Chapter 165 (Patreon)

An air current was simply air in motion—the invisible phenomenon people called wind.

Ordinary people could feel it against their skin, but they could neither see it nor perceive its shape.

Even with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Mihawk had initially been unable to comprehend the death of something so formless.

The Breath of All Things changed that.

It allowed him to hear the breathing of the air itself.

If something possessed a breath, then it could be heard.

If it could be heard, then it could be cut.

Through that connection, Mihawk established a conceptual link between air currents and death. It was precisely why he had been able to perceive their Lines of Death shortly after obtaining the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

As the range of the Breath of All Things expanded, the death he perceived within the air grew alongside it.

The Lines of Death became longer and more numerous. Eventually, he could even glimpse one or two Points of Death no larger than grains of rice.

During the months before the Fourth Shinobi World War, Mihawk had spent nearly all his time on this apart from training Hinata and completing his daily physical training.

He repeatedly forced the Breath of All Things and the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception into perfect synchronization.

He listened to the breathing of all things and observed their deaths until sweat poured from his forehead, his eyes became bloodshot, and his mind and spirit were nearly exhausted.

Mihawk had not endured that training merely to improve his Mystic Eyes until they could keep pace with the Breath of All Things.

He had done it to create an ultimate sword art.

Back on the battlefield, Mihawk closed his eyes.

The Breath of All Things spread outward like an invisible net, enveloping everything within a one-kilometer radius.

The air currents, the ground, the scattered gravel—everything possessed a distinct breath.

Some were strong, while others were faint.

Countless sounds surged toward Mihawk from every direction and entered his ears.

Several seconds later, he opened his eyes.

The world before him had changed completely.

Dark Lines of Death stretched across unprecedented distances and heights. They spread throughout the kilometer surrounding him like cracks running across a shattered painting, dividing everything into countless interconnected pieces.

This was the ultimate field of perception created by combining the Breath of All Things with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception.

Even now, Mihawk’s understanding of the death of air currents remained limited.

He understood only two things.

Listen to their breath.

Then sever it.

That single understanding was normally enough to reveal only scattered Lines of Death.

To forcibly extend those lines across an entire kilometer required Mihawk to pay a considerable price.

What his understanding could not provide, the Mystic Eyes compensated for by forcing his brain to process the missing information.

A faint sheen of sweat appeared across Mihawk’s forehead. One bead slipped past the veins at his temple and traced a path through the dust on his face.

His expression did not change.

“Hinata… get behind me.”

“Yes!”

Hinata immediately retreated behind him, though her worried gaze never left his back.

Madara also noticed the subtle change in Mihawk.

Unaware of what Mihawk’s trump card might be, he chose not to attack recklessly. His expression became serious as he observed Mihawk’s every movement.

Whoosh!

Once Hinata was safely behind him, Mihawk assumed the familiar stance of drawing his sword.

His ice-blue eyes were not focused on Madara.

They were following the countless Lines of Death covering the world around him.

In the next instant, a white arc swept across the battlefield.

Before it could fade—before Nemesis itself could become visible—Mihawk changed from a one-handed grip to holding the sword with both hands.

He swung again and again, flowing seamlessly between vertical slashes, horizontal sweeps, and diagonal cuts.

Every movement belonged to the most basic foundations of swordsmanship. There was nothing ornate or needlessly complicated about them.

Yet those simple movements caused Hinata’s and Madara’s expressions to change at the same time.

Both sensed something terrifying taking shape.

“This is…”

Mihawk’s arms transformed into afterimages as Nemesis continued cutting through the Lines of Death spread across the air.

Through the countless white arcs, his ice-blue eyes remained fixed on Madara.

“Ultimate Art…”

Every slash converged upon the same point.

“Return to One!”

Crack!

The sound of a blade breaking reached Hinata’s ears.

Nemesis—the sword that had accompanied Mihawk for years and slain countless powerful enemies—had finally shattered beneath the overwhelming strain.

Before breaking, it had completed seventy-three slashes.

Mihawk had listened to the Breath of All Things with his full concentration, infused every attack with the full power of his Haki, and used the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to sever the death of the surrounding air currents.

Every individual swing possessed terrifying power.

Now, all seventy-three had become one.

Boom!

A roar that seemed capable of deafening the entire world erupted across the battlefield.

Even the Allied Shinobi Forces, despite having retreated several miles away, heard it clearly.

The atmosphere convulsed.

Dark clouds gathered overhead, concealing the star-filled sky. Even the eerie crimson moon disappeared behind them as though covered by a vast black curtain.

An incomparably dazzling pillar of dark-red sword energy surged upward and pierced the sky.

The cylindrical pillar immediately compressed before expanding across the battlefield, transforming into a colossal tsunami of sword energy nearly a kilometer high and a kilometer wide.

It swallowed every possible path of escape.

This was an attack without equal.

An attack that could not be avoided.

“Magnificent!”

Faced with the approaching dark-red tsunami, Madara felt an unprecedented sense of suffocation.

Instead of fear, however, overwhelming excitement appeared on his face.

“I acknowledge this slash!”

Madara spread his arms as his laughter echoed across the battlefield.

“Of every swordsman I have faced, no one in the entire shinobi world comes close to you!”

The dark-red light filled his vision.

“I, Madara, declare you the strongest!”

The next instant, the tsunami swallowed him completely.

Madara neither evaded nor attempted to flee.

The moment he disappeared into the dark-red light, he did not make even the slightest sound. Like a single grain of sand dragged into a raging tsunami, his figure vanished without leaving a trace.

Before a slash a kilometer high and wide, a human body was smaller than an ant before a towering wave.

There was no comparison between them.

Boom!

The earth and sky trembled together.

The moment Return to One left his blade, Mihawk’s balance shifted by half a step.

Hinata immediately moved beside him and placed one hand beneath his arm, steadying him before anyone else could notice.

“Mihawk-kun, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Mihawk’s breathing remained controlled, though Hinata could feel a faint tremor running through the arm she held.

“That attack simply consumed more stamina than usual.”

His eyes had returned to their normal crimson color. Fine blood vessels covered the whites of his eyes, and a thin layer of sweat clung to his face and clothes.

From a distance, however, he still appeared perfectly steady.

Only Hinata, standing beside him, could tell how deeply the attack had drained his physical strength and mental energy.

Even so, Mihawk was far from helpless.

His consciousness remained clear, his posture remained straight, and if Madara survived, he still possessed enough strength to continue fighting.

An excited smile appeared on Mihawk’s face as he watched the enormous slash tear across the battlefield.

He had surpassed the safe limits of his body, poured the full power of his Haki into seventy-three consecutive slashes, and forced the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception beyond their normal capacity.

The ultimate sword art he had spent several months developing had finally been completed.

Ultimate Art: Return to One.