“A swordsman?”
Mihawk picked up a bottle of lemon iced tea from the ice bucket.
“Learn to unleash a flying slash first.”
A flying slash was a sword technique in which a swordsman swung their blade and released sword energy from the body, allowing for ranged attacks.
“Don’t look down on me.”
Gritting his teeth, Seven bought the Swordsman Training Experience.
“One month.
I’ll become a swordsman within one month.”
Mihawk glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
“If you can unleash a flying slash within a month, I’ll agree to one condition.”
Raising an opponent did seem rather interesting.
Of course, that was only if Seven could cross the threshold of cutting iron and master the flying slash within a single month.
Was that possible?
Absolutely not.
Mihawk suspected that while Seven had been aboard Roger’s ship, he had poured all his energy into studying cuisine.
Otherwise, there was no way he could have made such delicious food and lemon iced tea.
“Mihawk, you’re destined to become my vice captain!”
Seven looked as if he had been injected with adrenaline.
With a howl, he pulled out his plasma sword and began practicing.
Mihawk, you’d never guess this, but your captain is about to cheat!
[Use Swordsman Training Experience.]
A vast amount of training experience poured directly into his mind, like a strange set of memories suddenly awakening.
Seven rubbed his brow, then discovered something deeply awkward.
His brain: I’ve got it.
I’ve got it.
His hands: I don’t got it at all!
One slash.
Then another.
And another.
At first, Seven’s sword-swinging posture looked utterly awful.
Yet after only a little over a thousand swings, the corner of Mihawk’s eye began to twitch.
There was already a rhythm to his movements.
Seeing this, Mihawk pressed his lips together and decided to make things harder for his future captain.
“You steer the ship.
I’m going to rest.”
Seven nodded.
“Sure.”
Mihawk, I never thought a man like you would get anxious too.
But so what?
The vice captain Beelzebub Seven has set his eyes on will never escape.
Mihawk picked up the ice bucket and returned to the cabin.
Ever since Seven had taken out the sweet little drink known as lemon iced tea, Mihawk had barely brewed black tea anymore.
In the month or so since he had met Mihawk, Seven had thrown out four trump cards one after another: the great treasure, gourmet food, sweet drinks, and the City of Gold.
Who could possibly remain unmoved after that?
It was simply influence seeping in, subtle and silent.
Seven’s training had clearly been a success.
The day Mihawk became his vice captain was… not far away!
The weather of the Grand Line was exactly like a girlfriend’s temper.
A violent wind lifted the waves.
Seven quickly summoned lightning to form a protective barrier around himself, evaporating the seawater that splashed onto the deck.
After eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Seven’s hatred of seawater shot straight past his hatred of Momonosuke, taking first place on his list of most detested things.
Dark clouds blotted out the sky, and the sea turned pitch-black.
Their pirate ship drifted alone on the water, rocking unsteadily as waves battered it from all sides.
Fortunately, Seven did not get seasick.
Rain poured down in sheets, yet even while steering with one hand, Seven could still browse the trading platform’s listings.
Aboard the Roger Pirates, steering and sailing were basic skills every crew member had to master, even if Seven was only a cook.
[For Sale: Flying Bamboo-Copter.
500 points.
Seller’s note: Concept-level anti-gravity device.
Requires no energy.
Never breaks.]
“Hiss…”
Seven’s eyes burned with desire.
A flying anti-gravity device.
This thing was good.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit allowed its user to fly as well, but not in the traditional sense.
It achieved instant movement through elementalization and the conduction of electrical current.
However, using Devil Fruit powers consumed stamina.
Once his stamina ran dry, the advantage of the Flying Bamboo-Copter would become obvious.
Unfortunately, he only had 266 points at the moment.
Gazing at the surging sea, Seven’s heart swelled with emotion.
“I have to occupy Skypiea as soon as possible.
Otherwise, I can only stare at all this good stuff.”
Skypiean dials and Devil Fruits were currently the two fastest ways Seven had found to earn points.
