The Heart of a Strong One

All seven participants sized up their opponents, and Ryan discovered that there were actually four people he recognized. Hawkeye, Vista, and the two interesting individuals he had just been paying attention to were among them. Ryan looked at the young man who favored drawing his sword and asked, "What kind of sword technique is that?"

The youth kept his mouth shut. Telling an enemy about one's ultimate move on the eve of a major battle was simply courting death. One had to know that in a duel between such experts, even the smallest mistake could cost a person their life.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense, and no one dared to make the first move, because whoever struck first would inevitably become the focal point of everyone else and end up under siege.

Ryan was quite content with the situation; if he had to fight all six of them at once, he still couldn't win. After all, none of these six were ordinary people—they were heaven-favored prodigies who had stood out from nearly ten thousand swordsmen.

There was no need to even mention Hawkeye and Vista; their strength was not to be underestimated even in the New World. As for the other four, although Ryan had not heard their stories in his past life, witnessing them with his own eyes made Ryan understand even more that they were far from simple.

Just as the seven of them were in a standoff, some people watching from below could no longer help themselves and began to jeer from the sidelines.

Diamond Jozu waved his large fist and shouted, "Go get 'em, Vista! Don't shame Old Man!"

Kid felt extremely annoyed upon hearing this. How dare this big lug tell someone to go after our captain?

In reality, Diamond Jozu had not told Vista to fight Ryan, but because of their previous encounter, Kid subconsciously projected himself into the scenario.

Kid jumped up excitedly and yelled, "Captain, he's going after you! Can you just take that? If it were me, I wouldn't be able to stand it! This is a provocation! He's not taking you seriously at all!"

Ryan turned his head to look at Vista and asked, "Is that true?"

Vista wanted to speak but stopped, ultimately saying nothing and maintaining his silence. He looked at the excited Jozu below with an expression of helpless exasperation, deeply wanting to say to Jozu, When on earth did I ever say I was going after Ryan? You really are my good brother!

Kid, down below, had been closely watching Vista's expression. Seeing Vista first hesitate and then fall silent until that final look of utter helplessness, the shrewd Kid took it all in.

He immediately reported to Ryan, "Captain, he says he's afraid of hurting you!"

Even though Ryan hadn't heard Vista say any such thing, fighting anyone was better than fighting no one. The others weren't even as famous as Flower Sword Vista.

"Vista, today either you die or I do!" Ryan raised his sword and slashed toward Vista's head.

Vista had no choice but to cross his twin swords to parry. After their blades collided, the two of them retreated more than ten paces simultaneously, except that Vista stepped back a few paces further than Ryan.

Ryan thought to himself, This Vista isn't living on undeserved reputation either; he can actually block an attack of mine with such ease.

In truth, Ryan had miscalculated. Vista at this moment was actually a fraction stronger than Hawkeye. Ryan had made his comparison based on Vista and Hawkeye during the Summit War, assuming that the present Vista was weaker than Hawkeye.

Yet the reality was that in the early days, Hawkeye was not stronger than Vista; Hawkeye grew increasingly formidable after becoming a Great Swordsman, whereas the current Vista was not all that much weaker than he would be during the Summit War.

Ryan also put aside his frivolous mindset. His recent progress had been a bit too fast, with attribute points ticking up wildly, and coupled with his comprehension of the Two-Sleeved Green Snake swordsmanship, it had caused Ryan to get a little carried away and slightly underestimate the heroes of the world.

Composing his mindset, Ryan said with a solemn expression, "Use your full strength, Vista! I look forward to a battle with you!"

Vista also developed a different feeling toward this young man.

"Come on, let me see what kind of strength the Bloody Swordsman, who has been hogging the limelight lately, really has!"

The two of them began to trade blows back and forth, remarkably remaining evenly matched for a time. Both of them were using unpretentious, basic swordsmanship without any flashy tricks.

Ryan discovered that while battling Vista, he had forgotten the most fundamental things about swordsmanship. Ever since learning many powerful sword techniques, Ryan had stopped refining and polishing his basic swordsmanship altogether.

The reason later-stage Hawkeye was universally acknowledged as the World's Strongest Swordsman was precisely because his normal attacks were others' ultimate moves; his basic swordsmanship had already reached the pinnacle of perfection.

Could it be that Hawkeye lacked powerful sword techniques? Nobody would believe such a statement—which swordsman in the pirate world didn't have a few powerful sword techniques? Yet Hawkeye relied purely on the blade in his hand to hack his way into the status of the World's Strongest Swordsman.

Thus, while fighting Vista, Ryan absorbed and polished his own swordsmanship. In the process, Ryan also discovered that his comprehension of the way of the sword had deepened a little more.

