Ging and the others came to watch an entertaining fight.
Whether Netero got beaten up or Law got beaten up, it should be an interesting sight.
So, they weren't here to watch a life-or-death struggle.
"Chairman, are you joking?"
Biscuit stepped forward, her expression serious as she stared at the calm Netero.
If this was a joke, it really wasn't funny at all.
Betting one's life on a fight?
For this?
If it were fighting desperately to resist a terrifying alien species, even dying would have value.
But losing one's life in this fight? That would be far too cheap.
Both Netero and Law were world-class talents. Either one dying would be a great pity. So such a potentially occurring death was simply laughable.
No conflict of interest, no deep-seated hatred, no reason for a fight to the death!
Netero calmly placed his hands on his hips, twisted his neck, then looked at Biscuit, saying seriously, "Didn't I say? This isn't a joke."
The tone was indeed serious, not at all like a joke.
Biscuit reflexively clenched her fist, unconsciously raising her voice a notch. "You've gone mad!"
Netero used his pinky to scratch his ear, calmly saying, "Consider me mad then."
"..." Biscuit sharply looked at Law. "Law, let's go!"
Not far away, Ging sighed softly, thinking no one could stop Netero now.
The other spectators also saw Netero was serious, all showing grave expressions.
A proper duel between masters, how did it turn into this?
Law, however, looked at Netero, frowning slightly. "Netero won't let me leave."
Then, Biscuit and everyone outside the field realized a layer of very calm Aura now surrounded Netero, and that Aura clearly locked onto Law.
"This old man... really intends to go all out in this fight, including his life...!"
Even with a clear understanding of Netero's recklessness, this was truly exaggerated and absurd.
'No matter what, there was no reason for a fight to the death, right?'
Law silently thought to himself, then also opened his Aura Nodes, releasing his Aura.
"When facing that monster, I was sincerely grateful for everything I experienced. Before completely stepping into the coffin, to have such an incredible enemy brought before me."
Netero turned, his arms naturally hanging at his sides like a bird spreading its wings, his hands each forming the Guanyin lotus mudra.
He walked towards the rocky ground ahead. With each step, the Aura around him intensified.
This was the usual momentum-building before a fight, indicating his move to distance himself meant he was going to his combat position.
The monster he mentioned was undoubtedly the Chimera Ant King.
Ten meters...
"I lost that fight, utterly."
Twenty meters...
Netero wasn't using Ken, instead letting his Aura release freely, like the most vigorously burning flame, constantly leaping towards the sky.
The Aura Fluctuations looked quite frenzied, but if one stared, there was also a tranquility like a small bridge over flowing water, yet without feeling contradictory.
But everyone watching his back, including Law, saw a face faintly appearing within the Aura.
The Aura was peaceful, agitated, clear.
Yet, the faintly visible face seemed covered by a shadow.
It looked like Netero's face, yet also like an Asura's face, not the golden, shining face of Guanyin.
Thirty meters...
"But it also let me see my shortcomings. I was extremely moved, realizing I still had room to take a step forward. But I, I want to take a second step."
Forty meters...
The wildly leaping Aura suddenly contracted. The faintly visible face twisted violently as if sucked into a black hole, instantly solidifying into condensed Aura covering Netero's body surface.
The previously seen layer of shadow vanished without a trace. Within the Aura, faint golden light flowed, emitting an unparalleled righteous energy.
An incredibly terrifying Ken, like a flawless body… no excess fat, no lack of muscle.
"But, I understand very clearly, I've always understood: a monster like that, an opponent like that, I'll never encounter again."
Fifty meters...
Netero stopped. Fine yellow sand gradually rose around his feet, like thousands of thin, smoke-like fish swimming around his ankles.
Then, he slowly turned around, his eyes now only on Law.
"Fortunately, there's still you, the monster surpassing that monster."
Whoosh!
The fine, smoke-like sand swirling around Netero's feet stretched taut like a rubber band, snap, transforming into a thin curtain of sand spilling out in all directions.
Within moments, not a single grain of sand remained where Netero stood, revealing hard, yellow-red rocky ground.
Crackle.
