Bloody Blade vs Bloody Blade; Soul vs Soul

Just like Santo expected, Karma retracted his arms so that they would not be caught with the sea-stone lasso. However, that was a part of his plan. He knew right from the start that this would be the way that Santo would behave. He smiled and while the man was jumping, he grabbed his sword's handle with both hands. Karma was a proficient swordsman. Normally, when he grabbed his sword with one hand he was able to perform swift air slashes but when he was grabbing the sword with both his hands, he was able to cut down even steel. "Come to the bait..." Karma though and waited to block the slash of Santo and cut down his sword.

Santo began to smile and swung Crusher wildly and sending air blast all at Karma, "You can't block this so eat it!" Santo said "Wild Lotus Dragon Fang: Infinite Dragon Blasts!" Santo had an invisible swirling wind spiral wipe around his body and shot towards the Marine Commodore. Santo began falling down free falling towards the ground but used his lasso to swing off a branch and land knee first, unhurt, on some mud.

"You think so?" Karma said with a smile on his face and he unsheathed his second sword while the air slash of Danto was coming towards him. "This time, I won't hold back." Karma said with a serious voice and two arms sprouted on his shoulders in a rapid way and then grabbed the katanas. Karma had two arms at his right and two arms at his left side. The two arms at each side would grab one of his two katanas. Each katana was grabbed by two hands. "Now, now... Two Sword Style - Raise!" Karma said and he swung both the swords, releasing large air blades from each one. The air blades were big in their size as the swords were carried by two hands and actually had more power. They collided with the attack of Danto and the air blades dispersed, with Karma taking a smile on his face. "Wow... That was strong..." Karma said and he took a battling stance. Now that he unsheathed his second sword, he was much more serious.

Santo smiled, "Poker Face Karma Tenma, finally you got serious I guess its also time for me to get serious." Santo swing his sword back and an air blast crushed the ground underneath him creating a small crater from under him as soon as he touched the ground, he swung Crusher back and screamed, "Crushing Blast: Suffrage Dragon!" A massive blast was sent hurtling towards Karma. Santo jumped in a branch and then hopped off and used an airblast as a propeller and began to charge up a powerful slash.

"Soru." Karma said with a serious voice and he disappeared from the spot he was standing at with great speeds. The man's body vanished and he reappeared at the right of the massive blast. The massive blast was passing right next to him and Karma would have a smile on his face. "Take a look, my friend." Karma said while having a kind look on his face and he pointed with both swords towards Santo. The two swords were parallel with each other and Karma started swinging them upwards and downwards. While the first was up, the second would be down and while the first was down the second would be up. He started making this motion slowly at the start and then faster and faster and small air slashes were being created. While they were moving, they were merging with each other, forming a giant air slash that was even cutting the ground it was passing through. This was a technique that Karma knew he was able to perform, but he had never tried it, at least up to that point. "How is that?" Karma questioned the enemy with a smile on his face.

Santo waited until the air blast was hurtling towards him and with amazing precision thrusted his sword in the ground and simultaneously used an air blast. This made a hole in the ground and air shot from the hole making a shield like barrier. Santo knew he couldn't use enough power to fully block the attack he needed to conserve energy in order to defeat Karma. Santo got slammed by the airblast and was sent tumbling backwards but jumped right back up. Santo noticed his sufferage dragon air blast flying and Santo ran after the airblast and stabbed it and it wrapped around the blade and swirling air began to swish around the blade. Santo ran and jumped above Karma and shot the air blast straight down at Karma.

As Santo was about to shoot his air blast towards Karma, Karma prepared a new strategy in order to finally end the battle. With the powers of his Bloom Bloom Fruit, he created several arms on Karma's body. The arms were about to grab the hands of Santo before they would launch the air slash and they would block him from performing his attack on the Marine Commodore. And not only that, but in case this did not work, the weight of the arms would be more than enough to mess with the balance of Santo and make him miss his attack in case he actually performed it. If this worked, Karma would finally get a chance for an ultimate counter attack.

Santo knew things might as well be over, Santo had one last ditch strategy. Santo started twirling with a nodachi in hand making momentum as he fell and then threw the nodachi at the ground when it hit the ground a whirlwind like gust blew up from the sword, but the sword broke like a toothpick. Then Santo started using his lasso to whip at the hands stretching towards Santo. Then Santo threw the sword still wrapped in the air blast at the ground hoping for a big explosion, to make sure Santo used his strongest air blast he could muster to speed up the sword he threw. Santo started heavily panting as he feel down and combat rolled away from Karma.