A true master always retains the heart of an apprentice. Ryan used to think this phrase was just something people said to act cool, but now Ryan somewhat understood it.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye, watching the battle scene between Ryan and Vista from the side, had a burning gaze in his eyes as he said, "This is the path of the sword I want to pursue!"

Hawkeye directly abandoned his own opponent and charged toward Ryan. The person fighting Hawkeye was also quite content, thinking he might even be able to reap the fisherman's profit.

Fortunately, Ryan's Observation Haki had already reached the advanced peak, or else he truly wouldn't have been able to fend off such behavior as Hawkeye charging in without a word of warning.

"Mihawk, what are you doing?" Ryan said angrily. Third parties like Mihawk who meddled in other people's fights were the ones Ryan detested the most.

"I'm here to fight you. Your battle just now gave me a strong feeling."

Ryan: "?????"

"Come on, Ryan, give me inspiration." Hawkeye found that Ryan was simply his lucky star. Their first battle had allowed Hawkeye to experience a sudden enlightenment and break through to the realm of a Great Swordsman, and the second—which was right now—gave Hawkeye a sense of seeing the future direction of swordsmanship.

Seeing Mihawk acting like this, Ryan knew that using words was not going to resolve Mihawk's problem.

The only way was to teach him how to behave using the sword in his hand.

Hawkeye's joining increased the pressure on Ryan. It could be said that this was the first time since Ryan debuted that he was completely on the defensive while fighting others.

As time passed, the attacks of Hawkeye and Vista grew increasingly fierce. It wasn't that they had become more formidable, but rather that Ryan was beginning to sustain injuries little by little and slow down. His white clothes were stained with blood, looking quite miserable in the eyes of outsiders.

Feeling the hand holding his sword grow increasingly heavy, a demon inside Ryan's mind continuously tried to persuade him: Stop using basic swordsmanship to fight. If this goes on, you'll be defeated by them.

No, they are using basic swordsmanship to fight, too!

Powerful sword techniques are something that inherently belongs to you in the first place; if others don't have them, it's just because they are too weak.

Subconsciously, Ryan wanted to unleash the Two-Sleeved Green Snake to blast the two of them away, but in the end, he still suppressed the urge.

In all my life, I, Ryan, have never been inferior to others. Since they aren't using them, naturally I won't either!

Forcing himself to endure as he continuously swung the sword in his hand to fight, even though the wounds on his body multiplied, Ryan's sword grew increasingly concise, shedding a lot of superfluous excess.

Ryan's eyes also grew progressively brighter, and his sword intent grew stronger by the minute, as if the injuries on his body simply did not exist.

Garp, watching the battle from afar, sighed at this sight, "What an extraordinary kid!"

Aokiji's drowsy eyes widened. One had to know that Garp had never praised anyone like this before.

"Why would Vice Admiral Garp say that?"

"That kid has awakened the Heart of the Strong!" Garp said with emotion, looking as though he recalled his own bygone youth.

More than twenty years ago, Garp fought a great battle in the New World against the Flower Country's great pirate Chinjao, resulting in a draw. In order to use his own iron fist to shatter the pride of Chinjao's horned head, Garp began relentless, round-the-clock tempering of his iron fists, using several massive mountains as substitutes for punching bags in a grueling devil-style training regimen. Finally, after flattening three large mountains, the two clashed once again. This time, Garp flattened Chinjao's conical head with a single punch, and with that same punch, he shattered Chinjao's dream.

What other people saw was the terrifying majesty of Garp's single punch, but very few could see the hard work and conviction he poured into defeating Chinjao.

It was precisely because he possessed the firm determination of I will not lose to anyone in this field that Garp grew stronger and stronger from then on—going from initially fighting Chinjao to a standstill, to later chasing the Pirate King Roger all over the world, capturing Golden Lion, and ultimately becoming the current Hero of the Marines!

Whether conviction or talent is more important has always been a paradox, but wanting to become a true powerhouse without a strong will is simply impossible.

At this moment, Ryan had also fallen into a wondrous state. The more he fought, the braver he became, completely disregarding his bodily injuries. He shifted from the state of being suppressed by the two of them earlier to faintly regaining control of the situation.

The longer Vista fought, the more aggrieved he felt. Having an extra person join didn't change anything from before, which simply meant he wasn't pulling his weight! Vista looked toward Hawkeye and saw that Hawkeye's gaze was growing progressively brighter, as if he had realized something.

It was very similar to the state Ryan had been in earlier. Sensing the changes in Hawkeye and Ryan, Vista also understood that these two must have comprehended something very important during the combat.

Yet they had never once considered Vista's feelings. Uninvoluntarily, three questions welled up in Vista's heart.

"Who am I?"

"Where am I?"

"Why do I have to be sandwiched between these two monsters!"

Seemingly thinking of something all of a sudden, Vista looked toward the edge of the ring, and then he saw Jozu smiling honestly back at him!