Netero's Aura underwent a complete change. Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the rocky ground at his feet.
"This opportunity is rare, but I don't want a game of volleyball-like play."
His Aura quickly swept across the entire field, causing everyone's expressions to change.
Because that Aura carried a resolve-like killing intent.
"Too reckless, really too reckless..." Morel muttered to himself.
"Inexplicable," Knov's worry was evident.
Biscuit gritted her teeth, while Machi showed concern.
Uvogin and Nobunaga frowned deeply. They had been thoroughly beaten by Netero these past few days, but this was the first time they saw Netero get serious.
Nique hid behind Morel and Knov, muttering in a voice only he could hear, "Best if Law gets killed, then I'd be free."
As soon as he said it, he remembered something important: his heart was still with Law.
If Law died, it seemed he'd have to accompany him in death.
Thinking this, he shook his head vigorously, changing his tune. "Best if Netero dies! Yeah, I'm super serious!"
Inside the field, directly facing Netero's unreserved killing intent, Law sighed deeply.
'Seeking enlightenment?'
'The ultimate self-heart, morality? Ethics? Rules? Laws? Emotions?'
'Hah...'
"I understand."
Law took a step forward.
Seeing Law's move, the corner of Netero's mouth curved into an exaggerated arc.
That step meant acceptance.
Among the crowd, Machi also took a step forward, nervously saying, "Law..."
Law looked back, smiling at Machi.
That smile was meant to reassure Machi.
Then, Law glanced over the others. "Step back further."
"Huh?"
Everyone instinctively measured the distance… over 150 meters apart.
'Wasn't this enough?'
But upon seeing the Aura Law released, they didn't say anything, consciously retreating further.
Salin, Biscuit, and the others wanted to stop this meaningless fight, but when Law and Netero's Auras collided, they knew they couldn't stop it.
"Thank you for standing before me."
Dazzling golden light flashed behind Netero.
Although his shortcomings weren't fully corrected, he fantasized about achieving sublimation in this fight.
A palm from Guanyin blasted towards Law's face with lightning speed.
Truly without any mercy, carrying a sure-kill momentum!
Law took a diagonal step, dodging by an extremely narrow margin.
Boom!
The rocky ground shattered violently!
No second palm followed because the first palm pressed into the ground wasn't withdrawn. Instead, it swept sideways from the ground, slapping towards Law.
Clang!
Law slightly raised his right hand, holding Shin. The rusty blade stopped Guanyin's golden palm.
Blocking this palm, Law's body didn't budge an inch… even his grounded foot didn't shift a bit.
Crack.
Law's arm suddenly exerted force, forcibly pressing the golden palm into the ground.
Netero raised an eyebrow because he found he couldn't retract his palm… it was firmly pressed down.
At this point, he could choose to swing other golden palms, but he didn't.
Guanyin instantly disappeared. The force Law poured into his blade suddenly had nowhere to go. He forcefully struck the ground, causing his body to tilt downward.
Simultaneously, Guanyin suddenly reappeared, manifesting behind Netero again. This time, it wasn't just a single palm. All palms moved with the wind, transforming into dazzling golden streams of light, enveloping Law.
"Whoosh!"
Before the palm strikes arrived, Law adjusted his body remarkably fast. With a calm expression, he retracted the long blade into Kuro's space.
Instead of retreating, he advanced, his figure piercing through the rapidly swinging palm shadows.
Guanyin had a total of twenty-two palms, yet still couldn't seal off the frontal wide space. So, there were inevitably gaps to pass through.
Law's eyes quickly reflected a precise path. Then, his body became like the lightest feather in the world, pushed by the palm winds from each strike, drifting and floating, hovering in the space outside the palms.
In the blink of an eye, Netero unleashed twenty-two palm strikes, but Law passed through the gaps of all palm strikes without even a speck of dust touching him.
Then, Law arrived in front of Netero. On his raised right hand, Shin materialized out of thin air.
Earlier, he put Shin into Kuro's space because he planned to dodge all of Netero's palm strikes. Having a long blade in hand would increase the volume he could be hit, so naturally, he had to sheathe it.
