Chapter 27: Death Match! Xiang Keluo vs Ajin!

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

……

Barely managing to block Xiang Keluo's strike after strike, even with his twin crutches for protection, Ajin's body gradually accumulated more and more wounds.

Blood flowed freely, the sight like death by a thousand cuts.

Xiang Keluo's voice still drifted over from time to time.

"I'll cut every piece of flesh off your body, one slice at a time, until you die from blood loss!"

In his fury, Xiang Keluo no longer wore that gloomy, cold face from before—his features were twisted into pure savagery.

Amid the ever more bloody scene, he felt an excitement he had never known before, as if his very soul were trembling.

At this moment, he wanted nothing more than to flay the opponent before him alive!

Ajin answered in silence. Amid the increasingly rapid onslaught, he gradually came to grasp the core problem behind Xiang Keluo's technique:

"His vision is restricted, and his hearing is completely drowned out by the sonic booms produced at high speed."

"At such speeds, even you can't fully control your own body, can you?"

"The claw marks all over the ground and the people felled around us are the best proof—this is nothing less than an indiscriminate area attack."

As he spoke,

the brighter Ajin's eyes grew:

"You're strong—far stronger than me—but compared to Captain Clikku, no, compared to the weapon he forged for killing, the gap is like creatures from two different dimensions!"

"Xiang Keluo!"

"You are bound to lose! The victory will be ours!"

Accompanying his words, the iron crutch in Ajin's hand swept sideways and slammed hard into Xiang Keluo's claw-blade, sparks flying through the air.

"You…"

Claw-blade and iron crutch locked together as the two began to wrestle for dominance.

Xiang Keluo clearly held the upper hand, pinning Ajin down hard, but the shock in his eyes was beyond words:

"Besides that man, there's actually someone else who can counter Shao Si?!"

"Ah."

A savage grin curled at the corner of Ajin's mouth:

"You must be terribly afraid of dying, right? That's why you created a technique that sacrifices your own senses just to overwhelm your enemy with pure speed."

"But combat is a life-or-death gamble to begin with—how can you win if you don't bet?"

"Since you can't sense anything, why not just leave it all to luck!"

"Instinct will tell you where the enemy's attack will come from!"

The next instant.

Xiang Keluo's figure vanished into the air in a heartbeat. Shao Si's speed was pushed to its absolute limit—the leather soles of his shoes couldn't withstand the heat and began to melt, growing sticky.

Xiang Keluo simply kicked off his shoes entirely, determined to chase even greater speed!

Faster!

Faster!

Faster!

Faster than imagination could follow, racing the wind and chasing lightning—so fast the opponent had no time even to think!

Building on his already explosively rising speed, Xiang Keluo pushed the already indescribably fast Shao Si straight into an entirely new dimension.

All around, it was as if a wind of death had swept past; at such velocity, the ten claw-blades glowed a searing red!

"Then let's gamble—will it be your luck, or my Shao Si, that wins out!"

Xiang Keluo's fighting spirit surged ever higher. At high speed, his back arched like a stalking cat's shoulders, his entire body leaning sharply forward—the only way he could barely keep his balance.

His five fingers spread wide, maximizing the killing range.

Xiang Keluo's face grew more and more savage, but Ajin's expression remained perfectly calm.

In the blink of an eye.

On Ajin's already battered body, countless new wounds appeared; blood sprayed through the air, the gruesome sight too terrible for those nearby to look at directly.

"Looks like your luck isn't all that great!"

Xiang Keluo's ethereal, drifting voice came again from the air.

"Here!"

Ajin's tightly shut eyes snapped open in that instant, and a strange feeling welled up within him.

No reason, no logic, not even any cause—but he simply knew the attack would come from here!

An instinct bordering on precognition made Ajin swing his twin crutches almost on reflex.

The next moment, the iron ball at the tip of the crutch, carrying force enough to split mountains and crack stone, struck Xiang Keluo squarely in the chest and abdomen. Boom!

Xiang Keluo, who had been moving at blinding speed, suddenly halted, then was sent flying backward like a cannonball, smashing clean through the outer harbor wall and being buried beneath the falling rubble.

"Is it finally… over?!"

Ajin gasped for breath, great heaving gulps.

Only now, as he came back to himself and the adrenaline faded, did he feel every inch of his skin screaming with agony.

Ajin looked toward the distant ruins, his face wearing an expression of lingering dread.

Though this battle had lasted only a very short time, among all the fights he had experienced in his life, it had been the most perilous.

Xiang Keluo was simply too fast—fast beyond anything a human should be capable of. Had it not been for the flaw that even he himself couldn't control in this technique, ten of him wouldn't have been enough for Xiang Keluo to handle.

"It seems that this time, the gamble of fate has stood on my side!"

Having spoken, Ah Jin turned around and prepared to leave, yet at that moment, a piercing sound erupted once more from within those ruins...

Hiss!

Five claw marks surfaced, shattering the massive boulder pressing down on him; Xiang Keluo struggled to his feet, one arm hanging limp at his side, while his chest throbbed with waves of burning pain.

!

This body had already reached its limit, yet the gaze Xiang Keluo fixed upon Ah Jin now shone with blinding intensity:

"Are you not curious?"

"How I was able to sense my attacks as if foreseeing them?!"

"Originally, I thought it impossible to witness such a thing before entering the Grand Line; I had not even experienced it personally, yet there is absolutely no mistake!"

"Observation Haki!"

"I finally understand why even that monster Gao Wen would wear such an expression when speaking of this ability."

"The advantage brought by reading an opponent's attacks in advance is simply too great!"

"Hee hah hah hah hah hah~"

Xiang Keluo raised a hand, pushing his glasses up with his palm, his face revealing an expression bordering on madness, clearly excited to the extreme!

"He did not deceive me! He truly did not deceive me!"

"It was merely that the pressure I faced previously was insufficient to ignite this power already hidden within my body, but now it is different; we... are equals!"

"One arm is fractured, over six ribs in my chest were shattered by your strike, and my internal organs have suffered varying degrees of damage."

"What follows... is a battle of life and death; I might truly die, but are you prepared?"

"Monster!"

Ah Jin gasped sharply, his face contorted with extreme terror:

"You still intend to fight?"

"Ah~"

Xiang Keluo licked his lips, the fishy-sweet taste coating his tongue; step by step, he advanced with his grievously wounded body, his entire form swaying.

With every step, he left a bloody footprint upon the ground.

Life or death?

He no longer cared.

A peaceful life?

At this moment, it seemed no longer so important.

Only now did he finally see his true face clearly, seeing clearly why he had once wished to abandon his identity as a pirate; there was only one answer!

Boredom!

This mediocre world, the weakest East Blue, could no longer even stir the slightest interest in him to draw his sword.

Even those opponents once far stronger than himself, before his meticulously calculating mind, did not seem so invincible.

It was not until the moment he encountered Gao Wen, amidst the slaughter with Gao Wen, that he felt excitement for the first time in ages, to the point where his very soul trembled!

"I truly am a thorough, hopeless villain!"

"Only fighting, only pain, only bloodshed can bring a sliver of solace to this endless life!"

"Hee hah hah hah hah hah——!"

(End of Chapter)