On an uninhabited island in the East Blue, dense forests covered the land, filling it with the breath of nature.
Yet at the very center of the island, the furious roars of beasts could be heard, mixed with occasional cries of agony.
After a while, the island fell completely silent.
Even the chirping of birds and the playful cries of monkeys disappeared.
The black-haired boy was none other than Will.
After mastering Swallow Return, Will had spent the following months constantly fighting the beasts on the island, improving his actual-combat skills, practicing his swordsmanship, and becoming more familiar with Swallow Return.
Half a year had already passed.
At this moment, Will was casually eating a huge yellow fruit.
“That’s about enough.
I should contact my master.”
Will stood up.
“After going through so many life-and-death battles, I feel like I’ve finally met my master’s requirements.”
He headed toward the temporary shelter he had recently built to retrieve his Den Den Mushi.
For the past six months, Will had spent almost every day fighting.
Getting injured had become commonplace.
After years of developing the Lightning Thorn Method, Will had finally succeeded in using it to stimulate the cells throughout his body.
Will discovered that the cellular activation produced by the Lightning Thorn Method was essentially stimulating his body’s cells to absorb nutrients to their maximum capacity, along with a unique substance contained within lightning.
The result was astonishing.
The effectiveness of his training had increased fivefold.
At thirteen years old, Will could feel that his body was still in its developmental stage.
Combined with the gradual strengthening brought about by the Lightning Thorn Method, his strength was increasing rapidly.
His greatest improvement was in his speed.
If the enhancement provided by the Lightning Thorn Method was expressed in simple numerical terms, its effects on attributes such as strength and stamina could be considered a value of one.
Its effect on speed, however, was three.
In other words, after successfully developing the Lightning Thorn Method, not only had its training efficiency increased fivefold, but even if Will stopped training altogether, his body would continue to grow stronger over time.
The improvement was simply much less noticeable.
Will arrived at his temporary shelter and picked up the Den Den Mushi he had carefully raised for two years.
His master had given him this little creature two years ago.
At the time, Will had been fascinated by this strange and magical creature from the original story.
He had played with it for quite a while before his master reminded him not to forget to give it food and water.
Will had been even more astonished.
He had actually asked, rather stupidly,
“Does a Den Den Mushi need to eat?”
Will still remembered the speechless look his master had given him.
His master had simply replied,
“What living creature do you know that doesn’t need to eat?”
After that, Will learned that Den Den Mushi did indeed need food and water.
They simply didn’t need to be fed very often.
The longer the interval between feedings, the more valuable the Den Den Mushi.
His own only needed to be fed once a month.
He had heard that the Marines even possessed Den Den Mushi that only needed to be fed once every six months.
Will picked up the receiver that had been manually attached to the Den Den Mushi.
The little creature immediately began making its familiar sound.
“Puru puru, puru puru, puru puru…”
Click.
The Den Den Mushi opened its eyes.
“Master, it’s me, Will.
I’ve trained enough.
It’s time for me to come back.
Send a ship to pick me up, will you?
I’ve practically turned into a wild man out here.
And bring some clothes while you’re at it.”
Will sounded quite happy.
After all, he was finally going to see his master and his senior brother again.
It had been two years since they had last met.
“Mm.
I’ll have your Senior Brother Roy take care of it.
If he doesn’t have anything important to do, he might even come pick you up personally. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
He’s mentioned it to me several times.”
Long Ounce also sounded quite pleased to hear that Will was coming back.
Although there were quite a few students at the dojo, he currently had only three disciples, and he cared deeply about every one of them.
“Okay, Master.
I’ll hang up for now.
We’ll talk when I get back.”
After saying goodbye to his master, Will ended the call.
Several days later, a ship finally arrived at the edge of the island.
Will immediately spotted Roy standing at the bow.
With his height of only 1.6 meters and his small blue braid, Will recognized his senior brother at a glance.
Before the ship had even reached the shore, Will activated Lightning Mode, took several rapid steps forward, and leaped directly onto the distant ship.
Roy was quite surprised when he saw Will covered in a faint blue glow.
Then he laughed.
“Kid, you’ve gotten stronger!
It won’t be long before you surpass me.”
Roy looked Will up and down.
“Although I see you haven’t grown much taller.
Don’t tell me you’re actually a member of the Dwarf Tribe?”
Roy had always been good at running his mouth, and after not seeing Will for so long, he immediately returned to his usual teasing.
“How could I possibly be a member of the Dwarf Tribe?
And I’m only thirteen.
Being 1.4 meters tall is perfectly normal.
I’ll definitely grow taller.”
Will glanced at Roy.
“Unlike some people who are already so old and are still only 1.6 meters tall.
