There are only two people in the world who would call him Uncle...
Genichi, who is 65 years old this year, has seen a lot of ups and downs.
The strong willpower that had been forged from being accustomed to storms and waves over the past decades...was now somewhat ineffective.
After hearing the young man's voice, an expression of astonishment that was difficult to conceal appeared on Genichi's cheeks and eyes.
He raised his eyes and looked in the direction where the sound came from with an impatient look.
In the look of astonishment... there was also a hint of shame...
A young man with vaguely familiar features—this was what Genichi saw.
A young man with somewhat familiar features was standing at the wooden door connecting the open deck and the cabin below.
With a faint smile on his face.
In his left hand he held a katana with a purple handle and a black sheath.
Under his left armpit was a brocade box with extremely beautiful packaging.
He walked towards Yuan Yi and Chu Guang, who were standing side by side with him, at a leisurely pace.
All the crew members who were blocking the young man moved to the left and right to make way for him.
At this time, Yuan Yi saw that the young man seemed to be dragging something with his right hand.
After looking carefully, the look in Yuan's eyes immediately became as sharp as a knife.
The thing that the young man was dragging with his right hand... or rather, the person he was dragging, was the child that Genichi had been worried about since last night...
"Xiao Lin..." Yuan Yi slowly tightened his grip on the knife.
The young man lifted Lin's collar at the back of her neck with his right hand, as if he was dragging a puppy, and dragged Lin forward.
At this moment, Lin seemed to have fainted.
His eyes were closed, his face was pale, and spots of blood were visible on his face.
Although she was unconscious, Lin's hands were still tightly grasping her two swords.
The tips of the swords of Enma and Zhen Guishen, who were unwilling to let go even after they fell unconscious, were dragged on the ground, making a "clacking" sound on the deck - this was the only sound on the open deck of the Hikari Maru, except for the sound of wind and rain and the footsteps of the young man.
At this moment, not only did Genichi have a solemn expression, but the expression of Hatsumitsu, who had boarded the Hikari Maru together with Genichi and was currently standing shoulder to shoulder with Genichi, also changed drastically.
She glared at the person next to the young man with a look that looked like it would burst out with anger at any moment, gritting her teeth.
The young man did not appear alone.
Following closely beside him was an old man whom Chu Guang had always been thinking about day and night.
"Hatsumi..." The old man following the young man...or rather, Yoshihisa, was startled when he saw Hatsumi standing next to Genichir. He then whispered Hatsumi's name with a complicated expression.
"...Mr. Genichi." With a shuriken in each hand, Hatsumitsu took his stance and introduced Genichi beside him in a deep voice, "The man standing next to Yoshihisa with a disgusting smile is Toyotomi Nobuhide."
"Yes, I know. I know it as soon as I see it."
Genichi's lips were pursed uncontrollably at this moment.
——Ah…I see…No wonder I always felt they looked alike…
Genichi thought to himself.
The old man finally understood why he felt like he had seen this young man before and why he felt that this face was very familiar when he first saw him...
The eyes and nose... especially the eyebrows and eyes, really look like his younger brother whom he hasn't seen since he traveled overseas...
"Ah, I'm dragging something incredible, which may have confused you."
Toyotomi Nobuhide bowed slightly to Genichir and Hatsumitsu with an apologetic look on his face.
"Because I think it's safer to keep her and this thing where I can see it, so I brought them all here."
After saying this, Toyotomi Nobuhide raised his left hand, which had been resting on the sword at his waist, and gently patted the brocade box tucked under his left armpit, and shook the hand that he was holding in his right hand.
"Oops, I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself."
Toyotomi Nobuhide faced Genichi with a mocking arc at the corner of his mouth.
"Uncle, nice to meet you. I am..."
"Stop talking nonsense and draw your sword."
Genichi held the knife with the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of his right hand, and grasped the fabric of the left shoulder of the burgundy haori on his upper body with his ring finger and little finger. He lifted the haori upward with force and threw it away.
"Huh?" The unexpected words made Toyotomi Nobuhide's eyes jump slightly.
Before he could cast a surprised look at Genichi, he suddenly saw Genichi's figure suddenly become blurred!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang…
As Genichir's silhouette became blurred, Toyotomi Nobuhide heard a series of huge stampeding sounds that seemed to crush the entire deck!
Toyotomi Nobuhide's pupils shrank violently, and then, driven by his "reflex nerves" and "battle instincts", he put down Lin, who was dragging in his right hand, and the brocade box tucked under his left armpit, and raised his hand to draw his sword.
clang--!
Toyotomi Nobuhide pulled out the Yoshimitsu Bones from his left waist and held it horizontally in front of his body, blocking the Yangshen that was coming to chop him on the forehead.
The impact force spreads in all directions along with a sharp noise!
With the place where the two swords collided as the center, the raindrops around were all scattered by the powerful impact force.
"Hey, hey, hey, are you coming at me without saying anything..." Feeling the huge force coming from the blade, Toyotomi Nobuhide grinned at Genichi, who had been standing more than ten steps away just now but now appeared in front of him.