After dodging the palm strikes, it was time for a close-range fatal strike. The time he took to summon Shin was always brief enough to be negligible.
Most crucially, Netero unleashed all of Guanyin's palms at once, meaning he couldn't defend in time.
'Will it end this easily?'
This thought flashed through Law's mind like lightning, and then he swung his blade.
But his pupils reflected Netero's smiling lips and the seemingly slow yet incomparably fast prayer gesture.
Golden light suddenly flickered and disappeared, like a broken lightbulb, only flashing once.
In everyone's eyes, the golden Guanyin merely flashed once. But that simple scene contained the pinnacle skill of the Conjuration-type.
That was the phenomenon of Netero recalling 100-Type Guanyin and then summoning it again.
This vow ability of recalling and releasing allowed the palms Guanyin struck out to return to his side at an unimaginable speed.
This was Netero's change after the battle with the Ant King.
If it were the current Netero, he had absolute confidence in not letting the Ant King break through his defense. And now, standing before him wasn't the Ant King but Law.
Whoosh!
The twenty-two palms of the golden Guanyin moved together. When stacked, they resembled a blooming golden chrysanthemum, carrying an unstoppable descending momentum, directly covering Law from above.
Thus, Law faced two choices.
Swing his blade to sever Netero's body, then be slammed into the ground by the stacked palm strikes.
Give up the attack, dodge the stacked palm strikes.
Undoubtedly, Law could only choose 2. Because each time he cut a non-fatal attack, it would be trading life for injury, utterly not worth it.
Moreover, he had no intention of killing Netero.
Law instantly flashed backward, leaving a shallow sand trail on the ground.
Boom!
The stacked palm strikes heavily slammed into the rocky ground, producing a deafening roar.
Massive dust clouds were flung up… layers of rock cracked and lifted.
Outside the field, the spectators' expressions turned grave.
This was truly a life-or-death struggle because every one of Netero's strikes was so sharp and merciless.
Dozens of meters away, Law stood with his blade, expression calm.
Whoosh!
Several golden arms shot out from the billowing dust… not to attack Law but to sweep to both sides. The generated gusts blew away all the dust, revealing Guanyin's solemn and majestic form and Netero maintaining the prayer gesture beneath.
He looked at Law dozens of meters away, a trace of indescribable melancholy flashing across his face.
Even though his Aura exuded merciless killing intent, even though every strike was lethal, Law still treated this fight as a spar. Neither his Aura, attacks, nor defense carried even a hint of killing intent.
This wasn't the fight he wanted.
But things had come to this. He couldn't advance, nor could he retreat.
Law caught the fleeting melancholy on Netero's face. "Netero, from this moment on, I won't use my blade anymore."
"Hmm?"
Hearing this, Netero's expression darkened slightly, then he let out a laugh that started low and rose high, its meaning unclear.
He didn't give any response, meticulously maintaining his combat momentum.
Law meant what he said. He didn't put Shin back into Kuro's space but threw it towards Nobunaga.
Watching Shin flying towards him, a thought popped into Nobunaga's mind: 'Why throw it at me?'
Before he could answer this doubt, Nobunaga reflexively reached out and caught Shin.
Seeing Law discard his blade, Netero slowly restrained his ambiguous laughter, then unleashed a palm strike towards Law without reservation.
Different from any previous palm strike that was emotionless, this palm carried emotion, seemingly contrary to the path of Guanyin, yet it held several degrees more fierceness.
Law had no blade, so he could choose to dodge, but he didn't.
He stood still, raised his right hand, and blocked this palm.
The size difference between the two palms was like an adult's and an infant's.
When catching Guanyin's palm, Law's movement seemed weak and soft. But everyone outside the field clearly saw Law's body didn't even tremble… he solidly blocked the palm strike.
"Internal Release!"
Law murmured softly.
Including Netero, no one saw any further movement in Law's arm. But they saw the Aura on Law's right arm emit beautiful ripple-like shapes.
Then, Guanyin's golden palm and even its arm silently shattered, like crushed biscuits, scattering and falling to the ground.
'That is… Linne's Gentle Palm!'
Surprise flashed in Netero's eyes.
Then, he understood...