Chapter 1772

In the blood and qi, the ground beneath Su Xiao's feet gradually cracked, and in the next moment, he suddenly vanished from his spot.

"Heavenly Cloud Sword."

Kizaru made a sword-holding gesture with one hand, stretched the other outward, and a long sword composed of golden-yellow photons appeared, at least 1.5 meters long, and for Kizaru's build, the length was just right.

Boom!

Sparks flew as Su Xiao slashed at the Heavenly Cloud Sword with one blade, sending waves of qi radiating outward, grass scraps flying everywhere.

Crack crack crack...

The Dragon-Slash Flash and the Heavenly Cloud Sword's blades rubbed against each other, producing a grating sound that made one's teeth ache. Kizaru, relying on his height advantage, pressed down with both hands gripping the sword.

With a whoosh, the Exile Spike arrived before Kizarus's temple. As a Marine Admiral, his Observation Haki was naturally strong, so he clearly sensed that this spear-like flying weapon could injure him—no, it could pierce his skull.

Only then did one see photons scattering from Kizaru's temple, surging outward, as the Exile Spike pierced his skull and penetrated straight through.

From the side, one would see a hole the thickness of an egg on Kizaru's skull. He did not use elementalization to hard-block the Exile; after wrapping the spike in Qingying Shadow energy, it could harm elementalized foes. Kizaru's response was quite clever: he first elementalized, then repelled the photons at his temple, actively forming a hole in his skull to let the Exile pass through.

Just as Kizaru dodged the Exile, Su Xiao's hand surged with Qingying Shadow energy, enveloping the Dragon-Slash Flash within.

With a zizzle, the Dragon-Slash Flash severed the Heavenly Cloud Sword. Essentially, the Heavenly Cloud Sword was merely an energy weapon, composed of light elements.

If it were pure light elements, Su Xiao could not cut this sword, but these light elements were affected by the Devil Fruit ability, allowing the Qingying Shadow energy to consume them.

The long sword in his hand was suddenly severed. Having just dodged the Exile, Kizaru leapt backward while continuing his elementalization.

Su Xiao swung his blade forward. At this moment, the surrounding space seemed to still—no, it should be slowed. Su Xiao's move had not yet reached the level of sealing space.

Chime.

The blade light slashed out, but as soon as it left the blade's edge, it stopped flying, remaining semi-transparent and suspended in midair.

Su Xiao stepped aside and appeared beside Kizaru. The latter, already over 70% elementalized, turned his eyes to look at Su Xiao holding the long blade. Kizaru felt the surrounding air had become viscous, like amber.

Crack!

Cracks appeared on the blade light suspended in midair. Time was running short. If Su Xiao could slash out five such blade lights, the space several meters ahead would be sealed, but he could now only produce one slash, at most slowing the enemy's speed.

Arriving beside Kizaru, Su Xiao slashed at the opponent's neck, while simultaneously, the Exile stabbed from the other side of Kizaru's body.

The blade light in midair shattered, and Kizaru's speed returned to normal. He now faced a choice: first, elementalize his neck and disperse the light elements there to dodge Su Xiao's slash; second, dodge the Exile thrusting from the other side.

Kizaru instantly judged which side posed greater danger. Light particles scattered from his neck, and the long blade slashed through empty air.

Having just slashed at nothing, Su Xiao's eyes again surged with blue light.

With a crack, the high-speed Exile split apart, transforming into dozens of blade fragments stabbing toward Kizaru.

Kizaru elementalized; nearly all the Exile fragments stabbed into empty air, but one fragment pierced his calf. Although his calf was in the process of elementalization, the Qingying Shadow energy was no mere decoration.

A stabbing pain surged from Kizaru's calf, droplets of blood flying. This was the capture of a physical substance.

Under Su Xiao's control, the fragment that had pierced Kizaru's calf split again, transforming into tiny crystals, like specks of translucent dust.

Kizaru looked at his calf. Amid the blinding light elements, he saw sharp, tiny blade fragments. If he de-elementalized, these fragments would sink into his calf, even enter his bloodstream, spread throughout his body, and worse, he could not let his heartbeat stop—no stopping the heart's blood pump—so these fragments flowing into his heart was inevitable.

