Advanced Swordsmanship

After lunch, they rested briefly. Then those who had classes went to class, and those who trained went to train.

Zhou Qi held a wooden sword, habitually engaging his waist and abdomen, then transmitting the force upward like gears to his shoulders before swinging it out through both arms.

Buzz! The entire motion was so fluid that Zhou Qi did not even react before the swing had gone straight over his head!

"Hm?" Realizing what had happened, Zhou Qi quickly reset his stance and tried again.

Once again, force flowed from his waist and back to his shoulders, then from there into his arms.

Buzz!

The long sword swung down heavily, stirring up a humming rush of wind.

"I really mastered it?" Zhou Qi was instantly overjoyed. The purpose of Suburi training was to gather the strength of the entire body and concentrate it at the tip of the sword. But beginners could only use the strength in their arms. To channel force through the whole body and make it flow as one seamless whole took a great deal of practice.

Yet Zhou Qi had not expected that, after training for less than two weeks, his strength would already reach his shoulders.

It was only a small improvement, but the power of his swings had increased by more than seventy percent!

"At this rate, won't I reach my waist and abdomen in another two months, then channel force through my whole body two months after that?" Zhou Qi found it hard to believe. Could I really be some legendary martial arts genius?

As if sensing something, Zhou Qi quickly turned around and saw Koshiro standing in the doorway. Surprise had appeared on his usually calm face, a rare sight indeed.

"Teacher?" Zhou Qi quickly lowered his sword.

"You could see me?" Koshiro asked.

"Uh, I sort of sensed you!" Zhou Qi replied. After all, even ordinary people could sense it when someone stared at them for a long time.

"Is that so?" Koshiro was even more shocked. He had used Observation Haki to control every muscle in his body and suppressed his presence to the greatest possible extent. Even another Observation Haki user might not have noticed him.

Yet Zhou Qi had sensed him.

And besides...

"Your control over your strength has already reached your shoulders?" Koshiro asked again.

"Uh, yes!" Zhou Qi nodded, then swung his sword again just as he had before.

It had to be said that the sword strike was more powerful, yet consumed about the same amount of energy as before.

The reason was simple. His shoulders had exerted force before as well; they had not been slacking. But that force had failed to reach his arms and had simply gone to waste halfway through.

Now, with greater control over his strength, the same amount of force could produce 1.7 times the effect.

That was the meaning of training.

Koshiro watched Zhou Qi's movements. He had taught disciples here for over a decade, and he could tell at a glance whether Zhou Qi's force had truly reached both shoulders.

Precisely because he could see it clearly, he found it unbelievable. "You really never practiced swordsmanship before?"

"No." Zhou Qi nodded. "Is there a problem?"

"No!" Koshiro shook his head. "If that is true, then you truly are a genius!"

He was a practical, truth-seeking man. He would not deliberately say things to undermine his disciples, especially since Zhou Qi was an adult rather than a child like Zoro.

He also rarely used the word genius to praise a disciple. After all, even geniuses needed long-term effort to become accomplished.

But Zhou Qi's rate of growth was simply too fast!

It had already far surpassed the definition of a swordsmanship genius in One Piece, to the point where Koshiro could not ignore it.

From Zhou Qi onward, perhaps even the definition of genius would need to change.

"The shoulders and waist are connected by the spine. Once force can flow through both shoulders, extending it to the waist and abdomen will come naturally. At your speed of training, you may achieve it in just a few days!" Koshiro said.

"That quickly?" Zhou Qi asked.

Koshiro nodded. For an ordinary person, it would take at least three to five years, perhaps even seven or eight.

What you achieved in one week, I had truly never seen before.

"Since force already flows through half your body, it is time to put the next stage of training on the agenda!" Koshiro said.

"Striking Practice?" Zhou Qi asked.

Striking Practice used rebounding force to refine control over one's muscles. At the microscopic level, one could even control the exertion of a single patch of muscle, or even a single muscle fiber.

A mosquito landing on one's body could be instantly shaken to death.

That description sounded just like the hidden force of modern National Martial Arts.

Or perhaps they were the same thing, merely expressed and described differently in different worlds.

Zhou Qi had long been looking forward to it. Mainly because, if he could control even a single muscle, could he perhaps achieve precise control over the Space Gate as well?

"Yes, but that is not all!" Koshiro said. "There will also be actual combat!"

"Actual combat?" Zhou Qi froze. "I haven't even finished my Suburi training. Isn't this too soon?"

"No, not at all!" Koshiro shook his head. "Many disciples in my dojo begin actual combat before they have mastered Suburi!"

"This is not a peaceful world, after all. There is not that much time for you to slowly build a foundation!" Koshiro said. "Especially since you will eventually join us in hunting pirates. You must have a certain degree of actual combat ability."

"I see!" Zhou Qi nodded. "No problem. Then let's do it!"

I've been looking forward to actual combat too.

