"So... that's Shave? Doesn't seem that hard."
"Not a bad technique," came the calm reply.
Shave—one of the Navy's famed Six Powers—was a combat technique where the user stomped the ground dozens of times in an instant, unleashing a burst of reactive force to move at explosive speed. To the untrained eye, it was as if the user had vanished entirely.
Undoubtedly, Shave was a high-level technique. The sheer speed it generated was enough to overwhelm the reflexes of most opponents.
Naturally, such a technique wasn't easy to learn. Across the vast seas—particularly in the first half of the Grand Line—it was virtually unheard of. Even within the Navy, those capable of mastering any of the Six Powers were generally officers or above.
But in Yoriichi Tsugikuni's eyes, even this so-called advanced technique felt plain, even mundane.
Under the insight of the Transparent World, every movement of Kuzan's muscles while using Shave was laid bare—there were no secrets to speak of.
Yoriichi himself had once diced Muzan into over a thousand fragments in mere moments. Now, even in this new world, though only twelve years old, his strength had not diminished in the slightest. His physical condition could easily handle the demands of Shave.
The moment he saw Kuzan use the technique, Yoriichi flawlessly mimicked it—and immediately applied it in battle.
In a flash, he appeared behind Kuzan, spinning mid-step and slashing toward the admiral's back. Their height difference was considerable; Yoriichi's habitual strike to the neck barely reached Kuzan's lower back.
"Oh?"
"Now that's surprising!"
"Have you trained in Shave before?"
Kuzan turned his head slightly, glancing at Yoriichi from the corner of his eye. He didn't bother to dodge. The blade made contact—only for Kuzan's back to instantly crystallize into solid ice, freezing Yoriichi's katana on impact. The cold surged along the blade, racing toward his hand.
Yoriichi reacted instantly, releasing the sword and leaping backward to create distance.
Staring at his frozen sword embedded in Kuzan's back, he couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated.
Weren't we supposed to be practicing the Six Powers? Why do you keep using your Devil Fruit? Isn't this just bullying someone who's playing fair?
"I hadn't learned it before. Today was my first time seeing it."
Yoriichi lowered his sword arm. He'd been disarmed, and this sparring match had barely begun before it was already over. Logia-type Devil Fruit powers were simply too overwhelming at this stage. Even if Yoriichi hadn't shown his full power or all his breathing techniques, the result would have been the same.
Against someone who couldn't use Haki, Logia users were practically untouchable. Not everyone was like Crocodile, who could be taken down with a barrel of water and a good punch.
"Your first time?" Kuzan blinked, briefly surprised. But his expression quickly returned to normal. With a casual tug, he removed the frozen blade from his back and glanced toward the lookout post atop the battleship.
Inside the dog-headed warship's observation tower, Vice Admiral Garp leaned on the windowsill, watching the events on deck. Behind him, his adjutant Bogart noticed Kuzan's gaze and spoke up:
"Vice Admiral Garp, it looks like the spar's come to an early end."
"That kid, Yoriichi—he actually used Shave. Could he be...?"
Garp shook his head with a wide grin.
"Learning Shave after seeing it once? No one would believe that if you told them."
"But it's true. Before we left port, I spoke to Zephyr. The kid had never encountered Shave before."
"As for anything before he joined the Navy... nah. There's no way anyone in the East Blue taught him that."
"Looks like I underestimated the little guy. It's not just Haki—his talent in every aspect is top-tier."
"I'll need to tweak the training regimen."
Despite his musings, Garp didn't respond to Kuzan's gaze from below.
Eventually, Kuzan gave up waiting and turned his attention back to Yoriichi.
This time, he gave Yoriichi a thorough once-over. After a long pause, he tossed the katana back and said:
"That move you used just now to flash behind me? That's Shave—one of the Navy's Six Powers."
"And that first technique I used to block your horizontal slash, that was Iron Body—another one of the Six Powers."
"Seeing how easily you picked up Shave, I figured you might have learned Iron Body too…"
Though Kuzan trailed off, his eyes were full of expectation.
Yoriichi instantly understood what he meant. But under that gaze, he just shrugged and shook his head.
"Sorry, I didn't notice you using Iron Body. All I saw was your body turning into ice."
"That ice thing... is that what Iron Body is? I'm still a little confused."
He played dumb. Yoriichi was well aware of Kuzan's Devil Fruit power. Pretending to mistake it for Iron Body was just a way to avoid drawing attention.
To be fair, it wasn't entirely a lie. He really hadn't noticed Kuzan using Iron Body. Under the clarity of the Transparent World, what he saw was elemental transformation—not any muscular reinforcement typical of Iron Body.
Flesh freezing into solid ice was obvious enough. Iron Body... not so much.
"Uh..."
"No, turning into ice is my Devil Fruit ability."
"You know about Devil Fruits, right? Treasures of the sea. Eat one, you gain a special power—but you lose the ability to swim."
"I ate the Ice-Ice Fruit. I'm a Logia-type—I can turn my whole body into ice. What you saw just now, that was my Devil Fruit power."
"As for Iron Body…"
He paused, suddenly realizing that when he'd tried using Iron Body to block Yoriichi's slash, it hadn't worked. His body had reflexively turned to ice instead.
No wonder Yoriichi hadn't noticed.
But that realization made Kuzan's gaze shift strangely.
If his intel was correct, this kid... was only twelve?
And that slash actually broke through his Iron Body?
Sure, Kuzan wasn't exactly proud of his Six Powers. His Iron Body wasn't the strongest out there—but getting overpowered by a twelve-year-old? That was hard to stomach.
He hadn't realized it during the fight, but now that he was replaying it in his mind... Yoriichi was downright terrifying.
"Has Zephyr tested your Doriki yet?" Kuzan asked suddenly, curiosity piqued.
"If he did—how high was it?"
Kuzan mentally speculated, That kind of force... at least a thousand, maybe two.
"In a full-force attack? Over five thousand. I forget the exact number."
"Zephyr-sensei said I was still weak... not ready. If Vice Admiral Garp hadn't brought me along, I probably wouldn't even be out at sea yet."
Yoriichi bowed his head in what looked like genuine embarrassment.
"Wait—only five... five thousand?!"
Kuzan's head snapped forward, his eyes going wide. He'd expected Yoriichi to be strong—but hearing the number still left him dumbstruck.
When he was Yoriichi's age, he didn't even have a fraction of that.
Five thousand Doriki was a level that could rival some of the Navy's finest. If Kuzan didn't have a Logia power, Yoriichi's strikes earlier might've done some real damage.
Now it made sense why Garp had asked him to teach Yoriichi the Six Powers. On this ship, there weren't many who could.
And maybe... sparring with Yoriichi would help him strengthen his own close-combat weaknesses.
"Zephyr-sensei really throws people into the deep end, huh."
"Yoriichi—don't take what he said too seriously. You're already incredibly strong. Just remember to hold back when you spar with others."
"Looking back, if I didn't have my Devil Fruit, those last two hits might've actually hurt me."
"Go get yourself a bamboo sword. I'll put away my Fruit powers and stick to pure technique. I'll show you the rest of the Six Powers."
*********
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