Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap and Flash

"Damn golden-feathered rooster, you actually hurt Master this badly!" Baby5 marched forward furiously, raised her leg, and fired several cannonballs at Golden Lion with a rapid series of blasts, leaving him soot-covered and disheveled. Even his cigar was blown away.

Golden Lion was not injured. Baby5's attacks were nothing more than a drizzle to him. The old lion laughed twice, not looking angry in the slightest.

Most Great Pirates of the pirate world could be called broad-minded, and they did not care about this sort of offense.

Of course, they did not care about the lives of unrelated people, either.

As a Weapon-Weapon Fruit user, Baby5's actual combat strength far surpassed Dr. Indigo's, enough to rank third in the entire Golden Lion Pirates.

In terms of potential, the Weapon-Weapon Fruit was among the finest of all Devil Fruits. Golden Lion currently had only a handful of underlings, so naturally he did not mind an offense from a subordinate with such potential.

After bombarding Golden Lion, Baby5 bandaged Minos. His injuries looked severe, but as a Yokai, his vitality was no weaker than those top-tier monsters of the sea. After a night's sleep, he would more or less recover from these injuries.

The entire Golden Lion Pirates were currently drifting through the East Blue. There were no storms in these waters that could affect the Floating Island, nor was there any need for Minos's Clairvoyance. After his wounds had been treated, Minos stuffed himself with food and went straight back to sleep.

Lying on his bed, Minos sent his consciousness back into the Golden Scales and began looking through the good trade items available today.

Among the knowledge Minos had yet to trade away, the most valuable was Golden Lion's swordsmanship. For some unknown reason, the old lion had even compiled his swordsmanship into a book, which ended up benefiting Minos.

There was also the training method for Rokushiki, complete with detailed annotations. It had been acquired from the Donquixote Family in Dressrosa, and had most likely been handed over to the family by Vigo, Doflamingo's spy within the Marines.

Then there were the training methods for Armament Haki and Observation Haki. Minos had obtained quite a few Haki training manuals from both Golden Lion and the Charlotte Family.

After browsing for a while, Minos found nothing he liked among the items that could be traded for Haki training or Rokushiki, so he began looking at what Golden Lion's swordsmanship could be exchanged for.

No matter how much the pirate world valued oral instruction, the value of this swordsmanship was right there! Even if Golden Lion's swordsmanship was not the strongest in the world, it was at least among the very best. In a martial arts world, it would be on the level of the Nine Yang Divine Skill or the Nine Yin Manual. Naturally, the swordsmanship obtainable through the Golden Scales Space was no worse.

But honestly, swordsmanship in the pirate world was completely different from ordinary swordsmanship. Take Flying Slash, for example. In normal worlds, it could generally only be performed through swordsmanship with an energy system such as Internal Energy or Spirit Energy.

In the world of the Pirate King, however, it was produced through sheer physical strength. At least in Minos's impression, that was truly unprecedented.

This was surely related to the rules of the Pirate King world, but it also showed that its swordsmanship had formed its own distinct system. Ordinary swordsmanship would not supplement it much. It was fine for laying a foundation, but advancing further would be difficult, because the two systems were fundamentally incompatible.

"Hm? This swordsmanship..." Minos looked over it in surprise.

Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap and Flash.

Most importantly, this was not swordsmanship knowledge, but memories!

"Swordsmanship from the Demon Slayer world? It even includes a Breathing Technique!"

"Still, the Breathing Techniques from Demon Slayer would definitely be weakened by more than half in the pirate world! At most, it would be a move that temporarily boosts explosive power. It couldn't permanently improve physical strength."

Because what was being offered was only memories rather than a physical item, Minos could only vaguely sense its merits and flaws through the power of the Golden Scales, rather than clearly see its problems as he could with tangible objects.

"Even so, this is quite good... At the very least, Demon Slayer's swordsmanship is also performed purely with the physical body, so the two are almost entirely compatible. Most importantly, these are memories!"

Without hesitation, Minos traded Golden Lion's swordsmanship for Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap and Flash. Countless memories immediately flowed through his mind. A moment later, when he opened his eyes, a faintly sharp gleam shone within them, only calming down after a long while.

Thunderclap and Flash could basically be regarded as an upgraded version of iaijutsu, with a dashing motion added to it. Its core principle was simple: speed!

Fast enough that the opponent could not react, fast enough that the opponent could not defend, fast enough to kill the opponent in a single strike. Nothing else needed to be considered!

As long as the speed was fast enough, there was no need for blocks or feints! As long as the speed was fast enough, powerful force would naturally follow. With speed and strength, the attack power could not possibly be low!

Minos lay there with his eyes open for a while. With his head now filled with Thunderclap and Flash, he could no longer sleep. He rolled out of bed, stood up, and tore away the bandages around his body. A Yokai's recovery ability truly was impressive. The wounds he had suffered during the day had already mostly healed.

Taking a deep breath, he decided that since he could not sleep, he might as well practice swordsmanship. Right now, his mind knew the move, but his body did not. In other words, he lacked muscle memory. With enough practice, Thunderclap and Flash would naturally become second nature.

After all, he was no longer completely inexperienced. After more than a year of swordsmanship training, his body had developed instinctive reactions. With a few adjustments, he would soon be able to incorporate Thunderclap and Flash into his own combat system.

"Come to think of it, my moves are becoming more and more like Hiei's... Early Hiei was known for his speed and swordsmanship!"

Thinking this, Minos narrowed his eyes slightly as he stepped into the training ground. His hand gripped the sword hilt, and his breathing suddenly became long and intense.

He drew a long breath into his lungs. Under the effects of Thunder Breathing's Breathing Technique, he felt as if his entire mind had become more active. Faintly, it seemed as though everything in the world had slowed down.

"This Breathing Technique can actually improve my reaction speed? Is that the unique trait of Thunder Breathing? Although it only erupts during battle rather than truly improving physical abilities, it can already be called a first-rate secret technique!"

Thunderclap and Flash! In an instant, Minos lowered his body and assumed a dashing stance before transforming into a streak of lightning. He vanished from one end of the training ground and appeared at the other, while several large stones in the middle of the training ground were split in half in the blink of an eye.