The battle instantly shifted from one-on-one to two-on-one.
Tatsuki was surrounded, yet he did not seem constrained. His movement was uncanny, and his storm wings allowed him to come and go like the wind.
At times, he turned into an afterimage, his cold blade attacking Roger's old wounds, forcing him to use Haki for defense by consuming his life force.
At other times, he clashed head-on with Rayleigh, his Haki-infused Tensa Zangetsu colliding with the his blade, each time erupting with staggering power.
The three moved at high speed around the center of the battlefield, blades flashing and shadows dancing, with black and red lightning occasionally exploding in the air.
Tatsuki, by his own strength, was actually suppressing the two legends.
Roger was seriously ill after all. His attacks gradually became weak, and the intensity of his Haki Infusion was also declining.
As for Tatsuki, his Physique had reached a freakish level of 90 points, allowing him to withstand the consumption of high-intensity combat. Every breath he took and every swing of his sword was as steady as a perpetual motion machine.
"Tatsuki, you shouldn't have gotten involved." Rayleigh said in a deep voice, his sword strikes becoming even sharper as he tried to make up for Roger's deficiencies.
"In this world, there's no such thing as should or shouldn't, only whether it's worth it or not." Tatsuki responded calmly, splitting Rayleigh's slash with one strike while his storm wings accelerated to dodge Roger's sneak attack from behind.
"And right now, the lives of two legends are worth a brand-new era."
As his voice fell, the Haki throughout his body instantly climbed to the limit, and a Conqueror's Haki several times stronger than before erupted from within him.
He no longer held back, flapping his wings violently as he charged straight at Roger like a black cannonball.
Roger felt that overwhelming pressure, and his diseased body couldn't help but tremble.
He forced himself to muster his strength, Ace also infused with Conqueror's Haki as he met Tatsuki.
At the moment the two blades collided, it was no longer the sound of metal, but a roar that shook the world.
The entire island sank violently, and the sea surface was once again pressed into a massive depression.
Roger's body finally could not withstand such immense force. The bones in his arm holding the sword made a tooth-gritting sound, and Ace flew out of his hand, stabbing into the ground.
Roger was blown away by the shockwave and crashed heavily to the ground, blood gushing out once more.
"Captain!"
Rayleigh's eyes were nearly bursting, he knew that Roger really couldn't hold on any longer.
Tatsuki did not pursue Roger. He turned, the Tensa Zangetsu in his hand drawing a perfect arc in mid-air, aimed at Rayleigh.
"Now, it's your turn."
Tatsuki was covered in Haki, and Tensa Zangetsu carried the power to tear through the air, whipping up small storms with every swing.
Rayleigh's eyes narrowed, he felt the aura of death emanating from the young man before him.
This Marine's power had already surpassed common logic.
He had no way out.
He poured everything he had learned in his life into this one strike.
Twilight!
Rayleigh's blade traced several trajectories in the air that seemed slow but contained countless variations, aimed straight at Tatsuki's flaw.
The blade edges collided, and their figures instantly crossed paths.
A gash was cut into Tatsuki's white coat, but he didn't care at all.
Rayleigh's back was swept by the wind blades of Tensa Zangetsu, dark red blood seeping through his clothes.
"It's over."
Tatsuki's voice carried an unquestionable calmness as he pulled away from Rayleigh and hovered in mid-air once more.
The air currents around him surged frantically, carrying an irreversible, natural-disaster-like momentum.
The sky darkened once again and an endless storm vortex quickly formed above Tatsuki's head.
Tatsuki hung in mid-air, his expression indifferent.
To him, that thrilling duel seemed to be nothing more than a pre-meal activity.
He looked down at the two panting legends below. There was no respect in his eyes, only scrutiny.
The dark sky above completely transformed into an abyss at this moment.
A super cyclone, covering the entire island and even extending to the distant horizon, formed out of thin air.
The center of the cyclone was where Tatsuki stood. It was calm and peaceful, like a sleeping lake.
But beyond that silence were terrifying air currents with speeds exceeding the sound barrier, spinning frantically and grinding against the atmosphere with ear-piercing shrieks.
"What the hell is that?" Rayleigh pushed his cracked glasses, the pupils behind the lenses shrinking to the limit.
Roger clutched his chest and coughed violently, a splash of startling crimson in his palm. But the light in his eyes grew increasingly fervent—the excitement of encountering a powerful enemy.
"Rayleigh, be careful! This kid's devil fruit ability... something's wrong!"
Tatsuki did not respond to their shock. He simply slowly raised his right hand, spread his five fingers, and then gently made a fist.
One movement, one thought.
It announced the beginning of the judgment.
Wind's Extreme: Eternal Fall!
Buzz!
In an instant, countless tiny, invisible wind blades separated from the violent cyclone at the typhoon's periphery.
Swish... Swish...
There was no earth-shattering roar, only the faint wail of air being densely shredded.
The entire world was pulled into an invisible shredder.
Countless wind blades swept toward Roger and Rayleigh from all directions, every angle, and every gap.
These wind blades were extremely thin yet possessed the sharpness to cut diamonds. More terrifyingly, they rubbed against each other at high speeds, generating staggering heat.
"Rayleigh! Back to back!"
Roger's Observation Haki foresaw that desperate future. He roared, and his somewhat hunched body instantly straightened.
At this moment, the illness seemed to be forcibly suppressed by his will.
Pitch-black Armament Haki, mixed with suffocating Conqueror's Haki, erupted from his body like a volcanic eruption, firmly protecting the three-meter radius around the two of them.
"Alright!"
Rayleigh didn't dare to hold back either. The famous blade in his hand instantly turned into a silver curtain of light. As the peak of those without devil fruit abilities, he pushed "technique" to its absolute limit.
The next second, destruction descended. The area where Roger and Rayleigh were located turned into a glowing cyan cocoon.
Screech!!!
The ear-piercing sound of friction echoed through the clouds.
That was the sound of the wind blades slicing through Haki.
It was like using countless saws to cut through a piece of hard steel.