Pirates' Magic Odyssey: Unveiling Eight Skills At The Beginning - Chapter 17

After two months of adaptation at the Naval Academy, the group of students had already become aware that Yang Ming, at such a young age, had learned one of the Navy’s Six Techniques, the Iron Block.

Although the Iron Block was a secret technique only accessible to lower-ranked naval officers, considering Yang Ming was Garp’s disciple and even based on the words of an unnamed senior instructor, it was rumored that Yang Ming might be Garp’s illegitimate child. As a result, everyone eased their suspicions.

“Isn’t this logical?”

“This actually makes sense!”

Because of this, while Tea Beard Boss and Silver Fox Fukusei were laughing heartily, the Smoker group of students cast a pitying gaze upon them.

Didn’t these people realize that the star of death was shining brightly over their heads?

At this very moment, from the collapsed ruins of a building, a slender arm extended, and a young man crawled out expressionlessly from the shattered wood.

Seeing Yang Ming emerge unscathed, Tea Beard Boss’ eyes widened. He couldn’t help but exclaim:

“How is this possible!”

Tea Beard Boss knew very well that his attack just now could even smash a cow with a single strike!

“This guy is definitely not an ordinary navy!”

Silver Fox Fukusei squinted his eyes slightly. His mind was sharp, and he quickly linked this strange situation to the recent actions.

Before, Doflamingo had set him up to join forces with Tea Beard Pirates in this sea area, ambushing a group of navy forces. He claimed it was a naval training fleet. It was only after Silver Fox Fukusei accepted that he came to realize this.

Having survived on the Grand Line for many years, Silver Fox Fokker relied on being crafty and cunning, knowing whom to provoke and whom not to.

If this was a fleet led by a Navy Admiral, he wouldn’t have dared to mess with it.

Of course, Vice Admiral Zeff had stepped back from his position as an Admiral for many years and had kept himself hidden. Silver Fox Fukusei was unaware that Zeff was on the training ship. Otherwise, even if he was given the courage of a lion, he wouldn’t dare to provoke the whiskers of this lion.

After noticing Yang Ming’s peculiarities, Silver Fox Fukusei vaguely felt that he had been played by Doflamingo.

However, at this point, Silver Fox Fukusei was already in trouble.

Even if he wanted to retreat from the battlefield, the others were already on the pirate ship’s deck. It was clear that they had no intention of letting them go!

Such thoughts flashed through his mind but quickly vanished. Silver Fox Fukusei soon made up his mind. His face darkened, and he issued orders to his crew members:

“Everyone, attack together!”

Although the crew members felt somewhat hesitant and didn’t understand why Captain Fukusei valued this young man so much, out of trust in their captain, they didn’t question it. Instead, they followed Captain Fukusei’s orders.

Tea Beard Boss, naturally, wasn’t willing to be left behind. He also felt a bit annoyed. Leading two crew members, he charged forward.

Iron Muscle Smithy a.k.a. “Scotch” and Big Axe Ron were both burly men like Tea Beard Boss.

Iron Muscle Smithy’s hands were equipped with iron gauntlets. The muscles on his arms were even thicker than an adult’s thigh, and his fists carried enough strength to shatter stones.

Big Axe Ron swung a huge axe taller than himself. The back of the axe had several holes with interwoven golden rings, making a crisp tinkling sound when swung. Clearly, it was a specially customized weapon, possessing remarkable killing power.

Just as Yang Ming stood up, he was met with a cunning, sluggish light attack from Silver Fox Fukusei, once again falling into a sluggish state.

It had to be said that the Slow-Slow Fruit was a powerful auxiliary fruit. Anyone who possessed the ability to slow things down could become the ultimate support on the battlefield.

Since the moment he boarded the pirate ship, Yang Ming had already foreseen his situation.

In fact, Yang Ming wasn’t here solely to test his newly acquired ability. He was also holding off the main forces of the enemies for his comrades, giving them ample time to deal with the pirates on the training ship.

In battle, every individual had their role.

Smoker was a firefighter, rushing to save any threatened frontlines.

Tashigi and Drake were assault specialists, relying on their extraordinary physical abilities to break through enemy lines.

Daddy Masterson was a sniper, targeting enemy gunners and suppressing their firepower.

Jonathan was the commander, responsible for coordinating and directing the overall battle.

As for Yang Ming?

Yang Ming played a crucial role as the “King” among the group of students.

King against King, Rook against Rook, Pawn against Pawn.

Yang Ming directly assumed the most important responsibility, entangling the crew members of Silver Fox Pirates and Tea Beard Pirates!

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

In this short amount of time, Yang Ming was bombarded by a group of pirates’ fierce attacks.

Slashing, punching, sword strikes, kicks…

A variety of attacks poured down like a torrential rain, drenching Yang Ming.

A multitude of attacks rained down on Yang Ming like a torrential downpour.

The Navy’s Six Techniques Iron Block wasn’t an invincible defensive move; it also had its own limit to withstand damage. Once this limit was exceeded, he would suffer injuries.

The naval apprentice uniform on Yang Ming’s body was already tattered, with only a rag hanging on him.

