Despite being fifty-four years old, Rayleigh still sported her blonde hair, although if you looked closely, you might notice some scattered silver strands.
At this moment, his fingers were firmly planted in the crimson rock of the cliff, his body pressed against the 'wall', as he looked up, where the night sky was covered in clouds and twinkling stars.
The cliff to climb to the Red Earth Continent is thousands of meters high, with cliffs so vertical that it was difficult to believe they were natural formations.
"Roger always loved adventure and exploration. We have been to the Fish-Man Island 10,000 meters under the sea, to the sky island 10,000 meters above the ground."
"We even went to the legendary Laugh Tale, but we never saw the place called the holy land, Mary Geoise."
"Let me take a look this time for you. We'll talk better when we meet in the realm of the dead."
For Rayleigh at this point, this action could be her own last adventure.
In fact, to be honest, if Roger's carefully planned era of great pirates had not been easily ended, he would not have wanted to take such a big risk.
Because he would rather wait and see in the Sabaody Archipelago, waiting for the legendary pirate who can inherit Roger's last wish, and it's best to give him a push or something. But now, he only wants to know one thing. Why are there so many recent changes in the World Government and who is behind them?
His fingers curled, applying force, and with brutal force, he ascended several meters in the blink of an eye.
When he felt that the momentum was close to ending, he dug his fingers into the rock wall and repeated the process, climbing at an astonishing speed towards the top of the continent.
After an indeterminate amount of time, one of his hands finally touched a flat surface, he flipped hard, and, in a complete mid-air spin, landed firmly on the edge of the cliff.
"Finally, I arrived."
Rayleigh scanned the surroundings and, using her Kenbunshoku Haki, identified the presence of numerous soldiers in the distance. But there were many more presences coming from a gathered crowd.
"Sure enough, freeing slaves or something is just a show to deceive the world. The Celestial Dragons are still the same Celestial Dragons."
Under the moonlight, Rayleigh's eyes looked much gloomier, but he also knew the purpose of his trip, and he had no intention of rescuing the slaves immediately.
However, when he returned, perhaps he would give these slaves a chance to regain their freedom.
With that in mind, he untied the long sword strapped to his back and began to move. Nimbly, he slipped through the shadows of the trees and buildings, stealthily approaching the city, which shone with golden lights and glows.
This place had been peaceful for too long, with almost zero levels of surveillance, which is why in the One Piece Series Fisher Tiger was successful in his attack.
Even if the alert level was later raised because of this, the revolutionary army could still sneak in easily.
Rayleigh's target was Pangaea Castle.
Because he had heard that the Five Elders, the highest in the hierarchy of the Celestial Dragons, were there. Besides, his sixth sense told him that he would find the answers there.
...
Imu was holding an ordinary sword, while teaching swordsmanship to Mihawk. While they were sparring, Imu easily overpowered Mihawk, who was constantly backing away. Mihawk's chest rose and fell, taking heavy, rapid breaths.
"Hmm?"
At that moment, Imu raised an eyebrow and suddenly stopped his movement, allowing Mihawk to catch his breath. He took advantage of this brief respite to adjust and catch his breath.
With approximately thirty minutes left in training, Mihawk thought Imu was giving him a break. However, he was surprised to see Imu putting away the sword.
"Imu-sama?"
"An interesting mouse has snuck in."
...
Meanwhile, Rayleigh had managed to infiltrate safely inside Pangaea Castle, reaching the Socializing Plaza. Then he turned into a shadow and headed towards the inner doors of the castle.
He had noticed lights on a specific level, where clearly five presences were gathered. It was very likely that it was the Five Elders.
[Boom!]
However, just at the moment when Rayleigh's right foot was about to step onto the staircase, an extremely domineering energy wave exploded from the hallway behind the door.
"Have I been discovered? But this force..."
Rayleigh turned around without hesitation. Her goal was to gather information, not create a ruckus in Mary Geoise; She had no need to fight.
His speed is very fast, but his figure disappeared from the scene for less than a second, when he was stopped by a flash of light that descended from the sky, blocking his path.
[Clang!]
With a clear sound of metal colliding, Rayleigh felt an extremely domineering force spreading through the blade towards his hand. His body was thrown backwards.
After managing to stop his advance. When he looked up, he saw a white figure with his back to the bright moon, floating in the air as if he were suspended in nothingness.
The moment their eyes met, Rayleigh felt a shiver run down his spine. An emotion he hadn't felt in a long time filled his heart. Fear.
"What happened!"
"what's the situation?"
Gion and Stussy hurried from the castle.
At the same time, figures dressed in black, exuding a ferocious aura, appeared in every corner with the whistling of air, completely surrounding the Socializing Plaza in an instant.
"Stop." At this time, Mihawk, who was already standing outside the venue, raised his arm to stop the two women and said in a deep voice: "Tono-sama has ordered that no one interrupt him."
