Shuunya didn't start fighting as soon as the fight commenced. He wanted to slowly start fighting weaker ones and then moving on to the stronger ones. There is no doubt that Shuunya would succeed in this preliminary match, but he wanted to have his own path.
Al can help him understand himself better about what mistakes he is making, and what he should do to rectify them. This is the result of the year long accumulation scanning fights almost each and every day. Al can now be called a master in guiding fights at a very high level.
Shuunya looked in front of him. The person looks like a typical pirate, not much skill compared to strong ones. He has no Fruit power, and can only use both Armament and Observation Haki roughly.
He is currently fighting another pirate who is slightly weaker than him, and clearly winning. Shuunya just dodged those who were attacking him and pushed them towards one another forcing them to fight against each other.
Just when the pirate finally won against his opponent, Shuunya quickly went towards him and punched him. He did not use much strength, and no armament Haki. He just wanted to push him towards the end of the stage.
Although it is suicidal, since those near the edge would be under sneak attacks to let them fall off the stage, it is also because of this that Shuunya went there.
Of course, he doesn't want to lose. If they are fighting near the end, those who want to attack them would wait until Shuunya is over with the fight, since he would be 'weaker' then. And more importantly, those who want to eliminate the ones near the edges are weaker ones.
Shuunya slowly walked towards the pirate who was slowly getting a grasp of the situation. After Shuunya was sure that there were no strong ones around him, he made his move.
Swish~
The pirate reacted quickly and blocked the sword swinging at him. Then he pushed Shuunya back and slashed towards him. Shuunya looked at the blade coming towards him and took a step back. Then he swung his sword again.
The two of them made this kind of stupid fight without any result. But Shuunya was getting used to this feeling. The only time he fought after he learned proper fighting with danger involved is against the Mountain God, and even then he didn't do much other than dodging. Al's superfast thinking gave him an edge over fighting against predictable opponents.
Although he trained with Oden for decades, he never fought with someone who was showing killing intent. Oden was too soft on his subordinates during training. Shuunya needs this kind of feeling, since he was going to face Bullet after this.
The fight with Bullet is also to discover the secrets hidden in his body. He wanted to find out why he couldn't awaken Haki, since that was more of a skill rather than an ability exclusive to the people of this world. And his physique, he found very intriguing.
Shuunya blocked the blade again and pushed the pirate back. He got used to the feeling. Now it was time to polish his fighting skills. He wanted to create a new fighting style copying all the styles he learned, but it was either too all encompassing or just basic swordsmanship. He needs his own style. He doesn't understand why there are people who merge techniques and get a better one so smoothly.
He quickly ended the fight and absorbed his insights. Then he blocked the kick coming towards him by holding the leg, and throwing it towards the outside of the arena.
The pirate who sneaked on Shuunya was surprised by the reaction and quickly composed himself before performing moonwalk and coming back to continue the fight.
Navy? No, an Ex-Navy
Shuunya exchanged a few moves with that ex- navy. He doesn't want to end the fights soon.
Shuunya knew that the arenas with Bullet and Chinjao would probably end early, followed by arenas with Roger and Garp. These dudes dominate their arenas. But the other four will take a lot of time. Shuunya himself wants to take a lot of time. He wants to slowly increase the number of opponents he faces, while increasing his ability.
So the plan of the tournament is laid out for three days. The preliminaries on the first day, the Quarter Finals and Semi Finals on the second day, and the much anticipated finals on the third day.
Since it would be easier for Garp and others to fight in the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals also will take place on the Same day. And the Finals will take place on the Third day evening. Shuunya wanted to drag it out and let Roger 'escape' during the night.
Shuunya got punched in his face while thinking about all this. He looked in front of him and realized that the ex- navy's cronies also fought in the same ring, but he wasn't too surprised.
Shuunya shook off all the distractions and focused on the fight. But before he could make his move, he heard the ex- navy say,
"You are much stronger than I expected, but not strong enough to defeat me. How about this, you follow my lead from now on, and after I defeat Garp and Roger, you will know that you've made the right choice."
Shuunya suddenly lost the mood to fight against this Idiot. He wanted to try to make his own techniques, so although he needs to fight against intelligent foes, stupider ones will help him too. But there is also a limit to how stupid the opponents can be.
The ex- navy looked at Shuunya who was silent and thought that he was hesitating, so he started speaking about the gloriousness of being a pirate. Shuunya was too bored to even listen to his nonsense so he just shaved to that guy and kicked him in his abdomen.
The ex- navy almost fell off the ring before he was saved by his cronies. Shuunya coldly looked at them without speaking. Their stare off was interrupted by the sound of an explosion near the center of the stage.