His muscular physique could be faintly seen, with swelling and scars from swords visible on his skin.

Although there were multiple injuries, they were only superficial wounds, not reaching the bone.

Whenever he was harmed, under the passive effect of “Dragon’s Roar,” Yang Ming could slightly reduce the damage he received. By now, he could mitigate up to a third of the damage.

As time passed, the enemy’s attacks became less fierce due to their diminishing stamina. Coupled with the effect of “Dragon’s Roar,” the group of pirate executives launching their attacks could only cause minor injuries to Yang Ming.

At the same time, Yang Ming could sense that while he was in his Iron Muscle state, each time he endured an enemy’s attack would cause slight internal injuries to his flesh, tendons, muscles, and bones. Once these accumulated, they could lead to quite serious injuries.

But Yang Ming was different!

The Flame Breathing and Six Sensei Thief techniques were constantly active.

With the resonance and coordination of his heart, lungs, large intestine, small intestine, stomach, triple burner, gallbladder, and bladder, the damaged flesh, tendons, muscles, and bones were constantly nourished.

Yang Ming was like a rock being continuously polished by a blacksmith.

Each time he suffered internal injuries, after going through the process of nourishment, and when he activated the Iron Muscle technique again, its strength would increase by a fraction.

This seemingly negligible improvement, if accumulated over time, could result in significant changes.

Moreover, even before the quantity reached a qualitative change, Yang Ming unexpectedly found that he could move while in the Iron Muscle state!

In fact, as a version of the Armament Haki, the Six Techniques Iron Block could enable movement after a certain level of practice.

In the original work, in CP9, Gaburu, who consumed the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Wolf fruit, had advanced far in the mastery of the Iron Muscle Technique, enabling him to achieve swift movement while maintaining the Iron Blocks.

The principle of using Iron Blocks was to focus attention on the tensed muscles.

For beginners and proficient users of the Iron Muscle technique, attention could only be concentrated at one point which allowing them to make their muscles as hard as steel.

After becoming proficient in the Iron Muscle technique, the body developed a natural response that allowed divided focus, enabling movement.

At this moment, Yang Ming was like iron being refined from impurities, and he was not falling under the siege of the enemy, but rather gaining strength.

Tea Beard Boss swung his wolf tooth club again, striking the indomitable small figure.

“Hu-hu! Hu-hu! Hu-hu!”

Continuously wielding a wolf’s fang club of such weight, exceeding 500 jin, was indeed a strenuous test of physical strength for Tea Beard Boss. At this moment, he also felt his energy waning. Taking advantage of a pause in his attack, and he took deep heavy breaths.

Tea Beard Boss gazed ahead, seeing Yang Ming still standing tall despite being affected by the Slow-Slow light. He stood upright like a spear on the deck, weathering the wind and rain without falling.

“Is this guy some kind of weapon?” 

No matter how Tea Beard Boss thought, he couldn’t understand why they, with so many people attacking, still couldn’t knock down this young man before them.

At this moment, the group of students including Smoker finally reached the pirate ship after finishing off the pirates on the training vessel. They landed on the pirate ship one by one.

“Yang Ming, we’re here!”

Smoker transformed into a wisp of white smoke, circling around to the back of Silver Fox Fukusei while he was distracted by other students. Seizing the opportunity, Smoker delivered a kick to the knee joint of Silver Fox Fukusei, causing his knee to buckle and his body to lean to one side.

Simultaneously, Smoker employed grappling techniques. He grabbed Silver Fox Fukusei’s right wrist with his right hand and held down his right temple with his left hand.

Swiftly, he rotated his body 180° to the right, pressing Silver Fox Fukusei down onto the ground. His knee rested on Silver Fox Fukusei’s back, and from his waist, Smoker pulled out a pair of sea-stone handcuffs. Accompanied by a “click” sound, he locked the handcuffs onto Silver Fox Fukusei’s wrists.

With the loss of Silver Fox Fukusei as support, Yang Ming finally broke free from the Slow-Slow state that he had been enduring.

Before the other trainees could come to his aid, Yang Ming smiled at the pirate executives who had been attacking him.

This smile, in the eyes of the pirate executives, was no different from a demon’s grin.

Yang Ming leaped up, the standard long knife in his hand radiating boundless light and heat, as if the Emperor of Flames had descended. A scorching arc of flame swept down, and slashing through the pirate executives.

“Senku Type! Qi Inferno Manifestation!”

Roaring flames surged and billowed, obliterating the pirate executives in the astonished eyes of Tea Beard Boss and others.

The pirate executives’ skin turned black, emitting a lingering smoke.

Before losing consciousness and falling to the ground, Tea Beard Boss asked Yang Ming with a soulful doubt:

“Are you human, or a demon?”

“Me?”

“I’m just an ordinary human.”

“If you’re talking about what makes me special…”

“No matter how many times I’m knocked down, I’ll stand back up!”

Yang Ming twirled his knife, extinguishing the remaining flames on the blade. He sheathed his sword and walked away.

Behind him, the ashes of a pile of dead bodies drifted away in the sea breeze.