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--- Chapter 365 ---
Besides Dracule Mihawk, Huo Yuhao also saw three other extraordinary presences. Even though their strength is not at the level of Mihawk, they have the potential and aura to rival him.
The first person is a large, muscular, tan-skinned man, standing around twice the height of a typical man with short purple hair and a pitch-black prosthetic arm. He dressed in a Marine-like coat, baggy trousers tucked into his boots, and a pair of triangular sunglasses.
The second person is the somewhat curly, blond-haired man. He looks thin but possesses this fiery aura around him, especially with a scar near his left eye. He wore a black shirt with an unbuttoned upper part and fitted gray pants. He also carried a white metal pipe.
The last person is a bunny girl or a Mink Tribe member. She is a white-furred, blonde-haired rabbit mink with brown eyes, rabbit ears, a rabbit-like nose, and a round, fluffy tail, but with a body otherwise similar to that of a human adolescent girl. She wore a bright green dress and carried a comically big carrot.
Seeing this impressive lineup, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but smile.
He recognized these people.
The tall, muscular man with a prosthetic arm is Black Arm, Zephyr.
The young man with a steel pipe is Luffy's brother, Sabo.
And the Mink Bunny Girl is Carrot.
As Huo Yuhao checked them out silently, the four also observed him with a solemn look.
Mihwak could sense a terrifying sword intent and Haki from Huo Yuhao's body, and one wrong move could cleave Elwood apart.
Zephyr felt Huo Yuhao was a monster in human shape.
Sabo has eaten Flame-Flame Fruit to honor his brother's death and feels immense heat inside Huo Yuhao's body.
As for Carrot, her eyes lit up in disbelief. She usually referred to humans as 'lesser mink' because they didn't possess fur like mink, but she felt inferior looking at Huo Yuhao instead.
Her beastly instinct also told her to grovel before Huo Yuhao.
Unknown to the Mihawk and others, Huo Yuhao allowed them to sense these qualities as he would always appear like a mortal if he wanted to.
"So, I assume you guys represent major forces in Elwood?" Huo Yuhao broke the awkward atmosphere with a playful tone. "Hmm, two of you are passable forces."
"One has yet to awaken his power."
"And the last is, how to put it, wild?"
"You're... Jack Sparrow, am I right?" Mihawk said calmly after some time, stunning everyone.
"He is..." The red-crowned crane's eyes widened in shock.
Shit! No wonder he found this blue-haired young man familiar.
Beneath the Sacred Pillar is a statue of a handsome young man. People say he was the mysterious Jack Sparrow, the Liberator of Tequila Wolf, and the Creator of Elwood.
Huo Yuhao shrugged, "That's just a fake name to throw people off, but yeah."
"I am Jack Sparrow. Captain Jack Sparrow." His mysterious voice brushed everyone's ears. If Tian Meng isn't asleep, she will insult Huo Yuhao for being too mysterious.
Yes, Huo Yuhao's appearance didn't change much after leaving One Piece after his last visit. Of course, he also became more handsome after two years.
Huo Yuhao wasn't surprised if some people could recognize him in this timeline. Well, he was a bit arrogant at the time.
Then, Everlith Universe's Emergency Quest happened.
The event has humbled Huo Yuhao ever since.
"Good, I've been wanting to test something." Mihawk nodded and drew his infamous Yoru. The western-looking, cross-like black sword gleamed with faint light.
"Hmm?" Huo Yuhao gave him a weird look. "You want to fight me?"
Mihawk entered a stance and replied, "The energy you left behind after killing Admiral Kizaru still lingering in the sea. I have sensed incredible sharpness from it and wanted to test my limits."
"People called me the Strongest Swordsman in this world."
"But such a title only makes me lonely. There are very few people who could exchange swords with me."
"Yes, I wish to challenge you to duel."
'Damn, this dialog... I'm sure this world is not Yu-Gi-Oh!' Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched. 'Thankfully, the one you wield is a sword and not a duel disk.'
'Or else I have to use my Cyber Deck.'
Of course, only Huo Yuhao has such humorous thoughts. He didn't take this situation seriously at all.
Meanwhile, everyone watched this exchange with weird expressions on their faces.
Toki observed how Mihawk acted and couldn't help but facepalm because this guy's nature never changed. Even though Mihawk has reincarnated somehow, it seems it was flawed.
After all, Mihawk doesn't seem to remember his past life.
He's just like Shank. But Shank would eventually remember.
'Wait, don't tell me this crazy guy used 'that' method.' Toki facepalmed with her other hand, feeling like she was going crazy.
The Great Toki Family possessed many forbidden life-saving techniques, and most of them related to possession or reincarnation techniques. Even though Toki didn't know which one exactly Mihawk used, she could make a bold and accurate guess of what it was.
Blood-Drinking Seal.
The Blood-Drinking Seal is a forbidden life-saving technique of the Great Tan Family. It allowed someone to condense all their blood into a seal, which recorded all their genetic information and talent.
After that, one may graft the seal into a newborn and experience rebirth with 'stronger' talent, whether physique or comprehension.
The problem is that the Blood-Drinking Seal is unstable. Not to mention, one must go through several steps before succeeding in this technique.
Memory loss. Losing desires and emotions. And several other problems.
It's basically a gamble.
