward the ground.
"Shut up, idiots!" Indigo snapped, slapping the underling hard enough to knock out a few teeth. "Boss Shiki isn't that easy to defeat!" He'd been by Shiki's side for decades and knew his true strength. Despite the impressive Rumble-Rumble Fruit powers Sanders wielded, Shiki was still a legendary pirate, once an equal to Roger. This battle was far from over.
On the battlefield, Shiki's hands moved, and the ground trembled as massive chunks of earth and stone began to rise, forming a towering wall of over a hundred meters. Dust filled the air, trapping Sanders in the center.
"Is that the legendary pirate's true power? This is terrifying!" Robin trembled as she watched the ground morph around them.
"Why isn't Sanders moving?" Nami asked anxiously, seeing him standing still within the stone lions forming around him.
"Lion's Might: Earth Roll!" With Shiki's command, eight massive lion heads lunged at Sanders. But he didn't dodge—he let the attack hit, allowing the earthen lions to swallow him whole. Stone shifted and compressed, creating a giant stone pillar around him, leaving only his head visible.
"Did Captain lose? Shiki is too strong!" Nami gasped. "Issho, can't you help him?"
"Not yet," Issho replied, calmly comforting the worried Nami. "Sanders has a plan."
Robin looked thoughtfully at Sanders' face poking out from the stone. Could this be how he intends to obtain the Float-Float Fruit? But how?
"Kehahahaha!" Shiki laughed as he saw Sanders trapped. Although he knew it wouldn't hold him for long, it still felt like he had the upper hand. "Is this all you've got, Sanders? Are the young ones today so weak?"
Sanders ignored Shiki's taunts, his eyes closed as he let himself feel the crushing pressure of earth and stone. This… was what it felt like to be buried alive. He opened his eyes, giving Shiki a slight smile.
"I just wanted to check if you'd grown rusty, that's all!"
With a surge of power, Sanders flexed his muscles and burst from the stone pillar, shattering it into pieces. Stones flew across the battlefield, and lightning crackled around his right hand, coalescing into a sword-shaped bolt in his grip. The Thunder Blade took the shape of a tangdao from his previous life, buzzing with electricity that glowed blue.
"Are you a swordsman as well?" Shiki asked, puffing on his cigar, visibly intrigued. As a master swordsman himself, he had always sought worthy opponents, though he'd chosen to lay low in recent years.
"Just started learning," Sanders replied with a smirk.
Sanders swung his Thunder Blade, sending out a flying slash attack—much smaller than Shiki's massive air slashes but crackling with electricity as he infused it with his Rumble-Rumble Fruit powers.
"Captain can use swordsmanship too?" Nami wondered, eyes wide in awe at the lightning-wrapped blade. She mused about what kind of weapon she might wield someday. Issho, on the other hand, furrowed his brow. In Sanders' swordsmanship, he sensed a familiar aura.
Shiki, unimpressed, easily shattered Sanders' slash with a swift kick and chuckled disdainfully. "Kehahaha! Is that the extent of your swordsmanship? Beginner's level at best. Spare me the weak moves, kid!"
Without replying, Sanders used his "Thunder Flash" to close in, the Thunder Blade crackling with Haki as he swung it downward toward Shiki. Their blades clashed repeatedly, filling the air with the sharp clang of metal. Sanders' sheer strength pushed Shiki back a few meters, though Shiki's expression remained indifferent. Fighting a swordsman wasn't enough to get his blood pumping, even if this one was surprisingly powerful.
"You're wasting my time. Show me what you've really got!" Shiki snapped, hair billowing as he launched his next attack, Lion's Thousand-Cut Valley. Swinging his legs in midair, he sent enormous slashes even more powerful than before, tearing up the earth and slicing through trees in their path.
Seeing the ferocity of the attack, Sanders became serious. "200 Million Volt: Thunder Strike!" he called out, first firing a powerful lightning bolt to counter the incoming slashes. As Haki enveloped his entire body, he swung his Thunder Blade repeatedly, trying to intercept Shiki's slashes. However, the larger slashes broke through his attacks, gouging massive cracks into the ground as they bore down on him. Sanders leapt out from the fissures, now dust-covered and looking a bit worse for wear.
Suddenly, a massive octopus-like beast appeared beside him, raising a tentacle to strike. Sanders glared at it, releasing his Conqueror's Haki. The creature froze, a look of terror on its face, before retreating hastily. All around the battlefield, animals fled in fear from the pressure of his Haki.
"Kehahaha!" Shiki's mocking laughter echoed. "Sanders, see that? That's true intimidation. You're out of your league, kid!"
Unfazed by the taunts, Sanders laughed. "I'm not even twenty. Of course, my swordsmanship's still green, Golden Lion." He saw Shiki not as a rival but as a treasure trove of experience. If Shiki wanted to mock him, he didn't mind.
Sanders raised his hand, summoning a colossal thunder dragon. "200 Million Volt: Thunder Dragon!" The roaring dragon of lightning coiled in front of him, then charged toward Shiki with terrifying speed.
"Lion's Might: Earth Scroll!" Shiki roared. The ground surged up, mud and stone coalescing into a massive lion, charging forward with thunderous steps toward Sanders' Thunder Dragon. In the sky above, the two beasts clashed, the dragon crackling with electricity while the lion's form rumbled with raw, earthbound power.