What a tragic story.”
The two senior and junior brothers hadn’t seen each other for so long, yet they immediately fell back into their familiar routine of trading insults.
After arguing for a while longer, Will extended his fist.
Roy understood immediately and extended his own.
Their fists collided heavily.
Neither man was particularly good at expressing his feelings, but in that simple fist bump, both could feel the bond between them as brothers of the same dojo.
The several-day voyage with Roy was nothing like Will’s lonely journey to the island.
There was no longer any boredom.
Because Roy had taught thirteen-year-old Will how to drink alcohol.
Yes.
Roy had actually taught a thirteen-year-old how to drink.
The alcohol Roy gave him came in a green bottle with the brand name JEREZ written on it.
Will thought about it carefully.
Wasn’t this the same kind of alcohol that Zephyr particularly enjoyed in One Piece Film: Z?
After taking a sip, Will found that it tasted quite good.
He had no idea what it was made from, but the flavor was surprisingly pleasant.
According to Roy, it was the kind of alcohol that made a man feel like a true man.
After the two of them finished several bottles together, they were already talking complete nonsense.
After more than ten bottles, the two men had their arms around each other’s necks while standing at the ship’s railing, urinating over the side and competing to see who could piss farther.
When Will woke up the next morning, his powerful physique meant he didn’t suffer from a headache or any other serious aftereffects.
He only vaguely remembered drinking with Roy and apparently having a little too much.
He couldn’t remember anything else.
Had he actually blacked out?
Several days later, Will finally returned to the docks of Loguetown.
He was wearing the same clothes he’d had when he left.
The only difference was that he was now carrying a bottle of JEREZ.
Every few steps, he took another sip.
He had spent most of the otherwise boring days aboard the ship drinking with Roy.
Will discovered that although he wasn’t exactly an alcoholic, having a few drinks every now and then wasn’t bad.
But remembering that he was about to see his master, he put the bottle into the backpack on his back.
When he arrived at the entrance to the dojo, Will suddenly felt a strange urge.
He desperately wanted to go inside.
Yet at the same time, he felt a little nervous.
This was the first time Will had ever experienced such a feeling.
Will pushed open the doors.
Inside the courtyard, he found that his master and Senior Sister An were already waiting for him.
None of the other students who normally trained in the courtyard were there.
Only his smiling master stood in the courtyard, with Senior Sister An standing behind him.
“You’re back.”
Long Ounce smiled.
“Good.
You’re finally home.”
There weren’t many words.
But those simple words—”Good.
You’re back.”—made Will’s nose sting.
“Master, I’m back.”
Will walked up to his master and looked at the old man he hadn’t seen for two years.
“Come.
Bring your Senior Brother and Second Senior Sister to the secret room.
There’s something I need to tell you.”
With that, Long Ounce turned and walked toward the secret room.
The four of them entered and took their seats.
Long Ounce sat in the main seat.
He looked at Will with satisfaction, then glanced at Roy and An.
The two of them nodded.
It seemed they had both agreed with a decision Long Ounce had already made.
“Will, there’s actually another business behind the dojo.”
Long Ounce finally revealed what he had concealed from Will two years ago.
“The dojo is also a part of an assassin organization operating in the Underworld.
We accept contracts from the Underworld.
As long as there’s a job, we’ll take it.”
He looked directly at Will.
“Would you like to join us?”
“This is entirely voluntary.
If you don’t like this profession, you can simply help me manage the dojo instead.”
“I’ll respect whatever choice my disciple makes.”
“Of course.”
Will thought about it for a moment before agreeing.
In truth, he had sensed something like this long ago.
How could the master of an ordinary little swordsmanship dojo possibly afford so many luxurious things in his daily life?
Long Ounce nodded.
Perhaps he had already anticipated Will’s answer.
Thinking about it, Long Ounce looked at his three disciples.
His eldest disciple had become somewhat self-destructive after suffering a traumatic experience.
His second disciple had endured the same kind of trauma.
But unlike his Senior Brother, she hadn’t become self-destructive.
Instead, she had become ruthless.
Long Ounce sighed.
He waved his hand and sent his disciples out of the room.
After watching his confused disciples leave, Long Ounce couldn’t help reflecting on his own life.
When he was young, he had been a righteous man.
Yet how had he ended up teaching three disciples who looked like obvious villains?
Perhaps he had changed as well.
He couldn’t help thinking of his homeland.
Kozuki Oden…
I wonder how you’re doing.
You reached Laugh Tale together with Roger.
Did you really think that no one would come looking for you?
As the ruler of Wano Country, what exactly are you going to do?
Will you choose to protect your country…
or uphold the honor of the Roger Pirates?