Chapter 43 The Mysteries of Space

"Want to leave?"

"Hmph, it's not that simple!"

When the two men in black robes revealed their intention to avoid a fight and escape with the fourteenth stela, Mihawk let out a faint, cold hum. Although the wooden sword symbolizing his invincibility had long been destroyed by Kaido, Mihawk, just like Chuyi, used his arm as a blade, swinging it down to unleash a slash!

"Whoosh!"

In an instant, sword light filled the air!

During the "Summit War" in the original story of One Piece, Mihawk did swing his sword, but most of the time he aimed at a single target, as if his mastery of swordsmanship could only be applied to one person at a time, relying on the aftermath of his sword qi to deal with multiple enemies when he wanted to harm them.

However, during the "Summit War" in the original story of One Piece, the truth was that Mihawk...

Didn't even use half of his true strength!

To put it in more modern terms, Mihawk went to the "Summit War" as a spectator just coasting along. Except for occasionally making a move when he felt like it, Mihawk was simply fulfilling his duties as a Warlord of the Sea, with absolutely no intention of fighting to the limit against the Whitebeard Pirates or the story's protagonist, Luffy, and the others.

Yet at this moment!

As Mihawk's arm slowly swept downward, a translucent green sword qi first soared into the sky, and then that soaring sword qi fragmented like a meteor shower, slashing separately toward all the afterimages conjured by the first man in black robes!

The next second...

"Boom!"

Under Mihawk's sword qi, which seemed capable of obliterating all things, all the clone afterimages of the first black-robed man were completely shattered. Then, when Mihawk looked ahead again, the corners of his mouth curled up into a slight smile. Before him, only the two black-robed men remained; all the other afterimages had completely vanished beneath his descending sword qi.

Yet just as Mihawk dropped his arm once more to deliver his second slash...

Abruptly!

"Crack!"

An invisible wall materialized out of thin air, blocking the sword qi that burst forth from Mihawk's second downward strike!

To Mihawk's slight surprise, when the second black-robed man used his Devil Fruit ability to create an invisible shield for defense, the sword qi unleashed by Mihawk completely lost its momentum after shattering that invisible barrier. In other words, the invisible barrier created by the second black-robed man's Devil Fruit ability completely withstood Mihawk's sword qi!

The smile slowly faded from his face. Mihawk took a deep breath, realizing that the second black-robed man's Devil Fruit ability was rather bizarre, and relying solely on himself to trap the two black-robed men might prove somewhat difficult.

Therefore, Mihawk decided to use the simplest method to keep those two men in black.

That was...

To rely on Chuyi!

"Hey, Chuyi, are you actually zoning out right now?"

"Hurry up and stop those two guys, or they're going to escape with the stela!"

Glancing indifferently at Chuyi, Mihawk had expected that at the sound of his voice, Chuyi would immediately use his Devil Fruit ability to directly block the two black-robed men trying to escape.

Never had he expected...

"Huh?"

Just as Mihawk finished speaking, he unexpectedly found that Chuyi was still zoning out, as if...

As if he hadn't even heard what had just been said!

"What is going on?"

Without a doubt, Mihawk had never seen Chuyi zone out during combat. Because while maintaining the Asura form, Chuyi adhered to Asura's combat instincts, making such lapses in battle extremely rare. After all, sustained by Asura's combat instincts, even mistakes were exceptionally rare for Chuyi during a fight.

Yet at this very moment, Chuyi was actually zoning out during battle, and judging by his ashen complexion and somewhat dull expression, it gave the distinct impression that he had suffered a heavy blow.

Therefore, not merely to have Chuyi quickly capture the two black-robed men and snatch away the fourteenth stela in their possession, but simply because he could not bear to watch his good friend fall into such a lost and dejected state, Mihawk slowly raised his arm once more—and this time, his sword slash was aimed straight at the top of Chuyi's head!

"Whoosh!"

The Sword of Clarity severs all worldly worries!

Almost the moment Mihawk's sword fell, all of Chuyi's hesitation and wandering thoughts caused by the system's failure vanished completely, leaving only a lingering trace of disappointment on his face.

Right at that moment, Mihawk's resolute face appeared before Chuyi, and he asked, "Chuyi, are you alright?"

"Yes."

Though he claimed to be fine, as Mihawk spoke, a faint, bitter smile still surfaced on Chuyi's face. Moreover, just as that bitter smile formed, Chuyi, feeling somewhat suffocated in his heart, met Mihawk's hawk-like, sharp gaze and asked, "Mihawk, if one day you lost both your arms and could no longer hold a sword, would you..."

"Would you feel despair?"

"What do you mean?"

Sensing that Chuyi's mental state was very poor, Mihawk slightly furrowed his brows and asked again.

"No particular meaning."

The bitter smile on his face deepened a fraction. Chuyi slowly shook his head and sighed, "It's just that my current situation is just like you losing both your arms and being unable to hold a sword ever again. So, Mihawk... can you understand how I feel?"

"Not at all!"

From Chuyi's words, Mihawk roughly deduced the reason behind the blow he had suffered.

However, instead of offering comforting words like a normal person when a friend was struck by misfortune, Mihawk's gaze gradually grew stern as he sternly reprimanded Chuyi: "If I really lost both my arms and couldn't hold a sword, as someone steadfast in the path of the sword, I would still have my legs, wouldn't I? Furthermore, even if both my arms and my legs were completely severed, leaving me like a mere torso, Chuyi... I still would not abandon the path of the sword!"

"Even if I had to bite a sword with my teeth, I would still uphold my swordsmanship!"

"Because my sword is in my heart. Even if I lose the sword in my hand, even if I lose the physical means to hold a sword, what is there to be afraid of?"

Your sword... is in your heart?

Indeed!

Even if the system fails, my Devil Fruit ability is still here. Even if the system can never be used again, the worst that can happen is that I can no longer rely on awakening to increase my strength; I can still grow stronger by relying on the abilities I currently possess.

Then what...

Was I hesitating for?

Mihawk's words could not be said to have completely pulled Chuyi out of the shadow of the system's failure, but at the very least, they stopped Chuyi from hesitating and kept him from dwelling entirely on the nightmare of the system breaking down!

Because of this, right after Mihawk finished speaking...

"Thank you, Mihawk!"

Offering Mihawk a faint smile, Chuyi shifted his gaze toward the two men in black robes, stood on tiptoe, and took a step forward without the slightest hesitation!

"Gale Step!"

Swish!

His shadow moved like a gale!

In an instant, Chuyi, no longer hesitant, finally remembered the matter he needed to resolve. The moment his "Gale Step" was executed, relying on a speed comparable to light, he arrived right in front of the two black-robed men in a single stride.

And when Chuyi closed in, the two black-robed men were at most twenty meters away from him.

A mere twenty meters...

Ha!

It could be said that at such a distance, Chuyi had countless ways to capture those two black-robed men!

Immediately afterward, as he slowly brought his palms together, Chuyi's pupils contracted slightly, clearly intending to use the "Gravitational Domain" to suppress the two of them and win without a fight, seizing the fourteenth stela from their grasp.

Yet the exact moment Chuyi's "Gravitational Domain" was about to be unleashed...

As if anticipating Chuyi's intention in advance, right as the "Gravitational Domain" summoned by Chuyi was about to envelop the two of them, the pair of black-robed men exchanged a glance and suddenly vanished into thin air right before Chuyi's eyes. First, they caused Chuyi's unleashed gravitational field to hit empty air, and then they made Chuyi's pupils fiercely contract!

"That sensation..."

"Is that the mysteries of space?"