Now this is a good draw.
Sora immediately felt satisfied.
Roronoa Zoro.
One of the strongest swordsmen in the One Piece world.
The moment Zoro’s abilities activated, Sora felt more than just raw strength flooding into his body.
His understanding of swordsmanship skyrocketed.
It was as if countless years of sword training had suddenly been compressed into his mind.
Even his comprehension of the Dugu Nine Swords deepened dramatically.
Sora rested one hand on the bamboo cane-sword Kiyoshi had given him.
Then he casually walked more than ten steps away.
He turned around.
“It’s rare for me to get a decent sword.”
Sora smiled.
“Might as well use this battle to properly break it in.”
He raised his gaze toward Kiyoshi.
“You attack first.”
“Yes, Sensei.”
Kiyoshi bowed respectfully.
Now that he knew Sora had no intention of hitting him with that terrifying punch again, much of the tension in his body disappeared.
The next instant—
he charged.
“Gentle Fist!”
Kiyoshi’s palm shot toward one of the tenketsu in Sora’s chest.
But before his hand could arrive—
SHING!
A flash of steel crossed his vision.
The blade had already left its bamboo sheath.
The weapon was roughly three feet long, single-edged, and white as snow.
Technically, it resembled a saber more than a traditional straight sword.
But in the shinobi world, weapons of this type were still commonly referred to as swords.
THUD!
The tip of Sora’s blade struck directly against Kiyoshi’s palm.
Kiyoshi had already concentrated chakra around his hand.
Even so—
the instant the sword tip touched his palm, he felt an astonishing penetrating force trying to pierce straight through his chakra defense.
His expression changed.
WHOOSH!
Kiyoshi immediately retreated three steps.
Only then did he manage to disperse the sword force pressing into his palm.
He shifted his footing.
In the next instant, he moved toward Sora’s right side and attacked again.
Sora barely moved.
His sword simply thrust forward.
Kiyoshi changed his technique halfway through.
Sora’s blade changed with him.
The sword tip once again appeared directly in front of Kiyoshi’s palm.
Kiyoshi pulled back.
He rotated around Sora and attacked from behind.
Sora didn’t even turn his body.
Yet the sword in his hand seemed to have eyes of its own.
Another thrust—
directly toward Kiyoshi’s palm.
SHNK!
After three consecutive clashes, the chakra protecting Kiyoshi’s hand finally failed.
The sword tip pierced through the defense and cut into his palm.
Fortunately, Kiyoshi reacted quickly enough to retreat.
Otherwise—
the blade might have gone straight through his hand.
This wasn’t simply because the sword itself was sharp.
With Zoro’s swordsmanship active, every movement Sora made carried powerful sword force.
The penetrating power behind each strike was far beyond what his ordinary swordsmanship could produce.
But more importantly—
Sora was using one of the Dugu Nine Swords.
Palm-Breaking Stance.
A stance specifically designed to counter unarmed martial arts—
fists.
Palms.
Fingers.
Grappling.
Pressure-point attacks.
Practically every kind of close-range hand technique.
The Hyūga clan’s taijutsu looked like palm strikes on the surface, but much of its essence revolved around striking tenketsu.
Its movements followed patterns.
And once those patterns could be read—
the Palm-Breaking Stance existed specifically to dismantle them.
Combined with Zoro’s overwhelming swordsmanship—
the Dugu Nine Swords, which normally lacked enough raw power to dominate shinobi-level combat, suddenly revealed how terrifying its principles could truly be.
Kiyoshi stared at his injured palm.
I can’t clash with his sword directly.
Sensei isn’t even using chakra, but his swordsmanship is far too powerful.
The penetrating force is terrifying.
If that blade strikes my body cleanly…
it’ll go straight through me.
Sora held the sword loosely in one hand.
Then he spoke calmly.
“Most Hyūga techniques require you to fight at close range.”
“But before you worry about hitting your opponent…”
“You should first consider whether they’ll hit you before you ever reach them.”
Kiyoshi’s expression became serious.
