Pirate: I, Ace, am the King of Eclipse!

Kakuzang closed in after his slash.

He didn't charge in a straight line, but instead used Moonwalk repeatedly, changing direction twice under the cover of several Storm Kicks. The first blade was pointed at Leona's ribs, while the second blade was hidden behind her forearm, waiting for her to turn the heavy blade before suddenly stabbing at her wrist.

"Iron Block, Steel Wrist!"

With her arms hardened, two blades simultaneously pierced through from both sides of the heavy black steel blade. Leona didn't have time to fully turn the heavy blades; she could only twist her waist to avoid the first blade, then use a whip kick to force Kaku back.

The two fell to their respective tops of the clock tower.

Kaku had already grasped the problem. Leona's heavy sword could block and cleave through anything in its path, but as she constantly changed direction in mid-air, its weight and wind resistance would slow it down. As long as one didn't try to outmuscle her, the battle would become a war of attrition, which would be advantageous to Kaku.

“If you keep going, you'll only be able to stand behind that knife and get beaten up.”

"Who told you I was going to use it to chase you?"

Leona released her right hand.

The black steel cleaver fell from the top of the clock tower, its tip piercing through the brickwork, half of the blade embedded in the tower's base. Having lost the heavy sword, she switched to a reverse grip on the silver boning tip in her right hand, the muscles in her shoulders, back, and legs tightening.

The weight that had been pressing on her right arm and shoulder disappeared, and her body immediately showed a difference. Before, in order to swing the heavy knife, she had to first engage her waist and back before transferring the power to her arm each time she turned; now, a boning knife hardly slowed down her movements, and she could use all the power from her legs to propel herself forward.

Kaku noticed the change but didn't think abandoning his main weapon was a good choice. The heavy sword could at least block the storm kick, while if Leona misjudged the narrow short blade, she wouldn't even have a second chance to parry.

She is a chef, and a hunter.

The black steel blade was used to cleave through the thick armor and bones of ancient beasts, while the boning knife in his hand was responsible for separating flesh along the fascia. Facing an enemy who relied on Shave and Moonwalk for high-speed movement, continuing to carry that heavy shield would only cause the blade to miss its mark time and time again.

A shockwave erupted from the top of the clock tower.

Leona vanished from Kaku's sight, reappearing nearly mid-air. With each step of Moonwalk, she leaped forward several meters, her speed increasing exponentially.

Kaku spun around with both legs, kicking out a massive wind blade powerful enough to slice through buildings.

"Storm Kick - White Thunder!"

A white slash blocked Leona's path. She didn't change direction, her vertical pupils fixed on the oncoming airflow.

The realm of cutting through iron and the Observation Haki that was growing at this moment overlapped.

Bai Lei was no longer an untouchable gale. The air currents that formed the slash were layered in her eyes, with the strongest pressure gathering on the outside, but a weak gap left when the power connected in the center.

This is no different from processing prey.

In the ancient forest, Leona once dissected a behemoth with a carapace several feet thick. A direct slash would only chip the blade, but by cutting along the overlapping of the carapace plates, even an ordinary short sword could reach the flesh beneath.

The storm foot before me lacked a true carapace, yet possessed a similar structure. The outer layers of airflow were compressed to maintain the shape of the slashing wave; once the central seam was broken, the forces on both sides would separate outwards on their own.

No matter how thick the skin or how hard the bones, as long as you find the texture between the muscles, you don't need to use brute force to smash the whole bone.

"here."

The boning knife shot forward, its tip slicing into the seam in the center of the white lightning bolt. Without a violent collision, the massive storm foot split in two, grazing Leona's body as it flew to either side and slashed into a distant building.

Kaku's expression changed: "You cut off Lan's leg?"

Leona had already bypassed the slashing wave, her silver blade aimed straight for his chest.

Kaku did not retreat. He stepped on the air, causing his body to spin rapidly, his twin swords and legs simultaneously unleashing a slashing attack, turning the area in close proximity into a cutting storm.

"Four-Sword Style: Chaotic Swirl!"

The solid blades and the vacuum slashing waves overlapped, and the clock tower's outer wall shattered into pieces after only being grazed by the aftershocks. Leona, however, continued to move closer to the eye of the storm.

She could see the direction of each sword, and also the sequence of muscle contractions when Kaku exerted force in his legs. The four-sword style seemed seamless, but the legs and hands could not occupy the same position at the same time. In the instant of the alternation of power, there would inevitably be a brief break.

The silver boning knife slid in with the sound of the wind.

