Fish-Man Karate

Zieg's tolerance for alcohol wasn't great. After Xiao Ba got drunk, he basically led everyone in singing to liven things up.

When the drinking party reached the "fighting to liven things up" stage, Zieg, still not quite used to it, quietly slipped away.

"Boss Jinbe, let me take the helm and sober up a bit. You go join them and have some fun." Zieg said to Jinbe, who was at the helm.

Jinbe had earlier said that since he hadn't fought, he wouldn't celebrate with everyone, and would instead steer the ship and keep watch tonight.

Seeing Zieg approach, Jinbe tugged on the nearby mooring rope, roughly securing the helm, then said, "No need, the wind and waves are calm tonight. But since you're here, training starts tonight!"

Zieg's expression turned serious at this. He straightened his chest and raised his head, tightening his focus as well, trying to block the alcohol's effect on his mind.

"On this sea, there are roughly three types of training methods. Do you know what they are?" Jinbe asked Zieg.

"Armament Haki, Observation Haki... and Conqueror's Haki?" Zieg tentatively confirmed.

"Of course not! Haki is just one part of strength. And once you truly train to a certain level, no matter the school, you'll inevitably know some Armament and Observation Haki. That can't be considered an independent school." Jinbe directly denied Zieg's answer.

Jinbe then held up three fingers, bending them one by one: "Swordsmanship, martial arts, and Devil Fruit development!"

Zieg looked a bit unconvinced, so Jinbe further explained, "Are you thinking that, by that logic, there are schools that use other weapons?"

Zieg honestly nodded.

"Swordsmanship and martial arts can't be taken literally. Both are broad concepts in a general sense..."

Jinbe explained to Zieg that the difference between "swordsmanship" and "martial arts" in a broad sense wasn't as simple as the former using a sword and the latter using fists.

When Zieg had been wildly slashing with his sword earlier, that wasn't swordsmanship either.

In terms of technique, "swordsmanship" excels in refined moves, while "martial arts" excels in body control. But those aren't the main differences.

More importantly, it's about "will." The most typical example is the swordsmanship "slash"—the ability to send out a blade wind that cuts objects several meters, even dozens of meters away.

"Swordsmanship" excels at projecting will outward, while "martial arts" excels at guarding will inward!

"But... Boss Jinbe, a martial arts master can also destroy targets within a dozen meters with one punch, right?" Zieg estimated that Jinbe could probably already do that.

"That's true, but you need to know that for a slash that flies twenty meters, the power difference between one meter and fifteen meters isn't huge. It only drops sharply in the last few meters. Meanwhile, the impact of martial arts power is inevitably stronger the closer you are!" Jinbe pointed out something Zieg didn't know.

A super sniper skilled in Armament Haki coating and Observation Haki locking could actually be seen as a special kind of "swordsmanship" expert.

The reason "swordsmanship" is named after the sword is that many people use swords now, so it's a conventional term. In reality, using a sword doesn't necessarily mean swordsmanship, and not using a sword doesn't mean it isn't swordsmanship.

At this, Zieg recalled the CP agent that Boss Tiger had stopped at the port of Mary Geoise, and asked, "So that means the World Government's 'Rankyaku' counts as swordsmanship?"

"Correct. The World Government's Six Powers focus more on physical ability, but some techniques are closer to swordsmanship." Jinbe nodded.

It's like how a warrior needs a few ranged skills, and a mage needs some close-combat moves for emergencies...

Some famous swordsmen also have techniques that concentrate power on the blade itself, while some martial artists can deliver slashing strikes with their hands.

Externally, besides attack range, a more obvious difference is body defense!

When it comes to taking hits, swordsmen are generally far inferior to martial artists...

Swordsmanship masters usually use their swords to block attacks rather than tank them.

Zieg recalled the original work—Zoro was indeed far less durable than Luffy!

Although both, as main characters, had passive abilities to surge when near death, Luffy would take heavy hits multiple times before being seriously injured, while Zoro, once his sword failed to block, was immediately "like a candle in the wind."

Beyond that, techniques, Haki, and Life Return were all auxiliary abilities, not independent major schools.

As for the third type, "Devil Fruit ability development," it could complement swordsmanship and martial arts or be trained independently, depending on the fruit's power. But this had little to do with fish-men, as the race generally rejected Devil Fruits, so Jinbe wasn't familiar with it.

"Our fish-man race has strong bodies, better suited for martial arts. And 'Fish-Man Karate' is one of the most suitable training methods for fish-men, explored by countless predecessors. It's far more ancient and profound than the human Six Powers..." Jinbe hyped up Fish-Man Karate.

"You've heard that Kuroobi kid bragging about having thirty dan everywhere, right?" Jinbe's tone carried a hint of frustration.

"Kuroobi actually rarely brags directly about himself..." Zieg said fairly.

"Hmph, yeah, not 'directly' bragging." Jinbe waved his hand, signaling to drop the subject.

Kuroobi was indeed a bit inflated. He wouldn't "brag about himself," but he always put on the airs of an old martial artist, making him feel... punchable!

"The so-called 'dan' is a rank in Fish-Man Karate. Being able to shatter thirty tiles with a simple straight punch is one dan. Thirty dan is roughly a kilowatt straight punch."

Jinbe demonstrated a standard straight punch as he spoke, but didn't actually exert force, or it would have made a big commotion.

Then Jinbe first had Zieg learn a stance before carefully explaining the power technique—swinging a straight punch was the most basic training method in Fish-Man Karate.

As for how many tiles of power—wouldn't testing with actual tiles be wasteful? And different tiles had different hardness, right?

Jinbe answered Zieg's question. Actual tiles weren't used. The straight punch in Fish-Man Karate needed to be trained in both water and air. In water, it would create a special vibration. The frequency of that vibration could be seen as shattering water tiles—that was the standard tile!

Feeling the vibration frequency in the water to count tiles also unconsciously trained one's perception.

As the basic training of Fish-Man Karate—swinging a straight punch—it not only built a foundation for power but also strengthened the body, laying the groundwork for Armament Haki. Sensing water wave vibrations trained perception, laying the groundwork for Observation Haki.

After reaching kilowatt level and above, there were some long-range swordsmanship-style techniques to choose from as electives.

Boss Jinbe's evaluation of Fish-Man Karate wasn't an exaggeration—it was indeed a very complete training system!