50. Learning the Sword Draw skill. Ochoku Pirates meeting.

│3rd Person POV│

[Grand Line, New World, Moby Dick…]

Observing the harmonious atmosphere around him, Ron was frowning at this moment. He was not exactly happy.

He had already sensed Whitebeard's weakness. It could be said that the Strongest Man in the world had begun to weaken considerably.

Although he didn't show it, this battle with Ochoku would possibly further deteriorate Whitebeard's condition.

In such a case, the New World would be in complete turmoil, and the Whitebeard Pirates would become the center of the storm.

This would greatly reduce the time Ron had to become stronger, and he might not even have till the Summit War.

'Become stronger! I have to become stronger. Just a bit more, a bit short of being able to copy the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's powers.

'If I can advance to the Vice-Admiral level and copy the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, I will have the minimum qualification to affect the storm!'

At this moment, Ron was anxious for more strength.

However, his current strength improvement had been extremely rapid, and it was extremely difficult, almost impossible, to speed up the improvement.

"Unless—!"

A thought flashed through his mind, and Ron looked at Vista beside him.

After pondering for a while, Ron stepped forward and said, "Commander Vista, could you spare a moment to speak?"

"Ron!?"

Vista and the other Division Commanders and Whitebeard were drinking at the moment.

Vista was a little surprised that Ron came to him. However, after seeing Ron's solemn expression, he did not refuse and nodded, "Okay!"

Immediately afterward, the two of them left the deck area without lingering and came to an open space at the stern of the ship.

"Ron, what can I help you with?" Vista asked.

"Commander Vista."

Without any nonsense, Ron looked at Vista, and requested with a respectful expression on his face, "The battle will begin tomorrow. I want to be of some help. So, I hope you can teach me how to use some simple sword moves."

"Swordsmanship?"

Frowning, Bista asked in confusion, "Ron, you have been mostly focusing on physical skills and abilities till now. Why do you suddenly want to learn swordsmanship?

"Although Pops told you that swordsmanship can indeed help you use Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power better, you don't have any foundation in swordsmanship. It is impossible to teach you anything meaningful in such a short time."

Bista thought Ron was thinking about acquiring Tremor-Tremor Fruit later.

After all, Whitebeard had mentioned before that learning swordsmanship could significantly reduce the impact of Tremor-Tremor Fruit's early backlash.

But such a thing couldn't be accomplished overnight. In his opinion, Ron seemed a little too eager.

"No!"

Ron shook his head and said solemnly, "Tomorrow is a big war, and as a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, I will naturally participate in it.

"But I'm not very strong. If I use just my abilities and physical skills, it will definitely consume a lot of energy.

"So, I want to learn simple swordsmanship to ensure that I can have a chance to recover and catch my breath.

"I don't expect to learn any advanced sword skills. I want to learn a simple sword-drawing technique to deal with future battles."

Ron had thought about this very carefully.

By relying on using a good sword for attacking, as long as his speed was fast enough, it was enough to cause greater damage and even ensure that he had sufficient time to recover his physical strength.

However, if he relied on basic physical skills and abilities to damage opponents, it would consume too much physical strength and could easily lead to problems.

Drawing a sword to cut was one of the most important foundations of swordsmanship, and it was also a very lethal move. This was what he needed now.

"I see."

Vista nodded in realization. After understanding the reason, he looked at Ron with slightly more admiration.

He was worthy of being valued by Whitebeard. Even though he was weak now, he still showed tremendous will to keep improving.

"I agree."

After some consideration, Vista spoke up.

Immediately afterward, he took off one of his swords from his waist and handed it to Ron: "Come on. I will teach you the art of drawing a sword.

"Let's see if I can instill the skill in your mind and body in just one day."

"Thank you, Commander Vista."

Hearing this, Ron smiled, not realizing just what he had signed up for.

After receiving the sword, he started training under Vista with great enthusiasm.

Sword Draw!

The first step to learning swordsmanship.

For almost an entire day, Vista taught Ron the Sword Draw skill without any rest.

In the start, Ron just had to imitate Vista. However, as the hours progressed, Vista started correcting Ron's mistakes with painful strikes.

