"Defeat us? Don't be so arrogant!"
The irritability and anger on Linlin's face were visible. Her voice shifted from low to high-pitched roar.
Since she had stepped onto the seas and entered the treacherous world of pirates, no one had ever dared to look down on her to this extent.
It was just an ability that accelerated stamina drain. Fine, she would just defeat this brat before her stamina ran out.
"In a one-against-two situation? Wororororo!"
Kaido hoisted his ferocious kanabo onto his shoulder and stepped forward onto the smoke screen before him. "Then don't blame us for winning unfairly!"
Sakura's finger moved. The wooden spear floating behind her also trembled. Its tip cut a graceful arc through the air, howling as it fell into her hand.
"Winning unfairly? That should be my line!"
The fierce wind blew Sakura's emerald feather robe. Its tattered hem fluttered in the wind, drifting out bits of emerald flames representing vitality, dissolving into the air.
Her neck, carrying the spear, slightly pinched the shaft. The bone mask hanging from her silver-white horn, following the girl's head-tilting motion, tilted at an angle full of sarcasm from its hollow eye socket.
"Hmph, arrogant!" / "Don't underestimate us!"
Kaido and Linlin both charged toward Sakura at great speed. Their eyes shone with genuine madness, as if their hearts were soaked with killing intent. Their ferocious and submission-inspiring Haki erupted.
"Decay!"
Floating in the sky, Sakura's lips parted slightly. Using the gaps in her joints, she turned the spear on her shoulder and casually swung it.
In an instant, the plasma clouds born from the fusion of Senjutsu Chakra and her fruit ability condensed into countless arrows, shooting from the tip of the wooden spear.
"Not good, old hag, move!"
Having felt again, months later, that bone-marrow-extracting aging, Kaido's expression changed. He quickly and loudly warned his crazily charging ally.
Though they hadn't fought side-by-side for decades, Linlin, charging on her cloud, instinctively adopted Kaido's suggestion.
Zeus below released a stream of light, carrying her massive body as if gliding, moving upward three meters through the air.
It was this precious three meters that allowed Linlin to brush past the high-pitched, buzzing arrows, letting them fall to the ground behind her.
Then, flames exploded one after another behind her. The power within, guiding all things toward decay and destruction, was released, directly turning every place struck into dead land.
This kind of attack... with her remaining vitality, if she were hit even once, she would die directly of old age!
Linlin felt a lingering fear after seeing this. The flames of anger burned in her eyes.
Realizing she could no longer hold back, Linlin gritted her teeth and spoke, "Hey Kaido, let this old woman strengthen you too!"
"Consuming your own soul so heavily, are you sure there won't be a problem?"
Though his mouth spoke words of concern, Kaido's body honestly accepted the strengthened soul that Linlin shoved at him.
"It's just something that can be replenished at any time!" Linlin's scorching brown pupils sparkled with the radiance of souls. "Now, let's go for round two! You brat!"
The cold, damp wind, rushing through the broken buildings of the Flower Capital, shot into the sky.
The moment raindrops hit the ground, the two transformed into deep black and crimson shadows, swinging their weapons, scorched hot with Haki, as they approached Sakura.
Sword and kanabo and spear swung out a storm of blade arcs. Countless flames exploded in mid-air. Though the three swung their weapons at a seemingly slow speed, they made every Observation Haki focused on the conflict unable to perceive where their weapons were.
"What's happening? Why can't I see Sakura-nee and the others' weapons?" Ace, transformed into a centaur, his horse's hooves stepping on pitch-black flames, watched the battle from a distance.
"Because of fear!" Sato Sakura's voice sounded beside him. The large speedboat carrying her and the other winged tribe soldiers slowly sailed over.
Ace raised an eyebrow. "Fear?"
"Living beings, in extreme fear, instinctively shield what frightens them!" The small ship spirit floated up from below the deck and walked behind Sato Sakura.
"All three of their weapons are coiled with extremely strong Conqueror's Haki. That's why Observation Haki cannot perceive the truth hidden beneath that spirit, unless your realm allows you to see the same scenery as them."
"I see..."
Feeling his throat go dry, Ace swallowed a mouthful of saliva and continued to focus his attention back on the battlefield in the sky.
Thousands of collisions in a short time made the three's weapons as hot as red-hot branding irons. Yet amidst the flashing blades and shadows, their unquenchable will still trembled.
"Exhilarating! Too exhilarating! Roaring Thunder Bagua!"
Gripping his kanabo, which had expanded several times, Kaido wrapped Conqueror's Haki to its extreme and swung with a crash.
"This feeling... it's been a long time! Blade Mother Thunder Flame!"
Grabbing lightning and flames with one hand and wiping them onto the greatsword Napoleon, Charlotte Linlin's rapidly swinging blade transformed into a straight line.
"Yes, that's it! Fighting with exhausting all wisdom and courage is what I crave!"
Sakura laughed, venting the desire in her heart. At this moment, she completely followed her instincts in releasing Haki. The brilliant and magnificent flame burned even more vigorously at the spear's tip.
—Senjutsu: Spear of Decay - Ikoku Sovereignty!!!
The wooden cross spear and the greatsword and kanabo collided in mid-air. The power of the three clashed, shooting toward the sky.
Crack!
Explosion, thunder, and flames were destroyed by the power of decay before they could even be born. The fierce light crushed the abilities of Linlin and Kaido, pushing them back.
Born in Shikkotsu Forest and given its final form in Sakura's hands, the Senjutsu evolution… Decay, mercilessly invaded their bodies, squeezing out their power and plundering their lives.
"Ugh... cough!"
Kaido and Linlin coughed up blood. They both pressed hard on their chests. The speed of their hearts' beating was about to exceed their limits, to the point where even their powerful bodies felt an almost tearing pain.
"One strike. I've given you one last chance to attack."
Spinning the cross spear in mid-air, twirling it, Sakura hoisted it onto her shoulder and opened her arms to them. "Come, burn your lives, gamble your determination, and make your move!"
"Hmph! We don't have much time, Kaido!"
Linlin raised her hand and looked at her wrinkled skin, letting out a cold snort.
"Wororororo! Deciding the future of the world with violence… isn't this kind of struggle the best?"
Kaido's beard and hair gradually turned white, but his eyes, still filled with wildness, gathered powerful Haki. "One last time, Linlin!"
"Ah! Let's teach that brat who doesn't know how to respect her elders a lesson!"
Picking up the greatsword Napoleon, already half broken, Linlin walked to Kaido's side.
Their death-defying will sublimated their Haki, allowing their Conqueror's to break through the last barriers, bursting forth with indescribable, terrifying pressure.
"Supremacy Sea!!!" x2
Crimson thunder roared where the greatsword and kanabo crossed. A winding, blood-colored shockwave extended straight forward, carrying destruction that would make heaven and earth topple, toward the final enemy.
"Then, with this strike as reciprocation, I offer my respect to you!"
The girl spun the cross spear. As Senjutsu Chakra flowed, another self holding the spear split from her body.
The cross spear, surrounded by dense Haki and Senjutsu Chakra, lightly touched its counterpart, and together they swung toward the direction of the blood-colored impact.
—Senjutsu: Spear of Decay - Supremacy Sea!!!
A fierce light, pure to the point of containing no impurities or flaws, rose. Matter lost its form before this strike. There was no flame, no roar. True destruction is formless!
Thus, it effortlessly covered the blood-colored Combined Haki unleashed by Kaido and Charlotte Linlin.
In the absolute silence, only the elegy-like echoes sent by the distant tide, and the crisp sound like enamel cracking off porcelain.
Crack!