The sixteenth Shazo was a blonde, silver-eyed girl

Shazo asked curiously, "Knowing that Shanks has a connection with the Celestial Dragons, do you still consider him a friend?"

Hawkeye had recovered somewhat. He sat up and replied decisively, "Shanks is my friend because I like him, and it has nothing to do with who he is."

Then he turned the question around and asked, "And you?"

Shazo thought for a moment and replied, "The future Celestial Dragons is an enemy I must defeat, but until Shanks officially chooses his side, he is my friend."

Then the two looked at each other, made sure the other wasn't being insincere, and couldn't help but smile at each other.

[Great, Hawkeye / Shazo can become a best friend.]

Shazo chuckled twice, then said, "The Five Elders always plan carefully before acting. They like to arrange something for a long time before suddenly launching it, often catching the Navy off guard."

He looked at Hawkeye and asked, "Based on my understanding of the Five Elders, they wouldn't appoint just you. Do you know anyone else who has become Shichibukai?"

Hawkeye replied, "I saw two other powerful pirates who were also members of the Shichibukai."

"Bartholomew Kuma, the tyrant king of the Sorbet Kingdom, is the most powerful fighter whose strength is closest to mine. He must have eaten some kind of Devil Fruit."

Shazo Zuo nodded; so this was the strongest member of the Shichibukai.

Bartholomew Kuma is a flesh-puff person who ate the Paw-Paw Fruit, giving him cat-like paw-like paws on his hands that can deflect various attacks and defenses.

Kuma has developed the Paw-Paw Fruit to a whole new level, elevating the ability to "bounce away" to a conceptual level, capable of bouncing away pain and fatigue, which are concepts without any physical form.

Of course, despite Kuma's mastery of Paw-Paw Fruit, his strength is still considerably weaker than Dracule Mihawk's, and he is not the strongest among the Shichibukai.

However, Kuma is actually controlled by the World Government, which makes him very easy to command. Therefore, most of the future achievements of the Shichibukai are due to Kuma's battles.

Hawkeye continued, "The second one is Donquixote Doflamingo, the Heavenly Yaksha. I heard he's also the King of Dressrosa."

"However, this guy doesn't seem like a pirate, at least not an ordinary pirate."

"As far as I know, he's famous because he stole the Heavenly Tribute intended for the Celestial Dragons, something even the Emperor of the Sea wouldn't dare do."

"Furthermore, his position as King of Dressrosa was likely obtained through illegitimate means, yet neither the World Government nor the Navy has made any statement."

Shazo, seemingly unconcerned, revealed Doflamingo's biggest secret. "Doflamingo, this Doflamingo, is Celestial Dragons."

Hawkeye's pupils contracted slightly. "Celestial Dragons?"

Shazo Zuo nodded. "The surname Donquixote, just a few years ago, was Donquixote Saint."

"To be precise, Doflamingo is Celestial Dragons who has been stripped of his privileges. Although he no longer has those privileges, he is still Celestial Dragons, and no one dares to take his life."

"This is why he can rob Heavenly Tribute with impunity and plot to seize a country without being punished."

Hawkeye scoffed, "I see. Then I'm relieved."

"If he dares to provoke me next time, I can confidently chop him up."

Shazo Zuo laughed and said, "Just chop him up however you want. As long as you don't kill him in public, it won't provoke the general anger of the Celestial Dragons, and there won't be any consequences."

After sharing the important intelligence from the New World, Hawkeye asked, "My second question, which I've wanted to ask for a long time, is: how is your Sword Qi shaped?"

Shazo's eyes widened, and he feigned surprise, saying, "Good heavens, it's going straight for my core technique."

Hawkeye was startled by Shazo and asked, "Can't I answer this question?"

Shazo replied, "Just Swordsmanship, there's really nothing that can't be said in kendo."

He then explained to Hawkeye in detail the techniques for mastering the Flying Slash and reshaping the Sword Qi energy, even recounting how he had mastered them step by step.

Shazo's technique originates from Nanto Seiken Water Bird Fist. Although the power level of this externally destructive fist is not high, its control techniques have been honed to near perfection.

Years ago, Shazo used the Water Bird Fist to control the freezing air, creating many combat techniques that combined the power of cutting and freezing.

