"What?!"
Shiki widened his eyes in surprise.
At this moment, Arton's body had already appeared in front of Shiki.
His slash wasn't aimed at the stone lion head summoned by Shiki's ability.
His target was Shiki himself.
Ding!
With a crisp sound, Arton's long sword clashed against Shiki's quickly raised blade.
The immense force caused Shiki's body to continuously retreat.
As for Arton himself, due to using the [Thunderclap and Flash: Godspeed], he appeared further behind Shiki.
"I admit, your slash is pretty impressive... What?!"
Shiki, using his Float-Float Fruit ability, quickly steadied himself and was about to praise Arton.
However, his Observation Haki suddenly sensed that after barely steadying himself, Arton immediately reversed his stance and slashed at him again with his blade.
And this slash was identical to the previous one.
Shiki's eyes widened as he hastily lifted his dual blades and kicked out several flying slashes at Arton.
But those flying slashes, capable of easily cleaving through boulders, shattered instantly upon colliding with Arton's slash imbued with lightning and fire, barely slowing Arton down at all.
No wonder, although Shiki possessed the strength of a great swordsman, underestimating Arton and reacting hastily, his slashes naturally lacked finesse.
Ding!
Another crisp sound rang out, and Shiki was once again forced back by Arton's attack.
Shiki even faintly felt that the two famous blades on his legs were wailing in despair.
Swish!
Suddenly, Shiki sensed something rapidly approaching from behind.
"Again?!"
With a grim expression, Shiki gathered high-intensity Armament Haki on his blades and slashed towards Arton.
Boom!
A huge explosion echoed, and a cloud of smoke enveloped the clashing figures of Arton and Shiki.
A moment later, the smoke dispersed, revealing the scene of Arton and Shiki locked in a fierce struggle to those watching their battle.
"Kid, you're pretty good."
"You can use that technique three times in a row?"
"Or if I don't stop you, do you plan to use it more times?"
Shiki sneered at Arton, his murderous gaze almost palpable.
"How could I? I can only use this move three times in a row at most."
"Any more, and my legs can't handle it, plus I can't set up more than three [Yakan Evocation: Sesshou Sakura] at once."
Arton smiled as he spoke.
"[Yakan Evocation: Sesshou Sakura]?"
Shiki was momentarily stunned, glancing around out of the corner of his eye.
It was then that he noticed the spots where Arton had struck earlier were marked by small, lightning-emitting objects, just like decorative pieces.
There were exactly three of them, and they had encircled him.
At that moment, Arton suddenly withdrew his force and leaped back.
In Shiki's eyes, Arton's eyes flashed with purple lightning, and nine fox tails swayed behind him.
"A sight to be hold!"
Arton's lips curled into a smile as he raised his sword toward the sky.
Rumble!
A massive clap of thunder sounded.
As Shiki looked up, a huge thunderbolt in the shape of a celestial fox, more than half a meter in diameter, descended from the sky, striking him directly.
"So... so strong!"
"Arton can use such a rapid slash three times in a row?"
"Can I learn a powerful slash like that?"
Tashigi swallowed hard, watching the scene with excitement.
"That lightning fox strike is from the [Great Secret Art: Tenko Kenshin] that appeared in the Yae Miko skill demonstration video."
"Hina didn't expect him to use it in combination with his sword techniques."
Hina remarked as she looked at the three [Sesshou Sakura] Arton had left around Shiki.
Having watched Yae Miko's skill demonstration, Hina understood that Arton's attack on Shiki wasn't over yet.
Sure enough, just as Shiki emerged from the massive celestial fox lightning...
Once again, three more smaller celestial fox thunderbolts descended from the sky, mercilessly striking Shiki.
In an instant, Shiki's hair stood on end due to the electric force.
His clothes and face were covered with a layer of scorch marks.
"But even so, Shiki is still standing."
"Amazing, a legendary pirate is indeed a legendary pirate."
Hina sighed while raising the Den Den Mushi, intending to capture clearer footage of the battle between Arton and Shiki.
Recalling what Arton had written in his diary earlier, Hina guessed that Arton might soon use the "Emiya Shirou Template Challenge Scroll" obtained through the advanced lottery.
"Arton hasn't demonstrated much of Emiya Shirou's power in the diary."
"Hina wants to see it with her own eyes."
Hina muttered.
Similarly, Tashigi, standing next to her, was also filled with anticipation after hearing Hina.
"The origin of 'sword' is Emiya Shirou."
"What kind of sword power does he possess?"
Tashigi whispered excitedly.
"Ha ha ha ha, good, very good."
"Kid, did you eat the Rumble-Rumble Fruit?"
"You can wield lightning to such an extent?"
"No, you haven't used any elemental transformations."
"And you can use both lightning and fire powers, though it seems your power mainly revolves around lightning."
"Plus, with the fox emblem on you."
"Could it be that you ate some kind of mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit related to foxes that can control lightning and fire?"
Shiki, emerging from the thunder, did not immediately attack Arton. Instead, he laughed and asked Arton.
At the same time, he looked at Arton with admiration once again.
"What if I said I haven't eaten a Devil Fruit?"
Arton rested his sword on his shoulder, speaking while using the transparency ability of his Observation Haki to examine Shiki's condition.
"Heh, don't joke around."
"How could that power not be from a Devil Fruit?"
"Arton, right? It would be a shame for someone like you to die."
"Join me and let's conquer the world together."
"I'll make you the first mate of the Golden Lion Pirates."
Shiki extended an olive branch to Arton once again.
Clearly, the power Arton had displayed earlier greatly impressed him.
In response, Arton simply chuckled and shook his head.
The next moment, a beam of light enveloped his body.
Within this light, his body split into two.
When the light dissipated, Shiki was astonished to see that Arton's attire had transformed from a shrine maiden-like outfit to casual men's clothing.
Even the fox ears, tail, and other fox-like features on Arton had disappeared.
The most surprising thing for Shiki was the presence of another person beside Arton.
***
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