"Tch, this is troublesome!"
The confident smile on Shuzuo's face gave nothing away. The stronger a person was, the less likely he was to put on a front. He had definitely made ample preparations! That was not good news for Ron...
For now, he could only stall...
Having made up his mind, Ron raised both hands. Electric light coiled around him as sky-blue lightning spread from his shoulders to his palms, forming two furious-eyed thunder dragons. With a roar of thunder, they charged forward!
Thirty Million Volts: Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl!
Crackle!!!
The air was scorched by lightning, filling the area with a burnt stench. Even the sky seemed to dim. Amid deafening roars, the thunder dragons lunged forward! Their sheer presence was enough to make ordinary people lose control and hide in fear.
"Bold!"
Seeing that Ron not only did not flee but had attacked first, Shuzuo snorted angrily and clenched both fists!
Buzz!
An extremely dangerous aura emerged as thick Armament Haki wrapped around his iron fists, making Ron's heart pound. Shuzuo's strength could not be judged by the title of "brigadier general." If they truly fought, he was no weaker than an ordinary vice admiral! Otherwise, he could not have commanded respect and become Zephyr's trusted right-hand man.
With Haki reinforcing him, Shuzuo neither dodged nor evaded, meeting the thunder dragons head-on. A second before they struck him, he swung both fists upward and hammered into their fangs.
The next moment...
Boom!!!
Amid a massive explosion, the thunder dragons' heads, formed entirely of lightning, were smashed apart in an instant! Terrifying shockwaves stirred up a fierce gale, and the tiny arcs of electricity vanished into the air like candles in the wind. Having done that, Shuzuo pushed off with his feet, turning into a black streak as he continued toward Ron.
Soru!
Clang!
That punch still failed to hit, only smashing the thick wooden boards into pieces and sending splinters flying everywhere.
"I knew you'd rush in!"
Teleporting several meters behind him and evading Shuzuo's sudden attack, Ron held his hands in claw shapes and violently pulled them toward his chest, crossing them.
"Come back! Thunder dragons!"
"Hm?"
Shuzuo gave a startled cry and turned around. The lightning that should have been dispersed suddenly gathered again, transforming back into two thunder dragons that opened their mouths and tore toward him.
"What?!"
Without time to think, Shuzuo made a swift decision, abandoning his attack and twisting around to sweep out with a kick!
Boom, boom!
Two more explosions rang out. Releasing his Observation Haki, Shuzuo noticed that aside from the sections where his fists and feet had struck, the thunder dragons remained completely intact. He immediately understood.
"I see... They look like two simple lightning attacks, but they're actually made up of several separate lightning segments."
Sure enough, the instant he landed and regained his footing, the remaining lightning continued to lunge forward. Their mouths opened wide as they viciously bit into him.
Rumble!!!
With the help of Teleportation, Ron appeared at the edge of a corner, a faint smile curling his lips. "You figured it out? As expected of Instructor Shuzuo!"
He did not like simplistic shape-based attacks. The thunder dragons looked like dragon-shaped lightning, but they were actually five attacks pieced together from five separate lightning segments! Smashing the front dragon heads or severing their bodies would not stop the remaining sections from continuing their attack. Only by annihilating the whole thing could they be completely destroyed... Otherwise, he would not have named it Two Dragons Playing with a "Pig."
This was Ron's last remaining bit of malicious humor from his days as an Earthling.
Seeing Shuzuo covered in lightning, Ron seized the chance to attack. Since his opponent was Shuzuo, he had no choice but to remember that he was a mage.
Thirty Million Volts: Thunderbolt Spear!
Ten Million Volts: Electric Net!
Thirty Million Volts: Discharge!
Boom, boom, boom!
Bolts of lightning struck Shuzuo one after another. For a time, lightning blazed brightly as explosions erupted without end! An ordinary person caught within would have long since been reduced to ashes, killed hundreds of times over by the lightning's intense heat! But standing inside was Shuzuo, one of the Navy Headquarters' most prominent officers. Ron's attacks were ingenious, but they could not secure a decisive victory.
"Hmph! Cheap tricks! Disperse!!"
With an angry roar, the tall, muscular figure raised both fists and shook off the lightning wrapped around him. Thin streams of electricity occasionally flowed across his dark skin, and combined with his ferocious expression and bloodshot eyes, he looked incomparably savage!
