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

Chapter 281 Hawkeye Mihawk's Direction of Swordsmanship

Hawkeye Mihawk's desire to fight is so strong.

He even used his black knife to brush the red hair aside, so that his friend wouldn't interfere with the upcoming battle.

The next moment, the massive blade of the black sword "Night" deftly slashed towards Xia Zuo.

With Shanks thrown into the air by Mihawk, Shazam's hands were now free. He excitedly swung his fists, slamming them against the side of the black sword.

Whether it's a hand or a sword, once covered by Armament Haki, their original attributes become irrelevant. The hand and sword will not come into contact until the Haki of both sides determines the winner.

However, Xia Zuo still cautiously attacked the side of the black sword. If his Haki was not as strong as Mihawk's, then after his Haki collapsed, he would face the blade instead of the blade, and at least he would not be cut off directly.

The black hand, imbued with Armament Haki, clashed head-on with the black sword, but Xia Zuo emerged slightly superior, knocking the Armament Haki covering the black sword into black smoke, revealing the jet-black blade.

Fortunately, "Night" had been repeatedly refined by Hawkeye Mihawk with Armament Haki, and had long been dyed black. The toughness of the blade was unparalleled. Even when Xia Zuo struck it with all his might, it did not break, but instead emitted a deafening roar.

Hawkeye Mihawk's expression remained unchanged. He calmly gripped the hilt of his knife, withstanding the immense force from the side and maintaining the blade's position. He then slashed down at Shazo.

As the sharp blade of the black knife was about to cut down, Xia Zuo's fists were forced to change their stance, and he managed to catch the black knife with his bare hands.

Xia Zuo's posture was quite disheveled, just like when he was "100% disarmed by Li Jing with his bare hands".

However, the clumsy movements did not affect the effect. The speed at which the black blade was cutting down suddenly slowed down, and Xia Zuo took the opportunity to use his hands to swing to the left and bounce himself to the right, avoiding Hawkeye's attack.

Mihawk locked his gaze on Xia Zuo, raised his left hand from the hilt, gripped the cross guard, and spun the blade, causing the side of the black sword to slam into the ground.

After the blade bounced off the ground, Mihawk planted his feet firmly, used his waist, body and arms to swing the blade at Shazo on his left.

At the same time, his Armament Haki once again covered the blade, and it looked even thicker and stronger.

The clash just now made him clearly aware of the strength of both sides, and also made him realize that his domineering aura far surpassed Hawkeye's.

Hawkeye Mihawk wasn't using his full strength, and neither was he.

Xia Zuo chuckled and similarly enhanced his Armament Haki, attacking head-on without dodging or yielding.

This time, he directly repelled Hawkeye's black blade "Night," creating a sufficiently large opening.

Then Xia Zuo waved his right hand, using his five fingers as swords, and unleashed five flying slashes towards Mihawk, who was right in front of him.

Hawkeye and Shanks were both taken aback. This was not a transformation technique of Moonwalk, but a genuine flying slash. How could two top swordsmen mistake that indestructible and sharp sword energy?

Hawkeye's longsword was opened, and he used the long hilt of the night sword to awkwardly parry two flying sword strikes, then slightly turned his body to dodge the other three sword strikes.

Red-haired Shanks drew his sword and unleashed a flying slash, intercepting two of the attacks.

The collision of the three sword energies caused them to scatter into countless wind blades, creating numerous cracks on the island.

Shanks had no choice but to intervene, as the angle of his flying slash was deliberately chosen by Shazo, and it also included Hawkeye and the Red-Haired Pirates' flagship, the Red Fox, in the attack range.

If he hadn't intervened to intercept the sword energy and allowed those three sword energies to rush towards his ship, the Red Fox might not have been saved.

Shazo's five flying slashes were very powerful. Hawkeye Mihawk and Red-Haired Shanks could only withstand two sword slashes each in the rush. Red-Haired Shanks' crew would definitely not be able to handle three sword slashes.

Although the Red-Haired Pirates are the most evenly matched pirate crew in terms of overall quality, Shanks himself is still far stronger than the other crew members.

Fortunately, if there's only one left, First Mate Ben Beckman can still handle it.

Shazor attacked the Red Voss in order to drag Shanks into the battle.

Seeing him make his move, he unceremoniously spread his hands, his ten fingers flexibly bending and flicking, unleashing dense sword energy that drew Mihawk and Shanks into the battle.

