One Piece: The Avengers

Shanter was naturally prepared for danger. With a small leap, he swiftly evaded the threat.

At that moment, Shanter noticed that the face of the bounty hunter leader had begun to turn purple, as though someone were strangling him.

Of course, Shanter knew that this wasn't due to choking, but rather a reaction to inhaling too much ghost qi (evil energy). Furthermore, absorbing such a vast amount of ghost qi meant that the leader's body wasn't simply suffering a slow "suicide" anymore. Shanter estimated that if the leader didn't stop soon, surviving the day would be impossible for him.

However, Shanter was also aware that during the time when the ghost qi was in effect, the bounty hunter leader should not be underestimated—no matter how cautious, he couldn't afford to take it lightly.

"Self-destruction," Shanter muttered to himself, deciding to take a defensive stance and wait until the ghost qi lost its effect.

Shanter, composed and focused, exchanged several blows with the leader before he finally lost his calm.

The reason for this was that Shanter noticed that Robin's situation was rapidly deteriorating.

However, Robin, unwilling to distract Shanter, struggled to hold her ground and did not call for his help.

The current situation was vastly different from when Shanter had been suppressing the leader earlier. Now that Shanter had adopted a defensive posture, he was unable to free up his hands to rescue Robin.

Shanter silently regretted not being more proactive earlier, though, in hindsight, the defensive choice had been the best option.

Caught off guard, the leader's blade—Seishū Muramasa—laden with ghost qi, began to press Shanter into a corner.

It was said that Seishū Muramasa was a demon blade, and it showed. Due to the ghost qi eroding his body, the leader's strikes were losing speed and power, but paradoxically, the blade's impact grew exponentially.

Because of the overwhelming force of the Seishū Muramasa, Shanter found himself pushed into a defensive position, kneeling on one leg, looking perilously close to being overwhelmed.

But that was only how it appeared. In the next moment, Shanter turned the tide.

"Whirlpool!" Shanter's legs pushed off the ground with explosive force, and his waist twisted in a peculiar motion. The blade, Huáng Tiān (Radiant Heaven), followed the momentum, spinning with the power of his waist. Its sharp edge acted like a vortex, drawing in and expelling the ghost qi surrounding the Seishū Muramasa, pushing it far away.

With this opening, Shanter regained the upper hand.

"Storm Fury!" Shanter slashed with his blade, sending forth a massive gust of wind, laden with earth and debris, sweeping toward the bounty hunters attacking Robin.

Caught off guard, the bounty hunters were knocked to the ground by the powerful winds, alleviating the pressure on Robin. The truth was, those minor threats had realized that they could not withstand Shanter's attack.

"Don't you all seek death?" Shanter made a classic gesture, adjusting his glasses. His gaze, cold and filled with warning, swept over the bounty hunters who had been attempting to encircle Robin.

To Shanter's surprise, this warning actually worked. The low-level bounty hunters who had been preparing to overwhelm Robin hesitated. After all, the threat of Shanter's long-range attacks was evident, and none were foolish enough to sacrifice themselves willingly.

The leader of the bounty hunters, seeing this, nearly had his nose turned out of shape in anger. "I've even used ghost qi, and you still hesitate? There are just two of them, and we have five hundred!"

Due to the excitement and sensory numbness caused by the excessive ghost qi, the leader hadn't yet noticed the damage it was doing to him.

After hearing the leader's words, the bounty hunters, emboldened by his long-standing authority, began to charge toward Robin once more.

But Robin was no fool. In fact, she was rather cunning. Seeing that Shanter had temporarily pushed the enemy back, she quietly began moving toward the outer edge of the encirclement. Robin understood that staying would only add to Shanter's trouble, so she had already planned to retreat.

Now, seeing that the bounty hunters were closing in on her, Robin wasted no time in running.

With Robin out of immediate danger, Shanter finally let out a sigh of relief. The five hundred lesser threats might be troublesome, but they weren't insurmountable.

