Chapter 60 (Patreon)

“Boom!”

The dark-red Ranged Slash tore across the verdant earth.

The massive blade of compressed force stood nearly eight meters tall, cutting through the ground with overwhelming power. Kimimaro had already leaped back after sensing the danger, but even then, his pupils contracted slightly.

“So it was you,” he said. “The sword prodigy Kabuto mentioned… that’s you, isn’t it?”

His expression remained calm, but the way he regarded Mihawk had completely changed.

“If that’s the case, then I can’t treat you like an ordinary opponent.”

As those words left his mouth, the Cursed Seal of Earth on Kimimaro’s chest emitted an orange-red glow. Black markings rapidly spread across his body.

Still flying backward, Kimimaro gripped his bone sword in one hand and raised the other toward the approaching Ranged Slash.

“Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Five finger bones shot from his fingertips like bullets.

Compared to the towering Ranged Slash, however, they were like ants attempting to stop a charging elephant.

The instant they collided, the finger bones were swallowed by the violent air currents surrounding the slash. They shattered immediately, ground into fragments by the sheer force of the attack.

Having confirmed the result of his test, Kimimaro’s expression darkened slightly.

“So it isn’t merely impressive in appearance,” he murmured. “There isn’t even the slightest fluctuation of chakra… How did he create something like this?”

The Ranged Slash was already upon him.

Kimimaro halted his backward momentum and sprang sideways, narrowly avoiding it as it continued carving through the earth behind him.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he charged straight toward Mihawk.

“It’s powerful, and its speed is impressive,” Kimimaro assessed calmly. “But its weakness is far too obvious. Against a close-combat specialist, it poses little threat.”

Mihawk walked forward with his katana in hand, a challenging grin spreading across his face.

“A close-combat specialist? Are you referring to yourself?”

His eyes swept over Kimimaro’s pale, sickly appearance.

“With that diseased body of yours, how much of your real strength can you still use?”

Kimimaro’s expression did not change. Only the unwavering determination in his eyes remained.

“I will endure until Uchiha Sasuke reaches Orochimaru-sama.”

Clang—crack!

The katana and bone sword collided.

The bone forged through the Shikotsumyaku should have possessed extraordinary hardness, yet it was cleanly severed by Mihawk’s blade.

Kimimaro’s pupils shrank as he stared at the katana. Its entire surface had turned pitch-black, making it look completely different from before.

“What kind of ability is that?”

“It’s called Haki.”

After severing the bone sword, Mihawk immediately angled his blade toward Kimimaro’s neck, intending to end the battle with a single strike.

“Dance of the Willow.”

Kimimaro sharply bent his body and spun toward Mihawk.

Pointed bones erupted from his elbows, palms, and shoulders. As his body rotated, the blades of bone repeatedly struck Mihawk’s katana.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The relentless impacts interrupted Mihawk’s slash for the briefest instant.

Following Kimimaro’s rotation, the sharp bones shifted away from the katana and swept toward Mihawk’s sword arm.

Riiip—scrape!

The sleeve covering Mihawk’s right arm was torn apart.

Sharp bone scraped across his skin with such force that sparks flew from the point of contact.

The entire exchange lasted no more than a few seconds.

The moment his sleeve was torn, Mihawk frowned. He pushed off the ground and flew backward, opening a safe distance between them.

Once he landed, he lowered his gaze toward his exposed right arm.

His skin remained intact, but a faint pain lingered beneath it.

Had he not protected himself with Armament Haki, Kimimaro’s attack would have severely injured his entire arm.

For a swordsman, his arm and his sword were both as important as his life.

Kimimaro looked at Mihawk’s frown and spoke calmly.

“Judging from your reaction, it seems you have little experience fighting close-combat shinobi who possess a kekkei genkai.”

“No,” Mihawk replied evenly. “I’ve fought one before.”

His eyes settled on Kimimaro.

“He simply wasn’t as strong as you.”

With a thought, the torn sleeve of Mihawk’s kimono repaired itself at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He then crouched down, reached beneath his trousers, and removed the two weights strapped around his legs.

He tossed them aside.

Bang!

The heavy impact caused the ground to tremble slightly.

Kimimaro’s expression finally changed.

“Those were training weights?”

“Every movement you make is already within my foresight.”

Freed from the weights, Mihawk straightened. A fierce smile filled with fighting spirit appeared on his handsome face.

“Now then… let’s begin the second round.”

The moment his words fell, Mihawk charged forward with his katana.

His figure moved like a violent gust of wind.

In barely two seconds, he had crossed the distance and appeared directly before Kimimaro.

“So fast!”

Kimimaro’s pupils contracted.

His body reacted instinctively.

“Dance of the Willow!”

He spun once more, the sharp bones protruding from his body slicing through the air.

Mihawk halted at the very edge of their range.

His right hand blurred.

Armament Haki coated his katana in a pitch-black sheen as he swung forward at tremendous speed.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Crack! Crack!

The deafening sounds of repeated collisions echoed across the battlefield.

With every swing of Mihawk’s blade, one of Kimimaro’s bones was severed and sent flying.

Each fragment had been cut so smoothly that its edge appeared perfectly straight.

Several seconds later, a gleam flashed through Mihawk’s crimson eyes.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

“I can hear it now.”

His fingers tightened around the hilt.

“Your breathing.”

Whoosh!

Mihawk’s figure transformed into a streak of light.

He passed straight through Kimimaro’s defenses and appeared behind him.

Kimimaro’s spinning body abruptly stopped.

A column of blood erupted from his chest.

A deep wound had been carved across his torso, and every rib beneath it had been severed.

Mihawk began returning his katana to its sheath, but before the blade had fully entered, his expression suddenly changed.

Whoosh!

Chakra surged beneath his feet.

His figure vanished from the spot.

A moment later, a gigantic spear of bone erupted from the ground where he had been standing. Had Mihawk reacted even slightly slower, it would have impaled him.

“I…”

Blood spilled from the corner of Kimimaro’s mouth.

His face twisted from the agony, yet the determination in his eyes remained unshaken.

“I can’t fall yet…”

He forced himself upright.

“I can’t allow someone as dangerous as you to catch up with Uchiha Sasuke!”

The Cursed Seal of Earth on his chest flared with orange-red light once more.

The black markings covering his body began changing at a speed visible to the naked eye. His flesh transformed, and his appearance rapidly became something far removed from that of an ordinary human.

Kimimaro had entered the second state of the Cursed Seal.

Mihawk reappeared a short distance away and stared at Kimimaro’s transformed body.

His expression gradually became serious.

“His breathing is becoming weaker…”

Kimimaro’s life was visibly fading.

Even so, his killing intent and determination continued to rise.

“This guy…”

Mihawk’s eyes narrowed.

“Is he planning to fight me until his last breath?”

At that realization, killing intent surfaced in Mihawk’s gaze.

Kimimaro in his current state would not be particularly difficult for him to defeat.

However, Mihawk had no intention of allowing him to unleash such a troublesome technique and waste any more of his time.

During the incident surrounding Uchiha Sasuke’s defection, aside from the battle at the Valley of the End, there was one other scene Mihawk clearly remembered.

An enormous forest made entirely of bone.

Kimimaro’s final and most dangerous technique—

Dance of the Seedling Fern.

Mihawk tightened his grip on his katana.

There was no reason to let the battle drag on any longer.

.