Ben Beckman blocked a flying sword strike from Shazo, but was so shocked that his hands trembled and became numb, unable to lift them at all.

He immediately realized that Xia Zuo's strength was definitely at the Emperor level, even stronger than his own captain.

But before he could say anything, Xia Zuo unleashed a terrifying storm of sword energy, pushing the intensity of the battle to a terrifying level.

Beckman shouted in alarm, "Quick, get on the ship! Sail the Red Fox away! We can't leave it here!"

The Red-Haired Pirates immediately abandoned everything and fled back to their ship as fast as they could. Then, working together, they maneuvered the warship and, under the cover of their captain, successfully escaped the battlefield of the three great swordsmen.

The Red Fows fled for more than 20 kilometers before turning around and looking back at the battle situation on the island.

Because of the great distance, the curvature of the sea has obscured part of the island, but all the pirates can see the flying slashes that send the pirates flying off the island, and the sword energy mixed with frost.

Ben Beckman looked up anxiously at the sniper atop the mast and asked, "Yosbuch, how are the captain and the others?"

Yasopp's face was serious. He already had the long sniper rifle in his hand, but he was moving his fingers around more than ever before.

Upon hearing the first mate's question, he nervously replied, "The situation is not good. The captain and Hawkeye have been subdued."

The members of the Red-Haired Pirates exclaimed in unison, "How is this possible?"

It's important to know that their captain is one of the Four Emperors, having fought against Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom, and earned the title of the fourth emperor through his formidable strength.

Hawkeye Mihawk is jokingly referred to by Shanks as the world's greatest swordsman. Although he has not yet been recognized by the whole world, his strength is beyond doubt.

These two top-tier swordsmen, possessing the strongest Armament Haki, were actually suppressed by a mere Marine Commodore when they joined forces—it's simply unbelievable.

Head Chef Razi Ru couldn't help but ask, "Hey, Abu! You didn't see that wrong? That navy guy is actually that powerful?"

The next moment, he shut his mouth.

Because Yasopp had already raised his gun, aiming nervously at the battlefield.

Everyone saw that this top sniper, after only a few seconds of raising his gun, was sweating profusely with nervousness, yet hesitated to pull the trigger.

The Red-Haired Pirates learned that the Marine Commodore was really strong, no less so than an Admiral.

Ben Beckman slammed his fist on the side of the ship and complained bitterly, "Damn it, the captain losing an arm has affected his strength so much."

"What's even more damning is me! At a time like this, I couldn't even help the captain!"

The vice-captain's remorseful self-blame silenced the entire Red-Haired Pirates for a moment, and the hot-tempered Rem Jones even jumped up and down in frustration, slapping himself hard across the face.

"Damn it, why don't I try harder? I'm so weak, why shouldn't I train harder? I deserve to die!"

"So what if he dies? I can't just stand here and watch the captain fight alone!"

Lyme Jones impulsively jumped into the sea, but was cut by the seawater the moment he entered the water. He had countless wounds all over his body, and the blood that came out stained a large area of ​​the seawater red.

The pirates were shocked and rushed to help.

As a result, the two unlucky guys who rushed into the water, just like Lime Jones, instantly turned into a bloody mess.

No one knows what changes have occurred in the seawater, but the pirates no longer dare to go into the sea casually.

First mate Ben Beckman, his body covered in Conqueror's Haki, tried to go back into the water and finally managed to pull the three blood-loss-prone men ashore.

Back on the ship, Ben Beckman collapsed onto the deck, weakly saying, "The seawater is filled with terrifying sword energy that attacks all living creatures."

"No one is allowed to go into the water!"

The pirates turned pale as they watched the waves gently rise and fall on the sea, a chill running down their spines.

They realized the waves were coming from the nameless island, which explained why their boat was moving so smoothly yet unable to stop.

Once the bandages were applied, Lyme Jones regained consciousness, but instead of attempting to jump into the sea, he silently shed tears.

He said to himself, blaming himself, "Damn it, I'm too weak!"

The pirates looked at each other, then slowly lowered their heads.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, an indescribable sound came from the direction of the island, like fine silk being torn apart, yet also like the crisp, metallic sound of a long knife slicing through a human body.

The next moment, the pirates saw that the highest point on the island, the cone-shaped active volcano that stood tall in the center of the island, had been cut in half by a terrifying sword aura and was slowly sliding to one side.