"Troublesome ability."

Kizaru tried to disperse the elementalization on his calf, then reaggregate it, only to find, to his surprise, that the blade fragments remained distributed within his elementalized calf.

Is the Exile in State Two unsolvable? Of course not. As long as Kizaru stays beyond 50 meters from Su Xiao, Su Xiao can no longer control those fragments, which will automatically fly back to him. No ability is truly unsolvable.

Blood seeped from Kizaru's elementalized calf, and the lazy expression on his face was gone.

Kizaru seemed to hesitate for a moment. After confirming something, he leapt upward, soaring into the high sky.

"Eight Shaku Jade Magatama."

Kizaru's entire body elementalized, forming a massive cross-shaped starburst, from which photon bolts shot out rapidly like a great rain of light, covering the sky and shooting toward the ground.

At the edge of the battlefield, the white, fat Zhantaowan carrying a great axe was hurrying away to the distance. As Kizaru's direct subordinate, he naturally knew how terrifying the Eight Shaku Jade Magatama was.

The photon bolts struck the ground, sending grass scraps flying, creating huge holes. Others were fine, but as Kizaru's main target, Su Xiao bore the brunt of the photon bolts—90% of them came at him, dense and thick.

An energy shield with 800 points of intensity appeared before Su Xiao. If it were the old shield, it could never withstand Kizaru's Eight Shaku Jade Magatama, but now it was different.

Ding, ding, ding...

Clear ringing sounds spread as Su Xiao pressed one hand against the energy shield before him, keeping it at a certain angle.

After a full half minute, the 'light rain' from the sky ceased. Pluto·Rayleigh shattered the last incoming photon bolt. The Straw Hat Pirates stood behind him—Luffy, Nami, etc., naturally not foolish, knowing Rayleigh was now the thigh, though Luffy had a through-and-through wound on his lower abdomen, still emitting green smoke. The Straw Hat Pirates were too many, the opponent was Kizaru, and Rayleigh could not possibly attend to all. As captain, Luffy was indeed doing what a captain should do.

The area baptized by the Eight Shaku Jade Magatama was filled with rolling smoke and dust. When the smoke and dust cleared somewhat, a cracked energy layer appeared. Behind it, Su Xiao swung his fist, and the energy layer shattered with a sound, its fragments not dissipating but floating around him.

The energy layer withstood Kizaru's near-half-minute barrage of bombardment. If not for Su Xiao actively breaking it, it could have endured the Eight Shaku Jade Magatama's light rain for another dozen seconds or so.

"Enough."

Su Xiao spoke softly. The fragmented Exile reassembled, and the blade fragments within Kizaru's elementalized calf flew out, joining with the Exile, restoring it to wholeness.

Su Xiao fought Kizaru without thinking he could kill him here; he only needed a strong opponent to test his current strength.

This is Sabaody Archipelago, right under the World Government's nose. Fighting to the death with Kizaru here would be unwise; the Summit War battlefield is the better choice. Moreover, since just now, Kizaru's subordinate Zhantaowan has been making repeated calls via Den Den Mushi, obviously seeking reinforcements.

Su Xiao sheathed his long blade. Ignoring Bubu Wang appeared, a spatial fluctuation enveloping them, and Su Xiao and Ignoring Bubu Wang suddenly vanished.

Su Xiao's purpose was already achieved. This fight tested the power of the Exile, far exceeding his expectations, and allowed him to gauge his own strength. Against an Admiral, he was no pushover—if he seized an opening, even an Admiral would die by his hand. Against two Admirals, retreat was no problem, but a head-on clash would mean certain death. If willing to spend lavishly on a one-time item, in a 1v1 against a Marine Admiral, he had over 70% chance of victory.

Fighting Kizaru gave Su Xiao an extra chip, laying the groundwork for a future matter.

Kizaru descended from midair, leaving a bloody footprint. His gaze fell on Rayleigh, whose eye corner twitched imperceptibly. Su Xiao said he was leaving—and left.

Kizaru seemed to have gotten serious now. Having just been wounded by Su Xiao, if he let the Straw Hat Pirates escape again, this Marine Admiral would lose face.