The swinging motion of the wooden sword stopped mid-air.
Ryukawa froze.
The strange voice that had suddenly echoed in his head was still reverberating, making it hard for him to react. For a moment, he just stood there, stunned.
A few seconds later—
Excitement rushed up his chest.
The golden finger he'd been longing for… had finally arrived.
"As a transmigrator, a cheat is mandatory. Otherwise, how the hell am I supposed to compete with the inhuman monsters in this world?"
Ryukawa took a deep breath, forcing down the tremor in his heart.
Once he'd calmed a little, the very first thing he did—
Was think about what this so-called system could actually do.
Right then.
A translucent panel suddenly popped up in the corner of his vision, abrupt and out of nowhere. Ryukawa was so startled his grip nearly slipped.
"What is this…?"
He focused on it.
Lines of text floated in front of him, clear as day.
[Host: Ryukawa]
[Strength: 21 (Average adult: 10)]
[Speed: 22 (Average adult: 10)]
[Stamina: 22 (Average adult: 10)]
[Skill: Swordsmanship Lv3]
[Total Sword Swings: 1]
"This is… my status panel?"
Ryukawa quickly understood.
These values represented his current physical condition and skill level.
"So basically, my strength is just barely above a normal person's. And my swordsmanship is only at a pathetic Lv3?"
Looking at those numbers, Ryukawa finally grasped just how weak he was right now.
He exhaled heavily and stared at the last line on the panel.
If the upper lines were his physical stats…
Then the last one—Total Sword Swings.
What did that mean?
"Sword swings, huh?"
"Is it telling me to swing my sword?"
"But then what? What's the point of accumulating swings?"
There was no tutorial, no explanation. If he wanted answers, he had to figure them out himself.
For now—
He raised the wooden sword again and, just like before, swung down toward the wooden training post in front of him with stiff, awkward movements.
Smack!
The wooden sword struck the post with a dull sound. The post didn't budge. Not even a scratch.
Only the panel changed.
[Total Sword Swings: 2]
"As expected."
Just as Ryukawa thought, the number ticked upward.
The counter went from 1 to 2.
But what it did beyond counting, he still had no idea.
"Don't tell me… it really just counts how many times I swing?"
"There has to be more to it. I'm definitely missing something."
Holding onto that thought—
Ryukawa lifted the wooden sword again.
And again.
And again.
The same motion, repeated ten times in a row.
Finally—
The system's voice sounded in his mind again, crisp and mechanical.
[Ding! Total sword swings: 10]
[Reward: Swordsmanship +1 level]
"It's here!"
A sharp glint flashed through Ryukawa's eyes.
At the same time, as the notification faded, a torrent of knowledge poured into his mind like a surging river.
Sword forms.
Footwork.
Angles of attack.
Subtle corrections to his grip and posture…
It was as if someone had directly rewired his instincts.
The wooden sword in his hand suddenly felt familiar—as if he'd been using it for years.
Gone was the earlier stiffness, the unfamiliarity. His movements felt natural, fluid.
"My swordsmanship…"
"Got a lot stronger. A lot stronger."
"It's just a jump of one level, but it feels like the difference between a ditch and a canyon."
"The wooden sword in my hand doesn't feel like a stick anymore. It feels like… a sword."
"So this is the true power of the system."
"As long as I keep swinging my sword, I can earn rewards from the system and grow stronger."
Ryukawa's heart burned with excitement.
He'd finally figured out the core mechanic.
Simple and brutal.
Just swing.
The more he swung, the more he'd grow.
No convoluted conditions. No weird side quests. No bizarre penalties.
This was a cheat made for grinding.
"This is my path to power. This is how I'll compete with all the monsters out there on the Grand Line."
After calming down again—
Ryukawa adjusted his stance and swung at the wooden post once more.
Smack!
Smack!
The sound of wood hitting wood echoed through the dojo. This time, the post trembled ever so slightly with each strike. It was subtle, but it was there.
He could feel it too.
Every swing carried far more weight and precision than before.
[Ding! Total sword swings: 20]
[Reward: Swordsmanship +1 level]
…
[Ding! Total sword swings: 50]
[Reward: Swordsmanship +1 level]
…
[Ding! Total sword swings: 80]
[Reward: Swordsmanship +1 level]
The feeling of rapid growth was intoxicating.
Ryukawa swung faster and faster, his shoulders burning, his breathing gradually turning heavy—but he didn't stop.
Every completed swing…
Was another step toward becoming stronger.
How long would it take for an ordinary swordsman to raise their swordsmanship by a single level?
Ryukawa didn't know.
But he could guess.
Even for prodigies like Zoro and Kuina, advancing further in swordsmanship would require a long period of accumulation—a slow tempering over time.
But him?
With the system—
In less than half an hour, he had leapt four entire levels in swordsmanship.
What kind of monstrous growth rate was that?
While Ryukawa was drowning in the thrill of his newfound power—
Elsewhere in the dojo.
Koushirou stood quietly in the shadows, his brows slightly lifted as he watched Ryukawa relentlessly swinging his wooden sword. His expression grew… strange.
From Ryukawa's body—
He could sense something.
An edge.
Yes.
The sharp, restrained aura that only a swordsman of a certain level could possess—the swordmaster's edge.
If it had appeared on Zoro or Kuina, Koushirou wouldn't have been particularly surprised.
But the problem was…
This was Ryukawa.
The very same Ryukawa who was universally acknowledged as utterly average within Isshin Dojo.
Even Koushirou himself had once concluded that Ryukawa's talent in swordsmanship was extremely ordinary.
Ryukawa was senior brother simply because he'd joined the dojo the earliest.
But if you talked about strength—
No one thought Ryukawa would rank near the top. At best, he was somewhere in the lower middle, with plenty of disciples overtaking him.
Yet this same, painfully average Ryukawa…
Had somehow developed a swordmaster's edge?
This wasn't just strange.
It was unreasonable.
Suppressing the tremor in his heart, Koushirou took a long, slow breath. His eyes never left Ryukawa.
And then—
The more he watched, the more shocked he became.
"If I'm not mistaken…"
"Ryukawa's swordsmanship is… climbing. At a ridiculous speed."
"What on earth happened?"
Koushirou's usual smiling, narrowed eyes had fully opened now.
His gaze stayed locked on Ryukawa, not daring to shift away even a little, as if he might miss something crucial if he blinked.
From his eyes alone, one could see the depth of his shock.
Koushirou had been the master of Isshin Dojo for many years.
But this was the first time—
He had ever witnessed such bizarre, terrifying growth in someone's swordsmanship.
What did "visible to the naked eye" mean?
This was it.
From Ryukawa's body, Koushirou saw a growth rate that defied common sense.
If he had to put it into words—
If Ryukawa's previous swordsmanship could be described as a single drop of water…
Then now, in such a short time, that drop had swelled into a small lake.
This was what Koushirou couldn't wrap his head around.
How could a person's level change so drastically in such a short span?
"Ryukawa's terrifying growth… reminds me of a rare case spoken of only in rumors."
"I always thought it was just a legend. I never imagined that one day, I would see something like it with my own eyes…"
Koushirou stared at Ryukawa's back, sword still swinging over and over.
His heart was filled with awe and astonishment that refused to settle.
A chilling thought surfaced in his mind.
"Enlightened from dawn to dusk, advancing a thousand miles in a single day…"