Five Stages

Luo Ya was a pragmatic person; he did not pin all his hopes on Ryujin Jakka, and his experiences in the soul space left him with lingering doubts.

Therefore, ever since he opened the soul space for the second time, Luo Ya had been practicing his swordsmanship diligently while searching for the method to trigger that state again.

Each successive strike brought a sense of tranquility to his mind, washing away the restlessness of his past life; as long as he held a blade, he felt an incomparable focus.

There was once a moment when everything in the world became inconsequential in Luo Ya's eyes, with only the wooden sword in his hand and the wooden stake before him radiating a rhythmic pulse.

In that instant, a seemingly ordinary strike split the wooden stake in two, the cut perfectly clean.

Regrettably, in the five months since he began training, that had been the only time; he had never been able to enter that state again.

Reflecting on the original plot afterward, he lamented that when he had watched One Piece, he had only been interested in Nami, Robin, the Empress, and the like, leaving him with no impression of these details.

Maynard stared at Luo Ya as if he were a monster, looking at the wooden stake that had been sliced in two by a wooden sword.

"That was you sensing the breath of the stake, which is why even a wooden sword could sever it. Luo Ya, do you know the ranks of swordsmen?"

Luo Ya shook his head; if you asked him for the measurements of Nami and the others, he could recite them backward, but he knew nothing of swordsman rankings.

"Swordsmen are roughly divided into five stages, and there are differences in strength within each stage. Let me explain these five stages to you first.

The first stage is the apprentice swordsman recruited by various dojos, the phase where an ordinary person begins to take up a sword and become a swordsman.

The second stage is cutting steel; a swordsman at this stage has touched the threshold of a master swordsman and grasped the breath of all things in the world.

The breath of all things is, simply put, a state of unparalleled focus. In this state, a swordsman can sense the rhythm of all things, akin to slicing vegetables along their grain; even with a wooden sword, one can cut through steel.

The third stage is grasping sword intent, capable of unleashing flying slashes and imbuing them with elemental attacks. Once reaching this stage, one can be called a master swordsman, significantly raising the threshold of one's slashes, with the sword qi emitted being just as sharp and piercing.

The fourth stage is cutting through Seastone, or materials like diamond, which are basically the hardest substances in the world.

The fifth stage is cutting the intangible, such as space or the like; I don't know much about it myself, so I won't go into detail."

Luo Ya listened with yearning and asked, "What about Hawk-Eye? Isn't Hawk-Eye the world's greatest swordsman? What stage is he at now?"

"You certainly know quite a bit. When Mihawk first reached the pinnacle as the world's greatest swordsman, he should have been at the peak of the third stage; now, he should already be at the fourth stage," Maynard said, looking down at the scar on his chest.

Luo Ya was still immersed in his excitement. "Don't worry, Old Man, the position of the world's greatest swordsman will be mine one day. When I reach the fifth stage, I'll come back and teach you."

A vein pulsed on Maynard's forehead. "Kid, starting tomorrow, your training volume is doubled. Once you have completely mastered the breath of all things, you can go out for real combat."

"Isn't that easy? I can just take a few pirate heads to exchange for bounties and improve my life, but I don't know how to navigate, Old Man," Luo Ya said, spreading his hands.

"Don't worry, you don't need to navigate. I'll get you an identity as an assassin in the underworld; as long as there's a mission, you'll take it. It will be a good way for you to get to know this sea. Just don't wet your pants and lose face for me, Silvers Maynard," Maynard said proudly.

"Don't worry, Old Man. The moment I gripped my sword, I was prepared to be killed. But why does the surname Silvers sound so familiar?" Luo Ya scratched his head.

"Finish today's training and go prepare dinner!" Bang! Maynard punched Luo Ya, sending him flying into a cloud of dust.

Luo Ya stood up, brushed the dust off his body, gripped his wooden sword, and gritted his teeth as he slashed at the stake, as if he were cutting someone's throat, a smile of vengeance satisfied appearing on his face.

Maynard sighed. In his youth, he had clearly been a hero of justice; the only reason he had ended up on a wanted poster was for helping his younger brother's pirate ship escape the Navy's pursuit. As he grew older, why did the apprentice he took in look like a villain among villains? Perhaps he had changed, too.

He truly missed the days of adventuring on the sea. Hawk-Eye, keep waiting in that seat of the world's greatest swordsman. It won't be long before a brat named Luo Ya cuts you down from your throne.

Maynard sighed, touched the scar on his chest, took out a bottle labeled Jerez, and began to drink. He stroked the tombstone in front of him, which was engraved with "One of the 21 Great Grade Swords: Onimaru Kunitsuna." Behind the tombstone, a broken blade was stuck diagonally into the ground. As the sun set, the shadows of the man and the sword stretched longer and longer.