Night Raid

"Kekkei Genkai? The ability to create ice?" Zi Xu flexed his fingers. The White-Clad Samurai across from him shifted to a standard grip, his blade pointed straight at Zi Xu. It looked like he was finally planning to get serious.

"That's enough, White. They do have some skill." The Black-Clad Samurai stopped the White-Clad Samurai from continuing. The latter immediately sheathed his sword and respectfully stepped behind the other samurai.

"My apologies, sir. I wasn't able to..." The White-Clad Samurai lowered his head in apology.

"It isn't your fault. Let's get moving. Their strength is nothing to worry about."

Zi Xu felt slightly disappointed when he saw them back down just like that. He had thought he would get a proper chance to stretch his muscles.

"Teacher Tenzo, I only had a rough understanding of Kekkei Genkai before. I thought only eyes like the Byakugan counted as Kekkei Genkai, but it seems it isn't that simple." Zi Xu knew the importance of intelligence, so he wanted to promptly correct the incomplete information he had learned before.

"There are many kinds of Kekkei Genkai. Explaining them in detail is rather complicated, since it involves changes in Chakra Nature. Kekkei Genkai is Chakra with a new nature created by combining multiple different attributes of Chakra. Ice Release is one such example, created by combining Wind Nature Chakra and Water Nature Chakra..." Tenzo did not think Zi Xu and the others would have much use for such knowledge yet, but since they had encountered an Ice Release Kekkei Genkai user, he explained it anyway.

"Changes in Chakra Nature? Why does that sound a little like Sage Mode?" With that suspicion in mind, Zi Xu scratched his head and indicated that he understood.

The two samurai also returned the swords in their hands to their waists and exhaled a breath of cold air toward Zi Xu's group.

"You seem to have some ability. I'll keep this brief—there may be several groups of samurai coming to cause trouble later. Don't worry about them. They're all ordinary people."

"If possible, I hope you can refrain from killing those ordinary people..." The White-Clad Samurai spoke with some hesitation, but the Bandaged Samurai immediately cut him off.

"Too naive, White. Only slaughter can eliminate future trouble..."

Zi Xu and the others did not join the samurai's discussion, but they would consider the White-Clad Samurai's request as long as their own safety was assured.

The starting point and endpoint of a journey formed a line segment, and the process in between was the journey itself. Yet many people cared only about the beginning and the end; they quickly grew tired of the scenery along the way. Zi Xu's group was much the same. After the initial excitement faded, all that remained was the exhaustion brought by the long trek.

Deep in the forest, beside a campfire, Tenzo used Wood Release to create a crude wooden hut. The two samurai leaned against tree roots, sleeping with their swords in their arms. The White-Clad Samurai's expression could not be seen beneath his mask, while the Bandaged Samurai sat with his eyes half-closed, the bandaged greatsword on his back never leaving his side.

It was extremely dangerous for everyone to fall asleep in the wild. The best approach was to have several people take turns standing watch, and it was currently Zi Xu's turn.

He looked at the burning campfire before him and the bright moon in the night sky. With nothing else to do, he decided to try training his Devil Fruit Ability.

"Hm? My clone is pretty capable. He really figured out a way to block perception? I knew it—people only get pushed to their limits when they have no choice..." Zi Xu had recently found his Devil Fruit Ability increasingly easy to control. He did not know whether it had anything to do with his Sage Mode training.

Unfortunately, he had not discovered anything new, nor made any breakthrough progress. Still, after applying his Devil Fruit Ability to himself, he found it easier to absorb Natural Energy.

"They're here~" Tenzo, who had been dozing on a tree branch, suddenly opened his eyes. The Bandaged Samurai, who had been feigning sleep all along, gripped the samurai sword at his waist and slowly rose.

Zi Xu also pulled out several Shuriken and stood up warily.

Rustling footsteps through the grass came from the surrounding shadows. Before long, however, they seemed to run into some trouble and stopped. The sound of slashing followed, seemingly the sound of weeds falling to the ground.

Hatsumi and Chino also darted out of the little wooden shelter. The Grass Puppets Hatsumi had set up nearby had been attacked. Something was happening around them.

The sounds stopped not far from the campfire, and the moonlight revealed the figures of the newcomers.

There were around a dozen of them. Their clothes were mismatched, with bamboo hats on their heads, loose coats on their bodies, and several samurai swords at their waists. Rather than samurai, they looked more like Ronin.

The man in the lead had a blade of grass clenched between his teeth. He looked at the bandaged greatsword on the Bandaged Samurai's back and nodded.

"That's him. Move!" A tangled chorus of drawn blades seemed to tear through the night, and the Bandaged Samurai's expression darkened further in the firelight.

The Ronin charged toward the Bandaged Samurai, who stood with his arms crossed. Zi Xu had just been about to stop them when someone moved before he could.

"Whoosh~" A freezing wind swept in, and the surrounding air turned bone-chillingly cold in an instant. The wind extinguished the campfire, while dark clouds covered the full moon.

"Clang, clang~" The crisp ring of blades colliding sounded like steel being hammered. A white figure suddenly appeared among the Ronin, ice-blue crystals like shattered diamonds coiling around the White-Clad Samurai's blade. Every slash scattered a spray of icy fragments.

The white figure moved swiftly among the Ronin. Once the clouds passed, he slowly sheathed his snow-white blade.

Blizzard

Ice crystals covered the ground around the dozen or so Ronin. Their raised blades froze in midair, their sword bodies coated in frost. Once the White-Clad Samurai sheathed his sword, the Ronin's samurai swords shattered apart like blocks of ice dropped from the sky.

"So this is Ice Release? It's got a bit of Aokiji's style..." Zi Xu had not been idle either. He spotted an unlucky fellow at the rear who had avoided the attack, leaped over, and unleashed a full set of Gentle Fist strikes. Chino and the others did not hold back either, joining in to attack the Ronin.

It did not take them long to deal with the Ronin. Though their skills were decent, making them relatively outstanding among ordinary people, the White-Clad Samurai had seized the initiative first, and Zi Xu's group had followed with a coordinated counterattack. Since they were only ordinary people, they were naturally defeated with ease.

Tenzo and the Bandaged Samurai had not acted throughout the fight. The Bandaged Samurai trusted White, while Tenzo wanted to use this opportunity to train everyone. Once the battle was over, the two of them stepped forward to interrogate the captives.

To avoid censorship, the interrogation process will be skipped for now. Zi Xu broke out in goosebumps just watching, while Hatsumi seemed to have flipped some strange switch. Her eyes actually sparkled as she watched the Ronin being tortured, and she even suggested adding insects to the interrogation.

After chasing the curious Hatsumi aside, Tenzo and the other man learned why this group of Ronin had attacked them—though the Bandaged Samurai had known from the beginning why they had come.

"They were after your sword? Ronin hired by Gato?" Tenzo pointed at the bandaged greatsword on his back and asked.

"Tch. That's why we should've killed them outright..." The Bandaged Samurai curled his lip and glanced at White in the distance.