The battle begins.
Thick fog instantly engulfs the entire island. Whitebeard stands in the mist, the corners of his mouth curling into an excited smile: "Gurarara! Brat, this move of yours seems to have gotten a bit interesting!"
Whitebeard can clearly feel his Observation Haki almost failing. Although Rhett's mist hasn't yet reached the insane level of "Observation Killer" that completely prevents seeing the future, it can hide himself to the greatest extent.
Observation Killer is like forcefully kicking you out the door so you can't see, while Rhett's mist hides the door itself. If you can't find the door, naturally you can't see.
From deep within the mist comes Rhett's elusive voice: "Uncle Whitebeard, friendly reminder—after I fought with Uncle Rayleigh, I came up with something good. You'd better knock me down quickly—"
"Swish!"
A blood blade suddenly slashes out from the left side of the mist! Whitebeard swings his naginata to block, but upon contact, the blood blade dissipates like an illusion.
At the same time, the real attack comes from behind—
"Bang!"
The Black Tide Greatsword, imbued with Conqueror's Haki, slams heavily into Whitebeard's back, sending him staggering forward two steps.
"First strike, Uncle Whitebeard," Rhett's voice echoes from all directions.
The Whitebeard Pirates crew watches the battle from afar. Rhett has given them permission to observe.
Marco's pupils constrict: "Father's Observation Haki...? Big Brother Rhett has gotten stronger again."
Whitebeard suddenly grins, thrusting his naginata into the ground: "Quake!"
If you can't find it, then sweep through it. Don't forget that Whitebeard is also a master of area attacks.
"Boom—!!"
The atmosphere cracks, and the entire island shakes violently. The thick mist is torn open by the shockwave.
Whitebeard takes the opportunity to charge forward, but in the next second, he's surrounded by three "Rhetts"—
"Take this, Uncle Whitebeard!" x3
"Illusions? No—they're all real!" Whitebeard coats his entire body in Armament Haki, sweeping his naginata in a wide arc.
All three Rhetts are severed, but they dissolve into blood mist and merge back into the environment.
The real Rhett has long been lurking in the mist.
"Mist God Style: Extinction!"
"Slash!"
The tip of the sword cuts Whitebeard's calf, and the blood that seeps out is immediately swallowed by the blood mist.
The mist rapidly surges toward Whitebeard's body. Although Whitebeard reacts quickly, some of it still enters his system.
Rhett's voice carries a hint of mockery: "Second strike. Uncle Whitebeard's Observation Haki isn't doing so well, huh?"
Whitebeard suddenly laughs wildly, his muscles bulging: "Who the hell do you think I am?!"
He abandons defense, wrapping his naginata in Conqueror's Haki and the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, then slashes down into the void—
"Heaven Splitter!"
"Crack!"
The sky shatters like glass, and a terrifying shockwave clears the entire mist!
Rhett reacts instantly and covers the area with mist again.
But Whitebeard has already found him.
"Clang!"
The Black Tide Greatsword crosses to block, and Rhett uses the recoil to retreat back into the mist.
Whitebeard has indeed found a way to defeat Rhett, but it's no exaggeration to say that there's no one in this world who can knock Rhett out of the fight with a single strike, especially since Rhett has counterattacks.
Even a move as powerful as Whitebeard's, capable of dispersing Rhett's mist, would take hundreds of uses to bring Rhett down.
Whitebeard pants heavily, the wound on his calf glowing with an eerie red light—the blood mist is eroding his stamina. But he only fights harder: "Damn brat... this poisonous mist is really troublesome!"
Rhett is sent flying into a pile of rubble, blocking but not completely blocking.
Rhett's fighting spirit burns even brighter: "Uncle Whitebeard, this is only the third round!"
He thrusts the Black Tide Greatsword into the ground: "Mist God Style: Final Scene: Blood Prison Scroll!"
The world suddenly darkens!
Countless blood-colored samurai step out of the mist, each wielding a Black Tide Greatsword identical to Rhett's. Whitebeard can feel that all the illusions' attacks have physical substance.
Though it's daytime on the island, the scene suddenly changes.
A blood moon hangs in the sky, corpses litter the ground, and the stench of blood fills the air.
Whitebeard feels as if he's in a new world, even though he knows it's an illusion.
"Gurarara, brat, anyone weaker dragged in here would have already gone mad from this scene. Interesting, gurarara."
Rhett waves his hand, and the samurai gradually become transparent, but Whitebeard can feel that they haven't disappeared.
Rhett steps out of the mist, his figure gradually becoming visible. He bows slightly to Whitebeard, "Uncle Whitebeard, welcome to the world I rule."
After speaking, Rhett slowly dissolves into mist and disappears.
Whitebeard stands amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, his naginata "Murakumogiri" gleaming coldly under the blood moon. This is the confidence his strength gives him.
He grins: "Gurarara! Brat, you set up such a grand scene just to scare me?"
From the mist comes Rhett's low laughter: "This is just the beginning, Uncle Whitebeard."
Suddenly, the ground trembles, and countless blood-colored samurai crawl out of the bloody mud, each wreathed in black-red lightning, their eyes glowing with crimson light.
They silently raise their swords, surging toward Whitebeard like a tide.
"Bring it on!" Whitebeard laughs, swinging his naginata, "Quake: Mountain Crusher!"
"Boom—!"
The terrifying shockwave crushes hundreds of blood samurai into blood mist, but the next second, the mist reforms and charges again.
Though Whitebeard is careful, he still gets injured in the chaotic battlefield.
"Gurarara, those invisible ones are really troublesome."
Whitebeard notices his stamina slowly draining as the destroyed samurai turn into blood threads, silently corroding his Armament Haki.
"So that's it..." Whitebeard's eyes gleam, "The more of these illusions I kill, the stronger your blood mist's erosion becomes?"
Rhett's voice comes from all directions: "Not quite, Uncle Whitebeard. The longer you stay in my world, the stronger my erosion becomes."
Whitebeard stops blindly attacking and instead concentrates the power of his Tremor-Tremor Fruit at the tip of his blade, stabbing it into the ground: "Sea Quake: Earth's Roar!"
"Crack—!!"
The entire blood prison world shakes violently, the ground splitting open with countless chasms as blood samurai fall into the fissures.
Whitebeard seizes the moment to leap up, pointing his naginata at the blood moon: "Let's see how tough this world really is when I cut it apart!"
A golden slash that pierces heaven and earth heads straight for the blood moon, only to be intercepted mid-air by Rhett who suddenly appears.
"Hey hey hey, Uncle Whitebeard, no flipping the table allowed! Not allowed!"
The Black Tide Greatsword clashes with Murakumogiri, the resulting shockwave creating a temporary vacuum in the surrounding blood mist!
"Got you!" Whitebeard grins ferociously at the disheveled Rhett.
Rhett's mouth bleeds, but he laughs wildly: "But you're wrong, Uncle Whitebeard—I got you—"
"Stab!"