Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 213 Shanks's Education

But as soon as the footage was shown, the naval leadership was completely stunned.

Marshal Sengoku muttered under his breath, "Damn Borsalino, why didn't he tell me beforehand?"

What did the admirals, generals, and vice admirals of the navy see?

They clearly witnessed a clash of Conqueror's Haki!

The Conqueror's Haki swirling with red lightning was familiar; it belonged to Shanks, the Red-Haired.

And whose is that golden, dazzling, midday sun-like Conqueror's Haki?

Another guy with Conqueror's Haki has appeared. Who are they going to fight?

Lieutenant General Tsuru spoke first, saying, "This chilling aura that freezes the sea is indeed powerful, but it is still quite different from that of Aokiji."

Head Instructor Zephyr said in a pretentious manner, "The guy who fights Shanks relies on physical strength and Haki to fight. His freezing ability is just used to repair the damaged ice field."

"This man is clearly a naval officer."

Sakazuki, the Red Dog, asked, "Instructor, how are you so sure?"

Zephyr replied, "Although the image is blurry, I can confirm that he used a special method of applying force when drawing on paper."

"This method of exerting force was only summarized last year. It is a new technique applied in training courses and is also a technique unique to our navy."

"This guy who can put Shanks at a stalemate must be a naval officer, and either he attended last year's training course or learned about the promotion techniques in detail as an instructor."

Sengoku, Sakazuki, and Tsuru exchanged glances, all realizing that this person might be the exiled Shazo.

Located in the East China Sea, possessing formidable strength, and having participated in last year's naval training course, there was no other naval officer besides Xia Zuo who met all three of these criteria.

Although his strength seems surprisingly great, past information has mentioned Xia Zuo's hard training, so it's not impossible for him to undergo another transformation in a year.

However, Xia Zuo possesses Conqueror's Haki, which is not good news.

From the Navy's perspective, it's less impressive for Shazam to possess Conqueror's Haki than for a rookie pirate to suddenly appear with it.

The World Government and the Five Elders are very wary of naval officers who possess Conqueror's Haki.

Marshal Sengoku possessed Conqueror's Haki and was thoroughly investigated by the Five Elders. Ultimately, they had no other choice but to grant him the title of Marshal.

The World Government felt uneasy about the Navy, which possessed "the qualities of a king," and made many efforts to limit it whenever problems arose.

For example, military spending was cut, and the number of generals was reduced.

It wasn't until the Pirate King was beheaded and the Great Pirate Era began that the number of Marine Admirals was increased from one to three.

With the Navy now possessing three admirals, the World Government significantly increased its investment in CP, expanding it from CP0 all the way to CP9, and established a massive reserve to replenish it at any time in case of loss.

These actions have made the naval leadership feel extremely uncomfortable.

There's only one Marine with Conqueror's Haki. If there were another one, I don't know what kind of extreme actions the World Government would take.

So, the naval high command tacitly turned a blind eye.

Even the most straightforward Ze Fang pretended not to see anything and kept his mouth shut while watching the battle.

Seeing Zephyr's focused attitude, Sengoku, Tsuru, Sakazuki, and Kuzan suddenly realized an even greater danger.

They went to great lengths to separate Shazo and Zefa on opposite sides of the Red Line, ensuring they remained strangers to each other.

But today, through the video call Snail, Zephyr saw the existence of Shazo.

This is too dangerous.

Previously, they were only worried that Zephyr would be corrupted by Shazo's "simple justice" ideology. Now, they are worried that Zephyr will conquer Shazo with his personal charm and form a second navy with the strength of two admirals.

Once such a second navy is born, it will naturally tear apart the navy, and even the three admirals will find it difficult to suppress, requiring Sengoku to step in.

Such dangers must be nipped in the bud.

Sengoku gave Vice Admiral Tsuru a wink, and Tsuru immediately took out his Den Den Mushi as if nothing had happened, pretended to answer a phone call, and left the Marshal's office.

After leaving, Lieutenant General Tsuru immediately made an urgent phone call to Borsalino.

There was absolutely no need to answer; the worldly-wise Kizaru instantly understood the meaning of making a call after feeling the vibration of the Den Den Mushi.

He understood that this wasn't a call anyone could make; it must be that Marshal Zhan Guo didn't want him to continue playing the footage.