Devil Fruits could be sold for at least 1,000 points each, but heaven-defying fruits like the Op-Op Fruit, which could grant immortality, naturally had to be kept as strategic weapons.
After all, immortality.
Who would not covet it?
Three days later, a large island appeared in the distance at the edge of the horizon.
Sandy Island—the island where Arabasta was located.
Seven had no intention of exploring Sandy Island in depth.
His goal for this trip was clear: head straight for the waters around Jaya, find the Knock Up Stream, and blast his way to Skypiea.
Back when he had searched for the final island with the crew, Seven had recorded every island they reached with a Pose, grandly calling it preparation for sailing the same route again on his own in the future.
Looking at it now, that decision had truly been wise.
Beside the helm, Mihawk suddenly asked, “What kind of man was the Pirate King, Roger?”
Seven paused briefly before giving his evaluation.
“Captain… was an excellent pirate.”
And an unqualified husband and father.
“Only excellent?” Mihawk took a sip of lemon iced tea.
“I thought you would say he was the strongest pirate.
In that case, who do you think the strongest pirate is?”
“Rocks and Mr.
Gaban.”
Without waiting for Mihawk to ask, Seven continued.
“In a world where people abandon their wives and children for their dreams, Rocks abandoned his dream for his wife and children.
That makes him a real man.”
“But compared to Rocks, I actually admire Mr.
Gaban more.”
Gaban, people like Golden Lion and Kaido all seem dim and unimpressive.”
After hearing that explanation, Mihawk’s eyes grew sharper.
However, Seven did not mention Gaban’s whereabouts, so Mihawk could only suppress the thought.
“According to you, he really must be strong.”
Seven smiled with great satisfaction.
Once he had trained on Skypiea for a while, he would find time to visit Elbaph and learn from Mr.
Gaban how to become a college student.
“I won’t explain the reason yet.
When we go find Mr.
Gaban, you’ll understand.”
“Our current target is the City of Gold.”
After docking at the harbor, the two divided the work clearly.
Mihawk went to buy food, water, and other daily supplies, while Seven handled repairs to the ship.
Ask him where he learned it, and the answer was simple: the Roger Pirates.
As the only noncombatant in the Roger Pirates, Seven’s skill tree had been invested entirely into techniques unrelated to combat.
It had not been deliberate.
His talent had simply grown crooked.
Seven’s talent for physical combat was extremely poor.
But his talent for everyday skills was exceptionally strong.
As a cook, not only was his cuisine superb, he could also steer a ship, repair a hull, draw sea charts… He had even mastered the method of making Eternal Poses.
Aside from fighting, he was good at nearly everything.
…
East Blue, Conomi Islands.
CP9 agent Lubin returned once more and found the muscleman again.
“Has Beelzebub Seven come back recently?”
The muscleman quickly replied, “Little White-Hair still hasn’t returned, sir.
But I suddenly remembered something strange.”
“Something strange?”
Lubin raised an eyebrow and pulled ten thousand berries from his pocket.
“Tell me.”
The muscleman accepted the money.
“You know how it was, sir.
Back then, we bullied Little White-Hair all the time.
But one time, that guy suddenly started glowing red…”
“And then we fell asleep.”
Hearing this, Lubin waved a hand irritably.
“I understand.”
A country bumpkin who did not even know who Roger was had no credibility to speak of.
Red light?
What kind of joke was that?
It couldn’t possibly have been Conqueror’s Haki, could it?
According to known information, Beelzebub Seven had joined the Roger Pirates at the age of nine.
How could a brat younger than nine possibly possess Conqueror’s Haki?
Thinking of how that little cook had slipped away right under his nose, taking his hopes of a promotion and raise with him, Lubin’s anger immediately flared.
“Beelzebub, you really deserve to die!
A guy like you should have been arrested by my own hands!”
Lubin did not regret refusing to call the Marines for help in Loguetown.
He only hated how cunning the other party had been, actually managing to slip out from under surveillance.
“How exactly did that guy leave?”