"Turbo Slash!"
The curled blades on Bonez's hands spun and collided with that flying slash, letting out an ear-splitting screech.
Boom!
The flying slash exploded, and Bonez fell back to the ground, his gaze heavy as he looked toward the direction the flying slash had come from.
The Six-Gold Sword Schmitt—this swordsman in his fifties was a famous powerhouse in the West Blue. Wherever he was, very few pirates dared to pluck his whiskers.
"Lately the seas really have been stormy—so many newcomers popping up."
Bonez looked mature and had developed early, but in front of this sharp-eyed veteran swordsman, a trace of youthfulness could still be seen.
Bonez: "I heard that you and the old king have been friends for many years. So why is it that when the new king took the throne, you didn't help your friend the old king, and instead you're here guarding the old king for the new king?"
Schmitt, this old general, was straightforward in how he conducted himself. Faced with Bonez's question, he gave an answer: "There are many reasons. One of them… I'm not his match."
Not being a match was only the most superficial reason, but Bonez keenly sensed an unusual undertone.
Bonez continued, "Our leader will kill your new king, and we're here to rescue the old king and help him retake the throne. Do you want to fight me, or come with me to save the old king?"
Kill the new king? Schmitt didn't know where this group had come from. He had personally witnessed the new king's strength—there really weren't many people in the West Blue who could kill him.
His mind wavered slightly. Schmitt looked back at Bonez. He had thought the other party was here to persuade him, but at this moment, he saw blazing battle intent on this young man.
"Looks like you don't want me to immediately switch sides and release the old king."
Of course. Bonez came here to find an opponent to test his training. If this Six-Gold Sword really nodded in agreement, then he'd have come for nothing—might as well steal Dice's opponent to warm up.
"Six-Gold Sword Schmitt."
The sword in Schmitt's hand was rather slender. He held it in one hand and put the other behind his back, standing perfectly straight.
"Rocket Team Leader's Personal Guard Daz Bonez."
After exchanging names, it was time to fight. Bonez moved his feet and in an instant appeared above Schmitt's head. His body spun, and together with the likewise spinning skin blades, he became like a power drill.
Schmitt reacted quickly. Sensing something wrong with the airflow above, he immediately leaped back and brushed past the attack.
Boom!
Soil and dirt flew everywhere, forming a huge cloud of dust. The spinning Bonez carved a massive crater where Schmitt had been standing.
"Swallowtail Slash."
Schmitt's slender sword trembled twice in the air, and a pale, swallowtail-shaped flying slash was cut out.
The slash split the dust and precisely hit the burly man inside.
Clang!
A ringing clash of metal.
Bonez jumped out, patted the dust off himself, and said bluntly, "I ate the Dice-Dice Fruit. My body is as hard as iron. Ordinary sword techniques can't break my defense."
A steel-cutting swordsman doesn't cut steel with every single strike.
Schmitt knew as soon as he heard this that Bonez understood the difference between a swordsman and a master swordsman.
Only those who have grasped the state of cutting steel can be called master swordsmen, and flying slashes are another extension of cutting steel.
"Aren't you afraid I'll cut your body open?"
"If you didn't have the talent to cut steel, I wouldn't even want to come looking for you."
Schmitt's gaze sharpened. The slender sword in his hand shook several times in quick succession, and in an instant, a large number of swathes of Swallowtail Slashes flew out, like a huge flock of swallows returning to their nests.
Bonez took his stance.
The combination of his own ability and Tekkai—its defensive power was several times that of ordinary Tekkai.
Those flying slashes landed on him with hard clinks, yet not a single strike managed to damage his skin.
Among the Rokushiki, when people use Tekkai, ninety-nine percent of them can't move in place. Later in CP9, a talent appeared—Jabra—who could move while using Tekkai.
A movable Tekkai… isn't that basically the prototype of Armament Haki?
Bonez was developing in this direction as well. Right now, he wasn't afraid of his body being cut open. To temper Armament Haki, pain was a necessary process.
"Swallow Flash!"
Seeing the other party's mincer-like arms, Schmitt gripped his sword with both hands, and the slender blade was swung into a white afterimage.
Clang! Sshk!
The two sides switched positions. Bonez calmly raised his arm, on which a clear line of blood had appeared.
That strike just now really did cut through his defense, but only a thin layer—the wound wasn't even a third of an inch deep.
"Your body is really hard."
As one of the rare steel-cutting practitioners in the West Blue, Schmitt had confidence in his swordsmanship. Ordinary steel simply couldn't block his blade.
But even among steel, there are differences, and Bonez was clearly the harder type.
"Still not enough. If you can still cut my skin, it means my training has only just begun to bear fruit."
Bonez looked at the wound with very steady emotions. Being able to let a steel-cutting master swordsman leave only a small wound on him meant the training was working—but what he pursued was absolute defense. Leaving no wounds at all was the supreme realm.
"Young man, setting your standards too high makes it easy to fall hard."
"Then I won't trouble you to worry about that for me."
The two took their stances again, and the fight continued.
...
"Looks like this Schmitt doesn't have much intention of truly stopping them."
Schmitt held back Bonez, yet completely ignored Lena and Charizard. That pair wasn't something the other guards could withstand.
In fact, those guards couldn't even withstand the miners' riot anymore. At the start, relying on their equipment advantage, they still had some intimidation. But as Lena rode Charizard and descended like a divine soldier, a few bursts of fire had them crying for their fathers and mothers, and the guards collapsed completely.
Charizard swooped down and pinned a fleeing guard to the ground. Deep in its throat, faint flames began to appear.
Lena demanded, "Speak. Where is your old king being held?"
"T-The old king is…"
The people of Copper Mine Island all had some guesses about where the old king was—inside the abandoned mine that the Six-Gold Sword Schmitt had been guarding all along.
Lena had Charizard release him and headed straight for the abandoned mine. Just as that man tried to get up, the surrounding miners swarmed in and tied him up tight.
The abandoned mine wasn't hard to find—it wasn't far from the dock.
There were still some guards here, and their weapons and equipment were quite ample.
"Waaah!"
Charizard flew low along the ground, grabbed a cannon, and spun in the air, building up speed.
Overhead.
Whoosh!
It flung the cannon out, instantly smashing apart the guards' defensive line.