Though roughly two hundred of the bounty hunters were chasing Robin, Shanter had complete confidence that, with Robin's cleverness, she wouldn't be caught in the short term.

For now, he would deal with the remaining two hundred.

The lesser threats, those with cultivation levels around the second or third tier, had already been knocked down by Shanter and Robin. The ones Robin had dealt with were mostly minor injuries—fractures and dislocations. However, those Shanter had dispatched suffered much worse injuries, from broken arms and legs to severe mutilations.

Of course, Shanter was not a bloodthirsty individual, but one could hardly survive without striking back. Compared to being killed, taking a life was far preferable.

Since acquiring Huáng Tiān, Shanter's power had grown exponentially. Of course, this wasn't due to a physical enhancement, but rather an improvement in his cultivation.

The heavens have their form, the earth their shape, and all things possess their unique momentum. The wind has its rhythm, the water its flow, the fire its leap, the earth its breath, light its transformation, and darkness its mystery. By using my heart to perceive the universe, observing the heights of the sky, and sensing the extremities of the earth, I come to understand the mysterious symbols of the elements—wind, water, fire, earth, light, and darkness—then all things can become the blade, a technique I call: The Blade Technique of All Things.

However, Shanter felt that while the Blade Technique of All Things was profound, it was not yet perfect. Each move he had created through his understanding of the world had its unique momentum, but their destructive power was lacking, far from the overwhelming force he had envisioned.

"The Blade Technique of All Things seems to be missing something. But what exactly is it missing?"

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the leader's Seishū Muramasa, radiating ghost qi, slashed down again. The swirling ghost qi left a dark purple trace in the air.

Huáng Tiān intersected with the Seishū Muramasa, blocking the strike, but this time, the force behind the attack was unlike any before. The successive slashes pushed Shanter back step by step.

"What immense power!" Shanter had no desire for glory, only for survival, and focused solely on blocking and dodging. He knew very well that if things continued like this, the leader's attacks would only grow fiercer, but with so much ghost qi infiltrating his body, he doubted he could last even ten more minutes.

At this point, the leader's skin had turned a deep purple, and in some areas, the flesh had begun to wither, the veins bulging out, leaving him looking more like a ghost than a human.

Yet, the leader's battle power had increased at least four to five times.

Shanter's physical strength had originally been more than double the leader's, but his extraordinary combat instincts added even more strength to his fighting power. Now, the leader, fueled by ghost qi, wasn't intimidated by Shanter and was even gradually suppressing him.

"There's a reason why his suicide technique is so powerful," Shanter reflected.

The threat of the ghost qi made Shanter hesitant, unwilling to face the leader head-on. But the leader, in his current frenzied state, attacked relentlessly, resembling a berserker—reckless and dangerous.

"This guy really doesn't know how to properly control the Seishū Muramasa. Using ghost qi like this is sheer stupidity," Shanter defended with impeccable precision.

To properly wield ghost qi, it should be released through the blade itself. While this wouldn't offer the same overwhelming power as the current "suicide" technique, it wouldn't harm the user's body. However, full mastery of the cursed blade was required to do so. Without it, death by the blade was inevitable.

"Phantom Shadows!" The leader's Seishū Muramasa moved slowly but quickly, cutting through the air, and in an instant, Shanter found himself surrounded by a whirlwind of ghostly apparitions. After this maneuver, the leader clearly began to lose strength.

"Is this his final attempt?" Shanter saw that the leader could barely hold on.

"Twister of the Sky!" Shanter gritted his teeth, spinning his body at top speed, with Huáng Tiān spinning alongside him. A small tornado began to form.

This was no ordinary tornado—it was one that Shanter had created with his domineering willpower. Otherwise, how could it contend with the malignant ghost qi?

"Spin!" In an instant, the tornado blew the ghost qi away, leaving no trace behind.

"It seems I no longer need to make a move," Shanter observed as the leader's body, now heavily corrupted by ghost qi, continued to deteriorate.

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