"Damn it... This is bad!" Karma said with a worried look on his face. He knew that if he was actually hit by that attack, that would mean his ultimate end at the hands of Santo and that was something that he did not want to happen, not only because Santo was a pirate and that he would be the first swordsman to actually defeat him, but also because he did not manage to achieve his goal. During his life as a marine, Karma knew that there were the risks of dying but he had swore that he would not let himself die before he managed to achieve his goal and surpass his father as a swordsman.

"I have to surpass my limits..." Karma thought quickly and he looked at the third sword he was carrying with him. Karma had never used the third sword he had. That sword was the katana he stole from Goid on Goat Island. It was a powerful sword but Karma had never tried to actually use it. It was about time for him to do so. It was a risky choice, but Karma knew that he had no other option.

"Let's see..." Karma said with a smile on his face and an arm sprouted on his left shoulder, thanks to the powers of his Bloom Bloom Fruit. The hand unsheathed the third sword and Karma took a very serious look on his face. "Santo... You are a powerful swordsman... But I have to end this for the sake of the marines and justice! You have attacked a member of the Navy and you have a big bounty on your head... If we had common interests, even if you are a pirate, I would let you go. However, you are not like this... Unfortunately." he made a speech before he started swirling his three katanas as the air blade attack was coming. The swords were swirling faster and faster and as the air blast approached Karma, it was cut completely by the swords and was deflected. A big part of the air blade actually managed to arm all the arms of Karma and blood was coming out from every place of his arms, however he managed to deflect the majority of the air slash back at Santo. "Hm... I wonder, how shall I call this technique?" Karma said and he coughed some blood. He was severely damaged.

Santo realized he was screwed, he picked up his nodachis and used his lasso to get crusher back. Then with one dash he screamed "Dead swordsman scissor dance!" Santo swung the swords and moved in motions resembling a sword dance and then he had cut through half of the air blast when cuts started hitting him and cutting up his body minor gashes were all over his body. Santo fell to his knees and pulled out Crusher and began to create a massive airblast. Santo kept gathering energy and soon he felt all the energy he had left flow out of his body and go into his air blast. Santo fell to his knees and the gashes got deeper due to just the pure intensity of the airblast. Santo could only take two steps because going any further he wouldn't be able to handle the blast and would kill himself. So with all his might Santo thrusted the sword forward and the air blast shot at intense speeds. Jiwang finally managed to get up and ran to the battle field he used a harmless water vapor to roll Santo and his blades into a nearby canoe and got into it and let it just submerge a bit to hid while creating an air bubble around it.

"This attack is nothing for me, pirate Santo. If you met me when I was promoted to a captain, you could have easily defeated me. But now, I am afraid that that is something that cannot happen, at least with your current level of strength." Karma said with a smile on his face as the massive air blast was launched towards him. He sprouted arms all over his body which grabbed his three swords. Each one of his three swords was grabbed by three different arms, resulting in a great increase in the cutting power of the three swords. Then, as the air blast was about to reach the commodore, he performed three parallel vertical air slashes at the attack, ultimately cutting it with his own swordsmanship and strength.

When he cut the air blast, the air was spread around the area, causing a momentary flashing light. Karma had his eyes closed and he had the same smile on his face with that he had when he spoke to Santo. The arms he had created disappeared from his body and he sheathed his three swords back at their sheathes. "Now, may I arrest you, please?" he said and he opened his eyes. However, when he did so, something strange was going on... Something was missing... Somebody was not there... Oh yes! Santo was gone!

"HUH?! GONE?! WHERE IS HE?" Karma said completely surprised and then he looked towards the canoe on which Santo was. Even if there was a great distance between the two from that point, Karma could understand the figure of Santo. "Hahaha... You really managed to escape, huh?" Karma said and he smiled. "Fair enough." he completed and then he looked at the wound that Santo left on his chest. Now that the battle stopped, he was actually feeling it more. "You leave your mark behind and then you escape... That is not right, even for a pirate. Oh, well." Karma completed and he fell on the ground. He opened his arms and he looked towards the sky. He laughed and said "Phew... It's over... But I am pretty sure about one thing... It's not finally over. When fate decides to play with us once again, pirate Santo, and organize a meeting between the two of us, then it will be finally over. Hahahaha...".