Marineford Training Ground
The morning sun shone through the clouds onto the training ground, casting a golden glow on every moving figure. Kuina stood in the center of the field, her sword's presence like a rainbow, her Wado Ichimonji drawing a series of cold, silver arcs. Each slash was steady and powerful. Sweat slid down her forehead, but it didn't slow her movements in the slightest.
Although she had already eaten the Mythical Zoan fruit, she did not rely entirely on its power but continued to adhere to high-intensity kendo training, all to prove one thing: "I am still a 'swordsman' who uses a sword!"
On the sidelines, Zephyr stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze steady and satisfied. "Not bad. She hasn't been blinded by power. In fact, she's training even harder."
In another area in the distance, Ace, Luffy, and Law were surrounding Roy for three-on-one coordination training.
"Faster with the coordination!" Roy shouted in a low voice, his figure like a phantom as he dodged Ace's Fire Fist and countered with a shockwave punch that sent all three of them flying back.
Luffy's figure stretched out, his pink scales shining in the sun. "Big Brother Roy! Look at my new move!" He then sank his body, his dragon claws covered in Armament Haki as he dove down, aiming straight for Roy's back.
However—
"Swish!"
Roy vanished in an instant, reappearing above his head and lightly tapping Luffy on the head. "Before you sneak attack, learn to hide your killing intent first, kid."
"Waaahhh!! Oww!" Luffy held his head and rolled on the ground.
Roy landed lightly with a chuckle, glanced at Kuina, who was still swinging her sword and sweating, a slight smile on his lips as he thought to himself, "At this point in time... Enel and Zoro should be arriving soon, right?"
Grand Line, Florian Triangle, Thriller Bark
A gray mist rolled in like a tide, pressing down heavily on the sea. The sky seemed to be covered, and it was dead silent all around. Even the seabirds were unwilling to get close. This massive ghost ship was like a coffin floating on the sea. Its deck was long since decayed and mottled, the smell of rust and corpses a pungent and unpleasant mix. Broken weapons and wreckage lay scattered on it, as if telling a story of a past tragedy.
A bolt of lightning cut through the thick fog, and Enel descended with the thunder, his blond hair slightly lifted, his expression indifferent. He had his hands behind his back, his eyes as if he disdained all worldly things.
Zoro, on the other hand, made no attempt to hide his presence. His two swords were drawn, a coldness emanating from them, his steps steady as he stepped onto this ship of death, his fighting spirit high.
"Tsk... what a disgusting place," Enel frowned, a hint of disgust in his golden pupils. "With my Mantra... the whole ship feels like it's breathing."
"It's full of death, decay, chaos, and—deformed souls."
Zoro didn't respond but just said coldly, "Where is that 'dragon-slaying samurai'?"
"Kishishishishi!!!!"
A bone-chilling, strange laugh suddenly sounded, as piercing as a rusty knife scraping on iron, coming from deep within the black fog. The thick fog churned, and a massive figure, like a stitched-together nightmare, slowly emerged.
The first thing that came into view were two sharp, protruding horns, standing like a demon's. Then, a pale, blue-gray face appeared—the skin a sickly purple, the lips a dark purple. A thick suture line ran down the center of his face from his forehead to his neck, as if his entire head had been forcibly pieced together.
His mouth was split in a savage grin, revealing a row of sharp fangs. His ears were shaped like bat wings, their edges as sharp as blades, trembling with his laughter. His neck was unusually thick and long, in a very strange proportion to his broad, fat upper body. His lower body, in comparison, seemed short and bloated, as if he were dragging a large bag of rotten flesh.
Clouds of gray-black mist coiled around his nearly seven-meter-tall massive body, trailing a suffocating shadow. His footsteps boomed as he walked, each step like a corpse unearthed from a graveyard slowly advancing.
"Where did you two little brats come from, daring to trespass on my territory?!!" he roared, his voice hoarse and broken, as if his throat were filled with broken glass. "This is Thriller Bark! The domain of the great Moria!"