“Yes, Sensei.”
“I understand.”
“This time will be different.”
He charged again.
Another palm flew toward one of Sora’s tenketsu.
Sora swept his sword horizontally.
Kiyoshi instantly withdrew his hand.
He changed position.
Another palm.
Sora’s sword changed direction.
Blocked again.
Kiyoshi withdrew.
Moved.
Attacked.
Blocked.
Retreated.
Again.
And again.
Then—
Kiyoshi’s eyes sharpened.
“Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!”
A mental Eight Trigrams formation centered around Sora instantly formed in Kiyoshi’s perception.
His attacks erupted like a storm.
Palm after palm came from every angle.
Afterimages filled the space around Sora.
But the sword in Sora’s hand moved just as quickly.
Steel flashed.
Every palm that approached him was intercepted.
Every opening Kiyoshi attempted to create was sealed.
Not one strike landed.
Kiyoshi gritted his teeth.
“Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!”
The Sixty-Four Palms ended—
and he immediately transitioned into an even stronger technique.
The number of palm strikes doubled.
The pressure intensified.
Kiyoshi’s figure seemed to appear everywhere around Sora.
Palms attacked from the front.
The side.
Behind.
High.
Low.
Every angle possible.
Yet Sora remained perfectly calm.
His sword seemed to transform into a phantom.
For every palm strike—
a different sword movement appeared.
Every attack was broken.
Every opening vanished.
Every palm missed.
Kiyoshi’s breathing gradually became heavier.
His strength itself was already close to Kage level.
Normally, techniques such as the Sixty-Four Palms and One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms wouldn’t exhaust him this quickly.
But this fight was different.
Every single time Kiyoshi attacked, Sora’s sword appeared in front of his palm.
To avoid having his hand pierced, Kiyoshi had to instantly stop the strike.
Pull it back.
Change position.
Launch another.
Stop again.
Withdraw again.
Attack again.
The faster his techniques became—
the more energy he wasted forcibly canceling his own attacks.
His stamina consumption multiplied.
Soon—
Kiyoshi was breathing heavily.
But he still refused to stop.
“Again!”
He roared.
Then launched himself forward once more.
“Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Two Hundred Fifty-Six Palms!”
This time—
Kiyoshi’s figure seemed to vanish entirely.
Chakra spilled outward around Sora.
A visible Eight Trigrams formation appeared beneath them.
Kiyoshi became almost indistinguishable from a streak of white light moving within the formation.
Only countless palm afterimages remained visible.
Sora watched quietly.
Then—
his expression became calm.
“You’ve lost your composure.”
SHNK!
Without warning—
Sora thrust his sword directly toward his right.
It was an extremely simple movement.
A straight thrust.
Nothing flashy.
Yet the blade moved like a streak of white lightning.
The Eight Trigrams formation vanished instantly.
So did the countless palm shadows.
Kiyoshi’s body reappeared.
He was standing directly to Sora’s right.
And Sora’s sword had already pierced through his arm.
Blood ran down the blade.
Kiyoshi frowned.
But stubbornness flashed through his eyes.
He immediately pulled himself backward, forcibly freeing his arm from the sword.
Then chakra exploded from every tenketsu in his body.
“Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!”
His body spun violently.
A sphere of rotating chakra more than two meters across formed around him.
Rotation.
Kiyoshi had entered his strongest defensive state.
But then—
while still protected inside Rotation—
he attacked.
“Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!”
A powerful burst of chakra shot outward without warning.
An attack hidden inside a defense.
Sora’s eyes sharpened.
He raised his blade vertically.
“Sever.”
SLASH!
The invisible shockwave rushing toward him was split cleanly in two.
The divided force swept past both sides of his body.
Sora smiled faintly.
“Rotation isn’t as perfect a defense as you think.”
Kiyoshi’s eyes widened.
Sora changed his stance.
The sword in his hand slowly lowered.
The principle of the next technique surfaced clearly in his mind.
A stance designed to break the release of internal energy itself.
Qi-Breaking Stance!
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