Raging flames circled around her body as John, filled with a fierce aura, locked his eyes tightly onto Borsalino in the center of the deck.
Facing the furious John, the fighting spirit deep within Borsalino's heart also surged.
Wisps of deep, eerie purple Conqueror's Haki lightning exploded around her, and Conqueror's Haki swept across the entire pirate ship, freezing the air in an instant. The biting Haki pressed down so heavily that the legs of the low-level pirates nearby turned to jelly.
"Conqueror's Haki?!"
John's pupils shrank abruptly, his face instantly filled with unbelievable shock. "A Marine who can use Conqueror's Haki?"
Having roamed the seas for decades and followed Rocks to witness countless top-tier powerhouses, he knew that Conqueror's Haki usually appeared on pirates. Marines who possessed Conqueror's Haki were certainly rare.
Borsalino ignored John's shock, simultaneously grasping the hilts of both swords and drawing them from their scabbards. With Qingyue in her left hand and Candlelight in her right, the two famous swords shone brightly in tandem. A thick, refined, pitch-black Armament Haki instantly covered the entire blades, with every inch carrying the heavy weight of Haki.
The next instant, the two figures suddenly crossed paths, and the harsh, explosive sounds of metal clashing rang out endlessly across the entire deck.
Wielding a long sword intertwined with flowing flames and Armament Haki, John infused every single strike with a scorching torrent of fire and heavy brute force. With every slash and chop, the fierce wind tore through the air, and the flames swept in all directions with the sword's momentum, scorching the wooden deck until it grew slightly hot.
The Sake-Sake Fruit, a seemingly useless Devil Fruit, had been developed to its absolute limit in John's hands. The generated flame currents were extremely tricky, not only attacking while attached to the blade, but also moving with great flexibility, sometimes creeping along the ground, sometimes circling through the air to launch surprise attacks, specifically targeting blind spots in vision and gaps in offense and defense, constantly probing for Borsalino's weaknesses.
At the very beginning, when Borsalino first started using the two-sword style, her rhythm was somewhat stiff. She was still more accustomed to a single-sword style. Facing John's torrential onslaught, she mostly relied on parrying and deflecting the force, crossing her twin swords to block and neutralizing the opponent's brute force attacks one by one.
However, Borsalino's adaptation speed was nothing short of terrifying.
She constantly adjusted her body posture, correcting the force application rhythm of her left and right hands, gradually breaking down and integrating the exquisite techniques of single-sword combat into the dual-sword system.
After merely dozens of rounds of combat, the initially slightly unfamiliar alternate slashes gradually became smooth and effortless. The coordination between the two swords grew increasingly tacit and seamless.
John's offensive remained ferocious, with layers of fiery sword momentum stacking up, and the flame currents continuously attacking Borsalino. Yet the more they fought, the more intense the chill in the depths of John's heart became. He could clearly perceive that his opponent was getting stronger and stronger, and his own rhythm was gradually changing, turning his originally swift and fierce attacks into something increasingly constrained and restricted.
What shocked him the most was that ever since that Light-Speed Kick at the very beginning, Borsalino had not used the Glint-Glint Fruit's power throughout the entire fight. She had steadily caught his attacks relying solely on pure Armament Haki and dual-sword swordsmanship, and even began to take the upper hand, suppressing him. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Her every parry was extremely precise, deflecting a large portion of his brute force just right; every counterattack accurately pierced through the flames, severing his connection to the flame currents with Haki.
After dozens of clashes of Haki, John felt his stamina rapidly depleting. In contrast, relying on the blessing of Life Return, Borsalino continuously recovered her stamina, becoming more and more composed the longer they fought, and using her dual swords with increasing proficiency.
Soon, a furious and desperate thought surfaced in John's mind.
"Brat! Are you using me as a sparring partner?!" John roared angrily.
He had been going all out and attacking fiercely at the risk of his life, yet his opponent was merely polishing moves, treating him, the great Captain John, as a testing subject!
However, Borsalino was thinking to herself at this moment. Currently, she had already awakened Conqueror's Haki, yet her technique in applying Conqueror's Haki infusion was still lacking, unable to freely achieve infusion on weapons like Rayleigh, Roger, and Big Mom. Simply battling against strong opponents seemed somewhat insufficient; she should find a teacher for Conqueror's Haki infusion.
