Kaido's eyes glead as he stared at Tengetsu Ares, who stood on a tangerine-red Fla Cloud. Firelight licked the planes of Kaido's hulking, muscle-corded fra, bathing him in a hazy crimson glow. He wanted nothing more than to see the man he called big brother crush the foe before them.
Then he looked down at the Celestial Dragon pinched between two fingers. Kaido's lip curled. The sight alone made Saint Charlos shudder uncontrollably; terror swallowed him whole.
"You're useless now. Celestial Dragon… just as filthy as the rumors say."
There was no hesitation. Kaido's fingers tightened crack and Charlos's neck snapped. He tossed the corpse aside like refuse; it thudded across the planks.
High above, CP0 Director Cloud felt his heart lurch. He would not escape bla for this. He drew a long breath, locking eyes on Ares. "Blood-Hand Ares. Out of respect, I'll use my full strength to defeat you and carry your corpse to Mary Geoise to atone."
There was no way to dodge the charge now. Only by taking Ares and Kaido could he dull the edge of his failure.
Ares' eyes kindled, the blood in his veins running hot, almost boiling. He grinned. "Good. Show how far the 'mysterious' CP0 director can go."
He didn't even finish before his pupils tightened. A jolt ran through him. Gone. That wasn't Rokushiki.
Cloud, hovering just twenty or thirty ters off, unraveled like smoke and vanished as if he'd ceased to exist.
Ares knew better. The man hadn't left; he'd used so trick to make his presence erratic and unreadable. Ares thought back to the power Cloud had shown.
The Kumo Kumo no Mi… my first ti fighting a Logia head-on. This won't be simple.
Suddenly, the air rippled at his back, off his right shoulder. Ares' mouth tipped up. "Found you."
He whipped a brutal hook into the disturbance whump the air bood.
And Cloud's voice ca from his left rear, raising Ares' hackles. His punch had hit nothing.
An instant later the real attack arrived.
"Cloud Steel Lance!"
A white tuft coalesced at Ares' left rear and, in a blink, shaped itself into Cloud's body. His arm turned to vapor, then darkened Busoshoku (Armant) Haki poured over it hardening into a huge steel-dark lance. The point drove for Ares' shoulder blade.
Hiss air tore. Ares' tail, scaled in blue diamond plates, snapped round and coiled the lance, whipping Cloud away.
Halfway through his flight, Cloud blurred and evaporated like steam.
"A terrifying opponent."
Cold sweat fild Ares' back. The Cloud-Cloud Fruit let Cloud disperse, mislead Ares' senses with pressure and flow, and strike from nowhere. One heartbeat slower and his shoulder would have been skewered crippling his movent.
Ares spread his awareness while his mind raced. How to answer an enemy who was everywhere?
Cloud read the search as if it were printed on Ares' face.
A ter ahead, the air dimpled. Ares drove a fist into it and felt only cotton. A wad of harmless cloud.
Cloud's voice rolled from the sky. "That's cloud for you, Ares everywhere at once. You wanted my full strength? This is the Kumo Kumo no Mi. You won't beat . You won't even touch ."
"I won't give you the chance. I'll end this completely."
The "harmless" tuft he'd punched suddenly cinched tight like an iron ring around Ares' wrist.
Ares' expression hardened. Teeth set, he flooded his arm with his blood-hued armant Blood-Red Scales and blasted the shackle apart.
"Don't mistake cloud for fluff," Cloud's voice cut in, cool and cruel. "That kind of thinking gets you killed."
"Cloud has no fixed form. Whatever shape I will, cloud becos. Under this sky, I sculpt as I please. I am invincible."
"You cannot defeat ."
At his word, black spears budded in the air around Ares thousands of them, three to four ters long, all with points leveled at his heart.
Ordinary clouds were white. These were black because Cloud had sheathed them all in Armant Haki. He knew ordinary steel wouldn't pierce Ares; only hardened strikes would bite.
Spears humd, straining on invisible bowstrings.
On the deck, Kaido's pupils tightened. "So this is the World Governnt's strength… it's that overwhelming?!" If those lances had been aid at him, he couldn't see any way through only a hedgehog's death.
The battle turned in a blink.
"Fire!"
As Cloud's will snapped, every spear shot at once like a storm of bullets. From every angle, every gap, a black point dove. There was nowhere to run.
Ares bared his teeth. "Then bring it on harder!"
"No-Blade Style Gale and Downpour Slash!"
Dragon talons carved the air; his arms scythed, throwing out dazzling arcs. His tail lashed, rolling ring on ring of crescent blades into a great net. His legs pistoned each kick hurling a roaring slash.
Hands, feet, tail every limb beca a sword.
And each cut ca down heavy, savage, full of brute force.
This was his No-Blade Style, no longer a sketch, but sothing with teeth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw so power stones maybe I'll be motivated to keep going.
The story's already ahead on Patron. Go there if you want to catch up faster!
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"
User Comments
0 comments from readers