"Hmph. A trivial matter that happened out in the Blues does not need special discussion. If that criminal appears in front of me, I will simply erase him. It is only an Ohara survivor."
Akainu did not care about the Ohara survivors at all. With the number of pirates and civilians who had already died by his hand, such things did not weigh on him in the slightest. What bothered him was simply that someone had managed to slip through the net.
Aokiji, on the other hand, stayed silent. He had a feeling that this mysterious swordsman was connected to that burning eyed boy from back then, but there was no need to say it out loud. He had no desire to deal with the mad dogs from the CP divisions.
"This swordsman's strength is not bad. Regardless of CP9's reputation, a Headquarters Rear Admiral's level is still something.
"If he could take that down, that is ability. What is more frightening is his mentality. Cautious and careful is not enough to describe it.
"He deliberately left misleading clues, split the pursuers, and bought himself time. An enemy like that, once he grows up, will be terrifying."
As the Headquarters staff officer, Tsuru took this sort of sly and meticulous opponent very seriously.
Out on the sea, there were very few pirates who could use their brains to that extent. A mysterious swordsman suddenly appearing like this naturally caught her interest.
But it remained just that, interest. Tsuru had no intention of working seriously to help CP9 catch their target.
As the Celestial Dragons' intelligence arm, the CP divisions had always had shady dealings with the Navy, and friction was common between them.
Tsuru knew that the World Government had planted spies around every Headquarters officer of Vice Admiral rank and above.
She also knew exactly which of her subordinates was a CP agent, but since this arrangement came directly from the World Government, all she could do was turn a blind eye.
Otherwise, with Tsuru's means, she could kill one spy a day and never run out.
Sengoku had called this meeting mostly for form's sake, to show the World Government.
Look, I specifically gathered the Navy's top combat power to discuss it, and there is still nothing we can do.
The meeting ended with nothing resolved.
When CP heard about it, all they could do was rage helplessly. They were the ones who had botched their own operation. What could they do about it?
Point at Sengoku's nose and shout, "You fix this for me"? Sengoku would slap them flat on the floor.
You think your surname is Monkey too, that you can survive my Merciful Palm?
…
On a nameless island in the West Blue, Ethan lay back on a deck chair, sunning himself. Robin sat beside him, reading. The two of them looked completely relaxed.
No one would have guessed that only a few days ago, they had done something earthshaking.
Ethan felt that he had already done everything he could. Running around everywhere now would only draw suspicion. Better to hide on this little island and heal.
As for Robin, she only cared about one thing. Wherever Ethan was, she would be there. There was no need to overthink it.
With his eyes closed, he opened his status panel in his mind and began tallying up the harvest from this battle.
Constitution: 72 / 60
Strength: 65
Speed: 67
Skills:
Shave: Proficient 3%
Tempest Kick: Beginner 80%
Conqueror's Haki: 15%–17%
Swordsmanship: Master level 15%
Observation Haki: Proficient 90%
Armament Haki: Proficient 80%
The clash with CP9 had been extremely dangerous. In terms of raw strength, Ethan had been inferior.
The reasons he had managed to win came down to several points.
First, the opponent had gotten careless. That first strike to the back had wounded him and affected his state.
Second, the man had never imagined Ethan would have something like a "master level Armament Haki experience card," and a peak master level at that. Ethan's fighting power had spiked in an instant.
Third, his swordsmanship had broken through to swordmaster, and he had unleashed a true flying slash.
That first slash right after the breakthrough had been his strongest sword as a newly born swordmaster, and he had even dragged Conqueror's Haki into it, pushing its power beyond the limit.
Very few monsters on the sea could coat their attacks with Conqueror's Haki. That was a trick reserved for legends on the level of Roger and Whitebeard.
Even just a faint shadow of Conqueror's coating was enough to shatter a Six Powers ultimate technique with ease.
Unfortunately, that sword was the result of perfect timing and circumstance. It was very hard to reproduce. If his ordinary combat strength had already been at that level, then he would at least be on par with a Headquarters Vice Admiral.
The gains from this battle, however, were undeniable.
The effect of the Armament experience card had been excellent. Having felt that higher tier power in advance, Ethan's own Armament Haki had completely leapt into the proficient stage and gone quite far within it.
As for Shave and Tempest Kick, he had to thank CP9 for their generous demonstration. For technique based methods like those, there was simply no defense against his Analyze ability.
After swordsmanship broke through to swordmaster, the Shimozuki style could no longer help Ethan much. Every swordmaster had their own path.
He could still attach the name "Shimozuki" to his techniques, but in essence they were already his.
Shimozuki Ryuma had his own sword path, and Shimozuki Kozaburo had his own. Their swordsmanship was not the same.
That was why it made sense for swordsmen of the same level to test their sword paths against each other. Challenging stronger swordsmen was a way to test the limits of one's own path. As long as you did not die, you would definitely improve.
Of course, the ones who did not die were always the minority. Unless the gap was huge, no one would hold back. For these experts on the sea, swords were not for show.
If you picked up your sword and challenged me, do I not have my pride as a master?
If I spare you once, there will only be more people lining up to challenge me. When would I find the time to train?
And for those challengers, their pride was just as heavy. Being spared was sometimes harder to accept than dying there on the spot.
That was why there were so many broken swords on the island where Mihawk lived.
The reason Zoro had survived Mihawk's blade was because Mihawk admired his spirit and talent so much that he had decided to give him a chance for the future.
Otherwise, you expect the Black Sword Yoru not to be able to kill someone who is not even a swordmaster yet?
(Buggy would be staring in disbelief at that.)
The one regret Ethan had about this fight was that he had no talent for naming things. He could not think of any flashy names for his sword techniques. On that point, he really envied Zoro.
Zoro probably ate a Name-Name Fruit. How else could he bite a sword in his mouth, fight for his life, and still shout out such chuunibyo move names? Did calling out the name actually buff the attack?
Ethan still remembered watching One Piece in his previous life, how sometimes Zoro did not just yell the name, he actually chanted a verse before the attack.
Nine mountains and eight seas form one world, three thousand of those become a "small thousand world,"
Multiply that three times, and all that I cut shall not be held back.
Three Sword Style Secret Technique, One Great Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds!
It was unbelievable. How was Mihawk, who just kept auto attacking, supposed to feel about that?
After knocking CP9 down, when the man had asked him what that slash was called, Ethan had really wanted to give a cool answer.
But when the words reached his lips, he still did not know what to say. Maybe someday, he would ask Mihawk what he thought about this problem.
(End of Chapter)
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