Ian walked as he thought.
Just as he reached the village entrance, he saw the very people he had been looking for.
A group of seven or eight people was heading toward the village.
The person leading them was incredibly tall, easily over two meters by visual estimation.
He was shrouded in a green cloak, but his face could not be hidden.
In Ian’s eyes, Ivankov’s face seemed to take up half of his entire body.
To Ian, this face was almost as tall as his own ten-year-old body…
‘Holy crap!
That’s terrifying!’ Even though Ian was mentally prepared, the sheer size of that face still gave him a fright.
Ivankov wore heavy eyeshadow and thick eyeliner, with purple lipstick smeared across his massive, gaping mouth.
He looked like a literal demon.
Seeing Ivankov in the manga only felt exaggerated, but seeing him in person, Ian just found him downright scary.
‘No wonder Dragon didn’t take you to see the ceremony,’ Ian thought.
‘Look at all that heavy makeup…
combined with that giant face, how blind would someone have to be not to notice you?’
Looking past Ivankov, Ian spotted another tragic figure who had been left behind by Dragon.
It was someone even taller than Ivankov, also wearing a green cloak.
However, the hood of this cloak actually had two round ears on it.
‘Uncle Bear, that cute little bear-eared hat completely gives you away…
Did you really think wearing a cloak would stop people from recognizing you?’
That’s right, the person appearing alongside Ivankov was another executive of the Revolutionary Army: Bartholomew Kuma!
The moment he saw them, Ian finally understood why Ivankov’s partner was Kuma.
With their towering heights and distinctly unique styles, no one else could possibly match up with them…
Aside from Kuma and Ivankov, the rest of the group was much less conspicuous.
Although they looked cool wearing their cloaks, it was obvious they were just ordinary members of the Revolutionary Army.
When Ian saw them, they naturally spotted him as well.
“Who is this black-haired kid?”
“Is it really okay for a kid to see us?”
A few Revolutionary Army members muttered among themselves, but Ivankov paid them no mind, stepping right up to Ian and looking down at him.
“Hee-haw!
Boy!
That uniform you’re wearing…
do you train at the village dojo?”
Ian snapped back to reality and nodded.
“Is your dojo called the Isshin Dojo?” Ivankov pointed at the crossed-swords embroidered emblem on Ian’s chest.
“I think I remember it being called that.”
“How do you know that?” Ian asked, feeling a bit curious.
“Do you know Master Koushirou?”
Ivankov turned his head and exchanged a glance with Kuma behind him.
However, Kuma remained expressionless, holding a book in his hands and looking entirely engrossed in his reading.
Ivankov then turned back to Ian.
“That’s right!
Boy, you could say we know him!”
‘You either know him or you don’t.
What does “you could say” mean?’ Ian was a bit puzzled, but he didn’t press the issue.
“Could you take us to your dojo?” Ivankov asked.
Ian’s eyes darted around.
He still didn’t know exactly what kind of relationship his master, Koushirou, had with the Revolutionary Army.
Taking them to see his master wasn’t a big deal, but…
it was rare to run into a group of outsiders here.
It would be a shame not to take advantage of the situation.
So he nodded and said, “Sure, but you have to agree to one condition!”
“What condition?” Ivankov asked curiously.
Ian looked at the Revolutionary Army soldiers behind him and pointed at them.
“It’s simple.
Any one of you, fight me!”
“What!?” The Revolutionary Army soldiers were astonished, thinking they had misheard.
One of them even stepped forward, bent down to pat Ian’s head, and said, “Kid, stop messing around.
Just take us to the dojo, okay?
I’ll give you some candy!”
‘Oh, hell no!
It’s one thing for Master Koushirou to pat my head, but you dare treat me like a little kid too?’
Ian swatted the man’s hand away, glanced at the sword hanging at his waist, and declared, “Alright then, you’re up!”
“Uh…” The Revolutionary Army soldier was dumbfounded, not expecting a kid these days to have such an attitude.
He could only cast a pleading look at Ivankov.
Ivankov glanced at Ian and, seeing the serious expression on his face, had no choice but to say, “Don’t hurt the boy!”
The soldier nodded helplessly.
Standing his ground without drawing his sword, he took a fighting stance and said to Ian, “Alright then, come on, kid!
I won’t use a weapon.
I’ll just fight you with my fists!”
Ian didn’t waste any words.
Gripping his bamboo sword, he charged forward.
In their first exchange, the Revolutionary Army soldier nearly suffered a huge loss.
He hadn’t expected Ian to be so fast.
His eyes narrowed as he narrowly dodged Ian’s slash, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Ian didn’t care about any of that.
His long-term training at the dojo had turned his sword strikes into pure instinct.
After the soldier dodged, Ian immediately seized the opening at his opponent’s ribs and thrust his sword forward.
Anyone capable of following Ivankov around, even an ordinary soldier, had some real skill.
The Revolutionary Army soldier twisted his body, evading Ian’s attack, and raised his leg to kick at Ian.
However, the moment he threw the kick, he regretted it.
He had used his full strength.
Had he actually been forced to get serious by a little kid?
With that thought, he subconsciously pulled his kick just a bit.
But what he didn’t know was that Ian had been waiting for him to strike back.