During this period, he also combined the Six Meridian Divine Sword mastered by Smiling, Proud Wanderer Shazo, completely getting rid of the ice as a medium, directly controlling the activated Flying Slash Sword Qi, and then restraining the explosive power of the slash through shaping, which led to the birth of the Ten-Finger Sword Qi Giant Sword.

Hawkeye listened intently to Shazo's explanations of various techniques for controlling Sword Qi, his mind constantly flashing with inspiration for combining different sword skills.

Although Hawkeye doesn't have ice as a transitional medium, he believes he can solve this problem. Even if he wants to directly control the Sword Qi in one step, he is absolutely confident he can do it in a short time.

Mihawk was extremely satisfied with today's harvest.

After Shazo explained all the techniques, Hawkeye asked a dozen or so detailed questions about them, and he already had a clear training method in mind.

Hawkeye sighed, "Ah, this harvest is enormous. I'll need at least six months to process it, maybe even longer."

The gathering scheduled for three months later has to be postponed.

Shazo asked, "If you start cultivating again, there will be a period of decline. Will you have to return to the New World?"

"Actually, you can find an uninhabited island in the East Blue. I can help you with food, medicine, clothing, housing, and everything else."

Hawkeye shook his head and said, "No, I have my own cultivation habits. In the safe East Blue, I can't sense the danger of death at all, which greatly affects my concentration and cultivation progress."

"Don't worry about my safety. The Grand Line is where I was born; that's my true home."

When animals encounter danger, they return to their dens, and when people encounter danger, they always feel safer when they return to their hometown.

Shazo stopped trying to persuade Hawkeye, and the two chatted and laughed for a while before deciding to end the meeting.

From beginning to end, Shazo never asked Hawkeye why he joined the Shichibukai, just as Hawkeye never asked Shazo why he stayed in the East Blue.

However, when Shazo saw his coffin boat during their breakup, he couldn't help but laugh again.

Such a small boat, with only one mast and one sail, is not much bigger than a canoe and does not look like a vehicle capable of crossing the sea.

Every time Shazo saw it, he couldn't help but conjure up a scene in his mind.

Dracule Mihawk took off his shirt, revealing his perfectly sculpted muscles, and used the Black Blade Night as an oar, rowing heaving across the calm, Calm Belt sea.

The contrast in this scene is so striking, it makes Shazo want to laugh all the time.

Even though he knew that Hawkeye navigated by cleaving the sea with his sword and using the recoil from the Flying Slash to propel the coffin boat forward, he still couldn't erase the comical image of Hawkeye struggling to row.

Because they had discussed this topic before, Hawkeye knew what Shazo was laughing about, especially since his disheveled appearance was indeed embarrassing.

But Hawkeye was no match for Shazo, so he could only express his dissatisfaction by rolling his eyes. Then he boarded his coffin boat, brandished his Black Blade "Night," and stirred up towering waves, propelling his small boat rapidly away from the island.

With Hawkeye gone, there was naturally no need for Shazo to stay on this active volcanic island; the pungent smell of sulfur was unpleasant.

He pushed off with his legs, creating a huge Impact Crater in the ground, and shot into the sky like an arrow, transforming into a not-so-bright meteor as he sped northward.

As Shazo's absorption of air became faster and faster, he was able to control the intensity of air friction during flight, reducing the transition luminescence phenomenon caused by high-temperature Ionization of air.

Hawkeye felt the immense impact behind him, turned around and saw the shooting star soaring into the sky. The envious glint in his eyes flashed only briefly before disappearing completely.

Jora Mihawk's will was as firm as steel; he might envy Shazo's ability to fly, but it wouldn't affect his emotions.

With each strike of his sword against the sea, Mihawk's small boat accelerated, gradually making up for the shortcomings he had discovered during his sparring with Shazo.

He even began to try to control the Sword Qi he unleashed using the techniques Shazo had described.

It was difficult and there was no progress, but Hawkeye believed that as long as he persisted, he would soon master the skill and create his own greatsword of Sword Qi.

By then, he will surely be able to force Shazo to show his true abilities.

Hawkeye, relying on his intuition, determined that the Swordsmanship Shazo displayed was not his true strength, and he was very curious about the Commodore general's real combat power.

The vastness of the East Blue is incomparable to the Grand Line. Even with a fast enough flight speed, it was already the second day of the leave when we returned to the 77th Branch.