He suddenly waved his hand, and shadows poured out like a tide, a thick, rotten black mist sweeping across the entire deck. Enel casually waved his hand, and lightning exploded around him, directly vaporizing the black mist into nothingness. "Is that all?" his tone was lazy, his eyes not even wavering.
"You're courting death, kid?! I am a Shichibukai!! You think this is a place you can just come and go as you please—"
Moria's face darkened, and he roared in a rage, his voice like a broken gong exploding in the thick fog, his fat body trembling with agitation.
"...Annoying," Enel rolled his eyes, his voice full of undisguised contempt. He lazily raised his hand and pointed to the green-haired swordsman standing beside him. "Roy sent us. He said to let this 'moss-head' fight that zombie swordsman of yours and get a sword."
Hearing this, Moria's expression froze, and his roar stopped abruptly. "What did you say... who sent you?" His voice was stuck in his throat, his expression as if he had just had a basin of ice water poured over his head, so stiff it was almost twisted.
Enel shrugged and repeated unhurriedly, "Roy, the Vice Admiral. The one who fought Kaido."
"R-R... Vice Admiral Roy?!" Moria was struck as if by lightning, his pupils constricting violently. His fat body trembled, and he took half a step back, almost sitting on the ground. "That's not... the monster who fought Kaido to a standstill?!!"
Ever since being defeated by Kaido, Moria had long since lost his fighting spirit. Now, hearing Roy's name, he felt an instinctive fear. His voice trembled, and even his ears turned purple with fear. The originally ferocious expression on his face quickly collapsed, replaced by a look of terror and regret. Cold sweat poured down, and his whole face was like a lump of dough soaked in water, swollen and twisted.
"You... you should have said so earlier!!!" He instantly changed his tune and quickly squeezed out a fawning smile. "Hahaha... so it's the esteemed guests sent by Vice Admiral Roy. My apologies, my apologies. It's really a misunderstanding. That was just for atmosphere, you know, atmosphere." After speaking, he immediately turned to his subordinates and shouted, "Men! Take them to find 'that one'! The one with the sword! Quick, quick!! Be quick about it!!" He then turned back and bowed and scraped to Enel and Zoro. "Please, feel free to look around, to fight. I just ask that you be merciful... and don't chop up my ship..."
Enel glanced at him and smiled faintly.
Thriller Bark, Deep within the Old Castle
A dark, tomb-like corridor extended to a stone hall. The walls were covered with rotten armor and broken weapons, and the air was filled with the smell of dormant mold and rust. In the center of the hall, a still figure stood, as if frozen in time.
He was completely wrapped in bandages, his hair white, his face without eyes or a nose, only lines of stitches. He wore a white kimono with the character for "Dragon" on it, a blue belt with a whirlpool pattern at his waist, and wooden clogs on his feet, looking very much like the mummy of an ancient samurai.
That person was the legendary—Shimotsuki Ryuma. At his waist, a katana as black as night hung quietly.
Zoro's gaze was instantly locked on that sword, his pupils constricting, his voice low and fervent. "So that's... 'Shusui'?"
Ryuma slowly looked up, his crimson pupils appearing from the shadows, carrying the silence of the dead and the killing intent of a samurai. He spoke, his voice as if it had crawled out of a coffin, "Trespassers... will be cut down."
Zoro grinned, his two swords drawn with a "clang, clang," his gaze as sharp as a hawk's. "That's just what I was thinking." He charged forward, the wind from his slash tearing through the air. "Two-Sword Style: Oni Giri!!"
And Ryuma, at the same instant, drew his sword, the light of the blade cutting through the long sky like a night moon. "Moon Shadow: Flash!"
"CLANG!!!"
The blades clashed, and sparks flew. The air suddenly trembled, and the entire old castle seemed to rumble with this one blow. The zombies in the distance all retreated, and a deep gash even appeared on the ground.
This was a duel between—the living and the dead, a master swordsman and a legend.
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (123 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (72 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (92 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (93 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (75 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (90 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (94 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (75 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (42 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it