The duel with John should also come to an end.
Through the exchange, she had long since figured out John's strength. The development level of the Sake-Sake Fruit was extremely high, and both its flexibility and lethality were quite impressive. However, his Haki was average, only slightly stronger than Kaido's from a little over a year ago, and Conqueror's Haki had not even been awakened. Such an opponent was just right for honing techniques, but was long insufficient to pose a threat to her.
Looking at the exasperated John before her, Borsalino's lips curved slightly upward, forming a slightly cunning, demonic smile as she spoke softly, "Do you... want me to use my full strength?"
Her voice was soft, yet it carried an unquestionable sense of oppression. It seemed that this time, Level 6 of Impel Down was going to gain another heavyweight great pirate.
No longer holding back.
Golden light appeared around Borsalino, and the Glint-Glint Fruit's power was unleashed. The power of light speed intertwined with her dual swords, blending with the pitch-black Armament Haki. Her speed increased once again, leaving behind only streaks of gilded afterimages across the deck.
John's pupils shrank violently as he felt an overwhelming sense of oppression suddenly shroud his entire body, leaving him with nowhere to dodge. He hurriedly reined in his focus, mobilizing his remaining Haki and Devil Fruit abilities. The flame currents around him surged violently, condensing into a thick barrier of fire, while he slashed his long sword horizontally, attempting to force back Borsalino's close-range assault.
Yet in front of light speed, all resistance was futile.
Borsalino's figure flashed instantly, avoiding the frontal wall of fire and appearing by John's side in a flash, her twin swords crossing to block and parry, accurately breaking through his sword momentum and effortlessly stripping away all defense.
Before John could steady his figure and launch a secondary counterattack, the ultimate light-speed combo had already descended. Gilded sword lights flickered endlessly as the twin swords slashed at extreme speed, every strike carrying the dual might of light-speed penetration and Haki suppression. The fierce slashes were stacked layer upon layer, airtight and seamless, precisely striking John's vulnerabilities.
Crack!
The Armament Haki on John's blade shattered first, and his long sword was instantly knocked away. The webbing between his thumb and index finger burst and bled, leaving his arms numb and powerless. Immediately following that, his protective flame currents were torn to shreds layer by layer by the sword light, and the flames filling the sky instantly dissipated without a trace.
Within a few moves, all of John's defenses completely collapsed, and his entire body was covered in fine sword wounds, leaving him completely devoid of any ability to resist. Follow the newest chapters on novelping dot com.
Borsalino withdrew her swords and turned sideways, the pitch-black blades returning to calm, with only the residual gale sweeping across the deck.
Bang!
John's stalwart body could no longer support itself, crashing heavily onto the deck with his eyes rolled back, completely losing consciousness and remaining motionless.
The battle had settled.
"Someone come, lock him up tightly with Seastone handcuffs and guard him strictly." Borsalino sheathed her swords and instructed her subordinate soldiers in a calm tone.
The elite soldiers immediately stepped forward, took out the special Seastone handcuffs, and firmly locked up the unconscious John. Along the way, they cast adoring glances at Borsalino.
Borsalino took out a transponder snail, dialed the buttons, and connected to Fleet Admiral Kong's dedicated line.
The moment the transponder snail connected, a steady voice came through, "Borsalino, what is it?"
"Reporting to the Fleet Admiral, just now in the New World waters, we successfully captured the former Rocks Pirates member, the great pirate John, a Paramecia-class Sake-Sake Fruit user with a bounty of 1.6 billion Berries."
Kong on the other end of the line was silent for a moment, "Well done! Borsalino, this is a major achievement!"
"I will notify the Impel Down jailers. Lead a team to escort John to Impel Down."
"Received."
With a brief response and after asking for some details, Kong hung up the transponder snail.
At this moment, Fleet Admiral Kong was sailing on the seas aboard his exclusive warship, expressing his admiration for Borsalino's achievements to the adjutant beside him, completely unaware that high up in the clouds, a figure wearing a red cape and bearing a gloomy expression was floating quietly.
Those cold eyes silently watched the Fleet Admiral's warship below, without a sound, yet harboring a hidden killing intent.