One day had passed since Luffy defeated Arlong and the festival in Cocoyasi Village, and by morning, Zoro and Sanji were at the edge of the island.
In front of them stood a massive stone wall, easily two or three times taller than an ordinary person, and Luffy opened his mouth as he looked at the two of them from before the wall.
"How do you usually control your strength?"
"Well... I just do it by feel."
"Same here, more or less, Luffy."
"Something like, this much is one-third, this much is half... that kind of thing, right?"
"That's too vague. If you want to learn what I'm teaching, you need to be more precise."
"If you decide to use one-tenth of your strength... then you should only use one-tenth."
Luffy said that and shot his index finger out at the stone wall at incredible speed.
As a result, the wall was left with a narrow but deeply gouged mark.
"If you decide to use three-tenths of your strength, then you should only use three-tenths..."
When he thrust his index finger again, a small, perfectly round hole had been cleanly punched through the wall.
"And if you want to use ten-tenths of your strength..."
As Luffy thrust his finger once more, a hole even larger than the last appeared in the center of the wall.
"And whenever, wherever, and under any circumstances you use your strength, if you assume you're using one unit of power a hundred times...!"
In a brief instant, he jabbed his finger at the wall at blinding speed.
Zoro and Sanji stared wide-eyed at what had happened in a heartbeat, and the stone wall now had a hundred or so tiny holes punched through it at perfectly even intervals.
"That means you have to be able to use all one hundred strikes with nothing but one unit of power each."
"What was that just now, Luffy...!"
"It's one of the five techniques taught to people in Cipher Pol, the Marine and World Government's intelligence agency, Sanji."
"The name is [Six Powers]... no, one of the Five Techniques, [Finger Pistol]."
"The Five Techniques are skills that can only be used by someone who has trained their physical abilities to a certain level and can properly control the distribution and concentration of their power."
"Finger Pistol is a technique the CP bastards use well, since it's good for ambushing unarmed opponents with a small movement."
Maybe because my memories from my past life only resurfaced recently, I blurted out [Six Powers] instead of Five Techniques again, just like when Kuro used [Shave] last time.
In the original, among the six [Six Powers] techniques, [Iron Body], which hardens the body like steel, and [Tempest Kick], which unleashes slashes with the legs, were two of them.
But here, in the world I was reincarnated into, [Tempest Kick] has been replaced by [Moonwalk], a technique that combines the concepts of two skills that fire shockwaves or slashes.
There's no [Iron Body] at all. Probably because of Armament Haki, which feels like a superior power that came after [Iron Body] in the original.
"Anyway, what I'm going to have you two do from now on is training that'll help you distribute your power properly."
"I get that it's an amazing technique and all... but is it really that important, Luffy?"
"Why doesn't it seem important to you, Zoro?"
"What you're teaching is basically the ability to control your full power, right? Wouldn't it be better to train so you can increase your full power of ten instead?"
"If you want to fight strong opponents and win, isn't that what matters more?"
"Zoro, when you fight, do you really think swinging your sword with all your strength means you're truly going all out?"
"...Then you're saying I've been mistaken all this time while fighting?"
"If you're assuming you're going all out, it's not easy to waste one-tenth of your power."
"But what about one-twentieth? One-fiftieth? Or even one-hundredth... can you be sure you aren't wasting even a little of that much power?"
"..."
"I don't think about things as simply as Marimo does, Luffy, but I still don't understand this from another angle."
"Distributing your power and concentrating it without waste when you're going all out... aren't those completely opposite problems?"
"They're not different, Sanji. They're the same problem."
Luffy said that and held his hand close to the stone wall.
"Once you can freely control one-hundredth of your power..."
He flicked his index finger and struck the wall.
Boom!
The stone wall shattered to pieces the instant his finger touched it.
"That's how you're able to exert your full power without wasting even a little when you concentrate your strength."
Seeing that, Zoro and Sanji looked even more shocked than when Luffy had made a hundred holes in the wall just moments before.
"Just by flicking a finger..."
"It's possible because I concentrated as much power as I could into that one finger, Sanji."
"...So how do we start training?"
"Normally, you'd start by training control with the hand that can feel sensation the best, Zoro."