"Then we will start with Striking Practice!" Koshiro beckoned. "Come with me!"

In the dojo's backyard grew many trees. Some had circles upon circles of rope wrapped around them, while thick sheets of paper were tied to others.

"We will start with the paper!" Koshiro said. "Like this, focus completely and slash down. You must not only use strength, but also your mind. Feel how power flows and changes within your body, then try to master those changes!"

This suddenly felt a little mystical!

Zhou Qi copied Koshiro and first struck the paper with a heavy slash.

The instant his sword hit the paper, a rebounding force naturally traveled up the wooden sword and into his arms.

"Hm?" Zhou Qi immediately sensed something different.

In the past, a rebound had merely been a rebound. What could possibly be strange about it?

But now, he had already begun to grasp Suburi and was no longer a complete novice in the use of force.

It was like the difference between an illiterate person and a primary school student reading a novel. Neither could understand it all, but at least the primary school student recognized a few characters.

After pondering it for a while, Zhou Qi delivered another heavy slash, then continued thinking, continued swinging.

Koshiro did not leave this time. Previously, he had let Zhou Qi train alone and thus missed the growth process of a genius.

This time, he watched it from beginning to end and seemed to understand something.

"So he is not relying solely on his body to train. He is using his brain too!" That happened to align with the principles of Isshin-ryu. Isshin-ryu held that swordsmanship was important, but even more important was the heart that controlled the swordsmanship.

What Koshiro did not know was that Zhou Qi's method was merely Earth's most basic approach: combining theory with practice.

He knew what this swordsmanship training involved. Aside from consciousness, which modern science had yet to discover, muscles and nerves were all things taught in modern biology.

Once he knew what he was training, he could naturally and consciously move toward the correct method.

The phrase "combining theory with practice" might sound simple, but all of modern science and modern civilization had been built upon those six words.

Before those six words, Earth had endured hundreds of thousands of years of feudal ignorance. But after gaining them, it took less than two hundred years for humanity to go from Earth to the moon.

An hour later, Koshiro taught Zhou Qi a massage technique to relieve the aching pain in his hands.

Then came what Zhou Qi had been looking forward to most: actual combat!

"Isshin-ryu swordsmanship has a basic set of footwork. Then there are four basic sword forms: chopping, slashing, cleaving, and drawing. Every sword technique and move that follows is developed from these four basic forms. As long as you can master them proficiently, you can later use one-sword style, two-sword style, three-sword style, or even create your own swordsmanship!"

Koshiro carefully demonstrated the Koshiro family's inherited swordsmanship for Zhou Qi.

Zhou Qi's memory was quite good now, but just in case, he still took out his phone and recorded it.

After recording came practice. Zhou Qi practiced while Koshiro continuously corrected his posture.

Everyone had different height, weight, and arm span, so the way they exerted force best differed as well. But before making swordsmanship adapt to himself, he first had to learn the swordsmanship.

Moreover, Zhou Qi and Koshiro were similar in height and arm span, so the standard stance Koshiro taught was basically the most comfortable stance for Zhou Qi as well.

Two hours later, after eating two chocolate bars to replenish his energy, Zhou Qi stood before Koshiro with a wooden sword in hand.

"As for fighting, there is not much to say. You simply need to fight often. Once you fight enough, you will naturally become familiar with what moves your enemies may use and how to respond!" Koshiro said. "Also, if you can strike first, then always strike first. Among opponents of the same level, the one who moves first always has the advantage."

"Mhm!" Zhou Qi nodded. After all, One Piece was not Earth.

On Earth, getting hit meant getting compensation. In One Piece, getting hit meant dying.

"Make your move!" Koshiro stood in place, his sword still sheathed, looking as though he had come for an outing.

"Mhm!" Zhou Qi nodded. Of course he knew Koshiro was not looking down on him. The gap between him and Koshiro might have been even greater than the gap between Zoro when he first left home and Hawk Eyes.

Since he did not need to worry about hurting Koshiro, he could naturally go all out!

"Steel Slash into Rainbow Cut, then an Invincible Slash!" Zhou Qi designed the combo in an instant, then slashed out.

Koshiro directly knocked his sword aside, and the next second, the pommel was pressed against his throat.

"Your intent was too obvious. And where was your footwork? Why did you not move? Also, the sword in your hand is not long. Why were you using a thrust?"

"Uh..." Zhou Qi quickly adjusted himself. It seemed he could not get fancy. "Again."

Mountain Splitting Chop. I had just learned it, so I was fairly proficient with it.

But Koshiro simply dodged it. Then, with a twist of his sword hilt, he struck Zhou Qi in the chest again.

Zhou Qi clutched his chest and backed away, only to hear Koshiro say, "Until your Striking Practice is perfected, you cannot put all your strength into every sword strike. Otherwise, you are giving your opponent a chance to kill you!"

"Mhm, mhm!" Zhou Qi quickly adjusted.