Battle of Attrition, All's Fair in War!

"Tch, this is troublesome!"

The smile on Shuzuo's face revealed his confidence. The stronger a person is, the less they resort to trickery; he must have been fully prepared! For Ron, this was not good news...

For now, I can only stall...

Making up his mind, Ron raised his hands, electricity crackling around him. Azure lightning spread from his shoulders to his palms, forming two furious lightning dragons. With a roar, they launched their attack!

Thirty Million Volts - Two Dragons Playing with Pearls!

Zzzzz!!!

The air was filled with the stench of burnt ozone, and even the sky seemed to have darkened considerably. Amidst the deafening roars, the lightning dragons charged! Their mere presence was enough to make ordinary people tremble and flee.

"How dare you!"

Seeing Ron not only refuse to flee but attack first, Shuzuo grunted in anger, clenching his fists!

Bzzzz!

As an extremely dangerous aura emerged, his fists were wrapped in thick Armament Haki, making Ron's heart pound. Shuzuo's strength could not be judged by his rank of "Brigadier General." If they were to truly fight, he was no weaker than an ordinary Vice Admiral! Otherwise, he wouldn't have earned the respect of others or become Zephyr's trusted right-hand man.

Empowered with Haki, Shuzuo did not dodge or evade, meeting the lightning dragons head-on. A second before the dragons could strike him, he swung his fists upward, smashing into their jaws.

The next moment...

BOOM!!!

With a tremendous explosion, the heads of the lightning dragons, composed entirely of lightning, were instantly shattered! A terrifying surge of energy whipped up a gale, and the scattered lightning, like candles in the wind, vanished into the air. Having done this, Shuzuo pushed off the ground and transformed into a black streak, continuing his assault on Ron.

Shave!

CRASH!

This punch still missed, only shattering the thick wooden board into pieces, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

"I knew you'd rush over!"

Teleporting several meters behind him, Ron evaded Shuzuo's surprise attack. Ron formed his hands into claws and pulled them sharply towards his chest, crossing them.

"Come back! Lightning Dragons!"

"Hm?"

Shuzuo exclaimed in surprise and looked back. He saw that the lightning, which should have been dispersed, suddenly gathered together, reforming into two lightning dragons that lunged at him with open jaws.

"This is?!"

With no time to think, Shuzuo made a decisive move, abandoning his attack and sweeping out a kick!

Bang, bang!

Two more explosions sounded. Using Observation Haki, he noticed that the lightning dragons were dispersed and vanished only where his fists and feet made contact; the rest remained intact. Shuzuo understood.

"So that's how it is... It looks like just two simple lightning attacks, but they're actually composed of several different segments of lightning combined."

As expected, the moment he retracted his leg and stabilized himself, the remaining lightning surged forward, opening their massive jaws and ferociously biting him.

RUMBLE!!!

Aided by Teleportation, Ron appeared at the edge of the corner, a slight smile on his lips. "You figured it out? As expected of Instructor Shuzuo!"

He didn't like purely elemental attacks. The lightning dragons, while appearing as dragon-shaped lightning, were actually five separate attacks assembled from five different lightning segments! Dispersing the dragon heads at the front and severing the dragon bodies in the middle, the remaining parts could still attack. Only by annihilating them entirely could they be completely destroyed... Otherwise, he wouldn't have named it "Two Dragons Playing with Pigs."

This was Ron's only remaining dark humor as an Earthling.

Seeing Shuzuo engulfed in lightning, Ron seized the opportunity to attack. Because his opponent was Shuzuo, he couldn't help but recall his identity as a mage.

Thirty Million Volts - Thunderbolt Spear!

Ten Million Volts - Electric Net!

Thirty Million Volts - Discharge!

Dong, dong, dong!

Waves of lightning struck Shuzuo, momentarily blinding with their brilliance and ceaseless explosions! An ordinary person caught in this would have long since turned to ash, killed hundreds of times over by the lightning's high temperature! But standing within it now was Shuzuo, a prominent figure among the Marine's high-ranking officers. Ron's attacks, though ingenious, could not achieve a decisive victory.

"Hmph! A mere trick! Disperse... DISPERSE!!"

With an angry roar, the tall, sturdy figure raised his fists, shaking off the lightning wrapped around him. Occasionally, faint streams of electricity flowed across his dark skin, complementing his ferocious expression and reddened eyes, making him look incredibly menacing!

