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OPI Chapter 428: A Blade in the Mist, A Crown in His Hand
🕑 Added 2025-06-12 19:25:32 +0000 UTCRoughly one hour ago. Land of Water — Capital City. The sky looked dark and gloomy. Thick gray clouds loomed overhead, signaling an approach
Roughly one hour ago.
Land of Water — Capital City.
The sky looked dark and gloomy. Thick gray clouds loomed overhead, signaling an approaching storm.
A gentle breeze blew past.
A middle-aged man, cradling a newly bought ten-kilogram sack of rice in his arms, hurried home with cautious steps. Suddenly, he felt a chill on his forehead. Reaching up to wipe it, he found a drop of rain.
Then came the second drop. The third. One after another landed on his head and shoulders.
His expression changed at once. Ignoring the cold, indifferent glances of the ninja on the rooftops, he quickened his pace toward home.
In the blink of an eye, the streets and alleys grew hectic.
Some rushed to pack up their stalls. Others ran for cover from the rain. Most, naturally, hurried home.
Soon, a light mist began to rise between the buildings, drifting around the blooming gardenia trees on both sides of the streets.
It didn’t take long for the entire city to fall into silence.
Only the Kirigakure shinobi, exuding icy killing intent, continued their patrols through the increasingly heavy rain.
[Tap, tap, tap]
At the outskirts of the civilian district, a tall figure walked calmly forward across the rain-soaked street, his back to the distant, blurred mountain peaks.
In the downpour, surrounded by drifting mist and a biting wind, the man’s appearance was so striking it seemed surreal—his beauty nearly transcendent.
Yet the pouring rain never wet his long pink hair, nor did the wind disturb his finely tailored black suit or the deep wine-red cloak draped over his shoulders.
Such a noble and elegant presence stood out far too much in this gloomy, rain-drenched city.
[Whoosh! Whoosh!]
Suddenly, the sound of air being torn rang out. Two blurred figures burst through the rain without warning, attacking straight toward him.
In the next moment—
Two flashes of sword light lit up the scene.
No one could tell when Amatori Biba had already drawn the long sword from his waist.
[Slash! Slash!]
As the sword light vanished, two red lines slowly appeared across the necks of the two attacking Kirigakure genin.
Without pausing his stride, Amatori Biba walked right past them.
Behind him came the dull thud of bodies falling into the accumulating water.
Yet their deaths were not in vain.
The instant that blade flashed,
—it startled awake an entire city whose nerves had been stretched to the breaking point.
And yet—
Amatori Biba continued alone, walking straight toward the dense shadows of approaching ninja.
This scene was witnessed by a group of a dozen CP8 members observing from a distant mountaintop.
“Why do you think the captain insisted on carrying out this mission alone?” asked Merraid, who held a black umbrella as she turned her gaze away from the city and glanced flirtatiously at her companion—a man in a formal suit, with a blue tie at his chest and a long sword at his waist.
Yet the man completely ignored her charm, replying solemnly instead, “How could I possibly know what Biba is thinking?”
“Mm~ but aren’t you two from the same world? I heard you go way back,” Merraid said with a playful smile.
“Not close,” Kurusu answered, shaking his head.
Even though Kurusu had claimed he wasn’t close to Amatori Biba, he still muttered softly to himself, as if thinking aloud, “Maybe… he’s trying to challenge something.”
“A challenge?”
Merraid raised an eyebrow, but couldn’t figure out what he meant.
Then she heard Kurusu speak in a low, serious voice: “Anyway, it’s been confirmed that aside from Sage Techniques that harness natural energy, no other ninjutsu has any effect on someone with a logia-type ability like his. I don’t think anything will go wrong. Let’s just follow his orders—hold the perimeter and prevent any ninja from escaping with the daimyō.”
At that moment, besides their own location, there were CP8 squads stationed in seven other directions around the capital.
In some areas, several Kirigakure ninja corpses could already be seen lying in pools of blood.
At the same time—
Chaos had already erupted within the city.
The booming echoes of various ninjutsu and the explosions of explosive tags rang out one after another.
At this point, the civilians didn’t even dare step outside their homes. Even though the battle was happening just beyond their walls, all they could do was tremble in fear, clutching their families and praying desperately.
...
With only a single blade in hand, Amatori Biba moved through the mist-shrouded streets like an unstoppable force.
Whether it was Water Style or Lightning Style techniques, kunai or explosive tags, or even close-range assassination attempts—
everything was either blasted apart mid-air by his exquisite mastery of the Six Styles, or sliced clean through by the endless slashes of 'Serpent Breathing'.
Amatori Biba was like a pale-pink serpent of death. Wherever he went, bodies littered the ground. Wherever his blade flashed, it stirred up a crimson storm.
Wave after wave of Kirigakure shinobi tried to stop his advance—but he carved a direct path through them, straight toward the daimyō’s palace.
Behind him, the street was already covered in the mangled corpses of ninja.
Suddenly—
Amatori Biba vanished from his original spot.
The surrounding Kirigakure ninja barely had time to react, before they saw his body transform into a purple gas and drift over the city wall.
He clearly had no intention of continuing the battle.
“Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique!”
Just as Amatori Biba drifted into the palace interior, a massive wave of scalding steam erupted from below.
Without hesitation, Amatori Biba released a surge of dense gas shaped like a giant hand.
It clashed mid-air with the oncoming wave of steam.
[BOOM!!!]
In that instant—
An explosion erupted, powerful enough to rival an aerial bomb.
At that moment, the stone tiles covering the ground shattered instantly under the forceful impact of the shockwave.
A massive blast of compressed air swept across the entire area.
But as the dust settled, and just as everyone—Terumī Daichi included—was barely regaining their footing, they were all stunned to find that the figure above had vanished without a trace.
“Damn it! Protect the daimyō!!”
Terumī Daichi and the others immediately turned into blurs, dashing toward the inner palace.
Just as they were about to ascend the steps, a voice called out from behind. “Daichi-sama! Mizukage-sama has ordered that we are not to engage with the World Government personnel any further!”
“What did you say?!”
Terumī Daichi whipped around, as did the other Kirigakure ninja nearby.
Dozens of astonished eyes all focused on the Anbu operative who had spoken.
“Why?!”
After the Anbu quickly explained the situation, the surrounding ninja fell into a heavy silence.
“In that case… should we just hand the daimyō over ourselves?”
A member of the Hōzuki Clan muttered quietly.
But no one responded to that suggestion.
Suddenly, another voice came rushing from the inner palace.
A chunin sprinted into view.
“Daichi-sama! Th-the daimyō’s been captured!”
“What?! That’s impossible!”
Terumī Daichi was stunned.
They had disguised the daimyō as a low-ranking ninja, and assigned him to a remote palace to pose as a guard.
To make it convincing, he was only accompanied by two genin and one chunin.
“We’re not sure how it happened. The enemy just circled once in the air—then flew straight to the exact location where the daimyō was hiding!”
Terumī Daichi exchanged glances with the other jōnin. Then he let out a deep sigh.
“At this point, we’d better go see for ourselves. Maybe we can still negotiate… at least try to save the daimyō’s life.”
Soon, a group of more than ten ninja rushed to the scene.
Outside the small palace, nearly a hundred Kirigakure shinobi had already gathered.
But because the daimyō was being held by Amatori Biba with one hand around his throat, none of them dared to make a move.
Amatori Biba stood in the middle of it all, utterly unconcerned by the growing crowd of ninja around him.
His intense eyes, seeming to burn with inner flames, were locked onto the daimyō who struggled wildly in his grasp, his eyes filled with panic and desperation.
“That’s it… That’s the feeling.”
Inside, Amatori Biba was riding a wave of storm-like exhilaration.
Back when he personally killed the Fire Daimyō, he had felt something stirring deep within him.
It was as if the moment he decided the fate of a ruler, a thrill erupted in his soul—an uncontrollable high born of power.
“So let’s see what your life is worth to me… Daimyō of the Land of Water.”
Standing in the pouring rain, Amatori Biba smiled—
“No—!”
“Stop!”
The Kirigakure ninja who hadn’t yet heard the Mizukage’s new orders were enraged and panicked. They could no longer hold back—they prepared to launch a rescue.
But they were already too late.
[Crack!]
The daimyō’s neck snapped in Amatori Biba’s grasp.
“Damn you! You’ll pay for that!”
“Avenge the daimyō!”
One by one, the Kirigakure ninja’s eyes turned bloodshot.
[BOOM!!!!]
Just as Water Style techniques erupted from all directions toward him, Amatori Biba’s body suddenly exploded with a visible aura of pink energy.
As the aura rapidly expanded and swept across the entire area—
[Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!]
Every chunin and genin caught in its path immediately rolled their eyes back and collapsed unconscious in the rain.
Only the jōnin, after being knocked down by the shockwave, were barely able to press themselves against the ground and resist.
Across the whole battlefield, only Daichi, who had just arrived, could remain standing in place—barely managing to hold his footing.
“Wh-what… what is this…?”
Daichi stared at Amatori Biba in utter shock—only to see the man’s smile growing wider and wider.
“Hahahahahaha!”
“Hahahahaha! So this is it! I can wield this kind of power too?!”
“Conqueror’s… Haki!!!”
Standing tall at the center of the chaos, holding the corpse of the Water Daimyō, Amatori Biba erupted into wild, unhinged laughter and a triumphant roar.
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