The pirate boss was nowhere to be seen, having vanished into thin air. His clothes and even his sword were invisible.
"Look out! He hasn't gone anywhere; he's still here, lurking nearby," Arashi warned.
Sure enough, before long, a voice reverberated in everyone's ears.
"Remember it well, boy, as it will be the last thing you do. I am Absalom, the one who ate the Clear-Clear Fruit," the pirate declared, all while even his shadow was hidden from sight.
Sear's wide-open eyes wildly scoured the surroundings for any sign of the man. He recognized the name Absalom, but couldn't dwell on it at the moment. Next, in an unexpected turn of events...
Slash!! Cut!! Sear suddenly put a cut on his own palm.
At this action, even the pirate was astonished. "Self-harm? Have you gone mad? Or is it that you have simply given up? Well, too bad; I don't accept surrenders when I am pissed."
Not responding to the remark, Sear merely smiled like a maniac as blood oozed from the wound. Then, in a split second, he directly went into action.
Tracking the voice with his keen ears, he created a picture of the invisible man's approximate position in his head and charged at the unsuspecting foe.
The exact spot for the strike could have been a hurdle, but having thought of this beforehand, Sear spread his fingers wide and simply flung his bloody palm at the spot where the man likely stood.
Innumerable drops of blood sprayed and splattered on the enemy, who was taken aback and confused.
Subsequently, metals collided with a powerful clank as the two engaged each other with their blades.
Absalom, although caught off guard for a second, didn't happen to be a slouch either.
He overcame the initial flurry of strikes, relatively unhurt. The blood marks that Sear made on his clothes were visible for a few seconds before disappearing, like everything in contact with the man.
Yet Sear hadn't lost the initiative either. He couldn't afford to. Without any means to protect himself against an invisible opponent, he would have been akin to a sitting duck; just about completely helpless.
Therefore, taking that into consideration, he didn't yield even a momentary respite for Absalom, who, having already made multiple unsuccessful attempts to slip away from the boy's reach, was at a loss. Each time the man tried, Sear would swiftly close the distance.
In time, as the fight dragged on, Absalom started sweating bullets, completely helpless against the unending volley of strikes from this unknown teen before him.
'Somebody this capable on this insignificant island?!' Absalom was unsure what to make of the boy. He began fretting for his life. Distracted, his reaction speed slowed. Taking advantage, Sear's kukri moved at an impossible angle.
A slightly unfocused mind in a heated battle was all it took. That brief inaction provided an ample gap for the blade to slip right in, leaving a long gash on his face.
Everything happened so timely that just an instant later, when Absalom came back from his stupor, he was already injured.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
The cut remained visible to plain sight—just a streak of blood suspended mid-air. Though again shortly after, it completely vanished, exactly as it had appeared.
Meanwhile, Sear continued capitalizing on the opportunity, he intensified the assault before the pirate could regain his composure and retaliate.
Absalom, now completely sober from the shock, had alarm bells ringing in his head nonstop.
He refocused his attention on combating the boy with all his strength and so, with some miracle, narrowly succeeded in escaping the metaphorical chokehold despite those earlier setbacks.
In the aftermath, as the two fell back to a neutral position, the result of the short clash couldn't be clearer.
Coming out of it, though Absalom survived the flurry of attacks, it nonetheless shook his arrogance. What was worse were his injuries—for instance, the long gash on his face.
The kukri, having put many cuts on the man, had fresh blood sticking to it. Rubbing it on his sleeves, Sear cleaned those few ounces of blood.
Holding a glinting blade afterward, he declared, "You asked why I cut my palm, right? Listen... this blood gushing from my palm was a sacrifice to my blade, Hibutsu, and an omen of your slaughter by my hands."
"Hmph, getting cocky, are we? Fool, you must think you can keep finding me with my voice, or is it that you believe spraying that blood on me will work again? It's useless now. I am constantly moving from place to place. Luck won't help a second time."
"We'll see about that."
In a swift motion, Sear charged on with full force, but the blade cut nothing but air. Sure enough, the pirate told the truth.
Every attempt to catch the man's trail was to no avail. The situation turned extremely precarious.
Absalom, on the other hand, wouldn't let this opportunity slip. Utilizing a rapid hit-and-run tactic, he forced the boy into a corner.
Fortunately, Sear narrowly blocked or dodged the strikes to his vital parts, but he also wasn't able to do much else. If he let this continue, blood loss from the numerous cuts alone could pose a fatal threat.
