chapter 79 part 1
Chapter 79: When You Witness the Truth of the Great Sea, Will You Still Have Courage?
Shimotsuki Village, South Shore.
The villagers gathered by the shore.
"Village Chief, those pirates we drove off earlier, were they really..."
At this moment, a villager spoke, trembling with fear.
Yes—not long ago, a group of pirates had come to raid Shimotsuki Village.
But their combat strength wasn't very strong, so the villagers united to drive them off.
But at this moment—
"There's no mistake."
The Village Chief of Shimotsuki Village, a white-haired old man, said gravely.
He looked at the distant sea surface.
There, the silhouettes of pirate ships were gradually approaching through the waves.
And on the mast of the lead pirate ship, the pirate flag displayed a skull with twenty-seven stars beneath it.
"Each new warship added a star to the pirate flag. Now, this pirate fleet, counting its flagship, boasts twenty-eight warships; its sheer numbers are second only to the 'East Blue Overlord' Krieg!"
The Village Chief's voice was heavy: "The great pirate with a bounty of 11 million Berries, 'Skull Admiral' Roger!"
Hmm, in the East Blue, where the average bounty is around 3 million Berries, someone with this bounty amount is undoubtedly a formidable pirate.
"We've already offended him—if a fellow like this lands, the village will be done for!"
The Village Chief's lips trembled slightly: "And Koushiro-dono? Has he come?"
"Someone has already gone to invite him, but Village Chief... even if it's Koushiro-dono, facing an enemy of this scale..."
The villager was still trembling with fear.
They all knew that Koushiro of the Isshin Dojo was the protector of Shimotsuki Village—that was something decided when their ancestors first came to this island.
But for the common folk of the world, this many pirate ships was already a scale sufficient to shatter their will to fight.
But just as the villagers were in a state of low spirits...
"Hey, look over there!"
A villager suddenly seemed to discover something, quickly calling out, "It's Mr. Koushiro, and Zoro, and... huh? Who's that person?"
Hearing this, the others quickly turned their heads to look.
Then they saw, on a small hill on the nearby south shore.
At this moment, there were indeed three figures—two of them they recognized: Shimotsuki Kozaburo and Roronoa Zoro.
But besides them, the last person, wearing a boar mask, they had never seen before.
"Why is Koushiro-dono there? What are they going to do?"
Naturally, such questions were raised.
But of course, they didn't know...
"One strike?"
On the small hill at this moment, Koushiro was quietly discussing with Hai Zhu.
"Mm, one strike."
Hai Zhu nodded: "My victory or defeat against Mr. Koushiro will be decided by the number of warships destroyed with a single strike."
Beside them, Zoro listened with a grave expression.
If it had been before today, he would certainly have found it hard to believe the attitude of these two at this moment—facing one of the strongest pirate groups in the East Blue, these two merely treated them as tools to test their might.
And what they were competing over wasn't the number of pirates defeated, but the number of warships sunk.
But after seeing his own master's earlier strike just now...
Zoro vaguely understood what true powerhouses on this great sea were like.
So he said nothing, just clenched his fists and watched silently.
"Alright, then I'll go first."
Koushiro nodded, readily accepting Hai Zhu's suggestion—perhaps he didn't want those pirates to land and cause potential danger.
So, Koushiro walked to the edge of the small hill.
Then—
He exhaled.
"Whizz!"
Under Zoro's astonished eyes, he seemed to see his master's arm turn black in that instant.
Even that strange black color continued to spread and flow, until it covered the sword 'Isshin' in his master's hand.
"Ryuo."
And seeing this, Hai Zhu secretly thought, "As expected."
As the son of Shimotsuki Kozaburo, who could forge 'Dark Demon Iron', and as a descendant of Shimotsuki Ryuma, the Sword God of Wano Country, it would be strange if Shimotsuki Koushiro didn't master Ryuo.
And it was at this moment—
The sword in Shimotsuki Koushiro's hand had already been swung.
"..."
To everyone's surprise, this slash had no clear cutting sound, no ear-splitting clang, as if it were just a casual swing, not even disturbing the sea breeze.
But—
"Swoosh!"
In the next instant, where Koushiro's blade was pointed—
The great sea below and the flowing clouds in the sky were both split apart!
And the split clouds were pushed by the slash, obscuring a part of the sun, making the sun seem to become a crescent moon.
Tiny droplets of seawater sparkled crystal-clear under the cascading light, like falling frost.
"Isshin-Ryu Secret Technique: Shimotsuki Slash!"
The soft words fell.
Then—
"Hiss!"
Everyone was astonished to see that the pirate ships rapidly approaching on the distant sea surface began to be silently sliced apart!
The cuts on the ships were smooth and clean, and those gigantic warships almost instantly toppled onto the sea surface, gradually sinking.
And that sword light did not stop.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
One ship, two ships, three ships...
Until the seventh ship was sliced in half, that slash finally dissipated across the sea surface.
And at this moment...
"..."
Zoro, as well as the common folk of Shimotsuki Village in the distance, all had their eyes wide open, jaws almost dropping, unable to utter a single word.
"Master..."
And at this moment, Zoro's voice was even hoarser.
But before he could finish, he saw Koushiro had already turned around, sheathed his blade, and come to his side.
"Hai Zhu-dono, it's your turn now—we'll sit at the back."
He called out to Hai Zhu, then took Zoro to a more distant spot and sat down.
"..."
At this moment, Hai Zhu looked at Koushiro thoughtfully—he seemed to somewhat understand what this Koushiro-dono wanted to do.
So—
"Alright."
He nodded, then also walked to the spot where Koushiro had just stood.
"Zoro, watch closely."
At the same time, Koushiro's words reached Zoro's ears.
"Watch closely!"
Zoro felt a flicker of doubt in his heart, but the scene before him didn't allow him much time for thought.
Because at this moment, he saw Hai Zhu had already extended his hand towards the distant sea surface.
Then Zoro was horrified to find that from Hai Zhu's hand... a slash appeared!
Yes—although there was no blade in his hand, and he didn't swing one.
But in the palm of his hand, a colossal slash clearly appeared.
And the aura of that slash was extremely clear to a swordsman like Zoro.
"Was it the strike from Master in the bamboo forest earlier?"
This situation made Zoro's already numb nerves suddenly snapped back to alertness: "What is this?"
But he had no time to speak, because Hai Zhu had already made his move.
He flicked his finger.
"Swallow: Instant Hell Slash!"
Then, in the next instant, Zoro saw the slash from Hai Zhu's hand instantly vanish without a trace.
"It disappeared?"
He had just thought this when he heard Koushiro's puzzled voice from beside him: "Hmm?"
At the same time, he also heard the villagers' cries of alarm from afar.