Flying Slash, Child Laborers on a Warship!

Flying Slash, Child Laborers on a Warship!

Ever since Tsugikuni Yoriichi learned the Marine Six Styles from Aokiji, he had spent every day pestering Aokiji for sparring matches, hoping to make his body quickly adapt to the Marine Six Styles through relentless combat.

Although using the Marine Six Styles consumed a great deal of stamina, after each short rest, Yoriichi could usually recover enough strength to keep fighting with them for a while.

And as his understanding of the Marine Six Styles deepened, Yoriichi began trying to apply Tempest Kick's attack techniques to his sword slashes during battle.

Finally, by noon, Yoriichi successfully unleashed a Flying Slash.

"Buzz—"

A low whistling sound cut through the air across the deck. Tsugikuni Yoriichi had successfully launched a Flying Slash with his bamboo sword, and an invisible blade of air sped toward Aokiji in the distance.

The slash was simply too fast, and it made no sound. Fortunately, Aokiji had been using Observation Haki while fighting Yoriichi, allowing him to detect it the instant Yoriichi launched the attack.

Even so, Aokiji had never expected Yoriichi to attack from so far away, so he had not prepared to evade. As the slash reached him, Aokiji helplessly used his Devil Fruit power, his body rapidly turning into solid ice.

Yet the next second, the slash passed straight through Aokiji's body. He was severed cleanly at the waist, and his upper body crashed onto the deck with a bang.

"Boom!!!!" After passing through Aokiji's body, the slash lost some of its force before slamming into the railing, blasting a massive gap through the warship's guardrail.

"Crack—" The elementalized Aokiji quickly returned to normal. He touched the nonexistent wound on his lower abdomen, then turned to look at the huge gap in the railing, visibly startled.

"That was... a Flying Slash!"

"A swordsman!"

Yoriichi nodded excitedly, tightening his grip on the bamboo sword as he sent out two more Flying Slashes. This time, he seemed to have grasped the technique more skillfully, and the slashes covered a much wider area than before.

If someone could see Yoriichi's slashes with the naked eye, they would likely see crescent-shaped air blades three meters long and half a meter wide racing toward Aokiji.

"You brat, are you trying to chop me in half?" Aokiji helplessly spread his hands. A breeze swept past, and he vanished from where he stood.

Now that he was prepared, there was no way Aokiji would be struck by Yoriichi's slashes.

"Boom!!!"

"Boom!!!"

After two successive explosions, two more huge gaps appeared in the warship's railing. This time, two deep sword marks had even been left on the deck.

"Not bad power!"

"I can finally feel myself improving."

"Without a doubt, my limits will become even higher in this world!"

Yoriichi was quite satisfied with the power of his slashes. He raised his bamboo sword slightly, intending to test the Flying Slash he had just mastered a few more times.

But at that moment, a fist as large as a sandbag descended without a sound and struck Yoriichi on the head. He had not noticed the person behind him at all, and with no guard up, he took the punch head-on. Crying out in pain, he clutched his head and squatted down as Garp's furious roar sounded from behind him.

"Idiot!"

"What do you take my warship for?!"

"Are you training, or are you tearing my ship apart?! Huh?!"

Hearing the shout, Yoriichi turned around and saw the furious Garp.

"Uh... sorry..." Yoriichi apologized while holding his head. His personal strength had just broken through, and he had gotten so excited that he momentarily forgot where he was. Looking at the mess on the deck, he felt deeply embarrassed.

"Vice Admiral Garp, I... don't have money to pay for it." After thinking for a moment, Yoriichi suddenly gave an awkward smile and looked at Garp with a face full of apology.

"Tch, it's fine. I'll get Zephyr to reimburse it."

"Now go fix the railing and deck you damaged."

"No dinner until it's repaired!"

Picking his nose with his little finger, Garp said this with a grin. As soon as he finished speaking, he abruptly turned toward the cabin entrance and called out to Aokiji, who had been preparing to sneak away.

"Hey! Kuzan, you're involved too!"

"Fix the damaged public property with Yoriichi. If it isn't repaired, you don't get dinner either!"

The called-out Aokiji turned around with an awkward smile, then shot Yoriichi a vicious glare.

"Tap! Tap! Tap!"

The wooden mallet in his hand struck the planks. Squatting beside the railing, Tsugikuni Yoriichi hammered a properly sized wooden bar into place, then secured it with nails.

As it turned out, Yoriichi really did know carpentry. Back when he lived in seclusion in the mountains, he often had to make wooden furniture himself. Aside from decorative carving, he understood the basics of mortise-and-tenon joinery.

"Tap... tap..." Unlike Yoriichi's practiced movements, Aokiji was clearly not much of a craftsman. He hammered a plank onto the deck here and there, then pounded down the protruding edges around it. The sizing was completely wrong.

"Well... this should do."

"Close enough."

Hearing that, Yoriichi turned to look at the raised patch on the deck and fell silent.

"Forget it, Colonel Aokiji. Since I caused the damage, I'll fix it later." Aokiji's workmanship was truly hard to praise. To avoid having to redo the job, Yoriichi took the work back himself.

"It's fine, just a small problem." Aokiji also seemed to find the patch he had made rather unsightly. He reached out, and a sharp ice blade appeared in his hand. Then he used it to cut away the excess, making the plank fit smoothly into the deck.

"Whoa! Devil Fruit powers really are convenient." Yoriichi praised him before turning back to his own work.

"Come to think of it, Colonel Aokiji, why did you become a Marine?"

As a qualified carpenter, chatting while working was an essential skill. It was also the best way to bring people closer together.

"You're Teacher Zephyr's disciple, and we know each other now. Stop calling me Aokiji all the time."

"Call me Kuzan. Kuzan is my name."

Aokiji was not particularly formal with Yoriichi.

Admiral Zephyr was Aokiji's teacher as well, and Aokiji could tell that Yoriichi had a good relationship with Garp. Coupled with Yoriichi's strength and talent, Aokiji had truly begun treating him as a peer and did not put on the airs of an officer.

"The reason I became a Marine, huh~"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course it's to uphold justice!"

"Isn't that why you joined too?"

When Aokiji spoke of "upholding justice," his eyes shone. This young Marine officer had joined the Marines full of passion.

"Upholding justice... That sounds pretty amazing."

"I'm not as great as you. I just don't want to see ruined towns and innocent people dying tragic deaths anymore."

Yoriichi sighed softly, but his hands never stopped moving. Aokiji paused at those words, then looked at Yoriichi and said with a hint of gravity:

"What you want to do is far greater than what I want to do!"

"This world is vast, Yoriichi."

"What you want to do won't be easy. Without great strength, it can't be done. Even with great strength, it will still be difficult."

"I never expected someone your age to have such ambition."

At this point, Aokiji suddenly laughed. "Hahaha, I suddenly understand why you were brought aboard this ship."

"Yoriichi! You and I are both lucky to be on Vice Admiral Garp's ship!"

But just as Aokiji finished speaking, Garp's roar came from afar. "You two, stop slacking off! Get to work!"

"..."

"Fine, forget I said anything."

(End of Chapter)