The first longsword grazed Leona's shoulder, and she tightened her body to avoid the blade's tip; the second storm kick swept from her waist, and she followed up with a Moonwalk in mid-air, using the half-step upward distance to evade the attack. Kaku's knee followed, slamming into his chest, but the boning knife was already pressed against his inner thigh, forcing him to pull his leg back prematurely.

The chaotic attacks continued, but the core rhythm was disrupted by this leg retraction. The four attacks, which had been filling in the gaps between each other, finally revealed a single line leading straight to the body.

She didn't clash head-on with any of the longswords, but instead passed through the gaps between the strikes, the tip of the blade slicing diagonally down along the muscles of Kaku's chest and abdomen.

"Dissection - First Sword - Peeling Silk".

The Four-Sword Style came to an abrupt end.

Kaku's grip on the swords simultaneously gave way, and both longswords fell onto the roof ridge. He looked down and saw a long, narrow wound that had pierced through his chest and abdomen, and a vital tendon had been severed precisely by the short blade.

This wasn't about using greater force to break through the chaos, but rather about directly dismantling the parts that supported the movement.

Kaku fell forward, his body shattering the red tiles. Blood was washed onto the eaves by the rain. He tried to prop himself up with his arms, but the severed tendons could no longer function, and he finally collapsed completely into a pool of blood.

He didn't lose because of a lack of strength. Until he fell, Kaku's speed and mastery of the Six Powers were still superior to Leona's. But a body operating at high speed is itself a precisely structured machine; if one key part is accurately severed, the greater the remaining force, the heavier the burden on oneself when out of control.

Leona landed to the side, shook the blood off the boning knife, and tucked it back into the leather sheath at her waist.

She glanced at her palm, then looked back at the heavy black steel blade stuck in the clock tower.

In the past, when encountering tough prey, she was used to using a heavier blade and greater force to cleave through the shell. Only after reaching the level of a swordsman did she truly understand that cutting through iron was not simply about accumulating enough power to cut through steel.

The true application of this realm lies in hearing the breath of things and finding where they can be cut open.

As long as the prey still has bones, joints, and power structures, there must be textures that can be peeled away.

The sound of distant explosions pierced the rain. The battles on other fronts were far from over.

Leona pulled the black steel cleaver from the base of the tower, slung it over her shoulder, and left the rooftop to head to the next battlefield.

Chapter 89 Urouge VS Lucci 1

South District of Water City: Abandoned Timber Warehouse Cluster.

A beam snapped in half, and the half-human, half-leopard figure crashed into the pile of timber, then stomped on the muddy ground. Two furrows stretched for more than ten meters before Lu Qi stopped and backed away.

His black suit was torn, his right cheek was swollen, and blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth. The punch had not only injured his skin and flesh, but had also loosened some of his teeth.

Thirty meters away, Urki's situation was even worse.

His chest, abdomen, and arms were riddled with bloody holes left by finger guns, and his monk's robes were soaked with rain and blood, clinging to his body. The hexagonal iron rod was broken in half, and he used the remaining half to prop himself up on the stone slab, but the smile on his face never disappeared.

The warehouse where the two fought had collapsed most of its walls.

In the initial clashes, Lucci didn't even need direct contact. He constantly used the wooden beams, walls, and mid-air for leverage, his Tempest Kick slicing through Urouge's skin, while his Finger Gun specifically targeted the gaps between joints and ribs. Most of the iron rods Urouge swung could only shatter afterimages, their force turning warehouses into ruins after they missed.

But Urouge quickly changed tactics. Instead of chasing after Lucci as he turned, he guarded the limited area beneath his feet, using his body to absorb unavoidable attacks. Whenever Lucci entered the range of the iron rods to inflict deeper wounds, he would immediately trade blows. Almost all the bruises on Lucci's chest and face were inflicted in this way.

From the start, Lucci entered his leopard form, using Shave, Moonwalk, and Rokushiki to overwhelm Urouge. He held a clear advantage in both movement speed and attack frequency. Urouge rarely managed to block attacks completely, resulting in numerous wounds on his body.

But Lucci was also unable to end the battle.

That enormous body possessed vitality far exceeding that of ordinary people, and its fighting style lacked any patterns familiar to assassins. Urouge was willing to take a knife to the shoulder just to deliver his fist to Lucci; he would also deliberately expose his chest and abdomen, waiting for Lucci to get close before using his arms to block his retreat.

Lucci disappeared again.

The burst of energy from the shave tore through the rain curtain. He appeared from Urki's left, twisting his waist and unleashing a swirling wind blade with his leopard legs.