"I have already reminded you to draw your sword." Genichi said lightly across the two swords that were touching each other.
"Before I fight you to the death, I have a lot to say to you, Uncle."
"Sorry, when facing people who are obviously enemies, I always follow the principles of 'stop talking nonsense, just chop them up when you get close' and 'if there is anything else, talk about it after I've finished chopping them up'."
At this moment, Toyotomi Nobuhide saw that there seemed to be a bright light flashing in Genichi's eyes.
While using Yangshen to fight with Toyotomi Nobuhide with his sword, Genichi stretched out his left hand holding Yanrong towards Lin, who had just been thrown to his feet by Toyotomi Nobuhide, preparing to pull Lin to his side.
But just as he stretched out his wakizashi——
laugh!
The air beside Genichi made a sound of being torn apart.
Yoshihisa, who was standing next to Toyotomi Nobuhide, made a move.
He held up the pistol in his hand, pointed the tip of the gun at Genichi's flank, and stabbed straight at Genichi's vitals!
Facing Yoshihisa's sudden attack, a hint of displeasure emerged on Genichi's face - he stopped stretching his left hand towards Lin, and instead swung Wakizashi Enryu to chop at Yoshihisa's short spear.
Guns and knives clashed, but there was no deafening sound of sharp weapons colliding.
After a strange "click" sound, Jijiu felt as if he had stabbed a large ball of cotton.
Most of the power gathered at the tip of the gun was dissipated.
At the same time, the gun body seemed to be pulled by something and stabbed uncontrollably in another direction away from Yuan Yi.
"This force-releasing technique... is truly amazing."
After praising Genichir softly, Toyotomi Nobuhide exerted force with his arms, shook off the Yangshen that had been fighting with his Yoshimitsu Kusashi, and then lifted Yoshimitsu Kusashi high up.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaa——!”
Toyotomi Nobuhide made a special sound of energy and slashed at Genichi with a force as heavy as a mountain falling down on his head.
"Manifestation flow..." Genichi narrowed his eyes slightly.
The Shixian-ryu style can be said to be the "simplest" swordsmanship among many swordsmanship schools.
There are no fancy moves, only one: aim at the enemy and chop the knife down hard from top to bottom.
Ignore the enemy's attacks and defenses, and don't think about what to do if the attack fails. Just use all your strength and chop at the enemy.
This kind of "madman's swordsmanship" that is simple, unpretentious, disregards life and property, and maximizes practicality has caused many swordsmen to change their expressions suddenly after seeing that their opponents are using the manifestation style.
Toyotomi Nobuhide's attack was so powerful that it seemed like a mountain was falling, as if it was going to split the entire Hikari Maru in half.
As for Genichi, who was facing such a terrifying blow, his expression did not change except that his eyes narrowed slightly due to surprise.
He calmly retreated several steps to the left, thus escaping from the attack range of Toyotomi Nobuhide.
"Huh?" Looking at Genichi who avoided his attack with superb footwork, Toyotomi Nobuhide's eyes flashed with some doubt.
For some reason, he always felt that... the steps that Yuan Yi used just now had a kind of... inexplicable familiarity...
Because he was now concentrating on fighting with Genichir and had no time to think about other things, Toyotomi Nobuhide couldn't figure out where this sense of familiarity came from for a moment.
The attack failed, and Toyotomi Nobuhide quickly put away his sword and reorganized his stance and posture.
While Toyotomi Nobuhide was regrouping, Yoshihisa attacked Genichi again, as if not intending to give Genichi any chance to breathe.
This time, Jijiu did not stab again. Instead, he used the pistol as an axe, swung the spear head horizontally forward and smashed it towards Yuanyi.
A similar scene happened again - Genichi jumped back easily and avoided Yoshihisa's attack.
"Quick! Come and support the adults!"
"Go! Go!"
"Anyone holding a crossbow, put it down, don't hurt the adults by mistake!"
…
The Toyotomi clan members on the open deck finally realized the situation and raised their weapons, ready to support Toyotomi Nobuhide and Yoshihisa.
But before they could gather around, they heard Jijiu yelling at the top of his voice:
"Everyone, retreat! Go back to your respective posts! You will only get in the way and won't be able to help us!"
"Other enemies will probably invade this ship soon! Strengthen the ship's alert! Be careful of other enemies boarding the ship!"
Yoshihisa's shouting startled the surrounding Toyotomi clan members.
Yoshihisa was not a member of the "Navy" system. It can even be said that almost all the crew members on the two ships, Hikari Maru and Kuramaru, did not know Yoshihisa.
The old man, who was unknown but seemed like an important figure, was giving orders in a very imposing manner - this made everyone confused.
Fortunately, before they were confused for long, they heard Toyotomi Nobuhide, who had just collected the Yoshimitsu bone food that had been chopped off, grin and shout:
"Jiujiu is right!"