After scattering the lightning, Shuzuo felt the numbness on his skin and grinned. "Not bad power, but it's useless! Die!"
Boom!
With an explosive burst, Shuzuo rushed before Ron in an instant.
But Ron, who had been constantly dodging before, did not Teleport away this time. Instead, he clenched his fist as well, electricity swirling around him and his eyes turning deep blue!
Overload Form: Ten Million Volts!
"Hm??"
Why wasn't this little bastard dodging?
Shuzuo's eyes suddenly widened as he failed to understand.
In the stands, Ron's stance of facing Shuzuo head-on immediately stirred up an uproar.
"Hey, hey, he can't be that stupid, right?!"
"It's over! What's wrong with Ron? He was doing fine just now!"
"Could it be that he can't use that movement technique anymore?"
"Hm? That's possible!!"
But while everyone else was filled with doubt, Kizaru and the others could see that Ron had not changed much from before. This meant that even if Teleportation consumed a great deal of energy, he was still far from his limit.
So...
"What is this kid trying to do?"
The spectators were not the only ones thinking that. On the platform, Shuzuo was thinking the same thing!
He could not let his guard down. There might be a trick!
Thinking this, Shuzuo instinctively held back some of his strength, ready to leap back to the center of the platform at the first sign of trouble. Yet even when his fist collided head-on with Ron's, the danger he had anticipated never came. Instead, Ron gave him a crafty grin and roared.
Overload: Lightning Fist!
Boom...!!!
After the impact, as everyone watched the figure stagger backward, the entire viewing platform fell into dead silence. A needle drop could have been heard!
Because the one retreating... was Shuzuo!
In the clash with the recruit Ron, Brigadier General Shuzuo had actually been forced back!!
This made no sense!!
"How is that possible?! Brigadier General Shuzuo..."
"Could Ron have been hiding his strength?"
"But the power of that punch was obvious, wasn't it?"
The crowd immediately erupted into noisy speculation.
Their Doriki Values differed by several times, and the power of that move was nowhere near as earth-shattering as the one from the morning's test. How could it possibly knock Shuzuo back?!
Could it be?!!!
Whoosh!
Everyone's eyes turned in unison toward Ron. Seeing that fox-cub grin on the face of someone who had just stolen a win, they all felt as sick as if they had eaten shit.
Hiss... What a cunning little brat!
"Pwahahaha! Well done, Ron!"
Garp froze for a second, then figured out the crucial point. He immediately burst into wild laughter, bending over in his seat and slapping his thigh. The Three Admirals also understood what had happened. They stared blankly at Ron for a long while before Kizaru finally broke the silence.
"Though I've said it once already, I still want to say it again... This Ron... hmm... is very unique!"
"Hmph! He just played dirty!"
Akainu did not show any appreciation for it, but he was not disgusted by Ron's actions either. He understood very well that strength and brains were both indispensable to the Navy. When strength was not enough to solve a problem, one's brain became the most important thing.
The lowest-ranking soldiers did not need brains. It was enough for them to fight bravely and obey orders. But the recruits emerging from the New Recruit Camp would become the backbone of the Navy and future commanders. Idiots were absolutely unacceptable.
Ron had indeed taken a shortcut, but he had succeeded. That was proof that he had brains.
On the other hand...
On the platform, Shuzuo stared blankly at his fist. Protected by Armament Haki, he had not suffered much damage. But being knocked back head-on by Ron, especially when he had been the one to initiate the attack, was something Shuzuo found hard to accept...
Why?!
Had Ron hidden his strength?
That was impossible!
As Zephyr's trusted disciple, Shuzuo could not possibly misjudge someone's true level. Otherwise, he would not have been fit to bear the heavy responsibility of managing the Test Field.
So there was only one explanation...
"You tricked me?"
Looking at Shuzuo's confused and furious face, Ron raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You can even answer first?"
Yesterday, after finishing my writing, I played World of Warcraft and took a friend's alt through a Mythic dungeon. We found a healer through the world chat. But when we were only halfway through the dungeon, the healer suddenly said, "Sorry, I have to go. I just realized I haven't finished my homework." Then they left the party, traded the 340 gear they had gotten to my friend's mage, and left the four of us completely dumbfounded.
Then I thought, if I had thought of this earlier and posted an ad on the local forum offering to do people's summer homework for them, wouldn't I have made a fortune????
Before you continue