Chapter 142 (Patreon)

Boom!

The enormous dark-red slash surged upward like a tsunami, resembling a crescent moon suspended against the night sky as it collided with the colossal meteorite descending from above.

Crack... Rumble!

Whether viewed from directly below or several miles away, the collision was impossible to miss.

The moment the enormous dark-red crescent struck the meteorite, countless cracks spread rapidly across its surface.

Then, with a deafening shattering sound, the dark-red light tore straight through its center.

The cracks instantly intersected across the entire meteorite.

Rumble!

The colossal meteorite shattered into countless pieces, each fragment bearing a perfectly smooth cut.

Even after reducing the meteorite to countless fragments, the enormous crescent had barely lost any of its power. It continued tearing through the sky.

Boom!

Moments later, another deafening explosion erupted from an even higher altitude.

Far above, the white clouds that had only just re-formed were scattered once again.

Beyond them, the second meteorite had also been struck by the remaining slash.

Dark-red light flashed through the enormous mass before it shattered into countless pieces, just like the first.

The fragments of both meteorites began raining down from the sky.

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, dark-red light shone down from high above.

The daylight world was briefly dyed in a faint shade of dark red.

“Hahaha!”

Looking at the two shattered meteorites and the dark-red light shining across the sky, Madara showed no trace of anger.

Instead, he threw his head back and laughed.

His expression was filled not only with excitement but also with genuine admiration.

“There is no mistaking it. This feeling... How nostalgic.”

Madara’s grin widened.

“Other than Hashirama, to think there would be a second person capable of making me feel this way... How wonderful!”

A few seconds later, Madara’s excitement gradually settled.

Although the smile remained on his face, his gaze became far more serious as he stared at Mihawk in the sky.

“I acknowledge you!”

“You have surpassed the level of the Kage. You are worthy of facing Uchiha Madara at full strength.”

Dazzling blue chakra erupted from Madara’s body.

The powerful current generated by the surge sent his long black hair streaming upward.

An enormous figure gradually took shape around him, carrying Madara higher until he was nearly level with Mihawk.

Madara’s Rinnegan stared directly at him.

“Then allow my Perfect Susanoo to grant you the most magnificent funeral.”

Looking down from above revealed an enormous blue warrior wearing armor resembling a high-nosed tengu and a long cloak.

A blue katana rested at either side of its body.

Madara stood inside a crystal embedded in the giant’s forehead.

The towering warrior was at least seventeen meters tall and likely exceeded twenty meters.

PS: According to the official information, Gamabunta is seventeen meters tall, while Shukaku is slightly larger. The nine tailed beasts are relatively similar in scale, and Kurama standing upright is almost the same height as the Perfect Susanoo. Therefore, the Perfect Susanoo should be at least seventeen meters tall and likely exceed twenty meters.

Mihawk’s 1.8-meter figure appeared incredibly small before the towering blue giant.

“Mihawk-kun...”

This was the first time Hinata had ever seen a Perfect Susanoo.

Unable to remain on the sidelines any longer, she flew toward Mihawk with concern written across her face.

“Let’s fight him together!”

“No.”

Mihawk shook his head.

“Stay back and conserve your strength.”

There was no panic in his expression as he continued in the same calm tone.

“The strength of a technique cannot be judged by its size alone. Sometimes, excessive size only becomes a burden.”

An icy-blue light flickered within Mihawk’s eyes.

“Before these eyes, unless something possesses incomparable speed, neither an enormous body nor an impenetrable defense matters.”

“It only becomes a larger target.”

“Please be careful.”

Seeing how resolute Mihawk was, Hinata understood that she would not be able to change his mind.

After leaving him with those words of concern, she withdrew from the battlefield.

Standing inside the crystal on the Perfect Susanoo’s forehead, Madara folded his arms across his chest.

“Come... Continue dancing!”

The Perfect Susanoo produced an additional pair of arms.

Its left hand grasped the hilt of one of its enormous katanas and slowly drew the blade from its sheath.

Dazzling blue light spilled across the sky.

Whoosh!

At the same moment, Mihawk transformed into an afterimage and rushed forward.

A layer of Armament Haki spread across Nemesis, deepening its already-black blade until it gleamed like obsidian.

In one fluid motion, Mihawk returned Nemesis to its sheath and drew it again at astonishing speed.

He raised the sword above his head and brought it down with tremendous force.

Clang—BOOM!

A human-sized sword collided with the gigantic katana of the Perfect Susanoo.

Yet the result was not the one-sided suppression that the difference in size suggested.

A hurricane-like shock wave erupted from the point where the two blades collided.

Even from several miles away, the Allied Shinobi Forces could feel the violent wind howling toward them.

Not far from the clash, Ōnoki’s small body was immediately swept away.

He hurriedly used the Light-Weight Rock Technique to stabilize himself in the air.

By the time he regained his balance, his aged face was filled with horror. Cold sweat covered his forehead as he stared at the sky with trembling eyes.

“That... That was...”

Several miles away, Gaara and Naruto’s pupils contracted.

They swallowed hard as they stared upward.

“The sky... The sky split open!”

“Heh... Hehe... Is that the power of gods?”

“Their strength is on an entirely different level from ours.”

“Fortunately... Lord Mihawk is on our side.”

“...”

The Allied Shinobi Forces in the rear reacted in different ways.

The sky above them was no longer blue.

At the instant Mihawk’s sword collided with the Perfect Susanoo’s katana, the white clouds overhead appeared to be pulled together by an immense force.

They gathered into a single mass and instantly darkened.

The violent air currents thousands of meters above the ground were severed, splitting the cloud layer apart and carving an immense ravine across the heavens.

“He blocked the full power of my Perfect Susanoo with nothing but a human body?”

Even Madara could no longer remain calm as he stared at Mihawk, who had stopped the gigantic katana.

Even Hashirama, his closest friend and lifelong rival, could not have met such a strike head-on without using Wood Release.

Madara was not the only one surprised by the clash.

Mihawk’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“He actually stopped it...”

Mihawk had clearly perceived the breath of the Perfect Susanoo. Nemesis had already severed its earlier form, and this strike had landed precisely where he intended.

With Armament Haki reinforcing the blade, the attack should have cleaved through the enormous katana and brought the Perfect Susanoo down in the same motion.

Yet the giant blade had held.

Mihawk’s surprise faded almost immediately.

This outcome was not beyond his expectations. Years ago, he had already considered how his swordsmanship would fare against a Perfect Susanoo wielded by someone whose strength surpassed the Kage.

Now he had his answer.

More importantly, Mihawk had used nothing beyond basic Armament Haki. Throughout his entire battle with Madara, he had yet to use a single advanced application of Haki.

A faint smile appeared on Mihawk’s face.

Perhaps it was finally time to take Madara a little more seriously.