Walking through the streets of Loguetown, Will watched as the townspeople, already busy with their morning routines, brought a sense of vitality to the town.
The place Will was heading to was somewhere he had never visited before.
It had nothing to do with his former profession.
And the people there probably wouldn’t welcome him very much.
Being an assassin wasn’t much better than being a pirate.
But because Will’s missions rarely left any survivors, there probably weren’t many photographs of him.
Let alone a bounty poster.
That’s right.
Will was heading to the Loguetown Marine Branch.
And this time, he was going there to find someone.
When Will arrived at the Marine Branch, he looked at the two soldiers standing guard at the entrance.
He had no intention of entering through the front door.
Instead, he went around to the rear, climbed over the wall, and entered the Marine Branch from behind.
He moved across the rooftops, observing the people below while slowly searching for the person he wanted.
After nearly two hours, he finally found his target.
Short blue hair.
Pink-rimmed glasses.
That’s right.
The person Will was looking for was Tashigi, the Marine who had become something like Zoro’s childhood friend in the original story.
One of Roy’s final wishes had been for Will to entrust Blood Scorpion to someone who genuinely loved swords.
Strength was secondary.
But simply handing Blood Scorpion to Tashigi wasn’t enough.
She was only one of the candidates.
Will had come today to determine whether her love for swords was truly genuine.
He silently jumped down from the roof.
He didn’t make the slightest sound from the moment he left the roof until his feet touched the ground.
Tashigi, who was practicing swordsmanship, didn’t notice him at all.
“Hey, are you Tashigi?”
“I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
Will smiled as he looked at her.
This was the first time he had seen someone from the original story in person.
It felt somewhat strange.
Tashigi was obviously startled by his sudden voice.
Her shoulders jerked, and she let out a startled cry.
“Y-You!
Who are you?”
“How did you suddenly appear inside the Marine Branch?
You scared me!”
After recovering from the shock, Tashigi immediately questioned Will’s identity.
Her basic training as a Marine was apparently quite solid.
“Oh.”
“My name is Will.
I live in this town too.”
“The reason I came here was to find you.”
“I’ll explain why in a moment.”
Will continued looking at the blue-haired girl with considerable interest.
The way he stared at her made Tashigi feel increasingly uncomfortable.
“You said your name is Will?”
“You live in Loguetown?”
“Will the Massacring Blade?”
“You’re Will the Massacring Blade!”
“You actually dare to show yourself inside a Marine Branch!”
Tashigi’s expression changed dramatically.
She slowly stepped backward, looking as though she was about to call for help at any moment.
“Hahaha…”
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“Will the Massacring Blade?
What kind of ridiculous name is that?”
“Don’t worry.
I just came here to say a few things to you.
I’ll leave soon.”
Will tried to bluff Tashigi, whose somewhat naive personality he remembered from the original story.
“Who are you trying to fool?”
“Do you think I’m a child?”
“You should surrender yourself!”
“Do you have any idea how many people you’ve killed?”
“I’ve been to the scenes after your missions.”
“It was practically hell!”
Tashigi looked at Will as though she couldn’t believe how stupid he was.
Her eyes kept drifting toward the two swords at his waist.
“I told you I’m not him.”
“Then just treat me as someone else.”
“Don’t force me to kill anyone.”
“My mood is terrible right now.”
“Even if that Smoky guy comes, I might not be able to defeat him, but with his speed, he still wouldn’t be able to stop me from killing people.” You are reading on novelping . com, the official source.
Will’s expression turned cold.
He deliberately frightened the girl in front of him.
He had discovered that it was rather amusing.
Looking at the young man with short hair and a black coat, Tashigi felt her legs growing weak.
She remembered the horrible scenes she had witnessed after Will’s missions.
The more she thought about them, the more frightened she became.
For a moment, she didn’t know what to do.
Seeing that he had frightened Tashigi enough, Will removed Blood Scorpion from his back.
Tashigi was still terrified.
But when she saw the sword in Will’s hand, something unexpected happened.
She pulled out a small notebook and began flipping through its pages.
“Skillful Grade Sword…
Blood Scorpion.”
“Isn’t this Blood Rose’s sword?”
“How did it end up in your hands?”
“Could it be…
you killed Blood Rose?”
The moment Tashigi saw the sword, her fear of Will surprisingly disappeared.
Her speech became much more fluent as well.
“Oh?”
“You recognize this sword?”
“Blood Rose?”
“What kind of ridiculous nickname is that?”
Will smiled.
“Anyway, do you want this sword?”
“Why don’t you try taking it?”
“If you don’t, I’ll just sell it.”
“It should fetch a pretty good price.”
“After all, it’s one of those Skillful Grade Sword blades or whatever.”
Will continued testing her.
Unexpectedly, this seemingly absentminded, nearsighted, and rather weak girl no longer showed any fear.
She immediately drew the Shigure at her waist.
Her expression became resolute, almost as though she were prepared to die.
“I absolutely won’t let a famous blade like this fall into the hands of a criminal like you!”
“A sword has a soul.”
“It’s not something to be sold!”
“I can almost hear the sword in your hand crying!”
Tashigi’s expression was solemn.
Holding Shigure firmly, she slowly approached Will.