When Shuunya looked in that direction, the cronies took the chance to escape with their Boss. Of course, Shuunya knows this. He wanted them to recruit more people to fight him later on.
Hmm~, it looks like things are going to be interesting. Those two fighting at the center are a lot stronger than what I know earlier from my Information. Though it wouldn't make much of a difference. The problem lies in the person stalking them. He is even stronger than me currently.
Shuunya looked at a certain place a bit farther from the duel at the center. A man with a goatee was looking at the fight at the center with a cursory glance, while fighting against his opponents. He is stronger than Shuunya but weaker than Kyros.
Although I can't defeat him in pure strength, I can defeat him with techniques. Hmm~, it would be even better if I could make some trouble for him.
Shuunya looked around the arena for anything else he didn't account for. He had Al use a comprehensive search of all those who are participating, and although this will allow others to know the extent of his strength, he can account for something known better than something unknown. He knows that if there were too many variables, he might not win the match.
Hmm~, although there are certainly a few who are stronger than what I was Informed of, they wouldn't change many things overall.
Shuunya then picked someone to fight against. It was a rather lean looking combatant who was fighting against three people all by himself. He looks exhausted but Shuunya is sure he is acting to let his opponents lower their guards.
When they lowered their guards, he struck them with unexpected vigor. After he defeated his opponents, he laid down panting full of openings. And again he is acting.
Shuunya slowly made his way towards that guy. He knows this person. He was a relatively unpopular pirate, however he was never defeated. Then again, He was known for his weak strength. Shuunya thought of a different method to lure this man to fight against that stalker. He thought of many methods but couldn't make up his mind on which one to use.
He realized that since this pirate is clever, then the best way to fool him is to be a fool. Or else, he would find clues about Shuunya's acting and change his mind. Shuunya sprinted towards the pirate lying down and struck him with a lot of force.
The pirate happened to 'accidentally' turn around in fatigue and is shocked by Shuunya's attack, quickly rolling around and getting up, before looking at Shuunya and speaking in a low tone, "I don't think I have grudges against you, why are you attacking me?"
Well, it seems he wants to gauge my intelligence, just as I expected. The proper answer is to retort to him but . . . ,
"What?! You're still awake?!"
Moyle looked at the man in front of him. He doesn't know if he was acting or truly surprised. Judging by what I saw, he should be an Idiot. But he might also be acting.
He said, "So what if I am?"
Shuunya looked at him and replied, "Well, it doesn't matter, I just need to defeat you and throw you outside. I still need to win this Tournament to bring glory to the Great Happo Navy"
Moyle is dumbfounded by the declaration of the man in front of him. Although the Happo Navy isn't weak, at least the man in front of him isn't one of the strong ones, much less capable of winning the tournament by himself. Hmm, maybe he is an idiot if he overestimates himself to that level.
"Hmph! I don't care who you are. Just die in my hands obediently"
Shuunya is laughing inwardly listening to the standard lines spouted by the man in front of him. However, this also means that what he expected had happened. Although I think he already has deemed me to be an idiot, just in case . . .
After thinking that, Shuunya lunged on to the pirate in front of him, swinging his blade. Moyle just blocked the blade and felt that there wasn't much force behind the blade, so he just pushed it back and stared at Shuunya vigilantly. Although the force isn't much, it isn't weak either. He might have more strength than I know.
By this time, both Chinjao and Bullet had cleared their arenas, and they both were looking at other fights. Garp and Roger were just playing around with their opponents, having fun for themselves.
Shuunya looked at Moyle and shouted "How is this possible?! How are you still so strong?! You just finished a tough fight!!", and inwardly thinking Man, he really is still on guard. Well the classic lines probably change him
Moyle looked at Shuunya and inwardly sneered. Heh, all that big talk for a loser. Well, I'll just send him down and wait for the next prey
He then proceeded to attack Shuunya with his sword. Shuunya looked at the arrogant Smirk on Moyle's face and thought, I should never be overconfident, or else I might misjudge the situation like him. Though his current expression looks like a Chinese Protagonist in an Urban Rebirth Novel.
Shuunya fumbled back narrowly avoiding the Blade, and then he jumped slightly into the air and made a downward kicking motion shouting,
"Happo~ Kick"
Shuunya ignored someone Cursing him from another arena and looked at Moyle in front of him.