"But your specialties are fighting with swords and legs, right? If it feels easier to train control there, then do it however you're most comfortable."
Luffy raised his index finger and continued with a small smile.
"For reference, the Five Techniques can only be learned once you can freely control one-hundredth of your power."
"For now, let's start lightly with one-tenth."
*****
Back in Whiskey Peak, Zoro was dodging bullets fired from the guns in the hands of more than a dozen people.
He hurled himself into a house with its door open, then rose and leaned his back against the wall, peeking half his face out the window to look outside.
"I'd forgotten who you were, but thanks to our captain, I remembered, you damn Baroque Works bastards."
"How do you know our company's name...!"
"When I was working as a bounty hunter, I got a scout offer once. That's when I heard what kind of people you were."
"They said the employees, including the boss, don't know the identities of the higher-ranking superiors, and they call each other by code names while following the company's orders."
"I turned down the scout offer from the guy who explained it like that, and then he tried to kill me, so I killed him instead."
"A guy who knows we're Baroque Works dares to take on the two of us?"
"If you know the company's secret, give up on living!"
As the man shouted that, he and the others around him rushed into the house where Zoro was hiding and sprayed bullets everywhere.
But Zoro's figure was nowhere to be seen in the direction their eyes and guns were aimed.
"Where did he hide? It's not even a two-story house... huh?"
As one man said that and lifted his head, he jerked his neck back and looked up at the ceiling.
There, Zoro was clinging to the protrusions in the ceiling, a sword clenched in his mouth, supporting himself with his hands and feet.
"U-Above...!"
Before the others could look up at the man's words, Zoro dropped down and grabbed the sword in his mouth with both hands.
Then he cut down the six men who had rushed into the house, one by one.
"Aaaagh! Ah! My, my body... huh, it doesn't hurt?"
"Mine doesn't either... huh?"
The moment one of the six said that, the muzzles of the guns in their hands were severed and dropped to the floor.
"Be grateful to our captain."
"...!"
After saying that, Zoro swiftly cut down the six of them with his three swords.
"If I hadn't trained before this, your fingers would've been cut off too."
The ones cut by his blades collapsed unconscious, but there was no blood flowing from the wounds.
Leaving the fallen men behind, Zoro looked at Yubashiri in his right hand.
If I hadn't trained under Luffy, I would've hit my limit just trying to subdue them with the back of my blade.
And as expected, this thing is great—sharp as hell, and light too.
"Found him! He's in the house!"
"Got spotted."
As Zoro burst out of the house, Sanji was running through the center of the village.
More than thirty people were chasing after Sanji, and ahead of him stood a large three-story building with a ladder leaning against its wall.
"A ladder. Lucky."
"He's going up!"
"Half of you take the stairs! The rest of you come with me on the ladder!"
Sanji began climbing the ladder that reached the top of the building, and some of the pursuers climbed it with him to chase him.
When Sanji, who had been climbing quickly, reached the rooftop, the man waiting at the top shoved a gun muzzle in front of his face.
"Damn...!"
Bang!
Sanji hooked one leg over the ladder rail and bent his waist sharply backward to dodge the bullet.
"Hah! He's blocked in front and behind!"
"There were people waiting on the roof from the start!"
"...No choice."
"Wh-What are you doing...!"
Sanji lifted the leg hooked on the ladder and threw his body backward, launching himself into the air.
The ladder tilted back with him and toppled to the ground along with the people climbing it.
At the same time, Sanji kicked at the air, and with a faint pop from the tip of his foot, a tiny shockwave burst forth.
As Sanji kept producing those shockwaves with both feet in succession, it looked as though he were running across an invisible floor in midair.
"Walking... in the air?"
As the man who had fired from the rooftop muttered that, Sanji rushed through the air and kicked the man in the face along with the muzzle of the gun in his hand.
That sent the two men behind him toppling backward with him, and Sanji quickly kicked the chins of the remaining four as well.
With their heads snapping back hard, they collapsed to the ground, and at that moment the men who had chased Sanji up from the rooftop entrance burst out.
"It's over now, curly-brow! Don't even think about running...!"
Sanji struck the side of the sword held by the man in front, and the blade snapped cleanly in two.
"How about we're the ones running?"
