Chapter 55 (Patreon)

Another ten days passed.

Deep within a secluded valley rarely visited by anyone, three figures moved beneath a roaring waterfall, their bodies weaving around one another as they fought atop the water’s surface.

“Hah!”

Hinata and Hanabi attacked from both sides, surrounding the silver-haired boy between them.

Their slender fingers shot forward like arrows, each strike aimed precisely at the tenketsu throughout his body.

Although this was only training, neither sister showed the slightest mercy, and the sharp force behind their Gentle Fist strikes stirred the air around their palms.

Standing between them, Nerona Mihawk kept his eyes closed, seemingly unaware of the fingers closing in on his chakra points.

Just as their palms came within several centimeters of him, Mihawk’s eyes suddenly opened, a sharp gleam flashing through his crimson pupils.

With both feet planted on the water, he casually took a single step forward.

His movement appeared almost unnaturally slow. Hinata and Hanabi’s attacks should already have struck him, yet their fingers passed through the space where he had been a moment earlier.

Before either of them could react, Mihawk appeared between their guards.

“Thud! Thud!”

Two carefully controlled kicks struck Hinata and Hanabi in the abdomen at almost the exact same moment, sending both sisters sliding backward across the water.

Their bare feet carved long ripples across the surface before they finally regained their balance. Instead of appearing discouraged, however, both pairs of pale Byakugan eyes lit up with delight.

Hinata hurried back toward him.

“Mihawk-kun, did you succeed?”

“Mihawk-nii, was that a short-range Body Flicker just now?” Hanabi asked, her voice filled with admiration. “That was amazing!”

Mihawk glanced down at the weights strapped around his legs and frowned.

“I only succeed once in every ten attempts. I can hardly call that a success.”

He wanted to perform the technique whenever he chose, not rely upon chance.

Short-range Body Flicker—or short-range high-speed movement, as Mihawk preferred to call it—was the next stage of his training.

Ever since his encounter with Uchiha Itachi, Mihawk had spent more than a month repeatedly simulating a battle between them in his mind, carefully measuring how dangerous Itachi would be once he began using the full power of his Mangekyō Sharingan.

If Itachi fought while deliberately holding back, Mihawk was confident that he could defeat him without much difficulty.

In a true battle to the death, however, Itachi’s Mangekyō abilities made the outcome far less straightforward. Even then, Mihawk estimated that Itachi’s chance of dying exceeded fifty-five percent.

That calculation already took into account Itachi’s Mangekyō Sharingan, his intelligence, and the numerous hidden methods available to a shinobi of his level.

The man’s severe illness and the strain caused by repeatedly using the Mangekyō Sharingan only made the outcome even more certain.

Amaterasu was undoubtedly dangerous, but Mihawk did not consider it impossible to overcome.

Although the black flames had rarely succeeded in killing anyone in the original story, reality was not nearly so forgiving. Once Amaterasu attached itself to a target, it would continue burning until nothing remained.

Unless someone possessed an escape technique similar to Orochimaru’s Oral Rebirth or a forbidden jutsu capable of rewriting reality, such as Izanagi, being struck directly by those flames could easily prove fatal.

Even the Fourth Raikage had been forced to sever his own arm after it was caught by Amaterasu.

However, that did not mean the technique could threaten Mihawk forever.

Once his Armament Haki advanced to the next level, he would be able to release it beyond the surface of his body, forming an invisible barrier that prevented the black flames from touching him directly.

Even if Amaterasu caught that outer layer, he could separate and discard it before the flames spread, much like Naruto had used the chakra surrounding his body to contain Sasuke’s black flames during their final battle at the Valley of the End.

Mihawk had no intention of relying on a desperate escape technique or sacrificing part of his body to survive. He would develop a direct and reliable method of rendering Amaterasu useless against him.

Tsukuyomi was no longer an insurmountable threat either.

Once Mihawk mastered advanced Supreme King Haki, his will would become powerful enough to resist and shatter mental interference. An illusion that attempted to dominate his consciousness would be crushed by the overwhelming force of his own spirit.

What truly concerned him were techniques such as Izanami and Kotoamatsukami.

One could trap a target within an endless loop without relying on an ordinary illusion, while the other could alter a person’s thoughts without them ever realizing they had been manipulated.

Abilities like those could not be dealt with through strength alone.

Itachi was not Mihawk’s enemy, nor did Mihawk believe the man had any reason to turn against him.