Thus, Borsalino's nimble "accidental" mishap sent the videophone snail into a vacuum slash, severely injuring it and rendering it unable to make calls.

After the scene disappeared, Borsalino quickly used the second Telephone Snail to dial Sengoku's Den Den Mushi.

He first explained that his Den Den Mushi had been destroyed by the aftermath of the battle, and then began a verbal broadcast.

Borsalino was usually lazy and easygoing, but because he was fast enough to provide timely support to any location, he became Sengoku's favorite general to be mobilized.

Among the current three admirals, Kizaru has experienced more battles than Akainu and Aokiji combined, making him undoubtedly the most knowledgeable and experienced.

The battle between Shazor and Shanks was clearly conveyed to the Marine high command in Marineford through his words, allowing them to clearly feel Shanks' strength and Shazor's tenacity.

Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru were very satisfied with Borsalino's keen reaction and listened attentively to his explanation, calculating in their minds when Garp would arrive at the battlefield.

Although Shazam was still inexperienced when facing Shanks and was suppressed by Shanks, he had already shown a tenacity no less than that of the three admirals, enough to intervene in the battle of the admirals.

This kid can barely be considered a general-level fighter.

When Garp arrived, the battlefield was filled with the combined might of three Marine Admirals, enough to attempt to overwhelm Shanks, the Pirate Emperor.

Of course, Sengoku knew that Shanks had an enormous "face" to speak of, and killing him was definitely out of the question, otherwise the Five Elders would devour him, the Fleet Admiral.

But if we could capture Shanks, the man of pride, and throw him into Impel Down for a few days, that would be excellent.

At that time, the Five Elders will have to take the initiative to call Sengoku and show enough sincerity to get him to release the person.

This was an enormous favor, and the shrewd Sengoku was able to extract a great deal of benefits from the World Government, ensuring the Navy had a good time.

On the battlefield, Shanks no longer used "Divine Evasion." The fact that this technique failed to defeat Shaza twice in a row proves that he must be forced into a situation where he cannot dodge in order to win in one blow.

As a great swordsman, Shanks is certainly not a fool who can't fight without [God's Evasion]. He wields the black blade Griffin, skillfully slashing out streaks of sword light, weaving a dense net of swords, constantly restricting Shaza's range of movement.

Shanks' fighting style is completely consistent with his personality. He starts with the cheerful and generous "God's Dodge" when they meet. If that doesn't work, he'll use "God's Dodge" again. If that still doesn't work, he'll reveal his meticulous sword net and patiently conquer his opponent.

Xia Zuo had long since discarded the broken Navy standard longsword. He covered his hands with Armament Haki and fought Shanks. During the battle, his clenched fists unconsciously opened.

Xia Zuo felt uncomfortable with the heavy fists; he found it much more comfortable to fight with his fingers spread wide, using each finger as a sword.

Shaza quickly used the Water Bird Fist of the Southern Dipper Saint Fist as a foundation, and the Holy Sword Slash of Saint Seiya Shaza as its sharpest edge. He waved his palms and flicked his fingers to unleash a sky full of sword energy, resisting Shanks's sword net's closing trend.

During the battle, with the pressure of Shanks, the great swordsman, Shaza gradually realized that he had gone down the wrong path in the past.

Because of the shared cheat system and the extremely high training efficiency in the One Piece world, Shaza's strength and stamina improved too quickly, allowing him to easily defeat all enemies with his fists in low-level matches.

As a complete novice in combat, he couldn't even recognize the problem and so easily assumed that he was good at punches, even taking Garp the Iron Fist as his role model.

Once they entered the naval special training class, the instructors in the regular class had neither Zephyr's vision nor his seriousness and responsibility. They simply mechanically stuffed the students with knowledge of the Six Styles of the Navy and Haki.

Xia Zuo once again missed an opportunity to correct his own style.

Now, fighting against Shanks, one of the strongest fighters in the One Piece world, Xia Zuo is under unprecedented pressure. The disharmony that was previously masked by his strength advantage has been fully exposed, finally making him realize what his most suitable fighting system is.

Xia Zuo laughed heartily: "Thank you, Shanks the Red, thank you for helping me find my own path."

"In return, please experience my strike."

Shazor stretched out his arms and lowered his body slightly, like a wading bird foraging in shallow water. His eyes were fixed on Shanks, as if he were a plump fish that made the wading bird salivate.