The Issen skill had a specific activation condition: it could only be triggered the exact moment an opponent was about to land an attack.
If this Revolutionary Army soldier only dodged and never fought back, how was Ian supposed to use his skill?
So, seeing the incoming kick, Ian didn’t dodge or evade.
He kept his eyes locked firmly on the man’s movements.
Just as the top of the man’s foot was about to hit him, Ian gritted his teeth and attempted to unleash the Issen skill.
But to his surprise, in the very next second, with a loud thud, he was kicked squarely in the face and sent flying!
The Revolutionary Army soldier hadn’t expected Ian to actually take the hit.
Startled by his own successful strike, he quickly ran over to check on the boy.
Half of Ian’s face was in agonizing pain.
He lay on the ground, grimacing and baring his teeth.
He completely hadn’t expected the Issen skill to fail, causing him to take a kick for nothing.
‘Damn it, the timing for this Issen skill is way harder to master than I thought!’
“Are you okay?” the Revolutionary Army soldier asked with concern.
Ian shook his head, pushed himself up from the ground, tightened his grip on the bamboo sword, and said, “Again!”
The soldier waved his hands.
“No, no, if we go again, I’m afraid you’ll get hurt!”
“Don’t worry, I haven’t lost yet!” Perhaps it was because he had spent so much time with Kuina and Zoro, but Ian found that he now possessed an unyielding spirit as well.
What was a little pain like this?
Seeing him like this, the Revolutionary Army soldier was out of options and could only face Ian’s challenge once more.
Ivankov stood to the side, watching the whole time, finding it quite amusing.
He saw Ian as just a kid wanting to challenge an adult, but he genuinely appreciated Ian’s unyielding spirit.
As for Kuma, although he held a book in his hands, it was impossible to tell whether he was actually reading or watching the fight.
Ian was even more serious than before.
In truth, at the beginning, he had treated these Revolutionary Army soldiers—who were mere background characters in the manga—as small fry, thinking they weren’t very strong.
But now he realized that this was a real world.
Even the small fry were actually quite strong, at least stronger than a child whose body hadn’t even fully developed yet!
The two clashed again.
The Revolutionary Army soldier noticed that Ian’s attack speed had actually increased significantly.
Finding it increasingly difficult to dodge, he had no choice but to strike back, hoping to defeat Ian and end this awkward duel.
This time, he didn’t dare use a kick.
Instead, he switched to his fists, as the force of a punch was easier to control than a kick.
He really didn’t want to injure Ian.
However, Ian, who had now entered a state of absolute concentration, had incredibly sharp reflexes.
Seeing the fist coming straight at his face, he once again locked onto the perfect timing and activated the Issen skill.
In the exact split second before the Revolutionary Army soldier’s fist could strike him, Ian suddenly vanished from his sight!
No one could clearly see how Ian’s feet had moved.
They only saw him instantly appear at the soldier’s side, his bamboo sword raised high, slashing down with unbelievable speed!
The sword moved so fast it carried a whistling sound.
Like a blur, it carved a flash of light through the air and viciously struck the Revolutionary Army soldier’s back!
The Revolutionary Army soldier was a relatively tall adult, yet upon taking this blow to his back, he felt an immense surge of power crash into him.
Under this crushing weight, the bones in his back seemed to groan in protest.
His entire body involuntarily collapsed downward.
He was literally beaten from a standing position straight into the dirt by this single strike, letting out an uncontrollable scream of agony as he fell.
Meanwhile, Ivankov, who was watching the fight, was even more astonished.
He wasn’t surprised that a child had managed to defeat an adult; he was shocked by what he had just sensed.
Grabbing his cloak, he couldn’t help but spin around on one leg, revealing his muscular thighs clad in fishnet stockings.
“Hee-haw!
Was that the fluctuation of Haki!?
Did this boy actually awaken Haki at such a young age?”
Unfortunately, Ian didn’t hear his words.
The moment the Revolutionary Army soldier screamed, Ian couldn’t help but let out a scream of his own.
The difference was that the soldier was screaming from the pain in his back, while Ian was screaming from a splitting headache!
That’s right, Ian’s Issen had finally activated successfully.
But what he hadn’t expected was the piercing, bone-deep headache that accompanied it, hurting so much that he couldn’t even maintain his grip on the bamboo sword.
He finally understood why the Issen skill’s description stated it could deal massive damage.
When he activated Issen just now, his remaining 15 points of Nen Energy had been completely drained.
At the same time, he could feel that when he swung the sword, some kind of power had wrapped around the entire blade!
That must have been the power of Nen!
It was precisely because Nen was wrapped around the blade that his strike had managed to flatten a veteran Revolutionary Army soldier.
It felt very similar to Armament Haki, which was exactly why Ivankov had let out such an exclamation of surprise.
Unfortunately, since it was his first time using the Issen skill and his first time truly using his Nen ability, he couldn’t control the energy consumption.
This resulted in him using up all his Nen Energy at once.
The complete depletion of his Nen ultimately brought about an intense, agonizing headache.
Ian plopped down onto the ground, clutching his head tightly to alleviate the pain.
But in Ivankov’s eyes, this appeared to be the telltale sign of Ian awakening his Haki.