Chapter 303: The Clash of Haki: Rayleigh Faces Relentless Pursuit

Borsalino transformed into golden light particles and appeared at Rayleigh’s left side, swinging his leg in a whip-like kick aimed at Rayleigh’s temple.

Rayleigh smiled at the corner of his mouth. “Young man, these old bones of mine can’t handle too much excitement.”

“Still, since you’re so full of energy, I’ll play along for a bit.”

A single black finger tapped onto the tip of Borsalino’s foot.

The moment they made contact, Borsalino felt a jolt of intense pain shoot up from his toes.

Clang!

After a brief clash, the two quickly separated.

Borsalino stared at his own foot, surprised that his kick hadn’t budged the old man even a little.

Rayleigh’s face held a calm smile, as if the attack required no effort at all.

Borsalino instantly realized this man’s strength was beyond anything he could counter, and he made a strange gesture with his hand.

In the next moment, he turned into particles of light and disappeared, reappearing in midair. With palms pressed together, he rained beams of light down from above, pinning Rayleigh in place and sealing off every route of escape.

Boom, boom, boom!

The ground was battered like it was under a barrage of cannon fire. Smoke billowed everywhere, but before it could clear, a massive red fist crashed down from the sky.

It turned out Borsalino’s attack was meant to create an opening for Sakazuki to strike.

With such a wide-area assault, there was just no way Rayleigh could keep handling things so easily.

Standing in the midst of the smoke, Rayleigh felt the heat building overhead and let out a wry chuckle. “You young folks don’t let an old man like me catch his breath, do you?”

“At my age, can’t you let me rest a little?”

Rayleigh was nearly forty, but his fit and powerful build showed none of the weariness of middle age.

His stamina far outmatched Borsalino and the rest.

He drew his rapier and prepared to swing. Brilliant red threads of energy burst from Rayleigh, and a fierce Conqueror’s Haki surrounded the sword.

Even the ground around him began to crack from the strength of his Haki—Rayleigh’s Conqueror’s Haki could now affect the world itself.

“Where did that Conqueror’s Haki come from?”

“Look, it’s that old guy!”

Fortunately, those joining the battle were all Karl’s children or his elite fighters.

The ordinary Fishmen had stayed at the harbor, busy handling support and logistics.

Powerful waves of Conqueror’s Haki swept the battlefield, but none of the fighters passed out or rolled their eyes in shock.

With a sudden slash skyward, the red magma above split neatly in two, even cutting apart the clouds.

Half the magma crashed down onto the icy surface, sending up huge clouds of white steam and revealing massive tree roots below.

Borsalino wasn’t about to let Rayleigh catch his breath. In his right hand, a two-meter-long Light Sword shimmered as he darted straight toward Rayleigh.

After weeks of practice, Borsalino now ranked as a top-tier swordsman, just a step below the very best.

With the power of his Devil Fruit piled on, he could challenge even swordsmen at the top Great Swordsman level.

Seeing his attack foiled with ease, Sakazuki spat a mouthful of blood in disdain.

He wiped the sword mark from his chest and charged again, swinging lava-clad Iron Fists.

On another part of the battlefield, Jabba and his crew threw themselves against Perospero, Oven, and the other pirates, fighting tooth and nail.

Davis, sharp as ever, watched as Charlotte Linlin pulled out of the fight and quietly decided to withdraw as well. He kept an eye on the scene, hoping to head off any unnecessary casualties.

He also dragged several spare elite fighters from the brawl to help him keep watch over the scene.

It seemed he’d already guessed that Karl might have reached some sort of truce with Roger.

Maybe the reason the battle hadn’t ended yet was to give the newcomers a challenge, not because anyone was truly going for the kill.

With many of the stronger fighters stepping back, those who remained found the fight getting tougher and tougher.

Yet under all this pressure, everyone’s combat experience was growing by leaps and bounds.

The fighting got wilder. Strange abilities flared up everywhere on the field.

The Roger Pirates weren’t about to be shown up. Besides Rayleigh, Jabba and a few others, their crew boasted fighters on the level of vice admirals. For now, they seemed evenly matched.

Watching it all unfold, Karl let out a sigh deep in his heart. This really was the crew destined to become Pirate King.

No wonder they eventually claimed the title of Pirate King’s crew.

With this level of power, almost no one could match them in raw strength—except maybe Karl himself.

Looking at this, it really was no injustice that the Golden Lion lost.

Aokiji, meanwhile, had been escorted to the harbor by a squad of Fishmen, now lounging on a wide bench and taking a breather.

His eyes burned with excitement. He longed to jump in and take on those top pirates himself, but feeling his waning strength, he could only rely on herbal medicine to recover quickly.

He hoped he’d have a shot to rejoin the battle—opportunities like this were rare.

Now that their scientific minds had been gathered from across the seas, effective Chinese medicine for quick recovery had long been developed. It tasted bitter, sure, but could get a person back to full stamina in no time.

It worked as a weaker version of the Rejuvenation Pill.

Just as Aokiji focused on the fight, a chilling aura suddenly crept up behind him. The energy felt weak, but the killing intent was obvious.

Aokiji frowned. By all logic, there shouldn’t be any members of the Roger Pirates behind him at this point.

World Government agents were usually purged at regular intervals, so who would dare go after him now?

Had some unknown faction slipped onto the island during the chaos?

What was their goal—were they trying to spark a full-scale brawl between the Roger Pirates and Karl?

Like the saying goes, ‘Those involved can’t see the game, but bystanders see it all.’

As soon as he stepped back from the fight, Aokiji realized the clash was closer to friendly sparring than a true battle to the death.

He wanted to get up and look, but sensing his lack of strength, he just gave a faint smirk instead.

Looks like these rats noticed he was spent and decided to get bold. Fine, let’s see who sent them.

Might as well use this chance to find out who’s behind these little sneak attacks.

Without hesitation, he downed the bowl of herbal remedy on the table, swallowing it in big gulps. The bitter taste curled his brow.

“So bitter!”

“If you don’t make your move now, all this suffering would be pointless!”

He’d had Chinese medicine before, but never this quickly.

From mouth to throat to gut, the bitterness was everywhere—no amount of tea could wash it away.

It made Aokiji downright hostile to whoever was coming at him.

Not far away, five undercover World Government agents were moving supplies along with a larger group.

They carried a load that included some ammo and a huge quantity of medical supplies.

With the two sides’ power evenly matched at first, Karl’s efforts to temper his own men eventually tipped the scales.

That meant more injuries, and more need for all sorts of medicine.

The five agents were heading right behind Aokiji’s bench.