Apart from the marines on duty, all the marines had a great time during this rare holiday.

The sun had barely risen when a new round of revelry began: dancing, barbecue, wheat Fruit Juice, rum, laughter—everyone was awakened by the joy and joined in.

Shazo checked the various posts and sentry posts responsible for duty, and only after confirming that his branch had not relaxed its basic vigilance did he feel at ease and return to his bedroom to go to sleep.

A full year later, he returned to the Plane Dreamscape once again.

"A new girl has joined, and she's a girl named Shazo!"

Upon hearing this, the drowsy Shazo were no longer sleepy. They opened their eyes wide and looked around intently, searching for the new Shazo.

The first girl in Shazo, Misaka Shazo, had Inazuma flashing in her eyes, looking like a Inazuma mage, and a suspicious clear liquid was dripping from the corner of her mouth.

As expected, Shazo and his friends were not disappointed. A newcomer had indeed arrived, and she was a charming beauty with long, light blonde hair. In particular, her pair of silver eyes possessed a captivating and sharp beauty.

With her pale blonde hair and silver eyes, Shazo felt a jolt in his heart, as if he were conjuring up a world filled with tragedy.

Marvel Shazo was the first to speak, "Thank goodness it wasn't Red Eye girl, or we'd be in big trouble."

Before the others Shazo guess, the silver-eyed Shazo spoke up, "No need to guess anymore, I've transmigrated to the world of Claymore and become..."

A Silver-Eyed Witch who hunts Yoma.

This is a rather old and somewhat niche anime. Even though Claymore Shazo gave the answer, the Shazo and his friends still had to rack their brains to remember for a long time before they could recall the basic settings of the Claymore world.

It was a bleak and hopeless world, almost like a testing ground.

The Yoma are impossible to eradicate no matter how many times they are killed. The organization has the technology to transform humans into Half-Yoma, but it cannot develop a fungus that targets Yoma, nor is it willing to create more Half-Yoma to wipe out all the Yoma in one go.

Despite spending hundreds or even thousands of years, the progress in modification technology has been almost negligible, with no improvement in the success rate whatsoever. The strength of Half-Yoma depends entirely on the quality of its original body.

Half-Yoma have an extremely short "shelf life." Not only do they lose control and become Awakened Being, but even the organization does not allow Half-Yoma to live for more than ten years.

However, what impressed Shazo the most was the anime Claymore. The female lead was not as charming as the supporting characters who only appeared a few times, and the male lead was completely absent.

Star Trek Shazo frowned and asked, "Why did you choose to become Half-Yoma? It's a path of no return."

Claymore Shazo sighed, "I can't help it, I'm hungry."

"Having been born in a time when the Republic was beginning its rapid development, I never experienced hunger in my entire life, and I truly had no idea that hunger could be so terrifying."

She raised her hands and almost murmured, "At the worst point, I only ate 7 [units of food] in a month."

Each meal consisted of only a fist-sized Black Bread, so hard it could break your teeth.

"But I still bit into the bread, mixed with the blood from my gums, and swallowed it, though my stomach still felt like it was on fire, driving me mad."

"I wish I could—I wish I could tear my own flesh apart."

Claymore Shazo took a deep breath and continued, "So, I sold myself to the organization, underwent training and surgery, and Luck became Half-Yoma."

"Training is tough, surgery is painful, and life seems hopeless, but at least I can eat my fill. Compared to the despair of hunger, I can endure all of that."

All the Shazo sighed, and Misaka Shazo even couldn't help but shed tears.

Naruto Shazo said, "Everything will be alright now that we've made it to this Dream Dimension alive."

"Once we share everyone's power, the so-called Yoma flesh and blood will no longer be able to threaten you, and may even be destroyed instead."

Claymore Shazo smiled; her smile was beautiful, a blend of heroic spirit and sweetness. "This is the turning point I've been waiting for for ten years."

All the Shazo placed their hands on the Bronze Long Table, and the newcomer Shazo immediately understood the purpose of doing so and placed his hand on it as well.

Memories and power began to Flow.

Unsurprisingly, Claymore Shazo's output is weak, and his memory and strength are both quite poor.

Surprisingly, the Taoist Shazo became the biggest source of power output. The Main God Space truly lives up to its reputation as the fastest way to increase combat power; apart from dying quickly, it really has no other flaws.