All the pores on Sengoku's body relaxed as he could no longer sense Shanks's breath. This was not the first time he faced such an enemy. Back then on the Island of Origin, Sengoku had fought against Yoriichi Tsugikuni with his old comrades.
Against enemies with the ability to see and hear, Observation Haki is almost ineffective. For strong people of their level, without the "foresight" of enemy attacks, their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.
Waiting until you see the enemy attack before taking evasive or counterattack actions will be more or less slow. Once you are suppressed, it will not be easy to turn the situation around.
It is necessary to rely on excellent combat experience and intuition to deal with the enemy's next possible attack. At this moment, Zhan Guo's five senses and six perceptions are also adjusted to the most acute state.
At this moment, he could even use his skin to feel the subtle changes in airflow.
After the Origin Island, Sengoku made many predictions about his future. He thought of all ways to preserve the independence of the Marine Headquarters, whether it was helping the Celestial Dragons to completely eliminate the New Navy to gain their trust, or joining forces with Yoriichi Tsugakuni's New Navy to completely overthrow the World Government.
Everything he did was to comfort the souls of his old comrades and fulfill the dreams they had pursued throughout their lives.
Sengoku, who once regarded Tsugakuni Yoriichi as an enemy, naturally also carefully studied how to deal with Tsugakuni Yoriichi's vision killing.
However, the countermeasures he developed were not applied to Yoriichi Tsugikuni, but instead to the great pirate Shanks.
Sengoku was concentrating and said nothing, his eyes fixed on Shanks.
Just as the two were confronting each other, a breeze blew by, and at this moment, Shanks in front of Sengoku suddenly flashed and disappeared directly from Sengoku's sight.
“Here it comes!!!”
At the same time when Shanks' figure disappeared, Zhan Guo said in his heart, and all his figures moved together. The golden giant Buddha retreated rapidly, and in just a blink of an eye it was several meters away from its original position. And just the next moment after Zhan Guo flashed away from the original position, Shanks' figure suddenly appeared where the golden Buddha was before, and the sharp long sword slashed down in the air, but missed.
“Huh?!”
The attack that he had carefully prepared after using the Jianwensha technique actually missed the target. Shanks' eyes showed some surprise and he murmured softly.
He was not naive enough to think that he could decide the outcome with Sengoku in an instant, and rely on this attack to directly make Sengoku lose his combat effectiveness. However, Shanks did not expect that his attack would be dodged so easily by the opponent.
In the anticipated scenario, Sengoku realized his intention to attack, but was unable to dodge and was injured by his own attack. This was the scenario that Shanks had rehearsed in his mind in advance.
Zhan Guo's reaction before the battle was indeed beyond Shanks' expectations.
"As expected of a Navy Admiral!"
"This is the first time someone has dodged my slash as easily as you did."
Shanks praised with a smile, but Shanks's slightly respectful words sounded a bit sarcastic in Zhan Guo's ears. This condescending tone made Zhan Guo feel that the young man in front of him was not only arrogant, but also very wild.
"I guess dodging your attack isn't a big deal, right?!"
"Those who can't dodge attacks of this magnitude are the ones with problems."
In a battle between strong people, neither can be at a disadvantage in any aspect, and momentum is of paramount importance. Zhan Guo is naturally very clear about this and does not want to be at a disadvantage in words.
Shanks' attack naturally couldn't be dodged as easily as Zhan Guo said. What he said at this time was just to suppress Shanks' self-confidence.
However, for strong people of their level, it is difficult for their mood to be affected by the words of the enemy.
Although Shanks is not as old as Sengoku, he is not lacking in combat experience. He has also grown up through hardships and is not a flower in a greenhouse.
On the sea, the pirates who competed with him would curse at him even more harshly and insultingly than Sengoku.
"Yeah?!"
"Since Marshal Zhan Guo said so, then it must be so."
Shanks didn't take Sengoku's sarcastic words to heart. He smiled, raised his hand, and slashed directly in the direction of Sengoku.
The black slash shot out, and the airflow around Sengoku was also affected by Shanks's slash, which had a great impact on Sengoku's "skin perception".
