“Whitey Bay, which island are we heading to next?” Oden bounced around like a monkey, curious about everything aboard the ship.
“I don’t know.
We usually sail without a fixed destination.” Ever since Whitebeard left the Rocks Pirates, he had wandered aimlessly across the sea.
Every few islands they visited, a handful of orphans would join the crew.
“Brother Teach…” Oden began, only to stop when everyone around him shot him death glares.
“Just call me Teach.
We can address each other by name.” Calling him Brother Teach before had been fine, but doing so now would throw the crew’s seniority into chaos.
Teach absolutely refused to call Oden Uncle, and no one else wanted someone suddenly placed above them either.
“Teach, how do you usually pass the time aboard the ship?” “Fishing.” With that, Teach took out his homemade fishing rod.
Marco and the others did the same.
Islands were interesting, but sailing itself was incredibly dull.
All they could see was the sea, with the occasional spell of terrible weather providing some excitement.
The rest of the time, nothing ever changed.
Time passed quickly, and half a month of simple, repetitive days went by.
Izo had already given up on taking Oden back.
In fact, he seemed to have adapted to life at sea even better than his lord.
“How much longer until we reach the first island?” Oden lay sprawled across the deck, asking weakly.
“Lord Oden, please endure it a little longer!
I asked the others, and apparently sailing is always like this,” Izo comforted him gently.
Combined with his clothing and beautiful appearance, it was almost impossible to tell whether he was a man or a woman.
“Woof…” “Meow…” Inuarashi and Nekomamushi grumbled in turn.
The dog and cat were both members of the Mink Tribe and retainers of Oden.
They echoed each other’s cries, amusing themselves.
Before Oden boarded the ship, the two of them had secretly snuck aboard on the night after the banquet and hidden in the warehouse.
They all understood why Oden was so bored.
They knew their lord far too well—Oden could not live without women or excitement.
He had been chasing women since childhood and, now nearly thirty, had never spent half a month without female company.
Yet aboard this ship of nearly three hundred people, there was only one woman, and she was not someone to be trifled with.
Izo knew perfectly well that if Oden dared make a move on Whitey Bay, Whitebeard would beat him to death.
“Oden, do you want to fight me again?” Vista eagerly asked when he noticed Oden’s boredom.
Over the past half month, he had fought Oden many times, though every match had ended with Vista being completely thrashed.
Vista was happy to endure the beatings, however.
He could feel himself growing stronger.
“Not interested!” Oden stared at him with dead eyes, his voice completely flat.
As far as he was concerned, their so-called fights amounted to nothing more than him feeding Vista moves.
He had to be careful not to strike too hard, seriously injure his opponent, or damage the ship.
It was extremely frustrating.
After doing it several times, he had lost all interest in sparring with Vista.
“Don’t be like that, Oden.
Fight me, and afterward I’ll introduce you to somewhere fun,” Vista whispered enticingly.
“Fun?
How fun?” Oden immediately perked up.
He heard something in Vista’s tone that every man understood.
“The most famous red-light district on the seas—the Pleasure District,” Vista whispered mysteriously into his ear.
Such businesses had existed since ancient times, but they had never been organized on a large scale.
It would not be until later, when a certain CP0 agent entered the profession for the sake of her work, that her formidable business skills would unite the Pleasure Districts scattered across the seas.
Under her management, the industry would flourish, and she would become one of the rulers of the underworld.
Becoming an underworld ruler through such an identity and profession was quite an accomplishment.
“That place is extremely interesting.
It has beauties from all over the world, from every kind of race…” “Not just ordinary humans.
There are members of the Longarm Tribe, the Snakeneck Tribe, and even fish-men…” Vista wore a knowing, thoroughly disreputable smile as he spoke in a suggestive tone.
He was nineteen years old, strong, and full of energy.
Battles were not always available, so he could only release that excess energy through other means.
After Rakuyo took him to such a place once, Vista quickly became familiar with them.
Naturally, Whitebeard did not interfere in such matters, tacitly allowing them.
With almost two years of experience, Vista already considered himself a veteran.
As expected, Oden immediately took the bait.
When it came to matters like this, he became excited.
He was a twenty-eight-year-old man with far more experience than Vista and considered himself a true expert.
Compared with him, Vista was merely an adorable novice when it came to the subtleties of such places.
“Hehehe…” “Hehehe…” As though exchanging a secret code, the two shared a knowing smile and reached an unspoken agreement.
Still smiling, they picked up their swords and walked to the center of the deck.
“What are those two laughing about?” Only the innocent twelve-year-old Jozu remained completely confused.
He vaguely sensed that their laughter contained some hidden meaning he did not understand.
“Don’t worry about it.
I’ll take you when the time comes!” Teach said heartily, patting him on the back.
Marco and Thatch stared speechlessly at them.
Somehow, they were discussing such suggestive matters with perfectly serious expressions.
At the center of the deck, the two began to spar.
More accurately, Vista attacked continuously while Oden merely parried.
Oden possessed two Great Grade Blades: Ame no Habakiri and Enma.
Using only Ame no Habakiri, he handled Vista with ease.
Whenever he occasionally launched an attack of his own, Vista was immediately thrown into a fluster.
“Rakuyo, you’ve fallen another place in the crew’s strength rankings,” Thatch teased.
Rakuyo had originally been second only to Whitebeard aboard the ship, but several people had now surpassed him.
He could no longer even claim second place in age.
“The stronger all of you become, the stronger the Whitebeard Pirates become.
That’s a good thing,” Rakuyo replied calmly.
He now felt the satisfaction of an older brother watching his younger siblings grow.
At the center of the deck, Oden gradually increased the strength behind his swings, steadily placing more pressure on Vista.
Clang!
Oden lightly swung Ame no Habakiri, striking Vista’s crossed swords.
Vista felt an enormous force crash into him, and his twin swords nearly slipped from his hands.
For a swordsman, dropping his weapon in battle was the greatest disgrace.
“Ahhh!” Vista roared.
A faint layer of Armament Haki spread from his palms up his arms, allowing him to tighten his grip on his swords.
Bang!
He managed to steady his blades, but the overwhelming force still traveled through his body and sent him flying uncontrollably.
He slammed hard into the mast, causing the thick timber to tremble.
“Some of your sword techniques are incorrect,” Oden said seriously.
“You’re only bringing out eight-tenths of the power you should be able to use.” “I can’t explain everything clearly in a short time.
During our future spars, I’ll demonstrate the proper techniques in battle.” Wano Country had a strong martial tradition, and swordsmen stood above its other warriors.
It could be said that nearly every ordinary man in Wano knew at least a little swordsmanship.
As one of the country’s finest swordsmen, Oden possessed a profound understanding of the way of the sword.
In terms of pure swordsmanship, even Whitebeard could not compare to him.
Whitebeard primarily fought using his Devil Fruit, even incorporating its power into the slashes of his Supreme Grade Blade.
That did not change the fact that he was not a pure swordsman.
Like his former crewmate Charlotte Linlin, the strongest woman, Whitebeard’s flying slashes lacked finesse.
They relied entirely on overwhelming strength, unleashing slashes through utterly unreasonable force!