However, Starry was Ronglin's beloved ship, and he strictly forbade anyone from waving blades around on board. So most of the time, Shiryu and Smoky sparred in simulated duels. Smoky possessed a Devil Fruit ability, and when combined with swordsmanship, her flexible and varied techniques naturally offered far more tricks than Shiryu's pure swordsmanship.
Although Shiryu believed that using a Devil Fruit ability to assist swordsmanship was ultimately a crooked path, Shiryu, who focused wholeheartedly on cultivating his swordsmanship, was not actually much stronger than Smoky.
Whenever the two compared and verified each other's attainments, Ronglin would occasionally listen in and analyze their exchanges. However, he never interrupted. When it came to fighting viciously, Shiryu and Smoky together were no match for Ronglin, but in terms of swordsmanship, apart from being fast, accurate, and ruthless, what swordsmanship did Ronglin really have?
"Alliance Leader!" A subordinate hurried into the ship's lounge and said, "The Intelligence Department has urgent news to report!"
Ronglin glanced at Shiryu and Smoky, who had stopped arguing, then stood up and took the Den Den Mushi from the subordinate's hand.
"What is it?"
"Alliance Leader, the Navy and the Celestial Dragons have launched another joint operation. Our informants discovered traces of them appearing in the waters near you yesterday. We suspect they may have already tracked you down and are now somewhere nearby."
Ronglin's expression immediately darkened. "Why am I only hearing about this now?"
"Alliance Leader, our people only received the news a short while ago. Also, the other side deployed only one ship instead of making a grand show like before, so we were unable to obtain the intelligence immediately!"
Only one ship? Ronglin frowned slightly. Every joint operation between the Navy and the Celestial Dragons had begun with a fleet of two or three