Shanks, who had launched a slashing attack, also moved along with it, his figure turned into a wisp of afterimage and disappeared from Sengoku's sight.
“Hehehe!!”
Not far away, seeing the fierce battle between Shanks and Sengoku, Garin Sheng couldn't help but laugh, his mouth grinning, revealing a row of white teeth.
An arrow-shaped tail like that of a devil stretched out directly from under the cloak and inserted into the ground.
This battle is not a one-on-one battle between Shanks and Sengoku, but he and Shanks fight against Sengoku together!
At this time, Sengoku's attention was all on Shanks. Although his observation Haki had no effect on Shanks, he could still sense the movements of Garin-sei.
While Jialin Sheng was secretly making small moves, Zhan Guo also glanced sideways at Jialin not far away, and his face became a little ugly.
He finally encountered the worst situation.
The combination of Shanks and Garinsheng posed a huge threat to Zhan Guo. If he was not careful, he would stay in the holy land forever.
In just a moment, the Warring States that Shanks had hit had already arrived in front of Warring States.
The noise of Shanks' slash was very loud, and this massive attack had long been sensed by Zhan Guo. This time, Zhan Guo did not choose to fight back, but leaned down, and the huge golden Buddha instantly disappeared from its original position and returned to its original form.
Shanks's slash was released based on the size of the golden Buddha. Facing the huge golden Buddha, Shanks could not aim his slash at the enemy's toes. This was a life-and-death fight, not a pedicure.
And according to the slashing attack released by the Golden Buddha's body, Zhan Guo could easily dodge it by simply removing the phantom beast transformation. This kind of combat technique is mastered by almost every phantom beast ability user, and Zhan Guo is naturally no exception.
but
Shanks' real killer move is not the slash he releases, that is just a feint to interfere with the enemy's perception.
The real killer move is himself, who cannot be sensed by the Observation Haki!
He had just finished transforming into a phantom beast and didn't even have time to look up to see where Shanks was when he felt a sharp gust of wind whistling towards his shoulder.
Before he could even think of any way to evade, Zhan Guo's body had already moved.
Zhan Guo used his limbs to exert force and spun in the air to avoid the sharp long sword that was about to chop down on his arm. But at the moment when Zhan Guo's feet left the ground, a black arrow-shaped tail shot out from the ground and pointed directly at Zhan Guo's heart.
Shanks has multiple attacks with a backup plan, and while he is attacking, Garen Sheng is also assisting him.
Zhan Guo, whose body flew into the air, had no way to gain leverage. Although he mastered the Moon Step, one of the Six Navy Styles, that combat skill was completely useless at this critical moment.
Although the Moon Step can give him a certain degree of maneuverability in the air, this level of maneuverability is simply not enough to support him in avoiding the speed of attacks by Garin Sheng.
Seeing that Zhan Guo's heart was about to be pierced by the arrow tail, Zhan Guo's body surface changed instantly. In just a blink of an eye, Zhan Guo returned to the state of phantom beast, and the golden Buddha returned to the battlefield.
At the same time that Zhan Guo completed his transformation into a phantom beast, the arrow released by Gary Sheng directly pierced the Golden Buddha's abdomen.
Although there was no way to completely avoid Jialin Sheng's attack, Zhan Guo successfully avoided the vital points in this way.
Although his abdomen was pierced, no blood flowed out. Zhan Guo, who was in the phantom beast state, had precise control over every cell in his body. As long as he didn't want to, no matter what kind of injury he suffered, he would not lose blood.
The intense pain made Zhan Guo's brain extremely clear. Jialin Sheng's attack not only did not reduce Zhan Guo's combat effectiveness, but instead made Zhan Guo, a man who sat in the office all year round, regain the feeling of fighting on the battlefield.
“Snap—”
Without any hesitation, the golden palm grabbed the tail of the arrow that was inserted into his abdomen and pulled it out of his body without any hesitation.
The hook at the end of the arrow brought out some blood, but despite the severe pain, Zhan Guo's expression did not change at all. He raised his foot and stepped on Shanks in front of him, while at the same time exerting force with his hand, pulling Garin's tail, trying to drag the other party in front of him.
