One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 70 The Clash Between Haki and Devil Fruit Abilities

Ignoring their wails, Roman, who had noticed the footsteps, had already made her escape; she was quite adept at this.

The sea at night is indeed beautiful and mysterious, with silvery sparkles on the surface, perhaps the reflection of stars. No matter how unpredictable the weather is, there are always moments of calm, and this rare tranquility is the best blessing for the injured.

Although Roman and his two companions were still alive and kicking, there were many other comrades on the warship who were groaning in pain from their injuries.

Zefa was quite relieved about this; if someone could still scream in pain, it meant they were out of danger.

Aside from Zephyr himself, who is a formally enlisted naval officer, everyone else on Zephyr's warship is a trainee.

Zephyr only serves as the commander of the battle, but the trainees need to assign the roles of helmsman, navigator, doctor, cook, and combatant themselves.

The presence of the injured not only reduced the ship's workforce but also put the already immobile warship in a difficult situation, yet Zephyr remained indifferent.

It sounds unreasonable, but this is the educational policy of the elite.

At the beginning of the training camp, Zefa was only the head instructor; the main instructors in charge of training were someone else, and he would only appear once every few days.

Although Roman had never met them, according to Tina's description, they were all fierce and ruthless. At the beginning, there was a medical team on standby. If anyone fainted, they were immediately carried away on a stretcher. There were even cases of sudden cardiac arrest.

Compared to Zephyr, the previous instructors were all like demons, all adhering to the principle of "the more you sweat today, the less you bleed tomorrow." There was no such thing as not being able to physically punish during recruit training. You either sweat it out or leave marks on your body. Smoker almost got into a fight with the instructor over this and was almost kicked out of the training camp. Fortunately, Tina intervened.

After eliminating wave after wave of students, the remaining students were finally handed over to Zefa for personal instruction. This secured Zefa's prestigious reputation.

Therefore, Roman's arrival is equivalent to a country skipping the group stage and knockout stage in the FIFA World Cup and going straight to the final.

If she hadn't actually been quite capable, she would have been ostracized on day one. But the gossip behind her back couldn't be stopped.

This phenomenon completely disappeared only when both Garp and Zephyr's fists landed on her.

What started as discrimination turned into sympathy, and even pity.

The reputations of admirals and naval heroes are quite convincing; they would rather not participate in the elite training camp than be beaten up like this.

In short, Roman gained recognition at this unexpected "cost".

During this practical training, their bond will deepen. If Roman is willing to plan carefully, she can organize her own small team and dominate the training camp. After all, this is already a game-changer.

However, forming cliques is not inherently wrong, but it shouldn't be done at this time, or by choosing these immature students to do it. They are still too inexperienced.

However, when it comes to this group of students, Roman is quite interested in one of them.

Shu En, the user of the Rust-Rust Fruit, can make any object he touch rust and decay instantly, and can even rust the human body.

This ability made Roman, who majored in swordsmanship, truly wary.

In the training camp, she didn't use a sword much; most of the duels were decided by her fists.

Armament Haki + superhuman strength + extreme speed make her invincible. One move can render an opponent powerless and leave them lying on the ground, and that's only when she's holding back.

Compared to sharp swords, a fist is at least less likely to cause an instant death.

Therefore, she generally does not use swords or knives for the safety of others.

However, she herself was really hesitant to use swords directly against Xiu En.

According to swordsmen's tradition, if the sword is destroyed, it means defeat; the sword represents you as a person.

While some say that Haki can nullify Devil Fruit abilities, it's not absolute. At least Roman doesn't consider himself strong enough to ignore Devil Fruits.

Especially those Devil Fruits that deal with rules are practically like bugs; even the Admirals and the Four Emperors probably wouldn't be able to use them.

But today, she's going to give it a try.

"Sigh, you mean you want me to use my Devil Fruit powers to touch your knife?" When Shu En heard this, he thought he had misheard.

“That’s right.” Roman nodded in affirmation.

Compared to Shu En, who later appeared on Enies Lobby, Shu En is now younger, even immature. However, there is something strange about him: he is always reluctant to take off his hat, and his navy hat is bulging, just like a bloated sweet bread.

Shuen said with some confusion, "Roman, you are indeed very strong, but as long as I use my Devil Fruit ability, even if I lose to you, your sword will definitely be destroyed. For you, you will lose your weapon, and for me, it's also a loss in the sparring, which is not beneficial."

So you're refusing?

"Of course not. After all, it's the request of the top student in the training camp. I wouldn't refuse unless I'm stupid." With this sudden change of heart, Xiu En swore that he hadn't changed his mind because he heard Roman's fists cracking.

Seeing that Xiu En was so sensible, Roman's idea of ​​giving him a beating disappeared.

After all, it was already late at night. If they made too much noise on the warship, they would both be punished. Now that they had a cook, if they were caught this time, they would probably have to become laundresses.

The longsword gradually turned black in Roman's hand, and black energy even began to emanate from it, making the quiet atmosphere even more eerie.

Roman exuded a dangerous aura, and even though Xiu En was very confident in his abilities, he still felt a little apprehensive.

At Roman's signal, Shuen placed his hand on the longsword and activated his ability.

At that moment, both of them felt unwell.

Something is resisting its own power.

Xiu En felt it clearly; there was a force resisting his corruption and trying to harm him, while the overflowing domineering aura was tormenting his body.

The same was true for Roman. She felt that her Haki seemed to have been tainted by something strange, and that her Haki was weakening, just like what Zephyr and Garp had done, whose attacks made it difficult for Roman to maintain her Haki.

Ignoring the stinging pain in his palm, Shuen unleashed the full power of his Devil Fruit ability.

Its domineering aura has weakened again.

Roman could sense that the domineering aura that had been overflowing just moments before had now become calm and composed, and even the domineering aura of the longsword itself had begun to weaken.

However, there were no signs of rust.

The two remained locked in a stalemate.

"Huff... huff... I've used all my strength." After a stalemate of ten minutes, Xiu En finally couldn't hold on any longer and was the first to give up.

Activating Devil Fruit abilities also consumes physical strength, especially when used to their maximum extent. For Shu En, who is under 20, it is still too difficult. However, the main reason is that the resistance brought by the Haki makes him feel that using the ability is particularly tiring.

As a top student in the training camp, Xiu En also possesses considerable combat strength and is skilled in physical techniques. Logically speaking, he shouldn't have been unable to sustain himself for such a short time. The key issue is that the domineering aura made it difficult for him to activate his abilities, and after activating them, his stamina was rapidly depleted at an incredible speed.

"Phew, that was impressive. I didn't dare to relax my guard at all." Roman felt relieved to see Xiu En finally defeated.

"I'll take that as you comforting me. You're a monster." Exhausted, Xiu En lay sprawled on the ground, still panting heavily.

Shuon was much weaker than her, but his Devil Fruit ability still put Roman under considerable pressure.

It seems that further experiments are necessary.