Moyle dodged the attack with ease and attacked again. Seeing this, Shuunya raised the blade in front of him to block the oncoming attack shouting,
"Happo~ Block"
Moyle is slightly confused by how lackluster the 'Happo' moves are, but nevertheless he raised his arm and swung his sword again downwards. Shuunya then rolled backward while shouting,
"Happo~ Roll"
Moyle suddenly realized that Shuunya was just bluffing right now. He is sure that Shuunya might be from Happo Navy but hasn't learned their fighting styles properly, and also the reason why he was overestimating his capabilities.
Shuunya ignored the cursing, killing intent and a small Haki outburst from some other arena directed towards him and looked at the Sneering face in front of him and knew that the bait was taken.
He stumbled back and held another combatant close to him and threw him towards Moyle. Moyle easily dodged the incoming human projectile but was hit on his hand by a stone thrown by Shuunya.
Shuunya quickly ran away picking up the sword dropped by Moyle. Moyle was too shocked by what had transpired because he still didn't think that Shuunya was capable of such an operation. After realizing what had happened, he quickly chased after Shuunya shouting, "Give back my Sword!!"
Shuunya shuttled through the crowd before reaching close to the center. The duel has now reached close to it's end. One of them looks exhausted while the other is only panting slightly.
Shuunya found the man with a Goatee and threw the sword at him shouting, "I brought you the sword as the boss Chinjao ordered."
The Goatee man was focused on the duel when he felt a sense of danger approaching rapidly towards him. He caught it without even thinking and didn't focus on what others spoke, saving himself from getting hurt.
Shuunya in the meantime used a smoke bomb discretely to quickly escape from the region. He isn't worried that someone would disqualify the organizer of the Tournament itself.
Moyle looked at the sword in the hands of the Goatee man and slowly started to consider his options. Before he could find a solution though, he was attacked by the Goatee man, since the Goatee man didn't see Shuunya and only Moyle was running towards him.
Shuunya looked at the masterpiece in front of him and knew that his calculations would most likely come true. After the Goatee man made a move, the two duelists at the center of the ring would notice the stalker who had eyes on them. This would most likely result in a 4 person fight, dragging the pitiful Moyle.
Now that the field here is set, I should probably work on other fighters. It looks like that ex- navy amassed quite a number of supporters, a few more and it would be troublesome to handle for me.
Shuunya quickly made his way to the anti-Shuunya group and jumped right into the center. He gave them enough time to collect themselves and started fighting. This is a hard fight for Shuunya. He is sure he'd win, however to win without having any injuries will cause him a lot of difficulties, which is exactly what he is aiming for.
It was a tough yet rewarding battle. Shuunya couldn't remember the number of times he was very close to getting injured, or even killed. But he is sure now. He is definitely one of the best fighters of the same level in the world. Fighting a group of people, some with Haki, some with swords, some with Fruit powers, some with hand-to-hand techniques, etc., made him grow to a terrifying level.
After all this, he went looking for other fighters to sublimate whatever he had learnt from the previous fight. He fought against different tribes of people, getting a feeling for each and every one.
Nearing the end of the round, he found himself a very interesting opponent to fight, a fishman.
When fighting the fishman in close combat, Shuunya tried to see the reason why untrained Fishman are stronger than untrained Humans. And soon he did find many reasons. One being that they were of different races.
Because of different races, Shuunya isn't sure about whether he can apply changes to his body without changing much. However he made a very interesting discovery.
Because of their need to breathe underwater, Fishman require larger lungs than humans. Shuunya wanted to do just that, increase his lung size. And then he can just find a way to use his lungs in Total Concentration permanently. This would definitely give him an edge in terms of stamina.
But he isn't sure yet on how to do it. He can forcibly change it, but he would leave scars inside his body. He is already 30 years old. His body has grown to it's full potential, and he cannot change it according to his wishes.
As Shuunya is contemplating his next steps in gaining strength, the 4- person duel has entered it's climax. The two duelists have decided to team up with the weaker Moyle to defeat the Stronger Goatee man. The remaining ones have mostly lost their hope about winning after seeing their fight, and they decided to fight with each other for fun.
Some however, were keenly focused on the fight, having a slight hope that all of them will wear themselves down at the end, and they can gain the benefits, including Shuunya himself.
And the next part is the same as Shuunya wanted it to be. The 4 of them weakened themselves, and were ganged up on by the remaining ones. They still had some strength left by the time they realized that they were surrounded.
After scrambling to force people to fall off the arena, Shuunya emerged victorious by hiding in the rubble until the last moment, before emerging and defeating the remaining foes.. Not honorable, but very effective. He did receive a few boos, but most people didn't react much since they saw his fight against a large number of people in the middle of the fight. Bullet, however, was not one of them.
He is disgusted by Shuunya's tactics to hide and is very happy to find out that he would be his opponent tomorrow.