Gary Sheng obviously didn't expect that his attack would instead arouse Zhan Guo's ferocity. He was caught off guard and was directly thrown to the ground by Zhan Guo. Feeling the huge force coming from under him, Garin's expression also became fierce.
"boom!!!!"
The Golden Buddha's big foot stepped down, splashing a cloud of dust. Zhan Guo did not feel the feeling of stepping on the enemy, and his eyes swept across the whole place, trying to find Shanks.
But at this moment of distraction, the arrow tail he was holding suddenly changed. Countless spikes grew out of the tail and pierced through Zhan Guo's palm in an instant.
Feeling the pain, Zhan Guo subconsciously let go, and the black tail quickly drilled back into the ground and disappeared from Zhan Guo's sight.
However, before Zhan Guo could find out what Garin had done, Shanks appeared silently behind him, and the long sword in his hand rose and fell quickly, directly cutting the right Achilles tendon of the Golden Buddha.
The terrifying slash directly broke through the protective aura of Zhan Guo. The blade light penetrated half a meter before disappearing. The right foot of the Golden Buddha was almost cut off by Shanks's blow.
Even a man like Zhan Guo couldn't help but change color when he saw this level of injury. The severe pain made his face look a little hideous at this moment. He turned around suddenly and slapped Shanks behind him with his bloody palm.
However, his attack movements had already been clearly grasped by Shanks's Observation Haki. At the same time his palm fell, Shanks' figure also flew backwards, and instantly opened up a distance of more than ten meters between him and Zhan Guo.
"boom!!!"
Another attack missed. At this moment, the golden giant Buddha could no longer maintain the stability of his body. He half-knelt on the ground and made a loud roar.
Zhan Guo looked at his feet and his expression became extremely solemn.
He is different from Kaido and Yoriichi Tsugakuni, who have awakened their devil fruits and have mythical beast abilities. He cannot achieve super-speed regeneration like Yoriichi Tsugakuni.
There was no way for him to recover immediately from an injury of this severity. Although he had mastered the ability to restore life to perfection and could control the muscles of his body to forcibly close the wound, the injury to his Achilles tendon could not be recovered quickly.
Facing powerful enemies like Garin Saint and Shanks, he was almost sentenced to death with such injuries.
Although he had already anticipated his own ending, Zhan Guo did not show any frustration on his face at this moment.
He did not forget why he came to the holy land. Although some unexpected situations occurred, his purpose would not change.
Buying as much time as possible for Yoshikazu Tsugikuni is what Sengoku needs to do now.
He had already deeply felt how difficult Shanks was, and he couldn't imagine how much trouble it would be if Yoriichi Tsugakuni had to worry about the attack of a strong man like Shanks when facing a powerful enemy.
Sengoku himself has already experienced it personally, so naturally he doesn't want Tsugumi Yoriichi to have the same experience as him.
Shanks injured Sengoku with one sword, but he did not stop attacking.
Although he didn't know why Zhan Guo was against the Celestial Dragons, he also knew very well what he needed to do at the moment.
Since he was summoned to the holy land by Saint Garin in this way, everything Shanks did would naturally be in line with his identity.
Even when facing the injured Sengoku, Shanks did not choose to attack head-on.
He was still very vigilant against Zhan Guo and did not underestimate this naval marshal just because Zhan Guo was injured.
After advancing a few steps forward, Shanks' figure suddenly disappeared from Warring States' sight.
When Shanks appeared again, he was already above Sengoku's head. Shanks, holding the long sword high, aimed at Sengoku's shoulder and jumped down directly.
He did not target the weak points of the Warring States, and everything he did was just to make the Warring States lose its fighting power.
Although he mixed with the Celestial Dragons, Shanks was not completely a puppet.
The injured Sengoku had no way to move at high speed, and Shanks seized the initiative under the cover of his ability to see and kill.
Facing Shanks' attack, Sengoku had no possibility of escape and just raised his hands to try to resist forcibly.
"Buzz—"
Just when Shanks's sword and Sengoku's palm were about to collide, a terrifying domineering aura suddenly appeared on the battlefield, accurately descending on Shanks and Garen Sheng.
(End of this chapter)
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