As the mountain peaks "slowly" slid down to one side of the island, accompanied by a faint rumbling sound, towering waves crashed in all directions.

Orange-red lava also spewed from the volcano's crater.

Immediately afterwards, one sword aura after another burst forth, each one no less powerful than the sword aura that cleaved the volcano.

The entire island visibly crumbled into pieces and slowly sank into the sea.

Apart from a few of the executives, the Red-Haired Pirates' eyes practically popped out of their sockets.

"The island, the island sank—"

"What kind of monster is this? Is this something a great swordsman could do?"

"No, that can't be. A great swordsman can only cut through ships."

"Quick, quick, help us turn the boat around and aim it at the waves to avoid a collision!"

The pirates quickly got to work, adjusting the sails and rudder, and with the help of long oars, rapidly turning 100 degrees to align the bow, best suited for breaking through the waves, with the large waves.

Just as I was getting all ready to surf, a burst of white light erupted from the island, instantly turning the entire island into a white glacier trail, with the continuously erupting lava appearing exceptionally vibrant.

A white line rapidly spread across the sea, turning the surface into ice wherever it went, even freezing the rapidly advancing giant waves halfway through.

Even the Red Fox was frozen in the sea ice. The pirates on board were shivering from the cold. Some of the sailors who climbed up the mast to hold the ropes fell off the mast because their hands and feet were frozen stiff.

Lucky Rue murmured, "That Marine guy's frost power has gotten even stronger; he seems to be on par with Aokiji."

Ben Beckman nodded gravely: "He's so much better than he was two years ago. How can he improve so fast?"

.

Lucky Roux sighed, "It's alright, we have to trust the captain. He's the strongest captain, and he can handle any enemy."

"But from today onwards, I'm going to work hard, I'm going to work incredibly hard!"

"Next time, I will never let the captain face the enemy alone, absolutely not!"

Ben Beckman: "Yes, I'll work with you. No matter what happens in the future, we'll face it together with the captain."

Shazam's military uniform was riddled with wounds and almost torn to shreds, while Hawkeye Mihawk and Red-Haired Shanks looked even worse.

Because Xia Zuo's attacks use sword energy emitted from his ten fingers, the intensity is slightly lower, but the quantity and flexibility are absolutely off the charts.

If it weren't for the two great swordsmen's formidable Observation Haki, they would have suffered far more than just their clothes being damaged.

Hawkeye Mihawk took off his favorite wide-brimmed hat, and after confirming that it was beyond repair, casually tossed it onto the ice at his feet.

-

He looked at Xia Zuo and asked with a sigh, "Since you have the ability to freeze everything, why don't you make yourself an ice sword, like your Admiral Aokiji?"

Xia Zuo laughed, raised his hand, and stretched out his five fingers straight, asking, "Is my swordsmanship really that bad? Can't my flying slashes made with my fingers kill someone?"

"Is swordsmanship such an inconvenient thing?"

"Swords and blades are merely extensions of the arm, and my fingers are naturally also extensions of the arm, no different from the supreme grade swords you wield."

Hawkeye was taken aback for a moment, and after a long pause, he replied, "You're right. Swords are merely tools for swordsmen, at most the most suitable and powerful tools."

Xia Zuo clapped and praised, "As expected of the future world's greatest swordsman, your understanding of swordsmanship is truly rapid."

"I once had the privilege of hearing a master swordsman recount his achievements in swordsmanship. He said: After the age of forty, I was no longer attached to material things; grass, trees, bamboo, and stones could all be swords. From then on, I refined my skills and gradually progressed to the realm where having no sword is better than having a sword."

"To be honest, I can barely understand the first sentence now, but I still can't understand the meaning of the second sentence."

Hawkeye Mihawk was stunned when he heard Shazo's words. His lips moved as if he were muttering something to himself.

Xia Zuo glanced at Hawkeye's greatsword and continued, "That sword saint who called himself the 'Sword Demon' described his swordsmanship in his youth, and it's somewhat similar to your current situation. He said: 'A heavy sword has no edge; great skill lies in simplicity.'"

Upon hearing these eight words, Hawkeye, who was lost in confusion, felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and the black sword "Night" slipped from his hand and fell onto the ice.

His sharp, eagle-like eyes almost shone as he stared intently at his hands.

Suddenly, Hawkeye bent down, picked up his longsword, and shouted with a loud laugh, "I understand! I know! I've found my way in the sword!"

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