I Almost Got Cut to Death by You

I Almost Got Cut to Death by You

"Soru isn't that hard."

"Not bad technique."

Soru, one of the Marine Six Styles, involved stomping the ground at high speed dozens of times in an instant to generate explosive recoil force for rapid movement. To an enemy, it looked almost like the user had vanished.

Without question, Soru was an advanced combat technique. Its instantaneous burst of speed was enough to leave most enemies unable to react in time.

And techniques like this were often quite difficult to learn. Across the entire sea, almost no one in the first half of the Grand Line could master such an ability. Within the Marines, those capable of mastering the Marine Six Styles were usually at least commissioned officers.

Yet in Tsugikuni Yoriichi's eyes, such an advanced combat technique seemed so plain and unremarkable.

Under the Transparent World, every movement of Aokiji's muscles as he used Soru was laid bare. To Tsugikuni Yoriichi, there were no secrets at all.

Tsugikuni Yoriichi himself had been capable of slicing Muzan into over a thousand pieces of flesh in an instant. Though he was only twelve after being reincarnated into this world, his strength had not diminished in the slightest, and his physical condition fully supported the use of Soru.

Therefore, the instant he saw Aokiji use Soru, Yoriichi immediately replicated it perfectly and put it to use in battle.

With a flash, he arrived behind Aokiji and swung his blade backward at Aokiji's back. There was quite a difference in their heights. What would normally have been a habitual strike at the head could only barely reach Aokiji's lower back.

"Oh?"

"That really is surprising!"

"Have you learned Soru before?"

Aokiji turned his head and glanced at Tsugikuni Yoriichi from the corner of his eye as he asked.

Yet he neither dodged nor blocked Tsugikuni Yoriichi's slash, allowing it to strike his back. The instant the blade touched Aokiji's body, his back had already turned into solid ice. Frost rapidly spread outward, instantly freezing Yoriichi's sword before quickly creeping toward his arm.

Yoriichi reacted swiftly, letting go of his sword and leaping backward to open the distance from Aokiji.

Looking at the sword frozen to Aokiji's back, he felt utterly speechless.

Weren't you supposed to teach me the Marine Six Styles? What's with using your Devil Fruit ability over and over? Isn't this just bullying an honest man?

"I hadn't learned it before. Today was the first time I'd seen it."

Yoriichi prepared to stop. He had already been disarmed, and this sparring match was effectively over just after it had begun. A Logia Devil Fruit was simply too impossible for him to deal with at this stage. Even if Yoriichi had yet to reveal all of his Breathing Technique, the outcome would have been the same.

To someone who could not use Haki, a Logia user was invincible. After all, not every Logia was like Crocodile, someone who could get beaten senseless by a person carrying a bucket of water.

"First time seeing it?" Aokiji froze slightly upon hearing that, but his expression returned to normal with a breath. He casually removed the sword frozen to his body and turned to look at the lookout tower on the warship.

At that moment, Garp stood in the lookout tower of the Dog-head Warship with both hands braced against the windowsill, watching everything unfold on the deck. Behind him, his adjutant Bogard noticed Aokiji's gaze and said:

"Vice Admiral Garp, it seems the sparring can't continue."

"That Tsugikuni Yoriichi actually used Soru. Could he possibly be—"

Garp shook his head with a wide grin.

"Learning Soru just from seeing it once? No one would believe something like that if you told them."

"But that's the truth. Before setting sail, I spoke with Zephyr. This kid had never come into contact with Soru."

"As for before he joined the Marines... Heh, impossible. There aren't Marines like that in the East Blue."

"Looks like I still underestimated this brat. It's not just Haki—his talent in other areas is also top-notch!"

"Now it seems my training plan will need a few adjustments."

Garp spoke with his adjutant, but he did not respond aloud to Aokiji's gaze below.

After a short while, seeing that Garp in the lookout tower had no reaction, Aokiji withdrew his gaze and turned it toward Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

This time, Aokiji carefully looked Tsugikuni Yoriichi up and down. Only after watching him for a while did he toss the sword back to Yoriichi and speak.

