Grand Blue: How to Get Power Slash for the Novice Swordsman 1 Quest

Novice Swordsman 1 is the first task Shiro hands you after you buy his Fighting Style in Grand Blue, and it gates the rest of the sword kit behind a single skill drop. The quest tracker states the condition plainly: unlock Power Slash by defeating Corrupt Marines. There is no dialogue trick, no hidden chest, and no second objective. You fight the same enemy group until the skill lands.

Quick answer: Kill Corrupt Marines in Anchor Town with a sword, katana, or dagger equipped. Power Slash has a 5 percent drop chance per kill, so expect roughly 20 kills on average before it appears and completes Novice Swordsman 1.

What you need before farming Power Slash

Two things have to be in place before the drop can register. You need the Novice Swordsman Fighting Style itself, and you need a bladed weapon equipped so the style actually functions in combat.

Requirement	Details
Fighting Style	Novice Swordsman, bought from the Shiro NPC for 250 Gold
Shiro’s location	Anchor Town Pond area, training in front of his house
Weapon	A Sword, Katana, or Dagger must be equipped
Easiest starter blade	Cutlass, sold at the Anchor Town weapon shop and dropped by Corrupt Marines

Shiro sits past the pond on the starting island. From the original spawn point, climb the dark blue tents, turn right along the walkway, and run up the slope until the pond area opens up. He has a Fighting Style trainer marker above his head, and pressing E brings up the dialogue that sells you the style.

The Cutlass is the path of least resistance for the weapon requirement. It is a common drop from the same Corrupt Marines you are already farming, and the Anchor Town weapon shop stocks it if you would rather just buy one.

Picking up the Cutlass in Grand Blue with quest objectives and NPC dialogue on screen — Picking up a Cutlass, the common blade that satisfies the Novice Swordsman weapon requirement.

How to farm Corrupt Marines for the Power Slash drop

Corrupt Marines patrol the town area on the starting island, which keeps the whole loop short. You never have to sail anywhere or leave the first island to finish Novice Swordsman 1.

Equip the Novice Swordsman style along with your blade. The style automatically replaces whatever you had equipped the moment you buy it, so no extra setup is needed on a fresh character.

Accept Novice Swordsman 1 from Shiro and check that the quest tracker on the right side of the screen reads “Unlock Power Slash by defeating Corrupt Marines.” That tracker is your confirmation the kills are counting toward the right objective.

Grand Blue quest tracker showing Novice Swordsman 1 while the player fights a Corrupt Marine — The Novice Swordsman 1 objective sits in the right-side tracker while you fight.

Move through the town and pull Corrupt Marines in groups rather than one at a time. Every kill is an independent roll, so the only thing that matters is raw kill volume per minute.

Player striking a Corrupt Marine in Grand Blue as damage numbers appear on screen — Clearing Corrupt Marines in the town area, where each kill rolls a separate 5 percent chance.

Keep clearing until Power Slash drops. The 5 percent rate means there is no pity system and no guaranteed kill count. Some players see it inside five kills and others need well past forty.

Tip: if you are still using the starter Cutlass, the repeated swings also level that weapon, which unlocks its own skills at levels 2 and 3. The farming time is not wasted even on a long drop streak.

A Katana also satisfies the style requirement and levels up through the same farming loop.

How to confirm Novice Swordsman 1 is complete

The drop and the quest completion happen together. When Power Slash lands, the skill is added to your Novice Swordsman moveset and the Novice Swordsman 1 entry clears from the quest tracker. If the tracker still shows the objective, the skill has not dropped yet, no matter how many marines you have killed.

Two things commonly stop the drop from registering. Fighting enemies other than Corrupt Marines does nothing for this quest, and swapping away from Novice Swordsman in the Wardrobe means you are no longer working on its skill set. The Wardrobe is on the second floor of the building next to the Nessa NPC in Anchor Town Plaza, so avoid touching it until the quest clears.

What Power Slash does once you unlock it

Power Slash is a single forward slash aimed at whatever is in front of you. It is the cheapest and most reliable opener in the style, and upgrading it raises both its damage and its reach. One of the three Novice Swordsman passives is dedicated to a Power Slash upgrade, so the skill scales as you push further through Shiro’s quest line.

The rest of the style’s skills follow the same rule and arrive as enemy drops rather than purchases.

Skill	Effect
Power Slash	Single slash at the target in front of you
Sword Lunge	Dash toward the cursor with a stab along the path
Whirlwind Slash	All-directional slash with decent range for crowds
Sword Leap	Long leap into a ground slam that deals AoE damage

The style also carries a flat +5 percent Strength stat, which is why it holds up as an early-game pick despite costing less than Trickster or Marksman.

Because Corrupt Marines sit inside the starting town, Novice Swordsman 1 is realistically a ten to twenty minute detour on a new character, and clearing it opens the door to the remaining skill quests Shiro hands out. You can jump straight back in from the Grand Blue game page and start the farm.