“SAINT ROSSE!”

At the very moment Rosse appeared, a roar filled with wrath exploded, shaking this chaotic battlefield.

It wasn’t anyone else, it was Kozuki Oden.

“Return the lives of Leviathan, Carlo, Vista, and the others!”, Kozuki Oden shouted hoarsely, his voice filled with deep-rooted hatred.

Enma and Ame-no-Habakiri in his hands didn’t hesitate for a moment. Two sharp flying slashes condensed with all his power and fury shot forth like two blood-red crescents, whistling terrifyingly through the air, heading straight for Rosse.

His mind held only one thought now: avenge the comrades of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Though he had later left the Whitebeard Pirates and joined Roger’s crew, reaching the final island Laugh Tale, his bond with Whitebeard and those brothers was incomparably deep.

It was precisely for the sake of vengeance that this time, he had rushed to the Holy Land without a second thought.

He also believed that if Whitebeard knew he was in trouble, with the loyalty between them, they would aid each other.

However, facing Kozuki Oden’s hate-filled strike, the relaxed smile on Rosse’s face didn’t change in the slightest.

“That’s a good opening, I like this kind of welcome ceremony,” Facing those two incredibly powerful flying slashes, Rosse casually extended his right hand, his other hand still in his pocket.

In just the blink of an eye, those two flying slashes capable of splitting mountains and seas arrived like two furious beasts, crashing violently into Rosse’s right palm.

Buzz!

Dazzling red slash light erupted instantly, incomparably brilliant, as if it could rip the very fabric of space.

Yet a horrifying scene unfolded.

That all-destroying attack couldn’t move Rosse in the slightest.

They seemed to have crashed into an indestructible wall, merely halted before Rosse’s palm, no matter how they roared and struggled, they couldn’t advance even a fraction further.

“Are you scratching an itch?”, Rosse chuckled lightly. He hadn’t even used a bit of extra strength, just casually flicked his arm.

Whoosh!

Accompanied by a barely perceptible ripple, the two red flying slashes that carried all of Kozuki Oden’s rage and power were like two fragile falling leaves, easily dispersed by Rosse, vanishing without a trace, not even leaving a mark.

Even the Armament Haki coating Rosse’s palm didn’t show the slightest sign of wear, it remained like the hardest obsidian.

‘Truly underestimated…’, Rosse mused internally.

He thought those flying slashes would at least be infused with some Conqueror’s Haki, yet it was merely a simple Armament Haki release? That was far too underestimating of him.

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[Kozuki Oden]

[Overall Rating: S]

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“Bastard!”, How could Kozuki Oden hold back now? With new and old hatred combined, he charged forth with Enma and Ame-no-Habakiri.

“You think you’re worthy of challenging the lord?”, Before Kozuki Oden could reach Rosse, one of the CP0 members hurriedly intercepted, stopping him.

Just now, with Saint Warcury’s death, they hadn’t made it to the battlefield in time.

If they let Kozuki Oden break through and fight Rosse, they might as well be dead after this incident.

As Kozuki Oden began to fight, the others no longer stood off. They too engaged in combat.

Rayleigh had no choice. Since Golden Lion wanted to fight before leaving, he could only go along with it.

He just hoped, no more reinforcements showed up for now.

Otherwise, things would become much more difficult for them.

Rayleigh engaged Saint Sommers; Gaban once again tangled with the other CP0.

“SHIHAHAHA, you’re the rising star among the Celestial Dragons, Rosse? They say you’re no weaker than the Five Elders. Now that one of them’s dead, you can die too!”, Golden Lion laughed wildly, eyes fixed intensely on Rosse.

A general faces a general, a king faces a king, that was the kind of battle he imagined.

That earlier four-on-one, though amusing, didn’t reflect his full strength.

Killing Rosse now would be the perfect ending he’d envisioned.

Buzz!

A terrifying pressure, like a materialized storm, violently erupted from Golden Lion’s body.

Golden Lion’s Conqueror’s Haki, carrying unmatched will and aura, roared as it crashed toward Rosse.

The air across the entire battlefield seemed to freeze for a moment.

“Just because you ganged up to kill Warcury Saint, you’re feeling cocky? Golden Lion,” Yet in the face of this sea-shaking Conqueror’s Haki, Rosse merely chuckled lightly.

Not only did he not retreat. He took a step forward, that posture relaxed and leisurely, like a stroll in the courtyard.

The next moment, Rosse’s Conqueror’s Haki was unleashed like a silent tsunami, calm yet unstoppable, surging toward the oncoming Haki.

Two top-tier Conqueror’s Haki clashed fiercely mid-air.

They seemed to become formless beasts, letting out ear-piercing blasts, surging and biting.

Where they passed, even space seemed to ripple slightly.

Conqueror’s Haki represents the will of the strong. It has nothing to do with strength, it is about how powerful one’s will is.

In this clash, Golden Lion didn’t believe he would lose.

He had ruled the seas all his life. Looking at his first half of life, he’d only lost twice.

Once in a Marine battle to Roger, mainly due to bad weather, a loss to a natural disaster.

The second time was when Roger turned himself in. Golden Lion had charged the Marine HQ alone, not intending to survive. Though it looked like he lost to Garp and Sengoku teaming up, in truth, it was a loss to himself.

And recently, he had first escaped Impel Down, an unprecedented feat.

Then today, he killed a Five Elder, an achievement no one had ever accomplished.

Two monumental feats had strengthened his Conqueror’s Haki even more.

A mere Celestial Dragon brat, how could he be a match.

BOOM!

The two Conqueror’s Haki forces intertwined in mid-air, refusing to yield.

But as time passed, Golden Lion’s eyes widened in horror.

His Conqueror’s Haki, accumulated over many years and further enhanced just now, not only failed to suppress Rosse’s, it was beginning to lose ground.

Although no clear victor had emerged yet, at their level, it only took a glance to know the outcome.

If this deadlock continued, he would be the one to lose.

‘But… h-how can it be?’

He’d already pulled a Five Elder down from power, how could his Conqueror’s Haki still lose to a mere Celestial Dragon?

He was unconvinced.

He had already slain a Five Elder.

A mere candidate for the Five Elders, how could his Conqueror’s Haki be stronger than his?

As Golden Lion’s heart wavered, the clash of Conqueror’s Haki quickly tilted to one side.

Rosse’s Haki remained vast as the sea, tilting down toward Golden Lion without the slightest pause.

“Your blade has dulled, Golden Lion,” Rosse spoke blandly, every move brimming with domineering aura.

Golden Lion’s Conqueror’s Haki was strong, even much stronger than Red Count’s.

But in terms of both quality and quantity, it couldn’t compare to his.

Golden Lion had merely killed one Five Elder.

How could that compare to him?

From beginning to end, this raid on the Holy Land had been within his plan.

While you all thought killing a Five Elder was a great breakthrough, in Rosse’s eyes, even the highest one among them, would eventually be DRAGGED DOWN by him.

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep