31 Chapter 31: Sudden Interference

Third Person's PoV:

The weather worsened and dark clouds kept rolling around in the heavens. The previously serene sky had turned black in color and blocked out the entire sun, making the entire situation more pronounced.

"Cough cough...let's go for round three, Puss in Boots." Josh said as he coughed up some blood. A single streak of red flowed gently down the side of his mouth as he got back up.

Josh wanted to test out more of his long ranged attacks against Mihawk, but that was proving to be difficult. Not only was Mihawk incredibly nimble, he was extremely fast. The worse part was that Josh wasn't sure if that was Hawkeye's full speed.

Mihawk furiously rushed towards Josh who just managed to get up as he held Yoru with his left hand, causing it to dangle behind him. Air resistance ferociously tugged against Mihawk, making his clothes dance in the wind, it was a miracle his hat hadn't flown off already.

Noticing the incoming Mihawk, Josh prepared himself for another melee combat. Since he was afraid of Mihawk cutting him up, he would've preferred it if the man stayed far away...not that he was out of Hawkeye's range.

As Hawkeye finally reached Josh's location near the edge, he swung his giant sword down. Josh didn't dodge or evade this time. Instead, he took the full blunt of the attack head on with his arm.

"Look out...!!" Nami worriedly shouted when she saw that the blonde wasn't moving at all.

Soon, both forces clashed and a massive shockwave that blew everything around them went off. The natural wind could not compare at all as it was being pushed aside by the strong blast from the colliding strikes.

Usopp and the others noticed that Josh was actually blocking a sword with his bare arm. Not only was his arm not cut off immediately, he was even holding his own position.

This confused all of them once again as the level of the fight was beyond their understanding.

Right now, Josh's right arm was pitch black and he had it crossed over his chest to protect himself. Josh used Busoshoku haki for the first time since the match started.

*Zzzt Zzzt Zzzt*

The sound of electric currents running wild came again as the two fighters were frozen in a deadlock.

Arcs of electricity coiled around Josh's body and from the point of contact, the electricity started flowing on to Yoru and transferred into Mihawk's body.

Hawkeye felt the hair on his entire body stand andimmediately separated himself from the living electric eel as he could feel his hands starting to numb. This was quite the troublesome opponent as he had the advantage over long distance and even melee combat.

If one came into contact with Josh's body at all, they were all susceptible to the shock of their lives.

"Lightning Defense!" Josh said as his expression brightened significantly. The Lightning Defense was a technique Josh made especially for enemies who came too close.

The move was able to give off much higher voltages of electricity when compared to any of his other attacks. This was because the lightning generated would stay close to his body and Josh was able to continuously supply it with his reserves of energy.

The black in his arm did not fade away just yet, on the contrary, his other hand also hardened from the effects of the haki.

From a dozen meters away, Mihawk wordlessly aimed his sword at the blonde again and release a magnificent arc of green energy.

The air howled as the slash seemed to cut through even the tiniest atoms in the atmosphere.

"Rankyaku!" Josh steadied his foothold and swung his right leg vertically, also producing his own wind blade.

The two slashes approached ever closer and once they met, another shockwave resounded out. The differing slashes seemed to stagnate slightly as they continued to push against each other.

Just then, Mihawk released another deadly slash that conjoined his first one, forming into the shape of a cross.

The rankyaku was unable to hold on any longer as it was shattered miserably. The cross shaped projectile proceeded towards Josh who also crossed both his blackened arms in front of his chest.

Another loud bang reverberated for everything in a one mile radius to hear.

Josh persisted as he was being pushed closer and closer towards the edge of Manni's Shell. Ultimately, he decided to jump away from the literal X mark.

Just as another round of intense and blood boiling Battle was about to start again....an immensely bright light suddenly shone through out the area.

This bright light was very blinding as even Mihawk couldn't help but squint his eyes in discomfort. With the light, came a very loud and nonsensical ringing that threatened to destroy Josh's eardrums. This loud scribbly noise was only heard by Josh for some reason.

"Aaaahhh..." Unable to take the loud sound any further, Josh tried his best to cover his ears that were still ringing nonetheless. His whole body fell on the hard shell and Josh rolled around like a dog in pain.

There was no helping it, the indistinct noise that sometimes sounded like whispers was just too painful for his ears. If there were any glasses nearby, they would surely break in an instant. Josh did not have time to be concerned about his own image at that moment.

Mihawk felt that something was wrong. As he sent out his observation Haki, a presence he had never before felt was currently all over, filling the entire area. There was no doubt in Hawkeye's mind that this was not Josh's doing as he can hear the pained wail of the other party.

After another minute, the intense light simply disappeared along with the painful sound. Josh wasn't even able to sigh in relief as he was still in pain and his vision distorted, making him see doubles. He was not able to get up properly let alone fight because his whole brain was in a mess.

Soon, his vision cleared up but the after effect of the hideous noise was still there as his ears kept ringing.

"What the fuk was that!?" Josh said out loud with an angry expression. He was in the middle of battle with Mihawk until someone or something interrupted them, and even caused him great pain.

Noticing that his ears were no longer ringing like a church bell, Josh placed his hand on the ear. Suddenly, he felt even more infuriated because he felt blood trickling down from his ear drums. His other ear was the same, as well as his nose and eyes. Josh was bleeding from all over his face.

"What was that just now?" Mihawk asked. The doubts in his heart was growing by the second. In all his years as a world renown character, never had he seen something similar to that just now. His first thoughts was a devil fruit but it was too weird for even a devil fruit to be responsible.

Josh stood back up on his feet and after wiping off all of the blood and responded, "I don't know...but let's just finish this fight."

'I feel like I'll get a huge headache in the future...' he silently added in his thoughts.

If the two experts on the world of One Piece were stumped by the incident just now, how could the three clueless people possibly have any ideas?

"Let's finish this then.." Mihawk also agreed. Whatever that was just now wasn't any of his concern.

The two fighters charged at one another once more like unstoppable hurricanes.