Chapter 297: Blindness as an Advantage
Swoosh!
A brilliant silver sword wave tore through the air, carrying devastating force, slashing toward Issho.
Issho immediately drew his shikomizue to parry the sword wave.
Rhodes's assault, of course, didn't stop there. After unleashing his sword wave, he flashed forward, rapidly closing the distance to Issho and cutting downward.
But at that moment,
Rhodes's expression suddenly changed, because he clearly sensed a strange shift in the surrounding gravity.
Its direction shifted erratically—sometimes left, sometimes right, even upward.
Simultaneously, gravity's intensity constantly changed, sometimes feeling as heavy as a thousand kilograms, sometimes as light as air, almost nonexistent.
This chaotic fluctuation was completely unexpected. Rhodes nearly twisted himself, almost falling from his high-speed movement. Fortunately, his body control was excellent, and he didn't fall flat.
At this moment, Issho had already shattered the incoming sword energy with his blade, then swung backhand, but instead of striking Rhodes, he unleashed a purple beam of light that shot toward the distant sky.
"What is Admiral Issho doing?!"
The onlookers were all baffled. Why would Issho strike the sky? Was something going to fall from the heavens onto the Thunder God Swordsman?
Rhodes, witnessing Issho's actions, couldn't help but twitch his lips.
This location wasn't far from the port city—wasn't he concerned about affecting civilians?
If it were Sakazuki, he might not care.
But Issho clearly would. Although Rhodes hadn't known Issho long, he could discern his character from the Celestial Dragon's bombardment of the port.
Therefore, he must have sufficient control over this technique, able to direct it precisely.
Just as Rhodes was considering this,
a light suddenly flashed in the sky.
This light rapidly grew larger.
Judging from the speed of its expansion, whatever was falling was descending at unimaginable velocity.
Rhodes deduced that Issho's technique not only pulled the meteorite but also altered its gravity, making its descent even more ferocious.
"My God! A meteorite?!"
"Run!"
The CP agents in the distance showed extreme fear, hastily fleeing.
"That damn Admiral, isn't he afraid of hitting me?"
The Celestial Dragon muttered angrily, but dared not linger, fleeing in panic.
A few seconds later, the meteorite arrived overhead. Flames were clearly visible around it, caused by friction with the atmosphere during its high-speed descent.
"Impressive."
Rhodes felt incredibly strong wind pressure, suppressing everything around him, even causing the nearby sea to sink.
"Watch me shatter this falling star with one strike."
Rhodes chuckled, crossed his swords, and then suddenly slashed outward.
Swoosh!
A massive cross-shaped sword wave, nearly a thousand meters long, burst forth, carrying lightning's power like heaven-covering curtains, traversing the void and fiercely meeting the attack.
BOOM!
When the meteorite collided with the sword energy,
an unprecedented roar erupted in the sky, shaking heaven and earth.
A massive shockwave swept outward, reaching the horizon, instantly devastating some of the tallest buildings in the port city.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The meteorite's impact clashed repeatedly with the lightning sword energy, exploding and scattering energy in all directions.
But Rhodes's attack was simply too powerful.
Although he hadn't yet reached Dai-Kengo level, his immense strength combined with lightning's power made his sword energy no less formidable than a great swordmaster's, in some aspects even surpassing it.
BANG!
After a brief stalemate, the cross-shaped lightning sword energy forcefully pierced through the impact and fire energy coating the meteorite's surface, slicing through it like cutting tofu.
Without Busoshoku Haki, even with the meteorite's extraordinary composition, it couldn't withstand Rhodes's strike.
BOOM!
Meteorite fragments crashed to the ground, kicking up huge clouds of dust and blasts that nearly uprooted distant trees.
The CP agents and Celestial Dragon, who'd retreated to safety, stared in disbelief at the scene. This was their first time witnessing combat of this magnitude—a sight that utterly shattered their understanding of human capability.
Could humans really be this powerful?
These two were probably Sea Kings in human form,
and enormous ones at that!
The dust settled.
The meteorite fragments altered the battlefield environment, creating many massive boulders and complicating the terrain.
On the two largest boulders, Rhodes and Issho faced each other, both feeling wariness.
Issho was wary of Rhodes's incredible speed and powerful strikes—a single misstep could mean instant death.
Rhodes, conversely, felt somewhat constrained, because he'd discovered that his speed, which he always relied on for advantage, was somewhat countered by Issho.
At distance, it was manageable—his Kenbunshoku Haki could detect gravity changes or attacks. But at close range, this almost rule-like ability was difficult to evade.
In other words, Rhodes couldn't engage in close combat!
Issho feared being struck by Rhodes, and Rhodes feared being struck by Issho too!
Their defenses were roughly equal, with Rhodes even slightly weaker, as his Busoshoku Haki was a fraction inferior to Issho's.
"So, I can only use ranged attacks?"
Rhodes thought to himself, somewhat exasperated.
Meanwhile, Issho wasn't contemplating strategy. Once in battle mode, he was completely focused. Having lost his eyesight, his Kenbunshoku Haki was already maximized, keenly sensing that Rhodes seemed somewhat distracted.
"Jūryokugatana - Mōko!"
Issho reversed his grip on the blade and swung fiercely. Immediately, a large area before him began experiencing chaotic gravity, with forces pressing against each other, creating tumultuous disorder.
Gravity attacks at range weren't particularly swift.
Although Rhodes was somewhat lost in thought, his reaction was incredibly fast, dodging the attack in a flash.
The gravity blade swept across the area, twisting the boulder where Rhodes had just stood into fragments, crushing it under chaotic gravity, and leaving a clear path through the wispy dust.
Witnessing this attack's power, Rhodes became cautious. Gravity didn't just affect the body's surface—it altered the gravity of every internal organ and even every cell.
If one's physical strength wasn't sufficient, even if the exterior remained unharmed, the internal organs would suffer severe damage—a weaker person could even be crushed by gravity itself.
Just as Rhodes was considering this, Issho's Kenbunshoku Haki flickered, and he unleashed another gravity blade.
Rhodes dodged again, knowing he had to take a risk.
He hadn't forgotten there was still another top-tier combatant in Vastaya's Royal City—the longer the battle dragged on, the more disadvantageous for Rhodes.
Whoosh!
Rhodes's body crackled with lightning, reaching extreme brightness, almost blinding.
Electromagnetic Flash!
In the blinding light, Rhodes's speed instantly increased to a level impossible for ordinary perception to track. In the blink of an eye, accompanied by blinding light like the sun, he arrived before Issho.
This was a new technique Rhodes had developed—a weakened version of his sonic slash, but with much shorter preparation time, and it also included a powerful light attack.
Of course, the light attack was useless against Issho.
Sometimes, blindness is an advantage.
(End of Chapter)
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