"Like hell that'll happen!"
*****
After some time had passed, Zoro reached the area near the building Sanji had climbed with the ladder.
Along the path he had taken to get here, dozens of people lay collapsed at regular intervals.
And above Zoro, Sanji kicked the air several times, creating small shockwaves as he slowly landed in front of him.
"Marimo, how long ago did we say we'd meet in front of the biggest building in town? Why are you only here now?"
"You don't see the guys behind me? I took down more people than you did, so of course I'm late."
"Did you count them?"
"Even if I didn't, isn't that obvious?"
"I'm not expecting a number sense from an idiot who learned [Moonwalk] later than I did."
"That's because you're more used to using your legs than I am!"
"You're good with swords, aren't you? Then why not do something like [Moonwalk] with your sword?"
"...Should I try that?"
"Hey, if you take that seriously..."
While the two of them were talking, the members of Baroque Works were slowly closing in around them at regular intervals.
Noticing this, a middle-aged man who introduced himself as the village chief walked up in front of them.
"Since you say you know us, let me introduce myself again. I am Mr. 8 of Baroque Works, Igarappoi."
"I heard the ones who got numbers were paired up with partners. Is your partner hiding somewhere else?"
"Partners are only formed between people of similar skill. If the other one is too strong or too weak, there's no need to stick together."
The chief finished speaking and pulled a cord from inside his clothes, causing six gun muzzles to pop out from the six curls of hair coiled around both sides of his head.
"And guys like you are more than enough for me alone!"
Boom!
When the chief pulled the cord again, the bullets fired from the six muzzles split apart and rained out in all directions.
"W-Where did he go!"
Zoro and Sanji hurled themselves left and right so quickly that only their outlines could barely be seen.
"Aaaagh!!!"
As a result, the ones hit by the chief's bullets were not Zoro and Sanji, but the chief's own subordinates who had been rushing toward the two of them.
"Damn it...!"
"Those six guns in that bastard's hair were all shotguns, Marimo. If neither of us had learned [Shave], they'd have been hard to dodge."
"...But that guy was tied up on the ship. How did he get here?"
"What do you mean...?"
"Igarappoi~!"
At that moment, a man's voice calling out to the chief rang out from far away, and everyone turned toward the direction of the sound.
What stood there was Mr. 9, running toward them with two iron clubs in his hands.
"If he's coming here... then I guess he's fighting on the side of the guys from the same company?"
After saying that, Zoro rushed toward Mr. 9, and the chief, who saw this, grabbed the cord inside his clothes to fire again at Zoro.
"Do you think I'd just stand here and watch?"
"When did you get behi...!"
Sanji had appeared behind the chief before anyone noticed, and kicked the startled man in the back.
Sanji planted a foot on the chief's back as he fell forward and pinned him down, and the chief turned his head and barely managed to look up at him.
In front of his eyes, Sanji was aiming a pistol he had picked up from somewhere.
"Surrender now. Since no more of your men seem to be coming, I'm saying this because I think you're the last ones."
"Damn..."
As Sanji subdued his opponent, Zoro rushed toward the charging Mr. 9 and swung the sword in his right hand through the air.
"Roronoa! I didn't come here to fight—what is this!"
From Zoro's swing, a small white crescent-shaped slash, about the size of a person's head, cut through the air and flew toward Mr. 9.
Seeing it, the other man swung his twin clubs to block the blade.
Slash!
"My, my steel club~!"
"Damn...!"
The slash cut through Mr. 9's clubs, and Zoro rushed up to him. After a startled expression flashed across his face, Zoro struck the back of the opponent's neck with the reverse side of the sword in his left hand.
After looking down at Mr. 9, who had lost consciousness and collapsed, Zoro looked at the blade of Yubashiri held vertically in his right hand.
"Its sharpness is beyond what I imagined... but my master said a true fine sword only cuts when its owner swings it to cut."
"It's swinging to deflect, and yet it just cuts on its own... this thing is a total troublemaker."
"Zoro, is it all over now?"
"...Yeah, Luffy. It just ended."
Zoro, who had been muttering to himself, answered Luffy, who had come close without him noticing.
He came walking with the other crew members behind him, carrying eight human heads by their hair, four in each hand.