Even with his heightened senses, having not yet been able to tap into Haki—Observation Haki in this case.
he couldn't confidently defend against something that couldn't be seen: not the trajectory of the blade nor its distance from his neck at any unforeseen moment.
While bracing for yet another attack, his mind raced as the two hunks of steel clashed in the background—something needed to change.
Like the momentary darkness of an eclipse, the predicament that Sear was in could only last so long. Having found a flash of insight—
"Guess I have to go all out. It's a bit risky, but what choice do I have?!"
"Radiant Sun Dance..."
He was about to unleash the true power of his Breathing Arts. Up until now, he had avoided utilizing the technique to its maximum extent due to having incomplete control over it.
He took in a deep breath and exhaled what looked like steam from his mouth. His skin turned reddish. Liquids in his pores started evaporating.
Each and every breath became more refined and predictable, not even remotely erratic. His heart also picked up a rhythm. Blood flow smoothed, and the rate at which his heart pumped blood accelerated.
Muscles contracted and became solid like rock, yet he steadily avoided all the incoming strikes, becoming both flexible and robust at the same time.
Mind focused, eyes, ears—all together, five of his senses worked in unison. He heard even the faintest noise of footsteps while his eyes observed the occasional dust being raised due to them.
Time and again, the invisible blade missed its target, as if two opposing magnets were in combat.
Whenever the blade neared, Sear took a step back to avoid it. It was like his feet predicted the next move before his mind did.
Next, Sear instantly closed the gap and thrust the tip of his kukri. Absalom used all his strength to block it with his saber. His hands became numb from the impact, and he nearly lost his footing.
'What is happening? Can he see me?' Absalom questioned reality while reeling from the impact.
Sear, with renewed vigor, kept pouncing at him. During this critical moment, Absalom was again indecisive, flinching at imminent danger. He staggered and made a mishap...
Sear's kukri found its prey, almost like it had a pair of omniscient eyes—showing no mercy, it went on to slice into the man's face. A chunk of flesh was separated.
"Aughhhhh!!" Absalom gave out a terrific wail...
Even still, Sear didn't stop. Using this opening, he launched straight at the man and threw a diagonal slash. An infamous pirate from the Grand Line was left with neither the ability nor the opportunity to pose any sort of threat.
Alas, the Devil Fruit ability was undone. At the same time, Sear stopped his assault. Absalom also became visible to plain sight again.
Thus, his miserable condition was revealed. Just at a glance, the result of the battle was striking.
Notably, Absalom's nose—or the lack thereof—had been completely chopped clean from his face. In its place, a fountain of red gushed out. It was utterly horrific to behold.
"Guess I fulfilled a canon event, huh!!" Sear had an awkward smirk on his face. In the story, already prior to Absalom's first appearance, the lower portion of his face had been replaced and stitched with that of a lion's face instead. It was sort of a mystery how it led to that.
The amusement on Sear's face didn't bode well with the noseless man.
"Y-You—"
Gasping for air, he tried mumbling words, but then got quiet in an instant. The blood on Sear's kukri—his own blood—instilled a kind of primal fear in him.
Being out of his mind, he hastily scurried backward on his hind legs in an attempt to escape the vulnerable situation.
Catching sight of his severed nose flung to the side in the process, he scrambled to it before carefully grabbing it with a handkerchief and swiftly putting it in his coat pocket.
The whole time, Sear kept an eye on him. Unlike the pirate, he appeared calm on the outside, yet inside he was suffering the consequences of using the Radiant Sun Dance.
Done securing his nose, Absalom asked Sear a question that had been gnawing at him. "H-How could you attack me when I was invisible?"
Thud!
Before Sear answered, the pirate weakly fell to his knees. Crimson blood spurted from the wound on his chest; the short burst of adrenaline that gave him strength had run dry.
"Blood!! It was your blood. You can make it disappear, but what about the scent?" As he spoke, Sear was vigilant enough to hide his pain from the man.
"Also, once you started running and sweating, the repulsive smell—it was bad enough that even the blood was unnecessary. Not to mention there's also that."
Sear replied while masking his ragged breath beneath under a calm expression.
"That?"
Question marks appeared on the pirate's face. He speculated about all kinds of things.
'By "that," could he mean Haki? Does he know how to use it? But how's that possible when even I, who went to the Grand Line, have only ever heard rumors?'