One Piece: Starting with Creating the Strongest Character Design

Sabaody Archipelago, Area 8.

The sea breeze, carrying a salty, damp scent, swept past the buildings lining both sides of the street.

This area isn't much different from the previous areas; it's also a place where pirates frequently appear, with traces of pirate fights still remaining. You can faintly smell the mixture of alcohol and seawater in the air.

However, due to the Navy's crackdown on pirates a few months ago, there are far fewer pirates to be seen on the streets now.

The once bustling taverns and black markets have also become much less aggressive.

And now.

There wasn't a single civilian to be seen on the street, not even the few pirates who used to roam. The entire street was deserted, with only the sound of the sea wind howling.

Breaking the silence were several figures that resembled neither humans nor fish.

They have different shapes; some are covered with fine scales, some have streamlined tail fins, and some have arms that have turned into thick tentacles.

Upon closer inspection, they were fish-people who lived in the deep sea year-round and rarely set foot on land.

At this moment, the ones fiercely fighting them are not the pirates who often capture them.

Instead, it was a young navy officer wearing a cloak of justice, with rank insignia embroidered on the shoulders of the cloak clearly indicating he was a commodore.

It was Kitahara Tsune.

Kitahara Tsune gripped his long sword tightly with both hands, the clanging sound of the blades clashing echoing throughout the street.

Sparks flew as the blades clashed, landing on the stone slabs on the ground and disappearing in an instant.

The murlocs surrounding him were divided into two distinct groups, coordinating perfectly, clearly veterans with extensive combat experience.

A group of fishmen on land held Kitahara Tsune back tightly, wielding mostly swords and blades that had been tempered by seawater, each strike carrying the brute force unique to fishmen.

The most conspicuous one has eight flexible tentacles, each holding a short sword; it is none other than the fishman Xiao Ba, known as the Six-Sword Style.

His tentacles moved with ease, and the six short swords were wielded so tightly that they formed a sharp net of blades.

Another group of fishmen lurked in the nearby sea alley, their figures half-hidden in the murky water. They would occasionally peek out and use their fishmen karate and fishmen jujitsu to slam powerful whirlpools of water at Kitahara Tsutomu.

The water vortex makes a whooshing sound as it cuts through the air, and when it lands, it explodes into a spray of water, leaving the ground pitted and uneven.

To be honest, Kitahara Tsune's encounter with this group of murlocs was purely accidental.

After that naval victory celebration, in addition to practicing swordsmanship every day in the areas firmly occupied by the navy, he continuously improved his swordsmanship skills and his reputation within the navy.

He also frequently ventured into remote areas not fully occupied by the navy to wipe out pirates, with the aim of ensuring that the lurking pirates would always remember his name.

Today, as always, he left the naval base under the pretext of going out on patrol and searching for the whereabouts of Fisher Tiger, the leader of the Sun Pirates.

What was supposed to be a routine patrol turned into a series of unexpected encounters with a group of elusive fishmen at a street corner in Zone 8.

To make matters worse, in order to increase the efficiency of gaining public awareness, he also brought along several young naval soldiers.

Normally, without any colleagues around, Kitahara Tsune wouldn't mind letting these fish-men from the Sun Pirates leave.

After all, these fishmen hadn't provoked him, and he also disliked the Celestial Dragons.

Letting these fishmen from the Sun Pirates go is fine.

But now, he is in the World Government, with his colleagues around him. As a commodore, he has no room to back down and can only act decisively.

He first quickly escorted the few naval soldiers around him to an abandoned building on the side of the street and asked them to call the navy.

Then he turned around and fiercely attacked the fishmen.

Fortunately, he did not see Fisher Tiger, the legendary leader of the Sun Pirates, among this group of fishmen.

Given Tiger's ability to single-handedly storm the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, wreak havoc, and escape unscathed, one would likely defeat him without much effort if facing him.

While it's not shameful to be defeated by a top-tier expert like Tiger, it doesn't benefit his own cognitive development or swordsmanship improvement, which is something Kitahara Tsune absolutely cannot accept.

