Chapter 16 – I Almost Got Cut in Half by You
"Shave, huh… not that hard."
"Quite the technique."
Shave—one of the Navy's Six Styles. By stomping the ground dozens of times within an instant, the user generates explosive reactive force, achieving movement so fast that to an onlooker, it seems as though they've vanished.
Without question, Shave is a high-level combat technique. The burst of speed it grants is often enough to outpace an enemy's reflexes entirely. And yet, mastering such a skill is extraordinarily difficult. Across the entire sea, almost no one in the first half of the Grand Line is capable of it; even within the Navy, only officers and above can usually wield the Six Styles.
But for Tsugikuni Yoriichi, such a "high-end" technique appeared disarmingly simple.
Through the Transparent World, every subtle motion of Aokiji's muscles as he performed Shave was laid bare before Yoriichi's eyes—there was nothing hidden from him.
And Yoriichi was no ordinary fighter. He was the man who once cut Muzan into over a thousand pieces in the blink of an eye. Even in this new world, though his body was that of a twelve-year-old boy, his physical ability hadn't declined in the slightest—it could easily support the demands of Shave.
Thus, the instant he saw Aokiji use the move, Yoriichi was able to perfectly replicate it—and apply it immediately in battle.
With a flicker, he appeared behind Aokiji, his blade arcing upward in a reverse slash toward the admiral's back. Their height difference was considerable; Yoriichi's usual strike at the neck barely reached Aokiji's lower back.
"Oh my…"
"Now that's surprising."
"Have you used Shave before?"
Aokiji turned his head slightly, eyeing Yoriichi from the corner of his gaze.
He didn't dodge or defend, allowing the strike to land. The instant the blade touched his back, his body crystallized into ice, the chill surging outward as it froze Yoriichi's sword—and quickly began creeping up the boy's arm.
Yoriichi reacted at once, letting go of the hilt and leaping backward to open the distance.
He looked at his sword now stuck in a sheet of ice on Aokiji's back and couldn't help but feel exasperated.
Wasn't this supposed to be a lesson on the Six Styles? Why do you keep using your Devil Fruit powers? Bullying the honest student, are we?
"I hadn't learned it before—today's my first time seeing it."
Yoriichi relaxed his stance. Disarmed as he was, this sparring session was as good as over. The power of a Logia-type fruit user was simply too unreasonable for his current means to overcome. Even with all his breathing forms, the result would've been the same.
Against someone without Haki, a Logia user was untouchable. Not everyone was like Crocodile, after all—vulnerable to being pummeled with a bucket of water.
"First time, huh?" Aokiji murmured, his expression flickering briefly before settling back into calm. With a casual motion, he pulled the frozen blade free and turned his gaze toward the ship's lookout tower.
From the top of the Dog-Head Battleship, Vice Admiral Garp stood by the window, forearms resting on the sill as he watched the match below. Behind him, his adjutant Bogard glanced toward the same direction and spoke:
"Vice Admiral Garp, looks like the spar's come to an end. That boy, Tsugikuni Yoriichi… he actually used Shave. Could he possibly—?"
Garp shook his head, grinning broadly.
"Seeing it once and already able to use it? No one's gonna believe that story."
"But that's how it is. Before we set sail, I talked to Zephyr—this kid had never come into contact with Shave before."
"As for before he joined the Navy—heh, impossible. There's no one in the East Blue who can use that."
"Looks like I really underestimated this brat. Not just his Haki—even in everything else, his talent's top-class!"
"Guess I'll have to tweak my training plans for him."
Garp kept chatting with his adjutant, but gave no response to Aokiji's glance from below.
After a while, seeing no reaction from the lookout, Aokiji looked away and turned back to Yoriichi.
This time, he examined the boy carefully from head to toe. After a long pause, he tossed Yoriichi's blade back to him and said calmly:
"That flash-step you used to appear behind me just now—that's Shave, one of the Navy's Six Styles."
"The move I used earlier to block your horizontal slash is called Iron Body—another of the Navy's Six Styles."
"Judging from how easily you picked up Shave, I suppose you've already got the hang of that one. As for Iron Body…"
Aokiji trailed off, but the expectation gleaming in his eyes said more than words. Yoriichi caught the hint immediately.
Meeting Aokiji's gaze, he shook his head and spread his hands. "Sorry, I didn't see you use Iron Body. All I noticed was that your body turned into ice when my blade hit you."
"Turning into ice—was that Iron Body? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch it."
He feigned confusion, pretending not to understand. Of course, he knew perfectly well about Aokiji's Devil Fruit ability. Mistaking that ability for Iron Body was just his way of keeping up appearances.
That said, Yoriichi wasn't lying entirely. Under the perception of the Transparent World, what he'd seen was Aokiji's body elementalize into ice—but there had been no sign of the Six Styles technique itself.
Blood and flesh turning to ice was obvious enough, but Iron Body… not so much.
"Uh—no," Aokiji said awkwardly. "My body turning to ice is because of my Devil Fruit ability."
"You know about Devil Fruits, right? The sea's secret treasures. Eat one, and you gain a special power—but lose the ability to swim."
"I ate the Ice-Ice Fruit, so I'm a Freezing Human—one of the Logia types. I can freely turn my body into ice. What you saw just now was that power."
"As for Iron Body…"
He stopped mid-sentence, realizing something. When he'd tried to use Iron Body earlier, Yoriichi's slash had actually broken through, forcing him to instinctively turn into ice. No wonder the boy hadn't noticed the technique at all.
The thought made Aokiji's expression turn slightly strange.
If the intel he'd heard was right, this kid was only twelve years old, wasn't he? Yet his slash had broken through his Iron Body. Sure, Aokiji's Six Styles training wasn't top-tier, and his Iron Body left much to be desired—but still, to be overpowered by a twelve-year-old? That was terrifying.
He hadn't realized it during the spar, but now that he replayed it in his mind, the thought of Yoriichi's strength sent a chill down his spine.
"Has Instructor Zephyr had your Doriki tested before? If so, how much was it?" Aokiji asked curiously.
Judging from that attack just now, he estimated, That slash had to be at least a thousand… maybe even two thousand.
"Full power… around five thousand-something, I think. I've forgotten the exact number."
"Teacher Zephyr said I'm still weak, not good enough yet. If Vice Admiral Garp hadn't taken me along, I probably wouldn't have been allowed to set sail."
Hearing that, Aokiji froze.
"Only fiv—five thousand?!" he blurted, leaning forward with wide eyes.
He'd expected the kid to be strong, sure—but not this strong.
At Yoriichi's age, Aokiji's own Doriki had probably been a fraction of that.
A power level of over five thousand put him on par with the Navy's elite—already a monster among soldiers. Without his Logia abilities, even Aokiji himself would've needed to go all out to beat this boy.
Now he finally understood why Garp had personally assigned him to guide Yoriichi in the Six Styles. On this ship, there were only a handful of people even qualified to teach him.
And truth be told, sparring with Yoriichi might even help him improve.
"Zephyr-sensei really does whatever he wants, huh…" Aokiji sighed helplessly.
"Yoriichi, don't take his words too seriously. You're already incredibly strong. But when sparring with others, make sure you hold back."
He gave a wry smile. "Now that I think about it—if I didn't have my Devil Fruit powers, those two strikes earlier probably would've cut me open."
"Go grab a bamboo sword. I'll stop using my Devil Fruit and fight you with pure body techniques. I'll also show you the rest of the Six Styles while we're at it."
(End of Chapter)