Ever since Bai Sui defeated Kubota Noriyuki, the samurai, who had previously kept his distance from the village, had started dropping by now and then to chat with him.
Between the lines, he seemed to want to learn from Bai Sui. But Bai Sui knew his own limitations: he hadn't beaten Kubota Noriyuki through skill.
Still, when it came to boasting, who couldn't spin a tale or two?
Bai Sui hadn't been drinking, but he still launched into a long-winded discussion with Kubota Noriyuki. "Listen, I train with a sword, not a blade, so I can't tell you how to train with one. But I can tell you a bit about training with a sword.
"When you first start out, there's no sword in your hand, and no sword in your heart. The sword is just a tool for attacking.
"Once you reach a certain level, the sword in your hand is no longer a sword, but you still haven't found the sword in your heart.
"When you've reached the peak of mastery, the sword in your hand flies, and the sword in your heart dances. Your understanding and your techniques become one. The sword goes where your heart goes, and stops when your heart stills. It's an incredible feeling. This stage is called unity of man and sword: the sword is the man, and the man is the sword. Even a blade of grass in your hand becomes a weapon.
"That's the peak of swordsmanship among ordinary people. Anything beyond that enters the realm of the Way.
"The Way of the Sword means there's a sword in your heart, but none in your hand. Whether you're holding a sword or not, whether it's a good sword or a bad one, whether it's sharp or not—it doesn't matter. A withered branch or a leaf can become a sword in your hands. At this stage, there's no sword in your hand, only one in your heart. Even barehanded, you can kill an enemy a hundred paces away with sword energy..."
Since he was just making things up, Bai Sui said whatever came to mind, whether it was true or not. After all, if you said these things were wrong, they weren't exactly wrong; but if you said they were right, well, Bai Sui had never proved any of it.
Whether it was really true, or whether anyone could actually do it, Bai Sui didn't know. And it wasn't the most important thing right now, either. What mattered was that the samurai from the Land of Iron standing before him had been completely awed.
It wasn't that Kubota Noriyuki had never heard anything like this before. It was because of the person standing in front of him.
The man before him was a powerful fighter who had defeated him with ease. He had no reason to feed him a load of nonsense. Kubota Noriyuki figured he must have been too inexperienced to understand any of this before. Now, hearing it again, he felt as if a sudden revelation had washed over him.
Bai Sui paid no mind to all that. He simply shared whatever he could remember from his previous life that didn't sound too far-fetched. "I've already said I don't know much about training with a blade, but I've heard a few things. You can take them for what they're worth."
Kubota Noriyuki's eyes lit up. He thought Bai Sui's earlier words had just been humble disclaimers, and that now he was going to guide him in his future training. "Please, don't hold back."
Bai Sui said, "Let me make it clear first: this is all hearsay. I've heard there are several stages. The first is a swordsman who simply swings his blade. Through tireless training, swinging it tens of thousands of times, he engraves the motion into his body. But in the end, this kind of person can only ever be an ordinary swordsman.
"The next stage is to develop another kind of strength. After all, the human body has its limits, and chakra comes from the combination of physical and spiritual energy.
"Even people who don't belong to ninja clans can cultivate chakra. They just might not have the natural advantages those clans do, so they can't match them in quantity. But even coating a blade in chakra can let it cut through ninjutsu. And a blade steeped in chakra over a long period of time will benefit from it as well.
"Of course, chakra is just one of many kinds of energy. There's more than one supernatural power in this world, and all of them can be used to increase your strength.
"Beyond that is the stage of cutting steel. At this level, a swordsman can use his blade to cut through steel. He can usually snap his opponent's weapon in the very first exchange, then win with ease.
"The final stage goes even further. Nothing is beyond the reach of the blade; nothing cannot be cut. With a single stroke, even heaven and earth can be cleaved apart.
"Of course, let me stress again: I've only heard these things. I've never seen them myself."
Bai Sui had taken the swordsmanship he'd read about in One Piece in his previous life, tweaked it, and passed it off as his own. In his eyes, Haki was just a kind of energy, so he'd replaced it with chakra.
When Kubota Noriyuki heard Bai Sui emphasize that he'd only heard about it, he thought Bai Sui was trying to spare him any pressure. After all, an ordinary man like him would never get the chance to encounter such a profound path.
Kubota Noriyuki also vaguely remembered hearing something about cutting steel before. It hadn't been exactly the same, but Bai Sui's explanation was more detailed, which clearly proved that it was a genuine teaching.
Knowing Bai Sui didn't want him to feel indebted, Kubota Noriyuki didn't say anything. Instead, he silently committed this kindness to memory.
One day later, Bai Sui happened to see Kubota Noriyuki at the village outpost, teaching a few children how to train their bodies.
Yes, Bai Sui had stopped teaching the children himself. He had been in the village for five years now, and the children who had learned to read were gradually starting to work alongside the adults.
Except for one boy named Iwai Yasuharu. Since he was quick on his feet and bright, Bai Sui had kept him by his side to teach him medicine, and had him teach the younger children to read.
The village had made some progress over those five years. Thanks to Bai Sui's medical skills, no one in the village had died from illness or injury. But the wars beyond their borders had never stopped.
During that time, the fighting in the Land of Fields, which bordered the Land of Iron, had grown even more intense. More villages had been destroyed, and more people had been driven from their homes.
Some people fleeing toward the Land of Iron had discovered the village and joined them.
Over the past five years, seven families totaling thirty-two people had arrived, greatly increasing the size of the village. Some of them had been treated by other doctors before, and were immediately astonished by Bai Sui's skills.
After seeing how their families reacted, Bai Sui toned down the results of his treatments accordingly, doing his best to make them take a little longer.
Bai Sui wanted to avoid trouble, but someone else didn't want him to enjoy such an easy life in the village.
Several small ninja clans in the Land of Fields had been casually defeated by a ninja clan from the Land of Fire during the previous war. They had suffered heavy losses overall, and many of their people had died during the postwar relief efforts.
That made them take notice of the healers in the Land of Fields. After obtaining several doctors from the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fields, they found that the doctors' treatments were poor. They weren't even as effective as the ninjas' own chakra-assisted recovery, and could only handle bandaging and stitching wounds—tasks the ninjas could do themselves.
So a servant in the Feudal Lord's residence in the Land of Fields told them about Bai Sui.