In a burst of explosive energy, both the lion and the dragon dissipated, leaving a scorched battlefield. The smell of charred earth lingered as Sanders advanced again, his Thunder Blade gleaming with intense energy as he charged Shiki. The crackling sound of electricity filled the air, and every swing of his blade sent bright arcs of lightning through the forest. Animals, initially scared away, scrambled even further as thunderous clashes echoed through the woods, fighting among themselves in their flight.
High above, dark clouds began gathering, casting the battlefield into ominous shadows. From the distant Thunder God ship, Robin watched through binoculars, her voice trembling. "Is this the captain's true power? He's… incredible! No wonder he could take down a Marine Admiral!"
Issho also finally recognized the source of that familiar technique. Sanders' swordsmanship bore the telltale signs of his own style! He wondered when Sanders had learned it. At that moment, a massive bird-like creature swooped down toward their ship. Issho unsheathed his bamboo blade, sending a flying slash that sliced the beast in two, and it dropped to the ground below.
"This fight isn't going to end soon. Perhaps we should move to the village below?" he suggested. "Floating here makes us easy targets for these beasts."
Nami hesitated, nervous. "Are you sure it's safe? Golden Lion Shiki is incredibly strong. We should stay close in case the captain needs our help!"
Issho smiled calmly. "There's no rush. For warriors of their level, battles can go on for days before they're decided. Let's take this opportunity to visit the island."
Robin recalled Sanders' earlier warning. "Sanders mentioned that the air here might be toxic. We should bring the masks from the ship's hold, just to be safe." With their minds made up, the group directed the Ship toward the village below.
Meanwhile, inside Shiki's base, Indigo and his henchmen nervously watched the screen, the devastation of the forest reflected in their wide eyes. One of the lackeys turned to Indigo. "Should we go help?"
"No need," Indigo replied, keeping his eyes on the screen. "This is Shiki's fight alone. We'd only get in the way."
Back on the battlefield, Shiki scowled as he glanced at the gathering storm clouds overhead, memories of a past disaster flashing in his mind. The hurricane that once destroyed his Flying Pirates still haunted him, its dark clouds mirrored in the sky above. He and Sanders clashed repeatedly, their duel slowly shifting across the island as they exchanged powerful blows.
The ground was devastated, with ruins everywhere. They fought relentlessly from dawn until nightfall, like two tireless machines, unleashing skill after skill. Shockwaves, lightning strikes, earthen lions, and thunder dragons—countless attacks echoed across the island, their booming sounds filling the air.
By the following evening, Shiki the Golden Lion stood panting, looking at Sanders from a distance, his expression dark. His golden hair was singed in places, his cigar long extinguished, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. The battle had lasted so long that he was nearing his limit. Regular attacks just weren't enough against this youthful powerhouse who seemed to care nothing for conserving his energy. For Shiki, a man in his later years and unaccustomed to this intensity, the fight was taking its toll.
Sanders was also looking worn out. His clothing was in tatters, his upper body bare and revealing solid, muscular form with a few fresh wounds left by Shiki. Yet his eyes gleamed brightly. After over a day of combat, he had finally achieved his first goal: mastering the swordsmanship of a Great Swordsman! He was now a true master swordsman.
"Is that all you've got, Shiki?" Sanders taunted, holding his lightning blade. "If you're done, just let me know, and I might even spare you!"
"You brat, I'm the one who should be sparing you!" Shiki, although weary, flushed with anger, his eyes blazing with fury. This young man had been relentless in his taunts, showing zero respect for his older opponent.
"Shockwave!" Shiki shouted, launching a powerful cutting wave with his leg. Sanders smirked, now fully familiar with the advanced techniques of Great Swordsman-level swordsmanship.
"Shockwave!" Sanders swung his thunder blade, unleashing a wave of energy to meet Shiki's attack. The two forces collided, the shockwave ripping through the nearby forest.
"What?!?" Shiki's eyes widened in disbelief. He could feel a power similar to his own—and, alarmingly, just a bit stronger, enhanced by Sanders' lightning powers.
"When did you...?" Shiki looked at Sanders, his gaze serious.
"Thanks for the help, Shiki! Without you, I couldn't have improved my swordsmanship so quickly," Sanders grinned, and his smug expression nearly made Shiki explode with fury.
"Damn it! You used me as a sparring partner?!" Shiki's face turned red with anger, his Haoshoku Haki (Conqueror's Haki) flaring intensely. The ground around them trembled, clouds gathering in the sky above, and the already dark weather seemed to grow even gloomier from Shiki's fury.
"Don't take it too hard—I used to be a Marine prodigy. It's only natural that my swordsmanship improves in battle," Sanders said casually.
Shiki paused, recalling information about Sanders. A Marine prodigy unlike any seen before, he had achieved mastery over his Devil Fruit powers within two years, and his combat techniques, including Haki, were all at a frightening level.
"What terrifying talent. Sengoku must be kicking himself for letting you escape from Impel Down," Shiki remarked, his expression complex.
He had seen many prodigies before—Roger, Whitebeard, Big Mom, and himself included—but this young man, not even twenty years old, seemed to outshine them in terms of learning ability. Unfortunately, someone like him couldn't be brought under his control.
"Fine, then. Let's go all out, Sanders," Shiki roared, his Haoshoku Haki intensifying. Red lightning crackled around him, gathering around his swords
Conqueror's Haki infusion—only a select few could master this power!
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