No wonder Toki couldn't sense Mihawk's fate for so long and only noticed it now. The latter's fate is 'simply' sealed.
Although Toki didn't have the solution for the Blood-Drinking Seal, she knew someone who had it. 'Blood-Drinking Seal... Mihawk's situation doesn't look good, but Yuhao-sama should have something to help.'
Huo Yuhao was amused. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, scanning Mihawk from top to bottom.
"We can spar, but I don't think that's what you want..."
"You wanted to taste life and death through sword clash."
"Yes." Mihawk acknowledged his sole desire.
Huo Yuhao gave Rossweisse a signal, and she nodded.
The area around them warped, and the scenery flipped from left to right like a mirror. Yes, this is the mirror dimension.
They could fight to their heart's content here.
Well, it's more like a test.
Huo Yuhao glanced at three others and asked, "Do you guys want to fight, too? I won't kill you, but you will shed some blood."
"No, chu!" Carrot immediately gave up. To her, Huo Yuhao was scarier than anything she had fought before.
He said he wouldn't kill them, but Carrot can't believe him.
The same goes for Zephyr and Sabo. They broke into cold sweats as they didn't want to provoke this monster. Even Admiral Kizaru, with his Blink-Blink Fruit, was killed by Huo Yuhao instantly two years ago, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Zephyr, as the former Marine, knew just how powerful Kizaru was.
As for Sabo, he doesn't have the confidence to fight Huo Yuhao with his newly eaten Flame-Flame Fruit.
"What is this?" Mihawk looked around solemnly.
Huo Yuhao yawned, "Just a trick to prevent us from ruining the scenery, though I doubt you can destroy Yeoui."
"Yeoui?"
"The name of this pillar."
"Hmm, I see..."
Mihawk was distracted for a second. However, he quickly focused his attention on Huo Yuhao and readied Yoru.
A black aura slowly seeped from his body and merged with the famous sword's blade, giving it a slight redness. Yet this redness made the weapon look fearsome.
Wind rippled around Mihawk's body, and if one saw it clearly, the ripples were 'actually' created by invisible sharpness.
'What a momentum.' Everyone thought simultaneously.
Even Huang Qiu'er couldn't help but praise Mihawk inwardly.
Kuina's achievement in swordsmanship is still lower than Mihawk's. After all, Kuina's ascension didn't purely rely on swordsmanship.
Under everyone's gaze, Huo Yuhao also pulled a weapon. It was a saber over one meter long with a jet-black body with cracks all over and looked like starry skies.
It's Star Quaking Saber, otherwise known as Stella. Huo Yuhao made this saber when fighting in the Great War back at Draconic Deus and dominated everyone with it in his hand.
Years have passed since then, and today, the glorious saber sees the light of the day.
Shing~!
The black saber hummed in Huo Yuhao's hand, releasing a joyous atmosphere.
Huo Yuhao patted the saber gently, "I'm sorry. I haven't been using you all this time. But don't worry, everyone will witness your might from now on."
"Good sword." Mihawk praised calmly.
Huo Yuhao smiled, "She is."
"Mine is Yoru." Mihawk pointed his sword at Huo Yuhao.
"Stella." Huo Yuhao replied with the same wavelength.
After saying that, the atmosphere immediately turned into utter silence
It was nerve-wracking.
The observers frowned because the atmosphere exceeded their expectations, and the red-crowned crane had time to breathe.
In fact, the red-crowned crane turned into a skinny human after a few seconds and fainted on the spot.
Mihwak's body trembled as he witnessed something unbelievable with his Observation Haki. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead because he just experienced a thousand deaths in a second.
No matter what move he made, he'd die by one slash.
It was a terrifying slash, and each time carried a different intent.
Mihawk felt his senses overwhelmed by the tyranny of four seasons.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. He got swallowed in their wonders.
"This is it..." Mihwak's eyes lit up in determination. "This is what I've been searching for."
"Dracule Night Sword Method..."
"Equinox!"
Mihawk gritted his teeth and performed a rising slash, which seemed like dragging a curtain of darkness toward Huo Yuhao. A terrifying sharpness exploded at once, enveloping all surfaces of Yeoui and everything within a 300-meter radius.
This one slash is Mihwak's everything.
Huo Yuhao watched the curtain of darkness emotionlessly, "Four Season Saber Technique - Winter Season: Ruthless Snow and Ice."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A freezing wave exploded and swept the area, clearing all the darkness and the clouds. However, there is no sunlight and only ruthless coldness in the form of terrifying snow-ice hail.
It was a hellish winter.
Chill tore everything apart, leaving falling white snowflakes.
Crack! Kacha!
Thud!
Mihawk's sword, Yoru, shattered into pieces.
And Mihawk himself kneeled on the ground with several shallow cuts all over his body. Yes, he wasn't fatally injured.
"You're right... It was a bit lonely." Huo Yuhao said while making a sheath for Stella, putting the saber in slowly.
Kacha!
The mirror dimension also shattered, revealing a calm atmosphere.
However, everyone's heart is far from calm.
All this made everyone feel the winter was an illusion, but they knew it was as 'real' as harsh winter.
They stared at the pitiful-looking Mihawk, who kneeled with a dull look on his bloodied face.
The Strongest Swordsman in the World was Defeated!