Swordmaster: From Beginner to Mastery had been published in the East Blue for half a year now, but not only were there very few who had reached mastery, there were not many who had truly even gotten started.
Because training was a grueling thing. Other than enthusiasts who already aspired to become stronger, most ordinary people would not spend their time and energy practicing combat techniques they might never use in their entire lives.
Kuro had remained in Syrup Village for the past half year. On the entire island, aside from him, the only person practicing Swordmaster was Usopp, who aspired to sail out to sea.
Thus, in Kuro's eyes, ordinary people were still those helpless ordinary people—nameless bystanders who could only cower at the side and tremble, perhaps showing their faces after the battle was over.
But things had changed.
At least, in this Ace Construction Crew, not a single worker was one of those powerless ordinary people.
They could bend steel bars with their bare hands, smash boulders on their chests, and leap from ten-meter platforms without injury.
Those were merely routine operations for them.
So, when they saw the three strongest men at the construction site, Luffy and the others, falling behind, these ordinary workers did not think of running away, nor did they stand by cheering. They charged in with real weapons to cut people down.
The first to strike was the construction site's strongest weapon: bricks.
Before Kuro could recover from his shock, a dense mass of dark shapes suddenly flew into his vision, bringing a howling gale straight at his face.
These workers hurled ordinary bricks with the force of grenades. A brick striking open ground could smash out a huge crater.
Still, the bricks were not that formidable on their own.
If only