"That man is..." The moment Gion saw Rayleigh's face on the field, her pupils suddenly constricted, and a name emerged in her mind.
Mihawk's sharp gaze locked onto Rayleigh as he said in a low voice. "Silvers Rayleigh, former first mate of the Roger Pirates, known as the 'Right Hand of the Pirate King', nicknamed the 'Dark King', and probably the strongest swordsman out of prison since Gold Lion Shiki was captured."
Mihawk originally planned to find Rayleigh to challenge him after he fought his way towards the great swordsman.
Now it seems that he will no longer have a chance. This time the other party must die here.
"Are you part of the rumored God's Knights?"
Rayleigh felt the oppressive aura emanating from that person and could barely maintain his casual smile.
'This aura is stronger than Roger, he is definitely an extremely powerful person!' As Rayleigh pondered, he felt the sword in his hand tremble slightly.
Seeing that the other party just looked at him condescendingly, Rayleigh said with a smile: "I didn't expect that there would be a strong person like you among the Celestial Dragons. It's really unexpected."
As soon as he finished speaking, a strong killing intent suddenly erupted from him, and the nameless long sword in his hand trembled and a bright silver sword light suddenly appeared.
The dazzling light made Gion and Stussy instinctively close their eyes, but Mihawk squinted to continue seeing.
Suddenly...
With a clear metallic sound, the silver glow disappeared inexplicably, and throughout the entire process, Mihawk couldn't see what had happened.
"Again..." Imu said.
Rayleigh's expression turned grim.
But he knew that the most important thing now was not to fight the powerful Celestial Dragon in front of him, but to find a way to escape as soon as possible. It was a shame that the purpose of this trip was not fulfilled.
"Do you want to run away?"
"You do not have an escape".
At that moment, Imu as if knowing what was going on in Rayleigh's mind, said in a cold voice.
"No, you, the fool who has been seduced by the will of the 'D', never had a future. When a creature like you enters a domain that does not belong to you, you are destined to be crushed."
"However, your courage to see the glory of the Holy Land even if you commit an unforgivable crime is worthy of my praise."
"I have decided to give you the opportunity to burn your last light under my gaze, and then extinguish you in the long river of history, small and weak light."
"Hehehehe... What an amazing speech, huh?"
Just as Rayleigh was going to say something else, a flash of red light came towards him. With her sword guided solely by instinct, she blocked in front of him immediately. There was a thunderous metallic sound, followed by an explosion of power.
And that wasn't all, his ears picked up the sound of several rips of air coming from all directions. Rayleigh quickly made his sword dance around his until it formed a whirlpool, constantly adjusting his movements with the help of his Kenbunshoku Haki, fighting against the invisible force that surrounded him.
The metallic sound constantly echoed in the air.
In Mihawk's eyes from outside the battlefield, Rayleigh's sword lights were like spinning silver blades and were extremely sharp. The sword light that constantly surrounded him was the best teaching for him.
Although it was unclear what ability Imu was using, he could see the dense amount of attacks surrounding Rayleigh, and the speed and strength of these attacks forced him to take defense seriously.
"What...what impressive sword skills."
Gion murmured with his hand over his mouth. Although he couldn't follow Rayleigh's movements well, the subtle sword lights left in the air also provided him with a lot of inspiration.
Stussy next to her was silent with a solemn expression.
"Hmph!" At that moment, a snort of fury evident on the battlefield sounded. The always kind Rayleigh was being provoked by the continuous attack coming from all directions.
[Rumble!]
Suddenly, a dark red aura that glowed with silver lightning erupted from his body and swept across the entire place.
"So, is this an invisible edge? Or is it a devil fruit ability?" Rayleigh asked in a deep voice.
But there was no response from Imu. He just looked down at him, as if he had no interest in saying anything else.
"In that case, I'll have to finish you off before I leave. It's been a long time since I've tried my best."
Hearing Rayleigh's threatening statement, Imu was not surprised but rather overjoyed. He had been waiting for a long time to find someone with whom he could test his abilities.
Suddenly, the sharp sounds of air being torn could be heard again. Although they were not very loud, since there were no other noises and it was night, they were quite clear.
Rayleigh roared when he saw this. He completely released his Haoshoku Haki.
Then with his sword, flickering with dense silver-colored rays, he slashed forward, a dazzling glow erupted, forming a gigantic crescent-shaped slash.
The air that was affected along the way turned into billowing energy under the extreme pressure, forcing all the invisible swords around him away. The ground where the cut passed split deeply.
"Um?!"
However, the flying slash, which were so majestic and ferocious, its speed was… it was slowing down. Which caused everyone's looks to become strange.
It was unknown how much time passed, but when it finally reached three meters away from Imu, the slash exploded, crumbling into silver flashes that scattered all over the place like stars falling from the sky.
"This is impossible."
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