Chapter Ninety-One: The Short Bait Broke Away. (Fifth update, asking for monthly votes)

“Therefore, there are many things a person like you will never understand.”

“You say they were drawn in because I was forced into a battle that should never have happened? Then you are greatly underestimating them, and underestimating the two words on your cloak.”

“They did not join because I was forced to fight. They joined because they believed in me, because they believed in justice, and so they took up arms of their own accord.”

“Sacrifice? Of course they knew a little of that, and were prepared for it. How could a warship led by a colonel possibly compare in overall strength to one led by a vice admiral like you?”

With a grin, Roland went on, “So for their sake, I cannot abandon this fight, and I could never surrender to you just because I cannot beat you.”

“That would wrong not only my own convictions, but also these navy men who are fighting for me.”

“Then the lot of you can go to hell together!”

With a furious roar, Tuchi launched his Spiked Spear, and a storm of air bullets hurtled toward Roland.

“The one going to hell will be you.”

Roland answered with the same fierce shout, evading the Spiked Spear in a flash and striking with Frosted Jade Cut at the same moment.

From the game to reality, all of Yone’s skills had no cooldown, but in return, their stamina consumption was greatly increased.

So long as he was willing, he could unleash ten consecutive Mortal Steelblades without a problem, so long as his stamina could keep up.

“Do you really think that attacks like these, nothing more than a mere itch, can hurt me?”

In his armadillo form, Tuchi could not even be bothered to dodge deliberately. With the double protection of armadillo armor and Armament Haki, apart from Roland’s pitch-black form, he had no fear of Roland’s attacks at all.

Roland said nothing. He only continued repeating the assault of Flash Cut combined with Frosted Jade Cut, relentlessly harrying Tuchi and leaving one white mark after another across his armadillo shell.

But this did not last long before Tuchi grew irritated by Roland’s insect-like harassment.

“It is time to end this meaningless farce.”

Tuchi planted his feet and his muscles swelled to a degree beyond all reason, utterly incompatible with his armadillo-man form.

And yet it was precisely those grotesquely heaving muscles that gave Roland a deep sense of oppression, even stronger than the pressure of the Spiral Iron Cavalier before.

“Life Return!”

With Tuchi’s low murmur, those bulging muscles, along with the armadillo-man shape so unlike a human body, vanished all at once. Tuchi’s build returned to its original form, but the armadillo appearance remained.

Though his explosive strength and the armadillo-man’s special abilities were no longer visible, Roland knew perfectly well that they had not disappeared, merely taken another form.

He had thought that in this battle he alone had kept his trump card until now, but that fellow had hidden such a move as well.

“Despair, Roland. A native from the East Blue like you, an enemy who can force me to go all out, there are hardly any on the Grand Line. You ought to be honored.”

Tuchi grinned savagely and again set both hands into the stance of the Six King Gun, but Roland knew full well that this move was neither the original Six King Gun, nor the later Spiral Six King Gun or Spiral Iron Cavalier.

“But now I am not entirely without a way to deal with you.”

Casting a furtive glance at the hundreds of layers of passive power he had stacked, Roland smiled with satisfaction.

Yes, his attacks of Flash Cut combined with Frosted Jade Cut had not been futile. He had suddenly discovered that Yone’s passive skill had changed somewhat from the game.

Not only could it stack without limit, it could even increase attack power, that is, damage, as the stacks grew. It was a little like Veigar’s passive, though not entirely.

Because Veigar had to stack his by killing minions and champions, and once stacked, it would never vanish.

But Roland’s current version was not permanent. Once he stopped using Frosted Jade Cut, after some time the accumulated damage would disappear.

Still, that no longer mattered, because the outcome would likely be decided after this very strike.

“Six Styles—”

Tuchi gathered his power, while both his hands slowly traced circles in different directions.

A completely different aura emerged; even the air seemed to grow denser because of Tuchi’s series of movements.

By concentrating all his power before two fists whose trajectories were entirely different, Tuchi had truly mastered the Six King Gun to its utmost limit. No matter how it changed, it remained a variation of this single move.

“Twin Spiral Iron Cavalier.”

With a furious roar, Tuchi threw both fists out. Two utterly opposite, jet-black drill-like currents of force, wavering between fusion and collapse, swept forward with a shrieking gale that seemed to blot out the sky.

Because of those fiercely drilling currents, opposite yet perfectly fused together, the sights Roland could perceive seemed distorted by the twisting of the air itself.

After a bitter smile and a surge of resolve, Roland finally moved.

His feet planted firmly on the deck, all his strength converged upon his twin blades.

Because this was reality and not a game, the power of a skill depended not only on its base damage, but even more on the strength of the one who used it.

“Sealing Dust—”

Roland shouted suddenly, pouring every ounce of strength into this one strike, including the hundreds of layers of passive power stacked by Frosted Jade Cut.

This time, Mortal Steelblades was no longer as unremarkable as before. Even during the charging phase alone, the waves it unleashed nearly overturned the surrounding deck.

“Annihilation Blade!”

With another cry, Roland finally moved.

Flying slashes burst forth like a blizzard across the heavens, ravaging everything around them, and this was only the aftershock of Mortal Steelblades.

Tuchi, who faced this strike head-on, finally changed color at that moment. In his heart arose a ridiculous emotion called panic.

Twin blades crossed with twin spiraling currents of force. The shockwaves from the collision erupted instantly, annihilating the air around them, the deck, and everything else that could be destroyed.

Amid the shrill howl of the impact, a faint cracking sound rang out.

It reached Roland’s ears, and he merely gave a bitter smile before gritting his teeth and forcing himself onward against the twin spiral drill-like force.

His wounds burst open under the collision, and countless streams of blood scattered away on the wind.

At last, under the forced effect of the skill, Roland shattered the twin spiral drill-like force before him and continued advancing toward Tuchi.

Yet another unknown ability appeared. Tuchi, who had clearly meant to evade the blow, was somehow launched backward, only to be cut down and repelled again by Roland.

A hideous cross-shaped wound opened on his chest, blood gushing forth.

Behind him, Roland crouched low to the deck. The agony from his injuries had left him with almost no strength left to rise again.

In Roland’s right hand, the short blade transformed into Yone’s weapon slowly returned to its original shape, then began to crumble in inches along the cracks that spread across it.

This weapon, which had followed him for five years, the famed short blade he had used ever since setting sail, shattered just like that.

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