Standing on Charizard’s back, Haruto watched the battlefield below descend into chaos.
The excitement in his eyes gradually faded.
"So it’s begun."
War was always brutal.
At first, it was mostly ordinary Marine soldiers clashing with the rank-and-file pirates of Whitebeard’s fleet.
But within only a few minutes, the scale of the fighting rapidly escalated.
Vice Admirals from Marine Headquarters began entering the fray one after another.
Momonga, Onigumo, Doberman, and the other renowned Marine officers charged onto the frozen bay, engaging Whitebeard’s Division Commanders and the captains of his allied pirate crews.
As stronger fighters collided, the destruction spreading across the ice became increasingly severe.
Then, just as the battle was reaching a new level of intensity, Dracule Mihawk suddenly moved.
The sight immediately drew the attention of powerful fighters across the battlefield.
Quite a few of them looked surprised.
Although Mihawk held the title of Warlord of the Sea, he had never been particularly enthusiastic about following the World Government’s orders.
Even though he had answered the summons to Marineford, most people expected him to do what he usually did—put in the bare minimum effort and spend most of the battle watching from the sidelines.
No one expected the World’s Strongest Swordsman to make a move so early.
And his target was Whitebeard himself.
High above the battlefield, Haruto watched Mihawk with keen anticipation.
Mihawk was practically famous for throwing out attacks that would be finishing moves in anyone else’s hands as casually as ordinary sword swings.
The title of World’s Strongest Swordsman had not been handed to him.
He had carved his way to it one slash at a time.
Haruto was genuinely curious to see just how powerful Dracule Mihawk really was.
Mihawk slowly drew Yoru.
The black blade reflected a cold, almost bottomless gleam beneath the sunlight.
There was nothing flashy about what followed.
No elaborate stance.
No unnecessary movement.
Mihawk simply raised the massive sword and swung it toward Whitebeard.
The instant Yoru cut through the air, an immensely concentrated flying slash erupted from the blade.
It raced straight toward Whitebeard aboard the Moby Dick at a speed almost impossible for the naked eye to follow.
The air itself seemed to split apart in its path.
A deep trench was carved through the frozen bay as the slash tore forward.
Pirates caught anywhere near its trajectory went pale merely from feeling the terrifying power contained within it.
None of them even considered trying to block it.
They scrambled out of the way as quickly as possible, terrified that even the edge of the attack might catch them.
For an instant, the fighting across the battlefield seemed to pause.
Countless eyes followed the slash as it closed in on Whitebeard.
Then a massive figure suddenly leapt from the Moby Dick and landed directly in its path.
It was Jozu, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates’ Third Division.
"Diamond" Jozu.
His body transformed into dazzling diamond.
Facing a slash powerful enough to cleave through a mountain, Jozu showed no hesitation whatsoever.
He threw his diamond-covered body directly into it.
CLANG—!!!
The deafening sound of metal striking something impossibly hard echoed throughout the bay.
Blinding sparks exploded where Mihawk’s slash met Jozu’s diamond body.
The impact sent a violent shockwave rippling in every direction, cracking the ice beneath Jozu’s feet into a dense web of fractures.
Yet under Jozu’s full strength, the slash that had been heading straight for Whitebeard was forcibly knocked off course.
It shot diagonally upward like a runaway meteor.
The Whitebeard Pirates immediately relaxed.
None of them believed Mihawk could simply cut down Whitebeard with one attack.
Still, if their captain had to personally deal with even the opening strike, what would that say about the rest of them?
Unfortunately, several hundred meters above the battlefield, Haruto’s expression suddenly froze.
"Wait..."
His eyes widened.
"Are you freaking kidding me?!"
The slash Jozu had deflected was now coming directly toward him and Charizard.
Haruto stared at it in disbelief.
He had been minding his own business, floating up here and watching the show.
How had a stray attack from the battlefield somehow managed to come straight for his head?
His surprise lasted less than an instant.
Haruto’s reactions were just as fast.
The moment he recognized the danger, the Melk Knife was already in his hand.
A tremendous amount of concentrated Nen surged from his body and wrapped around the blade.
The aura extended farther and farther outward, condensing until it formed an enormous kitchen knife several meters long, so dense that it almost looked solid.
The blade of Nen radiated an almost unbearable sharpness.
"Break!"
Haruto twisted his wrist and swung.
The giant Nen blade shot forward to meet Mihawk’s incoming slash.
The two collided in midair.
There was no earth-shaking explosion.
Instead, a shrill grinding sound tore through the air as two overwhelmingly sharp forces ground against one another.
Violent turbulence erupted from the point of impact.
Even Charizard was buffeted hard enough to wobble in the air.
"Rrgh!"
Charizard growled irritably and beat its wings with tremendous force, stabilizing itself against the chaotic currents.
The Nen blade and Mihawk’s flying slash remained locked together for only a brief moment.
Then both exhausted the last of their power and dispersed simultaneously.
Not even a lingering shockwave remained.
Haruto slowly lowered the Melk Knife.
His expression had become completely serious.
’That was ridiculously strong.’
The attack he had just blocked had only been an ordinary swing from Mihawk.
More than that, Jozu had already intercepted it with his full strength and knocked it off course.
Afterward, it had traveled another hundred meters or more through the air, losing even more power along the way.
And even after all of that...
The kitchen knife Haruto had formed with his full concentration of Nen had only barely managed to cancel it out.
The World’s Strongest Swordsman truly lived up to his reputation.
Mihawk was far stronger than Haruto had initially estimated.
While Haruto was still marveling at the sheer power behind the attack, Mihawk, who had been preparing to lower Yoru, suddenly raised his head.
His sharp eyes locked onto Haruto.
His expression shifted ever so slightly.
Someone had actually stopped the deflected slash.
More interesting still was the method Haruto had used.
That had not been a swordsman’s flying slash.
It was not an attack launched from a blade at all, nor did it resemble any sword technique Mihawk recognized.
It had been a completely different kind of power, shaped into the form of a knife and given sharpness comparable to a true sword strike.
He was not a swordsman.
Yet he could wield the concept of a "blade" to that degree.
And with nothing more than a short knife barely over a foot long, he had stopped Mihawk’s slash.
Now that was interesting.
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