However, Mihawk disliked knowing that someone in the world possessed an ability that could genuinely threaten him.

It did not matter whether that danger came from Itachi or from someone else who might obtain similar powers in the future. Mihawk preferred to prepare for every possibility before it could become a problem.

That was why he needed to continue raising the completion rate of his template.

The more of Hawkeye’s strength he unlocked, the fewer abilities in this world would remain capable of threatening him.

His speed was not poor by ordinary standards.

In the eyes of most jōnin, it was already exceptional, and even among Kage-level shinobi, very few would dare underestimate him.

Still, Mihawk had no intention of accepting a weakness simply because others considered him powerful.

Long-distance use of the Body Flicker Technique was manageable. With sufficient space, he could gather chakra, accelerate, and transform that momentum into a devastating thrust or slash.

Short-range movement was entirely different.

During the Konoha Crush, he had entered that state once while cutting through the enemy forces, but afterward, he had been unable to reproduce that effortless movement consistently.

Mihawk did not need the technique merely to survive against Uchiha Itachi.

He wanted it because he refused to leave even the smallest flaw in his abilities.

Unfortunately, he appeared to possess almost no natural talent for ninjutsu.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he had neglected whatever talent he once possessed during his childhood.

Even now, his Body Flicker Technique could barely carry him half a meter at such close range. The interval between releasing chakra through his feet and pushing away from the ground was simply too brief. Out of every ten attempts, six or seven normally failed before he could even move properly.

That was why Mihawk had begun performing the training on water while wearing weights.

Maintaining his footing on the unstable surface forced him to control both the timing and quantity of his chakra with far greater precision.

If he could master the technique under these conditions, using it on solid ground would become considerably easier.

However, his current failure rate remained nine out of ten.

The movement he had just performed was only his first successful attempt of the day.

It was still nowhere near the level he desired.

Of course, Mihawk had also considered learning Soru, one of the Navy’s Six Powers.

Within the spiritual world of the template, Hawkeye had fought numerous Navy swordsmen. More than five of those powerful opponents had mastered Soru, allowing Mihawk to observe the principle behind the technique.

Soru required the user to kick the ground more than ten times within a single instant, creating enough explosive force to propel the body forward at extreme speed.

However, the average physical strength of the people in this world was vastly different from that of the One Piece world.

Even without considering races naturally blessed with extraordinary physiques, such as the giants, the One Piece world was dominated by vast oceans filled with creatures whose meat provided humans with tremendous nourishment.

Because of that environment, even children of the same age often possessed far greater natural physical strength than those born in the shinobi world.

More importantly, Soru was considered a superhuman technique even in that world.

Mihawk hoped to use it to compensate for his lack of speed, but attempting to learn it with his current physique was still unrealistic.

For the time being, his only reasonable option was to continue improving the Body Flicker Technique.

Noticing the dissatisfied expression on his face, Hinata assumed he was disappointed by his own progress and gently tried to reassure him.

“Mihawk-kun, it’s all right. We still have plenty of time,” she said softly. “We’re still growing, and our strength is increasing quickly. You’ll definitely overcome this weakness someday.”

Hanabi nodded repeatedly beside her.

“That’s right! Mihawk-nii is already the strongest person in my eyes!”

Their voices pulled Mihawk from his thoughts.

He glanced first at the gentle smile on Hinata’s face, then at Hanabi’s openly admiring expression, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

“Don’t worry. I’m not bothered by it.”

He would give himself another three months.

If he still proved incapable of mastering the Body Flicker Technique by then, he would focus entirely on strengthening his body and attempt to modify Soru into a form he could use.

Just as Mihawk silently reached that decision, his gaze suddenly sharpened.

He turned his eyes toward the forest on the right side of the valley.

“Hinata, Hanabi, go back to the shore and put something on over your clothes.”

The three of them had been training on the water for a long time. Mihawk’s kimono remained dry, but Hinata and Hanabi’s clothes had become completely soaked beneath the waterfall and now clung uncomfortably to them, allowing their underlayers to show through.

“Okay.”

Trusting Mihawk’s senses, Hinata and Hanabi immediately returned to the shore and reached for the spare clothing they had left there.

A moment later, an afterimage shot out from between the trees and appeared directly in front of Mihawk.

The newcomer wore the uniform of an ANBU shinobi, his face concealed behind a dark mask.

“Nerona Mihawk,” the masked shinobi said in a solemn voice. “The Fifth Hokage has summoned you.”