"You young people are certainly impatient. But since you still remember an old man with one foot in the grave like me, I suppose I can reluctantly forgive you."
Rayleigh said, half-joking and half-serious. He looked Allen up and down before continuing,
"You certainly live up to the title of the strongest rookie. Your punches pack quite a punch. So, what business do you have with me?"
"Hahahaha, it's nothing major. I was just bored and came looking for some fun. And while I'm at it..."
Allen narrowed his eyes slightly, a sharp glint flashing in his gaze as he sneered,
"My Haki training has hit a bottleneck recently, and I've been wanting to seek guidance from a master. If you don't mind, please spar with me!"
*Bang!*
Before his voice even faded, Allen pushed off with both feet, his body launching forward like a projectile!
"I see. You certainly look highly motivated, but I wonder how your skills measure up."
The corners of Rayleigh's mouth curled up, and a cold gleam reflected off his glasses. After locking onto Allen's trajectory, he raised his hand and gave a light swing. A Flying Slash surged violently from his blade!
*Clang!!*
The massive Flying Slash shot out vertically, its lower edge plowing a deep trench into the ground.
Allen didn't dare to be careless. Feeling the furious sword aura contained within the attack, he immediately abandoned any thought of taking it head-on. He tapped his toes and shifted sideways to dodge.
However, before his feet could even touch the ground, a second slash arrived right on its heels, as if his movements had been completely read!
*Clang!!*
Astonishment filled Allen's eyes as he hastily raised both arms to block.
The moment the slash landed, a violent surge of power erupted. His Armament Haki defense was nearly shattered outright!
*Boom!!*
The absurdly powerful slash pushed Allen's body backward, sending him crashing heavily into the massive root system of a Yarukiman Mangrove.
In an instant, wood splinters flew and dust billowed into the air.
"Cough... cough, cough...!"
Amidst the permeating dust, Allen coughed twice, a thin trail of crimson blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
In just the split second of contact, his Armament Haki had almost been completely crushed by the opponent's Haki.
'Combining the technique of emitting Haki with a Flying Slash? What exaggerated power.'
Allen struggled to pull his body out of the tree roots. As his feet touched back down on the ground, he was just about to wave away the dust.
Right at that moment, a white-clad figure arrived in an instant, striking like a bolt of lightning.
*Swish!*
Rayleigh appeared right in front of Allen, a playful smile on his face as he thrust his rapier straight forward!
Allen's pupils shrank in shock. He hurriedly tilted his head to the side, the blade scraping past his cheek by a mere hair's breadth.
While dodging the attack, Allen swiftly raised his arm, smashing his elbow toward Rayleigh's chest!
*Smack!*
Rayleigh brought his palm up to guard his chest, accurately catching Allen's arm. His five fingers clamped down with a vice-like grip, and with a twist of his longsword, he slashed downward!
Facing this fierce assault, Allen reacted with extreme speed, raising his left arm to strike the wrist holding the sword.
After interrupting Rayleigh's attack, Allen backhanded a grip onto his arm, pulling him forward with a forceful yank while simultaneously driving his knee up in a vicious strike!
*Bang!!*
The knee strike landed solidly, hitting Rayleigh in the chest and sending him flying backward. His feet touched the ground, skidding across the dirt for over a dozen meters before he came to a halt.
"Masterful physical combat skills."
After stopping his backward slide, Rayleigh couldn't help but chuckle in praise, dispersing the Armament Haki defending his chest.
Allen's movements didn't pause for a single moment. He crouched down to gather power, his black hair turning white as a pair of black wings unfurled from his back. A vigorous flame ignited out of thin air, then gradually dimmed.
When the flame weakened to the point of extinguishing, Allen relied on the physiological mechanics of the Lunarian Tribe to push his movement speed to an unprecedented limit!
*Boom!!*
Accompanied by a flap of his wings, a powerful shockwave blasted outward, and Allen's figure instantly vanished from his spot!
"So fast! This is...!"
Seeing this, a look of surprise crossed Rayleigh's eyes, a faint suspicion forming in his mind.
The next instant.
Allen's figure abruptly flashed beside Rayleigh, lashing out with an explosive whip kick!
Despite being in his blind spot, Rayleigh acted as if he had foreseen it. He leaned back early, dodging the attack, then planted one hand on the ground to backflip away and create distance.
With his strike missing, Allen pivoted on his toes, just about to leap in pursuit, when a Flying Slash rapidly hurtled toward him, intercepting his path of movement.
*Clang!!*
Allen hurriedly stopped in his tracks, barely halting his momentum in time to evade the slash.
'Seeing the future, huh...'
Allen furrowed his brows. Although they had only exchanged a few blows, he could feel from the other party's effortless movements that the gap in their Observation Haki was clearly quite large.
Or rather, both of his Haki types were actually being suppressed.
In a clash of physical combat or swordsmanship, Haki was obviously the crucial factor in determining victory. Being completely overwhelmed in all three types of Haki meant there was almost no chance of winning.
Allen was actually well aware of this point; he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could defeat Rayleigh.
He had stated his goal from the very beginning: to use Rayleigh's hands to break through the bottleneck in his Haki training. That was his true purpose in seeking the man out.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the ability of the Lunarian Tribe. And that pteranodon from earlier..."
Rayleigh stood atop the roof of a house, his gaze sizing Allen up with keen interest. Recalling the form he had taken when he first appeared, he guessed,
"You can transform into other creatures?"
"As you can see, this is my ability."
Allen replied without any hesitation. As he spoke, dense green scales began to surface on his skin, shimmering brightly under the sunlight.
With a thought, the color spots and textures on the green scales shifted, refracting the light and causing Allen's body to gradually turn transparent until he completely vanished from the spot.
"Invisibility this time..."
Rayleigh suddenly found the situation quite amusing, concentrating his mind to push his Observation Haki to its absolute limit.
Suddenly.
A slight ripple appeared in the space in front of him. Sensing it, Rayleigh swiftly raised his longsword.
*Clang!!*
Sparks burst from the blade. After landing a single strike, Allen immediately retreated, moving at high speeds around Rayleigh.
Rayleigh's gaze drifted, continuously locking onto Allen's position. Seizing the perfect moment, he suddenly moved, flashing to an empty patch of ground and thrusting his sword out!
*Squelch—!*
A few drops of blood were drawn out of thin air by the tip of the sword. However, Rayleigh didn't relax in the slightest. His eyes darkened as he hastily raised his arm to block.
Sure enough.
The next instant, an invisible, heavy punch crashed down fiercely!
*Bang!!*
The power of this punch far exceeded Rayleigh's expectations, and his body was directly blown away by the heavy, forceful blow.
Although he could rely on his Observation Haki to track Allen's position, and even perceive attacks coming from any direction,
losing the aid of his vision greatly diminished his ability to judge Allen's moves, which in turn directly affected his own counterattacks.
"It seems things are getting a little tricky."
Rayleigh flipped once in the air before landing steadily, a faint smile still lingering on his face.
Suddenly, his Observation Haki seemed to sense something. His expression abruptly froze, and he hurriedly leaped to the side.
Just as he jumped, a pillar of crimson magma sprayed forth, splashing down on the spot where he had just been standing. The droplets of magma landed on the grass, instantly melting the surrounding vegetation.
"Hey, hey, this is quite different from the ability you mentioned. Just what kind of monster have you turned into?"
Rayleigh watched this scene with secret alarm, suddenly feeling that Allen's invisibility was truly becoming a bit of a hassle.