Chapter 175: Chaos
Lucci did not take the bait.
Of course he did not.
His idea of justice had been built entirely around the World Government. To him, that justice was absolute, untouchable, and not something an enemy had the right to mock. Axel's words had struck exactly where they were meant to strike.
But Lucci was not Jabra.
Anger might rise, but it would not command him.
He understood perfectly well that Axel was trying to force him into attacking. In his current state, rushing in out of wounded pride would only give Axel another opening. No matter how much Lucci hated those words, his personal feelings did not matter more than the mission.
If he wanted to correct Axel, he would do it with force.
Words were cheap.
Subjugation was cleaner.
Seeing Lucci remain silent and evasive, Axel was not surprised. If it had been another CP9 member, the provocation might have worked. But Lucci's emotions were too cold, too controlled, like a killing machine built for one purpose. Even when anger stirred inside him, it did not easily leak into his movements.
What truly bothered Axel was not Lucci's restraint.
It was his instinct.
If Lucci were only using Kami-e, Axel could deal with it easily.
Kami-e, or Paper Art, was a technique that emptied the body of excess strength and allowed it to sway with the air currents created by an opponent's attack. The body moved like paper in the wind, avoiding blows at the last instant.
Against that alone, Axel could simply alter the direction of those air currents and make Lucci dodge the wrong way.
But Lucci was not relying on Kami-e alone.
Even when Axel interfered with the flow of air, Lucci still avoided his strikes.
That meant his current state was not just technique. He was combining Kami-e with his own combat instincts. His body was reading danger faster than calculation alone could predict.
Some people were born leaders.
Some were born killers.
Some had intuition sharpened beyond common sense.
Lucci had the instincts of a predator.
That was the true reason he had reached this level.
As the battle dragged on, Lucci's movements grew smoother. The disruption caused by the injury near his heart was fading. His breathing was still heavy, but his evasions were becoming sharper.
Axel knew he could not allow this to continue.
If Lucci fully recovered, the fight would only become more troublesome.
He stopped.
The barrage of wooden blade strikes ended abruptly.
Then Axel closed his eyes.
Lucci's gaze narrowed.
Under normal circumstances, Axel should have pressed the advantage. His offensive had been working. Stopping now made no sense unless he was preparing something.
And with this child, "something" usually meant trouble.
Axel exhaled softly.
There was no other way.
He had to use that move.
His gaze passed briefly over the ruined office. Tables overturned, documents scattered, wall half-destroyed, floor cracked beyond recognition.
He sighed.
It seemed the room would have to suffer a little more.
The technique was called Chaos.
Move with the heart.
Follow with the blade.
It was a sword technique born from the teachings of Momousagi. The only swordsmanship truly suited to a swordsman was the swordsmanship they realized for themselves.
Chaos was not a proper style.
It was a blade swung by the fluctuations of the heart.
No fixed pattern.
No elaborate countermeasure.
No tidy sequence of forms.
The user stripped away unnecessary thoughts, defenses, and hesitation, leaving behind only the intent to destroy the enemy before them.
With his Calculation Power, Axel isolated the excess thoughts in his mind and entered a state close to emptiness. Each swing was connected only to destruction. Nothing else remained.
When he first created the technique, he had tested it against Issho.
Even Issho's terrifying Observation Haki had struggled to fully evade it, because the technique lived up to its name.
Chaos.
No excess intent.
No predictable structure.
Even if someone could sense killing intent, reading the next move became difficult when the next move did not exist until the instant it was made.
With his eyes still closed, Axel spoke.
"Mr. Tom, leave the room."
Tom, who was still locked in combat with Jabra, froze for only a moment.
Then his expression steadied.
"Got it."
He swung one arm with brutal force, forcing Jabra back, then turned and rushed toward the door.
Tom did not know what Axel intended to do. But he knew the boy well enough by now to understand one thing: Axel was not the type to joke in the middle of a fight.
If he said to leave, then staying would be dangerous.
Jabra was caught off guard.
He watched Tom retreat, then sneered.
That Fishman was also a mission target, but compared to Axel, he was far less troublesome. If the one blocking him left of his own accord, that saved effort. Once Lucci dealt with Axel, capturing Tom would only be a matter of time.
The moment Tom stepped out of the room, Axel opened his eyes.
They had changed.
Before, those crimson eyes had carried a depth far too old for his appearance. They had been mocking, calculating, sometimes lazy.
Now, they looked empty.
Not emotionless.
Worse.
They were filled with a quiet, destructive intent, like the gaze of a demon that had already decided what must be cut down.
Lucci felt the change most clearly.
The pressure focused on him had transformed. The earlier mockery had vanished, replaced by pure killing intent.
Jabra felt it too.
As a Zoan user, his instincts were sharper than most. The moment the atmosphere shifted, the coarse hair across his body bristled. His body recognized danger before his mind could explain it.
"Lucci!"
Lucci gave a slight nod.
He did not know what had changed in Axel, but he knew the next attack would be different from everything before.
He raised his guard to the limit.
Then the floor exploded.
Bang!
A violent impact shook the room. A circular crater appeared beneath Axel's feet, cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb.
In this state, Axel no longer bothered to hold back.
The speed that erupted from his small frame made both Lucci and Jabra's pupils contract.
Axel reached Lucci first.
His wooden blade swept horizontally.
Lucci barely reacted in time. He bent backward on instinct, the blade cutting through the air just above his chest. Before he could regain his balance, Axel's free hand slammed down.
No form.
No rhythm.
No pause.
Only an attack chained directly into another attack.
Lucci activated Soru from that awkward posture, flipping away and retreating several steps.
He narrowly avoided the descending strike.
But Axel was already moving again.
Soru.
The distance Lucci had created vanished almost instantly.
Lucci used Soru again.
Axel followed with the same speed.
There was no room to breathe.
No opening to counter.
No predictable path to read.
Every time Lucci thought he had found the next attack, the blade came from somewhere else. A shoulder feint became a knee strike. A missed cut turned into a backhand swing. A step forward reversed into a side slash that carved through the air at a vicious angle.
Jabra cursed and rushed forward to help.
Before he could reach them, faint air blades burst outward from around Axel.
They were almost invisible, thin distortions flashing through the air like scattered glass.
Jabra pulled back at once.
One of the air blades grazed his arm, slicing cleanly through fur and muscle. Blood splattered across the floor.
His expression changed.
The space around Axel had become a killing zone.
Every swing of the wooden blade dragged countless air blades with it. Some followed the path of the strike. Others twisted off at strange angles. A few seemed to appear from directions that made no sense.
It was not a proper sword technique.
It was a storm.
Lucci's situation worsened instantly.
His Kami-e Bushin form allowed him to dodge with astonishing flexibility, but there were now too many attacks and too little space. Some angles could not be avoided. Even when he slipped past the main blade, the surrounding air blades cut into him.
A line opened across his shoulder.
Another across his ribs.
A third sliced along his thigh.
None were fatal, but each one stole a little more room from him.
Jabra tried again to force his way in, hardening his body with Tekkai.
The air blades struck him.
His hardened muscles were still cut open.
Jabra's face twisted.
If he forced himself into that battlefield, he would collapse before he ever reached Lucci.
"Damn it…"
For once, there was no mockery in his voice.
Only frustration.
.....
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