Revised Version: Trash Captain Terukawa

What the hell did cutting through a three-meter-diameter granite boulder have to do with the standard for leaving the beginner village? What beginner village had standards that high?

And was the person before them really a child?

His speed and strength were utterly abnormal!

On the pirate ship.

Kuina, who had fainted, slowly woke up. The first thing she saw was Mu Yu cutting down the mountain of flesh that was Brecci with a single strike.

In an instant, Kuina's beautiful eyes lit up.

Mu Yu had come to save her. And he was so strong. So cool!

Zoro, hiding in the shadows, felt his heart pound wildly. Had Mu Yu already become this strong?

No!

After they got back this time, he had to work even, even, even harder!

Seeing that the pirate crew remained exceptionally orderly, Zoro could not help feeling frustrated.

The pirates were even more organized than he had imagined. Had his and Mu Yu's plan failed?

Not only the others—even Terukawa looked at Mu Yu in a new light. He no longer regarded Mu Yu as some brat, but as a genuine opponent.

Gripping a sword, Terukawa leaped down from the pirate ship and landed before Mu Yu.

As he stared at Mu Yu, flames of jealousy blazed in Terukawa's eyes.

Terukawa blurred forward, instantly closing in on Mu Yu.

Mu Yu's eyes moved, his gaze remaining firmly locked onto Terukawa.

This brat.

Terukawa had not expected Mu Yu to keep up with his speed.

Terukawa had been a genius since childhood, so he knew perfectly well that geniuses and ordinary people lived in entirely different worlds.

That was precisely why Mu Yu's performance had completely shocked him.

Though he had not been particularly serious, he was nearly thirty, while Mu Yu was still so young.

What a genius!

But so what if he could keep up with his speed?

A genius who had not yet grown was meaningless.

"Slash!"

Terukawa swung his sword, bringing it down at Mu Yu with immense force.

There was nothing especially brilliant about this strike from a swordsmanship standpoint. Mu Yu saw through it at a glance.

But the force behind the blade was truly astonishing. Even before their weapons met, Mu Yu could feel its crushing power.

What incredible strength. No wonder Master Koshiro acknowledged him as a genius. Good—let me see the results of this year's training.

Mu Yu immediately raised his sword to block, and their blades collided.

In an instant, an incomparably terrifying force pressed down upon him.

The ground beneath his feet began to crumble at a visible rate. Within seconds, spiderweb-like cracks spread across it.

With a deafening boom, the earth divided by those cracks shattered into chunks of dirt.

"H-He blocked it?"

The eyes of the Terukawa Pirates' crew nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Who is this brat? Is he a monster?"

No one knew the weight of their captain's sword better than they did. In the eyes of the crew, their captain possessed the strength of a giant.

To this day, he had defeated more pirate crews than anyone could count.

Countless pirate captains had had their weapons severed by Captain Terukawa's blade before being cleaved in two themselves.

But now, the captain's sword had been blocked by a mere brat!

This...

Gulp!

Every pirate's gaze toward Mu Yu changed. Cold sweat instantly soaked the backs of many of them.

Luckily, their captain had stopped them from picking a fight with Mu Yu earlier. Otherwise, they might all have become corpses by now!

"He blocked my slash?"

Terukawa was surprised. He could not remember how long it had been since he had encountered an opponent capable of blocking his strikes.

But soon, Terukawa's eyes grew feverish again.

"Your talent may be even greater than mine was. Finding a genius like you must have taken tremendous effort. Aren't you able to block? Then try blocking my sword again!"

Terukawa shouted excitedly, his blade chopping at Mu Yu again and again. Each strike was heavier than the last.

Faced with Terukawa's provocation, Mu Yu remained expressionless and said calmly, "Thousand Piles of Snow."

Thousand Piles of Snow was one of the results of Mu Yu's training over the past year.

Its name came from the line, "Startling waves crash against the shore, rolling up a thousand piles of snow." It meant that no matter how monstrous the waves, he would remain unmoved.

This was Mu Yu's blocking technique for meeting strength with strength and hardness with hardness. What it relied on was sheer momentum!

No matter how fierce the attack, he would not dodge, evade, or retreat. There was only one thought in his heart—fight to the end!

Rumble!

Mu Yu and Terukawa clashed fiercely. Terukawa was like waves rising ever higher, while Mu Yu was like a boulder standing firm amid boundless raging seas.

No matter how ferocious Terukawa's attacks became, Mu Yu never budged.