Rainwater washed over the hem of the Justice coat as Kane looked down at the young man below, who stood like an unsheathed blade. The playful curve at the corner of his mouth grew more pronounced.
"If you truly are a first-rate swordsman, even without crossing blades, you should be able to see the gap in strength between us."
Kane's voice cut clearly through the pouring rain.
"Daring to draw your sword against me—is this courage born of your will? Or... is it ignorance?"
Mihawk's youthful face showed no trace of retreat. His hawk-like eyes burned with fire.
"It is born of my swordsmanship. I will become the world's greatest swordsman! That is all!"
Everyone in the square heard this arrogant declaration.
Before a Navy Admiral, before the man who personally ended the Pirate King, he claimed he would become the world's greatest?
Had this kid's brain been waterlogged by the rain?
Yet, after hearing this, Kane's expression remained completely unchanged.
He didn't even raise an eyelid. Slowly, he reached his hand into the inner pocket of his Navy coat.
He fumbled around.
And fumbled some more.
The eyes of the world, along with the lenses of dozens of Video Transponder Snails, focused on that hand.
Crocodile's breath hitched.
Doflamingo's eerie grin froze on his face.
Finally, Kane withdrew his hand.
Between his thumb and forefinger, he held something silver, gleaming with a metallic sheen...
A nail clipper.
"..."
The square fell so silent that the sound of raindrops bursting could be heard.
Everyone thought they were seeing things.
The Video Transponder Snail lenses zoomed in to the extreme, projecting a close-up of that tiny object onto screens across the world.
"Hey..."
A vein uncontrollably throbbed at Mihawk's temple.
"What... is the meaning of this?!"
Kane couldn't be bothered to answer. He opened the nail clipper on his own, flicking out the small metal file used for smoothing nails.
With that thin piece of metal, he pointed distantly at Mihawk below.
"I'm not like those fools who go all out just to hunt a rabbit."
His tone was as calm as if discussing the weather.
"You might be a somewhat famous swordsman, but this is, after all, the weakest of the four seas—the East Blue."
Kane weighed the file in his hand, a look of genuine pity appearing on his face.
"Unfortunately, I don't have a smaller blade on me than this."
Boom!
Those words struck Mihawk's face like a slap.
Mihawk's young, stern face flushed crimson in an instant.
An unprecedented sense of humiliation surged to the top of his head, making his fingers gripping the sword turn white.
"There's a limit to looking down on someone...!"
He suppressed his rage, the words forced through gritted teeth.
"Don't regret it only after you're dead!"
Before the words fully faded, he moved!
The stone beneath his feet shattered as his entire body transformed into a streak of black light, shooting straight toward the high platform!
The Black Blade "Yoru," as tall as a man, felt weightless in his hands, leaving only a straight line that tore through the curtain of rain.
The Sword Aura condensed on the blade made Doflamingo, watching from below, narrow his eyes.
"A frog at the bottom of a well..."
On the execution platform, Kane watched the deadly afterimage without even changing his stance.
"Let me show you just how vast the world truly is."
Mihawk was now right before him. Gripping his sword with both hands, he poured all his strength into it and roared the name of his technique.
"Yoru: Ichimonji!"
The pitch-black blade tore through the rain, aiming straight for Kane's forehead.
Facing this strike capable of slicing through steel, Kane merely raised his hand lazily.
He gently met it with the thin, nail-filing edge of a nail clipper.
Clink.
A soft sound.
Then, everything froze.
Mihawk was petrified.
He remained in his forward-slashing posture, but the Black Blade "Yoru" in his hands could advance no further.
The massive blade was firmly held in place by a tiny piece of metal.
Unmoving.
Mihawk's eyes widened. He could feel the immovable, overwhelming force transmitted through the hilt—a despair akin to crashing into the Red Line.
What... did he do?
No one had ever seen through this move before!
This man... with a nail clipper...
How is this possible?
The gap in strength... is it really this vast?
"How is this possible..."
"How can it be so far beyond me!!"
Refusing to accept it, Mihawk roared furiously. His wrist twisted, and the blade unleashed a relentless, storm-like barrage of attacks!
Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink! Clink!
The plaza was filled only with a rapid, sharp series of metallic clashes that grated on the ears.
Everyone below was stunned.
The young man named Mihawk struck with immense power each time, Sword Aura raging, shaving splinters off the edges of the execution platform.
Yet the Navy Admiral on the high platform kept one hand in his pocket from start to finish, not even shifting his heels.
With his other hand, he merely held that tiny nail file, deflecting and neutralizing every frenzied slash.
His demeanor seemed less like combat and more like a game.
"Fufufufu..." Doflamingo's laughter grew strained. "What a joke... that swordsman's strength is definitely not weak!"
Crocodile stared intently at Kane's movements, his cigar having fallen to the ground unnoticed.
"Is this... the power of an Admiral?"
Too fast, too precise.
Every movement of that man was without the slightest waste.
It was the embodiment of absolute control over power.
"The world..."
Mihawk gasped for breath, his frantic assault rapidly draining his stamina. But what crushed him even more was the immense psychological pressure.
"Cannot be this far beyond me!"
He let out a beast-like roar, channeling all his strength into his arms to unleash his ultimate technique!
The blade of the Black Blade "Yoru" traced a strange arc through the air, carrying the momentum to sever everything as it slashed toward Kane's neck!
"Yoru: Kage!"
Facing this final struggle, Kane finally shed his lazy expression.
His gaze grew slightly more serious.
"It's over."
With a flick of his wrist, the filing edge of the nail clipper moved at a speed imperceptible to the eye, striking later yet arriving first.
Thud.
A soft sound of a blade piercing flesh.
Mihawk's killing strike came to an abrupt halt.
He slowly lowered his head, staring in disbelief at his own chest.
That thin nail file had already plunged deep, precisely avoiding his heart and all vital points.
A drop of fresh blood slid slowly along the edge of the nail file, falling onto the damp wooden boards and blooming into a small crimson flower.
Kane withdrew his hand, the nail clipper spotless.
Looking at the young man before him, whose eyes had lost all light yet still stood firm, a playful urge stirred within him.
"Why didn't you retreat?"
Mihawk's body swayed violently, yet he stubbornly refused to fall.
He raised his head, gazing up at the insurmountable mountain before him, his voice hoarse.
"I don't know either..."
"I just felt..."
He grinned, revealing a smile uglier than tears, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"If I retreat even a single step here... I won't be able to become the world's greatest swordsman!"
Slowly, he spread his arms wide, exposing his entire chest, completely defenseless before his enemy.
"A wound on the back is a swordsman's disgrace."
"Come on!"
Watching this young man who would rather die than retreat, the cigar in Kane's mouth trembled slightly.
Indeed, the thought processes of swordsmen truly run in a straight line.
He fell silent for a moment, then once again wore that malicious smile, as if he had discovered a new toy.
"Kid, state your name."
"Dracule Mihawk!"
"I'll remember you."
Kane put away the nail clipper, his right hand slowly gripping the Black Blade "Zangetsu" at his waist, which had never been drawn.
"As a reward for your 'courage,' I'll use this world's strongest black blade... to send you off!"
Mihawk looked at the hand that had finally grasped the hilt, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.
He had done it.
He had finally forced this man to take him seriously.
Mihawk closed his eyes, calmly awaiting death.
Kane's wrist moved ever so slightly.
The Black Blade was drawn half an inch.
Just the faintest trace of its released aura instantly split the curtain of rain in two, tearing a massive gash through the dark clouds overhead.
"Don't be in such a hurry to die, kid!"