Looking at the girl who had suddenly transformed into a little lioness, Will knew he had made the right decision by coming here.
This girl might not be particularly strong.
But she possessed the kind of spirit that would make her willing to risk her life for a sword.
Will activated Lightning Mode.
Before Tashigi could react, he appeared behind her.
Then—
Flick!
He flicked her forehead.
Yes.
He literally flicked her forehead.
Tashigi’s eyes immediately watered from the pain.
But she remembered that they were in the middle of a battle.
She couldn’t lose her dignity.
So she stubbornly held back her tears.
That really hurts…
Tashigi silently wailed inside.
“Did a dog lick your brain?”
“You encountered an opponent you have absolutely no chance of defeating, yet you charged straight at him.”
“I really don’t know how you’ve survived this long.”
Will looked at her.
“I hope that when you finally understand the world for what it really is, you’ll still have a heart this pure.”
“This sword is yours.”
“Take good care of it.”
“Maintain it regularly.”
“And work hard to become stronger, you silly girl.”
“With your current strength, even entering the first half of the Grand Line would be dangerous.”
“As for the New World…”
“For you, that place would be hell.”
Will finished speaking and tossed Blood Scorpion toward Tashigi.
Then he turned around and prepared to leave.
“You!”
“What exactly are you trying to accomplish?”
“Don’t leave!”
“You’re a criminal!”
“You’re an assassin!” Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Tashigi was thoroughly confused by Will’s behavior.
But she hadn’t forgotten who he was or the crimes he had committed.
Holding her forehead where a large bump was already forming, she stepped in front of Will.
Tashigi tightly gripped Blood Scorpion.
She couldn’t understand Will’s intentions at all.
Why would an infamous assassin suddenly give her a famous sword for no reason?
Could it be a cursed sword?
No.
Her notebook clearly recorded this as a famous blade rather than a cursed one.
And it was one of the higher-ranked Skillful Grade Sword blades.
Its rank was considerably higher than her Shigure.
Looking at Tashigi standing in his way, Will felt even more certain that he had made the right decision.
She was weak.
But she possessed courage.
Will decided to teach Tashigi one final lesson.
When you’re weak, don’t provoke enemies who are overwhelmingly stronger than you.
He activated Lightning Mode once more.
He crossed his arms and drew both swords.
Then he stared coldly at Tashigi.
It was the same gaze he used to look at assassination targets.
Will didn’t know what “killing intent” was.
But years of living as an assassin had given him a certain presence.
Normally, it wasn’t particularly noticeable.
But once he entered combat mode, that aura could intimidate his opponent.
It was the atmosphere created by someone who had spent years killing other human beings.
It was similar to the gaze of a coroner who had spent his entire life dissecting corpses.
Even if such a person were old and physically weak, that gaze alone could still make someone feel a chill run down their spine.
Tashigi immediately realized that Will’s presence had completely changed.
If he had merely seemed powerful before, then the man standing before her now, holding two swords, no longer seemed human.
He was like a demon from hell, surrounded by a blood-red haze.
Her legs began trembling again.
Yet her hands continued gripping the sword tightly.
Will let both arms hang naturally at his sides.
The tips of his two swords pointed toward the ground.
In a low voice, he said:
“Secret Sword: Swallow Return.”
He unleashed his ultimate technique and slashed toward Tashigi.
Tashigi felt as though everything else in the world had disappeared.
Her vision turned completely black.
The only things remaining were two intersecting blue-purple sword waves descending toward her head.
Despair filled her heart.
“I-I’m going to die…”
Tashigi could no longer endure the overwhelming terror.
Her eyes rolled upward.
She fainted.
The sword waves of Swallow Return did not strike Tashigi.
They passed directly beside her face, cutting off only a few strands of her blue hair.
Although Tashigi wasn’t hit, the attack still caused enormous destruction to the Marine Branch.
Even years ago, Will’s Swallow Return had been capable of carving a huge hole through a mountain.
Now that Will had grown even stronger, its destructive power was naturally far greater.
A huge section of the Marine Branch was sliced apart.
Several buildings were cleanly divided into four pieces, destroying nearly half of the facility.
When Smoker finally arrived, all he found was a scene of utter devastation.
And Tashigi lay unconscious on the ground, still clutching Blood Scorpion tightly in her hand.
Smoker let out an enraged roar.
By then, however, Will was already sailing away aboard his small ship.
He was heading toward a place he had long yearned to visit.
His adventure had begun.
That place was perhaps paradise for food lovers throughout the East Blue.
The floating restaurant—
Baratie.
He also wanted to see whether Luffy had already set sail.
After all, the future owner of Shusui, according to his master’s final wish, would eventually become the sword of Luffy’s right-hand man.
But Will couldn’t possibly know how closely events in the real world would follow the original story.
He wasn’t living inside a manga.
This was a real world.
He wasn’t even sure he would encounter Luffy or Zoro.
Given the current year, Luffy probably hadn’t set sail yet.
But who cared?
Meeting Luffy and Zoro was only a secondary objective.
The most important thing was getting to eat food prepared by Zeff or Sanji.
Those dishes were supposed to be incredible.
Just thinking about it made Will swallow.
He increased the ship’s speed.
His adventure had officially begun.