After Nojiko had dealt with the spider, she returned to the group and they walked further inside. None of them were worried and they calmly gazed at the surrounding areas. Hanc.o.c.k was still in Izan"s embrace as she faked a few shivers to enjoy his warmth more.None of them cared about the "creepy" details as the graveyard, spiderwebs and the darkness which covered the whole place.
After they had walked for approximately five minutes, Izan stopped moving. He raised his head and turned it towards a tower and stared at it.
Everyone else wanted to know what had caught Izan"s attention and also peeked a glance at the tower. What they saw was a zombie in a robe holding a katana. The zombie seemed to be stronger than the spider, but it was still a far cry from the strength of any of the Heavenly Pirates.
This time, Robin walked forward with her eyes slightly narrowed. But there was also a smile on her face and didn"t care much of her opponent.
"Robin, try defeating him without using your Devil Fruit Powers." Izan"s voice sounded out as he glanced between the zombie and Robin. He would estimate that their strengths would be close enough if Robin didn"t use her Devil Fruit. And, if Robin did use her Devil Fruit? Then it wouldn"t even be a fight as Robin could immediately kill the zombie.
Robin flickered her hands and two golden daggers appeared in them. Robin saw the zombie jumping down from the tower, but she didn"t act yet as she saw the zombie not wielding his katana.
The zombie has several bandages covering parts of his face, which has no eyes and no nose. He was wearing a samurai gi with white intricate design on it. He walked towards Robin, stared at her daggers before he opened his mouth. "My name is Ryuma, and I am a samurai."
"I"m Nico Robin, I am part of the Heavenly Pirates." Robin introduced herself as she focused on what Ryuma would do next.
"I see that you have a lack of handling blades. The one who controls me has ordered me to eliminate all of you. Either you step back or you will suffer a defeat because you are lacking knowledge of using blades." Ryuma bowed slightly as he reached out towards his katana.
Ryuma was a respected samurai, and he would act like his previous life even after being dead. He waited for five seconds, but Robin didn"t step back. "I wish you good luck." Ryuma whispered before he pounced towards Robin.
Robin lowered her body slightly and placed her two daggers in front of her in a cross. Robin had most of her weight on her toes as she wanted to block Ryuma"s attack and gauge the difference in power between herself and him.
The moment Robin and Ryuma clashed, a loud thundering noise sounded out before Robin was pushed back several meters.
"Your strength is not bad, the reason you lost in our clash is because you don"t know how to use your daggers properly." Ryuma spoke in a calm voice before he rushed towards Robin once again.
Ryuma didn"t mind in guiding Robin as he had a premonition that he would die today. In either Robin"s hands or the man behind her. Ryuma wasn"t stupid and knew that the man was far stronger than him. At least Ryuma thought that he could teach Robin with the last moments being alive...
Robin was being pushed further back with each clash, but she was starting to get familiar with Ryuma"s speed and his attack patterns.
Robin and Ryuma had been fighting for over ten minutes. Robin"s face was covered in sweat, but there was a smile on her face. Robin was smiling as she wasn"t being pushed back by her clash with Ryuma. She had started understanding how to actually use her daggers in the best possible ways. Her daggers were short, but they were fast and steady as Robin could block and deflect attacks.
Robin had changed her posture and how she held her daggers. She was calm and now she felt that she could cut though everything and nothing if she wished so. Robin was in some sort of trance as she stared at Ryuma. "Thank you for your guidance." Robin said in a respectful tone as she readied herself.
"You are a very talented woman with endless potential. I am glad that my final fight was against you. As a samurai from Wano, I hope that you will take care of this katana after my death." Ryuma bowed slightly before he straightened his body as he held his katana in a firm grip.
Izan gazed at both Robin and Ryuma, he felt some respect towards the samurai who even after knowing that he would die, would still guide Robin patiently.
Robin rushed towards Ryuma while flickering her daggers in her hands. She focused at his Ryuma moved his body, the moment she glanced at his body, she knew that Ryuma would slash diagonally from left to right with tremendous strength she hadn"t seen him use previously.
As Ryuma was preparing his slash, Robin lowered her body towards her own right and held her daggers backwards. Robin was prepared to attack and not block the incoming attack she felt that she would be able to do this, time seemed to slow down as both Ryuma and Robin were nearing each other.
Robin barely managed to dodge the katana, she used her daggers to slash open Ryuma. Robin felt no resistance as she cut him. Both Ryuma and Robin stood ten meters from each other with their backs against the other.
"Thank you for the fight." Ryuma spoke in a calm voice as he threw his katana up in the air towards Robin. The moment he threw his katana, his body turned into dust. After so long, one of the legendary Samurais, Ryuma died once again, being able to rest.
Izan and Jiutian both noticed a shadow leaving Ryuma"s body and flied away towards its owner. They didn"t care who it belonged to.
Robin breathed heavily as she could finally relax her mind and body. It had been very taxing for her to fight Ryuma for an extended amount of time. Robin flickered her hands which made her daggers vanish. She raised her head and reached towards the falling katana.
Robin grabbed the katana and stared at it. The blade was black with distinct white like and its handle had flower-like edges. Robin liked the katana, but she wasn"t used with using them. She walked towards Jiutian and handed the katana to her as she asked. "Jiutian, would you be able to make a dozen daggers with this as a base and using other materials like the previous daggers I received from you?"
Jiutian nodded as she took the katana, which vanished not longer after. "They will be ready in two days." Jiutian didn"t mind making personal weapons for any of Izan"s wives, as it didn"t require her attention and it would help them in future battles
"Robin, you did really good fighting against Ryuma. If I"m not mistaken, you should be way more proficient with using your daggers now." Izan praised Robin a lot, as he knew it wasn"t an easy thing to improve during a losing fight.
Robin nodded as she smiled, before sighing and shaking her head. "It is true that I was able to improve a lot. But it seems there is still a long path till I can become strong enough." Another sigh came out of Robin"s mouth as she continued. "Besides I wasn"t able to awaken Observation Haki or Armament Haki. It truly shows how much I can improve and that my strength is lacking." Robin had understood a lot during the battle against Ryuma. And she did understand how lacking she actually was. But Robin didn"t feel despair or feel sad about it, as she knew that she would be able to archive it if she"s persistent in wanting to become stronger.
"Oaaargh!!!" A loud roar made all of them silent.
Everyone turned towards where the roar came from. Nojiko"s eyes widened, Robin gawked, Hanc.o.c.k squinted her eyes and Jiutian smiled softly as ever.
"Now this is something." Izan said calmly as he smiled while gazing at the enormous shadow in the horizon which seemed to pierce the sky.
"Roar!" another bellow came out of its mouth, which seemed to shake and tremble the whole boat and the sky.