Gripping his long sword tightly, Kitahara Tsune's eyes flickered slightly as he fixed his gaze on the Six-Sword Style Kohachi opposite him.

The longsword in his hand was not a standard naval weapon, but a rare item he had looted from Roger's Bar in the Sabaody Archipelago.

It is a truly excellent and fast sword, named "Demon-Slaying Sword".

Back when he was at the bar, the old craftsman in charge of maintaining the knife told him about its origin: the knife's maker was ambitious and hoped to use its sharpness and toughness to replace the legendary demon swords that had been passed down through the ages, so he named it "Demon Slayer," meaning to seize the power of the demon swords.

However, although the blacksmith's skills were superb, he ultimately failed to reach the level of forging great swords and could only forge this ordinary good sword. Even so, its sharpness far exceeded that of ordinary swords.

Thoughts flashed by, but the situation on the battlefield didn't allow Kitahara Tsune to be too distracted. It wasn't that these merfolk were particularly strong, but rather why they were there and whether they had anyone behind them.

At this moment, the battle on the street has entered a white-hot stage.

Seeing the stalemate, Xiao Ba's eyes flashed with impatience. Suddenly, he roared, and his aura surged:

"Six-Sword Style Secret Technique: Six-Sword Waltz!"

Before he finished speaking, Hachi's body began to spin rapidly, with his six tentacles carrying six swords operating in sync.

The blades spun, forming an impenetrable circular array, rushing towards Kitahara Tsune with a whistling sound.

Through the previous probing exchanges, Xiao Hachi had already clearly understood that in a one-on-one situation, he was no match for the young naval commodore in front of him.

Even with his teammates constantly interfering, Kitahara Tsune was still able to steadily suppress him in the fight.

He knew he had to act quickly. If he delayed any longer, and the navy arrived, his group of fishmen who had infiltrated the land would likely be captured on the spot, and they would face imprisonment by the navy.

Seeing Xiao Ba's attack, Kitahara Tsune secretly shook his head slightly, without the slightest panic in his eyes.

Judging by his swordsmanship standards, Xiao Ba's swordsmanship skills only barely reached the threshold of swordsmanship expertise.

Although his moves looked sharp, they lacked structure and were full of flaws. As for his strength, speed, and combat awareness, they were far inferior to his.

Kitahara Tsune gripped the "Demon Snatcher" tightly, ready to cleanly and decisively defeat Hachi.

But just then, a huge torrent of water suddenly rushed from behind him, moving at an astonishing speed.

The water, carrying immense pressure, swirled rapidly, like a waterfall cascading from the sky, crashing down on Kitahara Tsune with unparalleled force.

Before the water had even gotten close, the powerful air pressure it contained had already crushed the stone slabs under Kitahara Tsune's feet, and fine cracks even appeared on the ground.

"Fishman Jiu-Jitsu - Ocean Current - One-Handed Over-the-Shoulder Throw!"

A deep, resonant voice came from the direction of the sea, carrying the distinctive, deep quality of a fishman.

Kitahara Tsune's heart skipped a beat. Without thinking, and without caring about the approaching Hachi, he instantly dodged to the side at the maximum speed his body could reach, barely avoiding the deadly water flow.

The water flowed onto the spot where he had just stood, exploding instantly. The enormous impact shattered the ground, sending water splashing several meters high and leaving water stains all over the surrounding walls.

He quickly turned his head to look at the sea, his brows furrowing slightly.

The fishmen lurking in the seawater had also used the technique of projecting ocean currents, but their power was far less than this. They couldn't even break through his defense and could only serve to disrupt him.

Sure enough, when his gaze fell upon the sea, he saw a new figure slowly emerge from the water.

The man was extremely robust, over two meters tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back. His body was covered in dark blue scales, and two sharp teeth protruded from his lower jaw. His eyes were calm and powerful.

Kitahara Tsune's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly recognized the other party's identity.

It was none other than "Knight of the Sea" Jinbe.

He is also the second strongest member of the Sun Pirates after Fisher Tiger.