Chapter 121: Chapter 121: It's My Win!
With his first strike missing its mark, Yoriichi swiftly jumped half a meter back, creating distance between himself and Kozuki Oden. His eyes remained fixed on the samurai, filled with scrutiny.
Oden, now back on solid ground, held his twin swords and beamed a brilliant smile. With a carefree sigh, he said,
"Fascinating! Fighting someone like you is really fascinating!"
"Marine, what's your name?!"
A deep, terrifying slash nearly 60 centimeters long stretched across Oden's chest. It was the result of Yoriichi's earlier attack.
Despite the gruesome, blood-gushing appearance of the wound, for Oden, it was little more than a surface-level injury.
This was the same man who had tanked Roger's Divine Departure with his chest, taken Whitebeard and Garp's punches head-on with his face. His durability was simply monstrous.
Even with Yoriichi's advanced Conqueror's Haki-infused slash, it still wasn't enough to render Oden incapacitated.
At that moment, while speaking with Yoriichi, Oden seemed completely unfazed by the pain in his chest. Smiling, he asked for the Marine's name.
"Oden-san!" Shanks and Buggy ran out from the cave. At first, they cheerfully called out to him, but upon seeing the wound on his chest, both boys quickly grew anxious.
Buggy stared at the scene, glancing several times at Yoriichi. A chill ran down his spine as he screamed internally:
"Wait, what?! Oden-san is injured?! Was that Yoriichi's doing?!"
"This guy's seriously terrifying!"
"This place is too dangerous. I need to get out of here!"
Yoriichi noticed that Shanks and Buggy had been rescued, but didn't give it much thought. His attention quickly returned to Oden.
To him, people like Shanks and Buggy could be captured anytime. What truly mattered right now was the warrior standing before him, Kozuki Oden.
A fellow user of Conqueror's Haki infusion, finding an opponent like Oden was no easy feat.
Yes, there were stronger Marines like Garp, but someone of that level was still out of reach for the current Yoriichi. Oden, on the other hand, was the perfect opponent to test his limits.
What really caught Yoriichi's interest, however, was that Oden somehow managed to react to his attacks. His Observation Killer technique, designed to be undetectable, seemed useless against Oden.
Yoriichi needed to get to the bottom of this. His Observation Killer couldn't have flaws. And if it did, he had to understand why.
With that thought, Yoriichi looked toward Oden. Without answering his earlier question, he vanished on the spot.
"He disappeared!" Shanks and Buggy both gasped.
Nekomamushi and Inuarashi's pupils constricted as they scanned the area, but even with their sharp eyes, they couldn't locate Yoriichi's position.
Meanwhile, Oden's expression turned serious the moment Yoriichi disappeared. Then suddenly, as if sensing something, he spun around and slashed backward with both swords just in time to intercept Yoriichi's blade.
Clang!!!
Oden had perfectly blocked the sneak attack from behind. Seeing this, Yoriichi no longer had any doubts.
There was no question now. His Observation Killer didn't work on Kozuki Oden.
"How… did you sense my attack?"
Yoriichi stepped back quickly and asked, keeping a safe distance.
Oden didn't hesitate. He answered directly:
"Because I heard it."
"Your attack."
Yoriichi frowned slightly.
Heard it? That's impossible. The state of selflessness he used in combat concealed not only his presence, but even the sound of his attacks.
He murmured, "...Heard it, huh? Kozuki Oden..."
Yoriichi wanted to doubt him, but Oden's serious expression convinced him otherwise. He wasn't lying. That much, Yoriichi could tell.
"By hearing… did he really mean using his ears?"
Suddenly, a flash of realization struck Yoriichi.
He remembered that in the world of One Piece, some individuals possessed a rare ability.
An ability that Gol D. Roger once had, now wielded by Kozuki Oden too.
The Voice of All Things.
"So that's what it is…"
Yoriichi narrowed his gaze at Oden. Using his Transparent World, he could see that Oden's physical vitality was much higher than normal, but there were no other visible signs explaining the ability.
The Voice of All Things must not stem from physical anatomy. It was simply a difference between people.
"If he can sense my attacks, then sneak attacks are pointless."
"Let's go head-on."
Yoriichi raised his longsword to chest height with both hands. He lowered his stance.
The black blade quickly turned crimson, igniting in fierce flames. Cracks of red lightning coiled around the blade, hissing with sharp, electric sounds.
His fiery red hair floated wildly, despite no wind.
In that moment, Yoriichi activated every power and skill at his disposal. His Haki-enhanced organs surged with energy, and his arms and blade were coated in dense, overwhelming Haki.
This would be his strongest slash to date.
Oden raised both blades, stepped forward, and shattered the ground beneath him. His arms swelled with muscle as he prepared to take the hit.
Looking straight at Yoriichi, Oden let out a booming laugh:
"Hahahahaha!"
"Marine! Your sword, it's roaring!"
As he spoke, Yoriichi's figure vanished in a fiery streak of light.
The ground scorched where the light had passed.
The next moment, Yoriichi reappeared right in front of Oden, swinging his blade straight for his opponent's abdomen.
The heat from the slash warped the surrounding air. Oden's pupils shrank as he quickly lowered his swords to block the strike.
But in the blink of an eye, Yoriichi's blade changed direction. No longer targeting the abdomen, it suddenly swung upward toward Oden's neck.
"It's my win."
Yoriichi whispered.
But just before the blade struck Oden's throat, Yoriichi's eyes widened and he suddenly stopped. His sword retracted, raised defensively at his side.
At that very instant, a deafening thunderclap rang out beside his ear.
A pitch-black slash, cloaked in swirling black lightning, shot in from a distance and collided directly with Yoriichi's sword.
Boom!!!
The terrifying strike sent Yoriichi flying.
His body was launched into the air by the force of the slash, vanishing from sight. Moments later, a muffled impact echoed from a nearby mountain, followed by a billowing cloud of dust and smoke.
"Hahahahaha!!"
"That was dangerous, Oden!"
The moment Yoriichi was blown away, a shadow darted up to the mountain peak.
The newcomer wielded a Western saber, laughing as he greeted Oden.
Shanks and Buggy looked up in shock and shouted:
"Captain Roger!"
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