【Southern Dipper: Waterbirds Take Flight】

Xia Zuo swung his arms downwards, soaring high into the air, his ten fingers twirling and flicking, scattering streaks of sword energy as fine as feathers.

The sword energy feathers connected one by one, forming a pair of huge white wings. They fanned away the sword net woven by Shanks, and then closed in on the dumbfounded Shanks, as if to envelop him inside the wings.

These are not wings of protection, but wings that tear you apart and subject you to slow slicing.

If Shanks cannot dodge in time and is surrounded by the sword-like wings, he will be sliced ​​to pieces by the sword-like feathers that make up the wings, turning into pieces of flesh scattered all over the ground.

Red-haired Shanks' eyes were filled with excitement and surprise: "What kind of sword technique is this? No, it's a fist technique?"

He channeled his power into Griffin and unleashed four powerful slashes, the massive sword energy forming a "well" shape that shattered the enormous white wings.

The feathers on the tattered wings were attracted by the sword energy and crashed into the back of the massive sword energy, tearing it apart and destroying it.

Shazam and Shanks both smiled with surprise.

Shanks exclaimed, "Oh dear, it's impossible to tell if it's fist fighting or sword fighting now!"

Xia Zuo replied, "Are swordsmanship and fist techniques really subject to such inconvenient constraints?"

"In my view, swords and knives are nothing more than extensions of the arm, and fingers and fists are just like swords and knives, tools for exerting power. There is no difference between fist techniques and sword techniques in themselves."

Shanks pressed his straw hat down with his left hand, then threw his head back and laughed loudly, "This is hilarious, kid in the navy, you're really funny!"

He lowered his head, looking at Xia Zuo with utmost sincerity, and asked earnestly, "We've been fighting for so long, and I still don't know your name. Can you tell me?"

Shanks' attitude was incredibly sincere, filled with a convincing purity.

Xia Zuo felt the power of saving face and almost subconsciously blurted out, "I am the vice commander of the 77th Marine Division, a lieutenant commander, and my name is Xia Zuo."

Shanks remarked, "The Navy is really extravagant, actually placing an officer with the combat strength of an admiral in the East Blue."

Xia Zuo smiled and said, "That's not all. There's also a powerful admiral who occasionally takes a stroll in the East Blue, our Navy's hero, Vice Admiral Garp."

"No matter what, the East Blue is the hometown of the first Pirate King and also the place where he died. It's not excessive for the Navy to value the East Blue so much."

"Besides, how come you, one of the Four Emperors, are also appearing in the East Blue?"

Shanks laughed heartily: "Oh dear, oh dear, the pressure in the Grand Line has been too great lately. I plan to find a base in the calmest East Blue and take a break for a while."

"Will the navy intervene and fight me in the East China Sea?"

Xia Zuo scoffed, "Don't joke around. I'm just a lieutenant colonel in the branch, not the branch leader. How can I decide the attitude of the naval high command?"

He pointed to the sky and said, "Shanks, instead of asking me, why don't you just ask our Admiral?"

Shanks looked up and laughed, saying, "Forget it, the admiral in the sky is the cunning Kizaru. Getting a single truth from him is like dreaming."

"Besides, your marshal is probably up to something right now. As long as you can hold me off, they'll swarm me and try to capture me once the second general arrives."

Shanks sheathed Griffin, assumed a fighting stance, and said regretfully, "The timing wasn't right today. Next time I see you, I'll definitely have a good fight with you."

"Kid, I'm going to unleash my full power of [Divine Evasion] now. If you can withstand it, I won't hesitate and I'll just run away."

"If you can't withstand it and I cut you down with one stroke, then don't blame me."

Xia Zuo spat: "Red-Haired Shanks, the Pirate Emperor, what a prestigious title."

"But I'm not some weak and easily bullied naval recruit. Just attack with all your might. If I get killed by you, then I deserve to die."

Shanks found it very amusing, and Shazam felt equally great.

In the past, Xia Zuo always thought that Kaido would be the most suitable teacher to temper him in the end. Unexpectedly, Shanks was a perfect match. In just a few hours, he found his direction and integrated the strength he had accumulated over the years.

The current Xia Zuo can be said to have undergone a complete transformation. He is no longer the pirate Xia Zuo who only has a slight advantage in physical strength and physique and relies entirely on the Naruto Xia Zuo to improve his combat power.