Chapter 76: Jade and Gold

On the sea surface.

Gao Wen barely stabilized his stance, only to look down and find the Hukou already torn apart by the overwhelming force of the Eagle Eye, oozing scarlet blood.

The surging adrenaline made him feel no obvious pain, only a constantly accelerating heartbeat and fingers trembling continuously from excitement.

Signaling his extraordinary excitement at this moment.

The opponent is too strong!

Stronger than imagination!

But the more so, the more Gao Wen's battle will rose, and in his hand, the Guanshi Zhengzong that was already bloodthirsty was even more so.

He also wanted to try whether he could use the immense pressure brought by the Eagle Eye to verify if the changes on Xiang Keluo could be replicated.

Now Gao Wen's own combat power has risen to Bai Yin, while his own potential limit is only Bai Yin.

At most a few months, what happened to those Iron Pirates is highly likely to be repeated on Gao Wen.

Bai Yin-level combat power is enough to roam the East Sea, but it is still far too short of Gao Wen's own goal.

And since Gao Wen is unwilling to let the Cat Brothers die, now is the best time to try to realize his true heart through battle.

When the opponent is the Eagle Eye, it is even more so!

Gao Wen tore a strip of cloth from his clothes, tightly wrapped the Guanshi Zhengzong around his hand, and then his eyes became sharp:

"Again!"

Accompanied by Gao Wen's loud roar.

The deck beneath his feet was immediately submerged by seawater, and by the time he surfaced, Gao Wen had already crossed a distance of dozens of meters, slashing a blade at the Eagle Eye.

Merely the airflow induced by high speed made the coat on the Eagle Eye's shoulders dance wildly.

"Faster speed!"

Looking at the young man before him, the Eagle Eye felt his body, his hand, and his blade becoming increasingly hot with excitement, a feeling long absent!

"Knight Gao Wen!"

"Not bad!"

The Eagle Eye slashed a blade, the blade edge landing on the point where Gao Wen's momentum and power were strongest, instantly pushing the latter back.

Having done all this.

The deck beneath the Eagle Eye's feet did not even tremble a bit.

"Monster!"

Gao Wen, who had expected this, still couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, while the fire in his eyes grew even more intense.

The world's number one should be this overwhelmingly powerful!

Thoughts surged in his mind.

The slashes on Gao Wen's hand became even sharper.

The super-fast speed brought by the Spoon Death and Instant Step allowed him to easily walk on water.

He stomped heavily on the water surface, neutralizing the force of the Eagle Eye's slash, while simultaneously accumulating a new wave of thrust, holding the Guanshi Zhengzong to charge at the Eagle Eye again.

For a moment, Gao Wen's attacks were continuous.

Like a wild wind howling, inducing the blade edge like a torrent!

Under such sharp and fast attacks, anyone else would have been beheaded by Gao Wen in an instant, but his opponent was after all that man called the world's number one!

With the understanding of Gao Wen's true level, the force in the Eagle Eye's hands gradually increased a bit, and the hand holding the blade even creaked.

In return came even stronger slashes!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Dense as a bee's hum, deafening as a temple bell, the sound waves spread outward in the air, even visibly distorting the air.

The crowd left on the deck immediately frowned and covered their ears.

"Damn it!"

"What exactly happened!"

Paddy opened his eyes wide, but could only barely see a series of water columns exploding on the distant sea surface, the black blade in the Eagle Eye's hand moving quickly, as if striking the air and producing deafening sounds.

The scene before them could only be described as ghostly and demonic to them!

"Quick!"

"Peel off that extended deck, we retreat!"

Zeff's face was Solemn, giving orders to the chefs around him, and only then did the crowd belatedly begin to act.

Yes.

Just the initial clash between these two monsters almost sank the ship; that destructive power already had the ability to tear this ship apart directly!

At the moment of life and death.

Everyone's movements were several times faster than usual; in just a few seconds, the detachment of the extended deck was completed, and the Sea Restaurant Baratie quickly retreated hundreds of meters away.

Just as Canel thought he was barely safe, a blade light swept past, slicing off half of the hat on his head.

He immediately threw himself to the ground, curling his body into a ball, cursing with a trembling voice:

"Monster!"

"A thorough monster!"

Zeff glanced at him, took a deep drag of his pipe, and then turned his gaze to the distant battlefield.

His expression seemed calm, but his palms had already sweated a layer.

He had indeed been to the Grand Line, but let alone fighting such a monster, he had never even seen one!

Zoro, standing beside him, was already completely stunned:

"Is that bastard really that strong?"

"Ah."

Zeff's demeanor was Solemn:

"The East Blue hasn't produced a monster like this in a very long time!"

"After all, the opponent is the world's number one!"

In the distance.

At the center of the battlefield.

Gao Wen continuously used Flash Step to launch thrusts, only to have them repeatedly neutralized by Mihawk; his legs grew increasingly heavy, until finally...

Ding!

The tip of Guanshi Zhengzong's blade precisely met the blade of the black sword Yoru.

Both of them stopped and separated at that moment.

Gao Wen was covered in sweat, looking somewhat disheveled; the cloth strips wrapped around his palms had been soaked through with blood at some point and slid down onto the blade.

Looking at Mihawk, who stood before him with calm composure, Gao Wen couldn't help but let out an exclamation of admiration:

"Truly a strength that brings despair!"

The Flash Step-driven thrust was already his strongest combination technique now, yet fighting until this point, he hadn't been able to leave a single scratch on Mihawk.

Even though Gao Wen had been mentally prepared, he couldn't help but feel a wave of suffocation.

"The distance between me and the world still seems far too great!"

"A swordsman's will is entirely in the blade."

Mihawk calmly sheathed his sword, his eyes, sharp as those of a hawk, settling upon Gao Wen as if seeing through everything:

"I have already seen clearly the difference between you and Roronoa."

"If he is a piece of jade yet to be polished, whose essence is already pure enough and needs only time..."

"Then you are a piece of gold full of impurities; you have begun to radiate your own light, but the excessive impurities within your body greatly diminish your value."

"Therefore, what you need now is to temper your convictions through battle after battle, and forge the blade within your heart!"

"Preferably..."

"... a battle where losing means death!"

Saying this,

Mihawk's expression changed; the action of holding the sword with one hand shifted to two hands.

And anyone who has touched the sword Dao knows that the greatest difference between holding a sword with two hands and one hand is power.

It was merely a change in sword-holding posture.

The oppressive pressure Mihawk brought to Gao Wen surged directly by several times, even dozens of times; especially during the battle, this man's eyes truly made one feel an involuntary tremor, just as the rumors claimed!

"Gao Wen!"

"Live!"

Having said that,

Mihawk, holding his sword with both hands, slashed down heavily forward.

A cyan-green airborne slash broke free from his hand and rushed toward Gao Wen.

In that instant.

The Observation Haki, just upgraded to LV-3, sounded alarms frantically in Gao Wen's mind, to the extent that his skin felt a distinct stinging pain!

In his desperation,

Gao Wen barely twisted his body aside, letting Mihawk's airborne slash graze past his chest, and then...

Hiss!

A massive crack stretched all the way to the end of his vision, heading toward the setting sun; the sea was split into two visibly distinct halves.

From Gao Wen's perspective, he could even see the coral growing on the seabed, the filter-feeding starfish in the sand, and the fish stranded due to lack of water...

Having lived two lives, Gao Wen had never once felt so directly what the seabed looked like.

(End of this chapter)