"Storm Kick - Leopard Tail!"

There was no time to dodge at that distance. Urouge had no intention of dodging either; he covered his left arm with Armament Haki and blocked the spiral slash.

The wind blade sliced ​​through the Haki and flesh, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound on the forearm. Urouge used the impact to steady his stance, simultaneously swinging his broken club down in his right hand.

The iron rod shattered the air, and even before it hit the ground, it caused the water on the ground to spread to both sides. If Lu Qi had tried to catch it with the iron block, at least half of his body would have been smashed.

"Paper drawing".

Lucci bent backward, pushing his leopard form's flexibility to its limit. The iron rod grazed his chest, the resulting air pressure tearing through his already tattered suit, but it didn't actually hit him.

Urouge missed his target with his stick, and Lucci had already turned by bracing himself with one hand. Like a spring compressed to its limit, he bounced back from a low position and into Urouge's arms.

Lucci's positioning was impeccable. The broken staff was still on the outside, and Urouge's left arm had just been severed by the leopard's tail, leaving him with nothing in front of his chest to defend himself. The power from his leopard form was concentrated in his ten fingers, each thrust accompanied by a short burst of air.

"Fingergun - Coptis!"

Two leopard claws stabbed out in quick succession. In less than a second, dozens of finger gun strikes landed on Urki's chest and abdomen. His flesh was pierced repeatedly, and blood splattered from his back and sides, pooling together in the rain.

An ordinary pirate would have his internal organs smashed to pieces after taking this attack. Urouge's body kept leaning back, but he didn't fall down.

As Lucci finished his final finger pistol strike and was about to use the shave to break free, two large hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders.

Urouge's earlier open chest and abdomen weren't because he couldn't defend. He deliberately used a serious injury to give Lucci the opportunity to stop at close range.

"Got you?"

With his fingers locked around Lucci's shoulder blades, Lucci was unable to turn around for a moment. Urouge covered his forehead with Armament Haki, tilted his head back, and then smashed it down on the leopard's head like a battering ram.

Lucci didn't have time to use any other moves, so he had to switch all the muscles in his neck, shoulders, and head into iron blocks.

boom!

The two heads collided head-on. Urouge's forehead split open, and even Lucci's iron block couldn't completely absorb the impact. The leopard's head was thrown back, blood mixed with stomach acid spurting from between its teeth, and the stone slabs beneath its feet cracked in patches.

He forcefully twisted his body, broke free from Urki's grasp, and tumbled backward for more than ten meters before landing again.

The dizziness from the headbutt caused his vision to briefly overlap. Lucci risked his life to regain control of the muscles in his neck and face, quickly suppressing the spreading injury. He didn't lose his judgment because he was outmaneuvered; instead, he recalculated the maximum damage Urouge could withstand.

Speed ​​suppression is indeed effective, but it requires frequent close-range engagements. Ordinary Tempest Kicks are unlikely to cut through that layer of muscle, and even if a long-range attack hits, it will only continue to amplify causal abilities. To end the battle, a single strike must be delivered before Urouge has time to convert the damage into power.

Lu Qi wiped the blood from his face and did not attack immediately.

Since the start of the battle, Urki has lost enough blood to kill an ordinary person several times over, and has also suffered multiple finger-gun blows to his chest and abdomen. Yet, not only is he still able to stand, but the force of his headbutt just now was even greater than at the start of the battle.

It's not an illusion.

This person's strength is increasing as their injuries progress.

Urki still gripped the broken club, panting. Each breath aggravated the bloody hole in his chest, yet the power accumulated within his body did not weaken; rather, it was as if something was constantly awakening through the wound.

Continuing to use the Six Styles to exchange injuries with him will only allow the next counterattack to exceed your tolerance level.

Lucci abandoned his high-speed combo.

He stood firmly with his feet apart, his leopard tail stopped swaying, and his hands came together, one above the other, at his sides. All control over his body—breath, muscles, and the return of life—was concentrated on those fists.

Since thick muscles can withstand external trauma, they can bypass the skin and flesh and destroy the heart and organs directly from the inside of the body.

This is a technique that can only be used after mastering the Six Styles to its peak. The fists are merely the fulcrum for transmitting power; the truly lethal force comes from the simultaneous impact of both arms. No matter how tough the exterior, if the internal organs remain vulnerable, it is impossible to withstand the impact head-on.

That's the end of it.

Lucci stared at Urouge's chest, compressing the force between his fists to the limit.

The ultimate secret of the Six Styles.

"Six Kings Spear!"