Looking back at Jotaro, his Stand's fist that blasted at Hawk Eyes had blood dripping from the joints.
Drip~ Drip~
blood beads fell into the water, spreading out circle after circle of crimson ripples.
Jotaro didn't even notice the blood on his hand, he didn't even sense the pain.
At this moment, all of his attention was focused on Hawk Eyes.
Just as he expected, Haki was probably a product of this world.
Hawk Eyes' attainments in Haki had already reached the level of divine mastery.
Compared to him, Jotaro was like a novice who had just entered the door.
"How did you do it? Appearing in front of me in an instant."
Hawk Eyes lightly wiped the wound on his face, the corner of his mouth carried a hint of a smile, looking very interested.
Jotaro crossed tens of meters in an instant, even his Observation Haki couldn't give any warning, this truly surprised him.
It was precisely this moment of distraction that allowed Jotaro's punch to land on him.
Otherwise, with Jotaro's base speed, there was absolutely no chance of hitting the strongest swordsman in the world.
'Devil Fruit?'
If getting close to him relied on a Devil Fruit ability, then what was that which blocked his attack beside him?
Could one person possess the abilities of two Devil Fruits?
This was already beyond Hawk Eyes' realm of understanding.
"Who knows..."
Jotaro wasn't dumb enough to reveal his trump card to an enemy.
"Then I'll just have to slowly figure it out myself."
Hawk Eyes raised the black blade, and his aura suddenly changed. Before the residual echo faded, his entire body vanished from the shore.
Jotaro's expression turned extremely grim.
A terrifying pressure that could make heaven and earth pale rushed toward him at an astonishing speed.
His eyes couldn't even track Hawk Eyes' movement trajectory.
"Star Platinum!"
Star Platinum stood behind him, its focused pupils slowly moved like a precision probe.
Within its vision, the scene ahead was disassembled into frame-by-frame images.
Hawk Eyes' fast-moving ghost-like figure was immediately locked onto.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
Facing the black blade slashing down at Jotaro, Star Platinum swung both fists, using its fierce punching momentum to form the sturdiest shield in front of Jotaro.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Fists and blade clashed rapidly, colliding one after another, the sound of metal clashing never ceased.
In front of the two, blazing sparks scattered, erupting into intense cutting gusts.
Each time Hawk Eyes swung his blade, the surprise in his heart grew deeper.
His blade seemed to strike an invisible wall, never able to reach Jotaro's body.
His sword aura was always dissipated by an unknown force just as it was about to hit the target.
"Haha, interesting!"
Hawk Eyes let out a loud shout, his aura rose again, the Haki on the blade grew thicker and thicker, and the slashing speed was also gradually increasing.
Under Hawk Eyes' increasingly ferocious blade attacks, Jotaro was not as relaxed as he appeared on the surface.
Star Platinum's strength and speed were both above Hawk Eyes.
But Hawk Eyes' swordsmanship was exquisite, and coupled with deep Haki foundation, one of his attacks would take Star Platinum several blows to neutralize.
With a slightly weaker Stand, Jotaro would have already been cleaved in two by Hawk Eyes' sword.
Only Star Platinum could make the current situation appear evenly matched.
However, the equality only showed in offense and defense; in all other aspects, Jotaro was already at a disadvantage.
Star Platinum needed multiple attacks to break apart the sword aura wrapped in Haki.
This meant Jotaro's stamina consumption was several times that of Hawk Eyes.
Hawk Eyes' battle state was heating up, the angle of his black blade swings grew more and more cunning.
But on Jotaro's side, cold sweat had already started to appear on his forehead.
BOOM!!
A sound like thunder echoed through heaven and earth, and the clashing fighters separated again.
Hawk Eyes raised his head and let out a hearty laugh.
"I take back what I said earlier, you're indeed not a weakling."
"People who can take this many of my sword strikes unscathed are few in this world."
"Your ability exceeded my expectations."
"But the gap in Haki is not something that mere Devil Fruit powers can make up for!"
Jotaro didn't speak, his eyes landed on the black blade, lost in thought.
During his exchange with Hawk Eyes, he had tried several times to break out of his passive defense and launch attacks.
But due to Hawk Eyes' Observation Haki, even though he couldn't see Star Platinum, he could still dodge the punches in advance.
"A power same as mine?"
After training in Haki, Jotaro divided it into three types based on his experience.
One type could sense the sounds and movements outside of the line of sight, predicting enemy actions.
He didn't expect Hawk Eyes to also know this technique.
Moreover, Hawk Eyes' use of Observation Haki was even more advanced than his.
Realizing this, Jotaro deeply understood that his chances of defeating Hawk Eyes were approaching zero.
The only opportunity would be the next time stop.
With Hawk Eyes' intellect, after two uses of time stop, he would definitely realize the existence of this ability.
After that, as long as he stayed on guard, with the terrifying attack range of the black blade, even if Jotaro used time stop again, he'd be forced to waste that time dealing with the surrounding sword aura.
Hawk Eyes held the black blade horizontally in front of him, his gaze sharper than a hawk's locked onto Jotaro, and said in a deep voice, "From now on, I won't hold back anymore. With this move, we'll decide the winner!"
His aura changed abruptly, like a divine sword about to leave its sheath, the chilling sword intent swept in all directions, even the air seemed to freeze.
The black blade trembled slightly, its dark blade body seemed to swallow the surrounding light, an invisible pressure fell down, making Jotaro feel like he was in an endless abyss.
Jotaro's pupils shrank, his whole body's muscles tensed.
'So this was the supreme realm where swordsmanship and Haki fused!'
Locked by sword intent, locked by Haki, there was no way to dodge!
As the blade came before him, another terrifying gash appeared on Jotaro's school uniform, and under it, glistening drops of blood had already seeped from the skin.
Hawk Eyes, who launched the strike, looked at Jotaro who remained calm, and was deeply shocked.
He wasn't resigned to defeat, he was waiting for the opportunity.
'This man! Even with death clutching his throat, he remains so calm!'
Even Hawk Eyes felt ashamed compared to this kind of mental fortitude.
As the blade gradually sank into his skin, Star Platinum suddenly appeared behind Jotaro, its entire body radiating killing intent.
"Star Platinum!"
"Time stop flowing!"
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
Star Platinum, with fists wrapped in Haki, savagely struck toward Hawk Eyes' direction.
But in the next second, the thrown punch suddenly froze.
Jotaro's face was filled with deep astonishment.
Unknowingly, he had already been surrounded by countless streams of sword aura.
Looking at Hawk Eyes, frozen in place before him, even he was impressed by his opponent's combat prowess.
This was the toughest opponent he had ever encountered.
"He already guessed I could stop time, so he's been guarding against me from the start?"
If he launched an attack on Hawk Eyes now, the surrounding sword aura would definitely cut him to pieces.
At such close range, even Star Platinum couldn't avoid all the damage in a split second.
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