Shaking off the lightning, Shuzuo felt the tingling sensation on his skin and grinned. "Good power, but useless! Die!"

Dong!

With an explosion, Shuzuo rapidly closed the distance to Ron.

But Ron, who had been constantly dodging, did not Teleport this time. Instead, he also clenched his fists, electricity crackling around him, his eyes glowing a deep blue!

Overload Form - Ten Million Volts!

"Hm??"

Why isn't this brat dodging?

Shuzuo's eyes widened in sudden disbelief, unable to comprehend.

From the stands, Ron's posture of directly confronting his opponent caused an uproar.

"Hey, hey, he wouldn't be that stupid, would he?!"

"We're done for! What's wrong with Ron? He was fine just a moment ago!"

"Could it be that he can't perform that kind of movement anymore?"

"Huh? That's a possibility!!"

But while the others were filled with doubt and surprise, Kizaru and the others could see that Ron hadn't changed much from before. This meant that even though that teleportation move consumed a lot of energy, it was far from reaching its limit.

So...

"What does this kid want to do?"

It wasn't just the spectators; on the high platform, Shuzuo felt the same way!

Don't let your guard down, beware of tricks!

Thinking this, Shuzuo subconsciously eased up a bit, ready to jump back to the center of the platform at the slightest sign of trouble. However, the predicted danger didn't arrive until his fist collided head-on with Ron's. Instead, Ron grinned cunningly at that moment and roared.

"Overload · Lightning Fist!"

Bang...!!!

After the shock, looking at the figure rapidly retreating backward, the entire viewing platform fell into a deathly silence, where even a pin drop could be heard!

Because the one retreating... was Shuzuo!

In a clash with the recruit Ron, Brigadier General Shuzuo had actually fallen into a disadvantage!!

This is unscientific!!

"How is this possible?! Brigadier General Shuzuo he..."

"Could it be that Ron was hiding his strength?"

"But the power of this punch, anyone can see it, right?"

The crowd immediately became noisy, filled with speculation.

The Power Levels of the two sides differed by several times, and the power of this move was not as earth-shattering as the test in the morning. How could it possibly repel Shuzuo?!

Could it be?!!!

Swish!

All eyes fell on Ron. Seeing the foxy grin of a successful trickster, everyone felt as if they had eaten something foul.

Hiss... What a cunning little guy!

"Pfft hahahaha! Well done, Ron!"

Garp froze for a second, then reacted and understood the key point, bursting into laughter. He bent over on his seat, slapping his legs. The Three Admirals also understood the reason and looked at Ron blankly for a long time before Kizaru finally broke the silence.

"Although I've said it once, I still want to say... this Ron... hmm... is very unique!"

"Hmph! Just a trickster!"

Akainu did not express admiration for this, but he did not dislike Ron's actions either. Because he knew very well that strength and brains were indispensable for the Marines. When strength is not enough to solve a problem, brains are the most important thing.

Soldiers at the lowest level don't need brains; they just need to be brave in battle and obey orders. But the core strength of the Marines, the future command level, emerging from the New Recruit Camp, cannot afford to have any fools.

Ron did indeed take a clever shortcut, but he succeeded, which showed his intelligence.

Conversely...

On the high platform, Shuzuo stared blankly at his fist. Covered by Armament Haki, he hadn't sustained much damage. But being repelled head-on by Ron, especially when he had the advantage and initiated the attack, was something Shuzuo found hard to accept...

Why?!

Was he hiding his strength?

That was impossible!

As Zephyr's trusted disciple, Shuzuo couldn't misjudge a person's true level, otherwise, he wouldn't be able to bear the important responsibility of being in charge of the testing grounds.

So the only explanation was...

"You played me?"

Looking at Shuzuo's bewildered and angry face, Ron raised an eyebrow: "Yo! You can even guess the answer!"

Yesterday, after finishing writing, I was playing World of Warcraft and took a friend's alt account into an M+ dungeon. We called for a healer in the world chat. Halfway through the dungeon, the healer suddenly said, "Sorry, I have to log off, I just realized I haven't finished my homework." Then they left the party. The 340 item level gear they rolled was traded to their Mage friend, leaving the four of us completely bewildered.

Then I thought, if I had thought of this beforehand and posted on local forums and bulletin boards offering to do summer homework for people, wouldn't I have made a fortune????