If Ron's injuries escalated, or his muscles cramped up from continuous movement, Vista had Ron use the Healing Flames to get into tip-top shape.

If his stamina got low to the point of not being able to use Healing Flames anymore, Vista had Thatch bring in huge quantities of highly nutritious food.

After eating, he had Ron run around the deck for about ten to fifteen minutes to help digest the food and get back some energy.

Then, his sword training would continue.

The cycle was repeated countless times, leading to Ron's increasing understanding and proficiency in the Sword Draw skill.

Vista let Ron have some sleep only four hours before noon of the next day.

At noon, a large number of pirate ships began to gather around the Moby Dick.

The newcomers were unsurprisingly members of the Sixteen Divisions of the Whitebeard Pirates.

The mighty pirate ships were densely packed with people, and their number reached a terrifying 5,500.

"Listen, my Sons! Today, our only objective is to annihilate the Ochoku Pirates! Move Forward! Fight to your heart's content!"

At this time, Whitebeard's words resounded through all the ships gathered.

"UWOOOHHH!!!"

In response, all the pirates let out loud cheers.

The Whitebeard Pirates' fleet, led by the Moby Dick, quickly began to sail towards Beehive Island.

=+=+=+=< Scene Break >=+=+=+=

[Grand Line, New World, Beehive Island, Ochoku Pirates Headquarters…]

"Ochoku-sama."

"Ochoku-sama!"

At the same time, in an office on Beehive Island, senior officials of the Ochoku Pirates gathered together to discuss matters.

Suddenly, a pirate hurriedly entered, bowed, and said, "Master Ochoku, the Whitebeard Pirates are here.

"With Whitebeard's Moby Dick leading the ships from all the Sixteen Division, their numbers are estimated to be more than five thousand."

"What!?"

"Whitebeard is here."

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of all the Pirates in the hall changed drastically.

Especially Hobi and others who had just joined, all looked shocked and fearful at this moment.

Whitebeard!

The Strongest Man in the World.

The title alone was enough to deter most of them into retreat.

"Finally, the time has come. Whitebeard, this battle will be your last battle in this life."

However, Ochoku smiled coldly at this moment.

He slowly stood up and said, "Everyone, since that guy Whitebeard is here, it's time to let the world know that Whitebeard's era has passed.

"This battle will annihilate the Whitebeard Pirates and let the world know that the strongest pirate group is our Ochoku Pirates."

Hearing this, the pirates present looked at Ochoku in astonishment.

They were completely speechless hearing the confidence in Ochoku's tone. Although Ochoku's words were inspiring, it was a whole different matter to turn those words into reality.

"Captain Ochoku."

After a while, Noji slowly spoke, "We believe you have confidence, but there is no doubt about Whitebeard's strength. He is the Strongest Man in the World.

"The power of his Tremor-Tremor Fruit is enough to destroy the world. Do we really want to fight with him here?

"Even if there are a few of us together, we won't be able to do anything to Whitebeard, right?" 

As soon as these words came out, Snow Leopard and others nodded.

Although they were big-name pirates and their bounty exceeded the 500 Million Berries mark, to be honest, they are still a bit terrified to face Whitebeard!

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

A/N: Once again, Sorry for being late guys!

About this chapter, in the CN version, the OG Author didn't even bother to elaborate Ron training to learn the Sword Draw skill, you know.

He had just stated that Ron asked Vista for training, Vista agreed after some persuassion from Ron and then it was already the next day with Ron successuflly learning the Sword Draw skill.

I was like, What? How? Is he more talented than Zoro, Ryuma, Mihwak, Shanks, etc. on the way of sword? SMH!!

I tried to described the training process a bit, hoping to make it more realistic in terms of One Piece world lore.

What do you guys think? Is it still outrageous that Ron learned the basics of Sword Draw technique in one day?

A/N_2: About Ron's move name. Althought the name Blue Flames: Phoenix Cloak! won by a landslide, there was some good suggestion by some readers. I will think on this and decide later.

Ron's not going to use this move soon anyway. So I have time.

A/N_3: From next week, I will only post 7 chapters per week. That means tommorow, you will only get one chapter. (This was the last A/N for today. 🫣)

Anyway, time to beg! Power Stones and Review please. Also, don't forget to add this in your library!

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