"In this battle, you coming here will only hinder us."
"Those who have positions, please return to your posts!"
"If you don't have a post, go deal with the female ninja with a shuriken who was standing with the old man just now ."
"This female ninja has been acting like she wants to help but can't find the right time to help because she doesn't have the strength to do so."
Toyotomi Nobuhide smiled and cast a mocking look at Hatsumitsu, who was still standing there with a tense face.
Hearing Toyotomi Nobuhide's naked sarcasm just now, Chuguang's eyebrows were instantly twisted together, but only a moment later, her twisted eyebrows relaxed, and a hint of shame appeared between her brows.
Although Toyotomi Nobuhide's words just now were so harsh that they made her sad and angry, she had to admit that Toyotomi Nobuhide was telling the truth.
After seeing Genichirō attack Toyotomi Nobuhide and Yoshihisa, she had been thinking about providing support for Genichirō.
However... her lack of strength prevented her from even moving closer...
"Although that female ninja doesn't have any great abilities, I don't want anyone to disturb my fight with my great uncle ."
"Go help me take out that female ninja."
"If you can't solve it, just hold it off for as long as you can."
"Ah, and—five men, help me take this girl and the brocade box to the mainmast on my left hand side and keep them under guard. Don't let anyone get close."
The girl and the brocade box that Toyotomi Nobuhide mentioned were naturally Rin and the brocade box containing the heads of eight hundred nuns.
The corner of Yoshihisa's eye twitched slightly at this moment.
However, he quickly concealed this slight change in expression, and continued to cooperate with Toyotomi Nobuhide to keep a close eye on Genichi.
After listening to Toyotomi Nobuhide's words, the Toyotomi clan members around him finally found their backbone.
Following Toyotomi Nobuhide's orders, they were divided into two groups - those who were on duty returned to their posts and continued to operate the ships, while those who were not on duty shouted and attacked Hatsumi.
As for Lin and the brocade box containing the heads of the eight hundred nuns, they were dragged to the bottom of the mainmast not far away by five crew members and were placed under strict guard according to Toyotomi Nobuhide's orders.
"Bogong, you look very calm." Toyotomi Nobuhide shook the Yoshimitsu bone food in his hand, "I sent my men to deal with your companion, but you didn't even look at him. Aren't you worried about him? Or are you not familiar with him at all, so you don't care about his life or death?"
"It's true that I'm not very familiar with my companion. After all, we just met last night." Yuan Yi said calmly, "But it's not because I'm not familiar with her that I don't show any concern for her."
"This girl is not afraid of life or death, and is determined to 'not care if she dies', so she followed us to chase you."
"To worry about a person who is ready and doesn't care about life and death - this is an insult to that person."
"Wow..." Toyotomi Nobuhide made an exaggerated expression of surprise, "As expected of an old man , he can speak words that make people feel endless aftertaste."
After saying that, Toyotomi Nobuhide took a few steps to his right.
As for Yoshihisa, he held his pistol and walked a few steps to his left.
The two men changed their positions and stood in front of Genichi's left and right sides respectively, surrounding Genichi on both sides like a horn.
"Originally, the plan was to eliminate Ogata Ittosai who had boarded the gourd before you boarded the ship."
"But the sudden explosion damaged the stern rudder, causing my plan to fail."
"But fortunately - although the process was a bit tortuous, my plan to defeat you one by one has been achieved in disguise."
"We must get rid of this... big trouble of yours before Ogata Ittosai arrives."
There was no longer a fake smile on his face as before. At this moment, Toyotomi Nobuhide had a serious expression.
"My uncle, you shouldn't mind if we fight you two to win quickly, right?"
Genichi chuckled softly as if he had heard a funny joke.
"No need to say more," he said. "I'm always ready to teach you!"
"Wow... Is this the aura of a 'Sword Saint'?" Toyotomi Nobuhide smiled and then returned to his serious look.
"Uncle, let me be frank with you."
"Even if you are my only remaining family member besides Xiaolin, don't expect me to show any mercy to you."
After saying this, Toyotomi Nobuhide held the sword with both hands, raised Yoshimitsu Boneshoku above his head, and assumed a very standard upper stance.
"Come on, Uncle... No, 'Sword Saint' Genichi!"
"The ninth head of the Toyotomi clan."
"Toyotomi Nobuhide!"
He paid the highest respect to his opponent and stated his name with dignity like a warrior.
Jijiu lowered his body weight and held the gun with both hands.
"The 15th chief of Iga no Sato."
"Jiujiu!"
Yuan Yi let out a long breath, then quietly held Yang Shen and Yan Rong in front of him.
He did not give out a long list of names like Toyotomi Nobuhide and Yoshihisa.
But the name he announced was much louder and more powerful than that of any of the two men, like thunder exploding in a clear sky.
"Sword Saint."
"Kinoshita Genichi!"
The next moment, sword light flashed on the deck of the warship!
Just like opening the curtain of a grand stage, the swords and guns of the three men split the rain curtain!