"That technique you used to flash behind me just now was Soru, one of the Marine Six Styles."

"The technique I used at the start to block your horizontal slash was called Tekkai. It is also one of the Marine Six Styles."

"Seeing how skillfully you used Soru just now, I assumed you had mastered it. Then Tekkai..."

Though Aokiji did not finish speaking, the intense anticipation in his eyes instantly made Yoriichi understand what he meant. Under Aokiji's gaze, Yoriichi shook his head, spread his hands, and said:

"Sorry, I didn't see you use Tekkai. All I knew was that your body turned into ice when my attack hit you."

"Turning into ice—that was Tekkai? I didn't see it clearly."

Yoriichi played dumb. He knew about Aokiji's Devil Fruit ability, and deliberately mistaking it for Tekkai was merely to conceal himself.

Of course, Yoriichi's words were not entirely a lie. He truly had not noticed Aokiji using Tekkai just now. Even with the Transparent World's enhancement, Yoriichi had only detected Aokiji's body becoming elemental. As for Tekkai, he really had not noticed it.

It was obvious when flesh turned into ice, but Tekkai...

"Uh..."

"No, turning my body into ice is my Devil Fruit ability."

"You know about Devil Fruits, right? Treasures of the sea. After eating one, you gain special powers, but you also lose the ability to swim."

"And I ate the Ice-Ice Fruit. I'm an ice human, a Logia. My body can freely turn into ice. What you saw just now was my Devil Fruit ability."

"As for Tekkai..."

At that point, Aokiji paused. He suddenly realized that when he had used Tekkai just now, he had not been able to block Tsugikuni Yoriichi's slash. His body had instinctively turned elemental, so it was no wonder Yoriichi had not noticed him using Tekkai.

But the moment that thought occurred to him, the way Aokiji looked at Tsugikuni Yoriichi became strange.

If his information was correct, Tsugikuni Yoriichi was only twelve, right? His slash had actually broken through Aokiji's Tekkai? Aokiji knew he was not particularly skilled with the Six Styles, and his Tekkai was nothing impressive, but having it broken by a child was still shocking enough.

Aokiji had not realized it during their earlier fight, but now that he thought it over, he suddenly found Tsugikuni Yoriichi somewhat terrifying.

"Has Teacher Zephyr ever had you test your Doriki Value? If so, how much was it?"

Aokiji suddenly asked curiously, guessing to himself, With attack power like that just now, it had to be at least one or two thousand.

"If I attack at full strength, it's over five thousand. I forgot the exact number."

"Teacher Zephyr said I was weak and not ready to show myself. If Vice Admiral Garp hadn't brought me along, I probably wouldn't have been able to go to sea."

Hearing Aokiji's question, Yoriichi lowered his head in shame.

"Oh, only fi—five thousand?!!!" Hearing Yoriichi's words, Aokiji leaned his neck forward slightly, staring in dumbfounded disbelief. Though he had expected Yoriichi to be strong, hearing that number made Aokiji cry out despite himself.

When he had been Yoriichi's age, he had probably possessed less than a fraction of Yoriichi's strength.

A Doriki Value of five thousand would count as outstanding even among the Marines. If Aokiji did not possess the power of a Logia Devil Fruit, defeating Tsugikuni Yoriichi would have taken quite some effort.

And upon hearing this, Aokiji finally understood why Garp had asked him to guide Tsugikuni Yoriichi in the Marine Six Styles. There really were not many people on this ship qualified to instruct Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

Sparring with Yoriichi might even help a Logia user like him, who was not good at hand-to-hand combat, improve.

"Teacher Zephyr really is being ridiculous!"

"Yoriichi, don't listen to Teacher Zephyr's nonsense. You're actually already very strong. You must hold back when sparring with others."

"Thinking about it now, if I didn't have my Devil Fruit ability, those two strikes just now would have already wounded me."

"Go get a bamboo sword. I won't use my Devil Fruit ability. I'll fight you with martial arts and demonstrate the other Six Styles for you as well."

(End of Chapter)