At the bustling docks, following an incredibly lavish banquet, Bardock and his crew returned to the White Dragon.
Thanks to Merry's exceptional organizational skills, the massive order of supplies had already been fully loaded onto the ship. Because Mansherry had miraculously cured Kaya, Merry had adamantly refused to accept a single Belly for the goods. However, Bardock firmly insisted and paid the bill in full anyway; the crew certainly wasn't hurting for cash.
On the shore, the villagers lowered their waving arms as they watched the golden galleon shrink into the horizon. Usopp and Kaya, being exactly the same age, had already managed to strike up a fast friendship thanks to Usopp's innate, boundless talent for storytelling.
Merry watched them chat with a warm smile. He didn't object to their interaction in the slightest. He firmly believed that Miss Kaya desperately needed friends her own age, and despite Usopp's notorious penchant for telling tall tales, the boy possessed a genuinely good heart.
"Usopp," Merry teased playfully, "I heard a rumor that you practically begged Mr. Bardock to let you join his crew, but he turned you down?"
"Nonsense!" Usopp shot back, his face flushing red as he stubbornly defended his pride. "I just realized that I want to be the Captain of my own ship when I set sail! That's all!"
In truth, Usopp had desperately asked to join the White Dragon so he could quickly sail to the Grand Line and reunite with his father. However, Bardock had explicitly and firmly rejected the request. Usopp was simply far too young. Without a superhuman physique or a Devil Fruit, the grueling, often lethal environment of the sea would tear an ordinary child apart. He needed time to grow and mature. Bardock could only hope that the boy possessed the self-discipline to actually train himself during that time.
Standing beside Usopp, Kaya carefully held a meticulously written reading list in her hands. It was a comprehensive, step-by-step curriculum for studying medicine—literally covering everything from basic first-aid to advanced Grand Line pathology—personally curated by Mansherry.
Having suffered through years of agonizing illness before finally being cured, Kaya had deeply realized the miraculous value of medicine. A new, burning dream had taken root in her heart: she wanted to become a doctor. Thrilled to inspire a fellow healer, Mansherry had happily written out the extensive reading list so Kaya could immediately begin her studies.
"Let's head back inside," Kaya smiled brightly, her eyes crinkling happily. "Merry, if it's not too much trouble, could you please help me track down and purchase all the books on this list?" She then turned to the long-nosed boy. "Usopp, please continue telling me about your epic duel with the Giant Warriors!"
Usopp immediately puffed out his chest, filling with pride. "Of course! Now, as I was saying, on that fateful day..."
Back on the deck of the White Dragon, Bardock stared at the slowly shrinking silhouette of Syrup Village. His mind was focused on one specific, highly dangerous individual: 'Kuro of a Hundred Plans'.
Currently, Captain Kuro was likely already hiding in the shadows somewhere, meticulously plotting his three-year infiltration of Kaya's estate. If Bardock couldn't somehow cross paths with the cunning pirate and eliminate him early, Kaya's parents were still destined to be assassinated, and Kaya herself would eventually face a brutal death. Kuro and the Arlong Pirates were two massive, unresolved loose ends in the East Blue. Bardock could only hope that the two pirate crews would be stupid enough to accidentally walk right into his net during their voyage.
Time always seemed to blur on the open ocean. Several peaceful days passed in a flash before the White Dragon finally arrived at a new island. The settlement on this island was incredibly famous among martial artists: Shimotsuki Village, the hometown of Roronoa Zoro.
The history of Shimotsuki Village wasn't particularly long, having been established a mere fifty years ago. However, the absolute martial strength of this single village ranked among the very highest in the entire East Blue.
Decades ago, a legendary swordsmith and samurai named Shimotsuki Kozaburo had illegally departed the isolationist Wano Country with a group of retainers. Upon arriving at this specific island, they effortlessly exterminated the local mountain bandits and began teaching traditional swordsmanship to the grateful villagers. After deeply falling in love with a local woman, Kozaburo decided to permanently settle down, thus establishing Shimotsuki Village.
Currently, the protector of the village and the master of the local Isshin Dojo was Kozaburo's son: Koushirou. Despite his deceptively mild-mannered, slender appearance and round glasses, Koushirou was a genuinely terrifying, master-class swordsman.
However, lately, Koushirou had been deeply troubled by a heavy emotional burden. The source of his distress was his only daughter, Kuina.
Kuina possessed absolutely peerless, once-in-a-generation innate talent for swordsmanship. She could effortlessly master complex techniques that took grown men years to learn, and despite her young age, she routinely humiliated fully grown adult swordsmen in sparring matches. Yet... she was a girl. According to the harsh, biological realities of physical maturation, a female swordsman's absolute ceiling of physical strength would inevitably be lower than a man's, meaning she could theoretically never seize the title of the 'World's Strongest Swordsman'.
This brutal reality was already beginning to manifest in her recent sparring sessions with her most tenacious rival: the green-haired boy, Roronoa Zoro. Kuina was two years older than Zoro and had started her formal training significantly earlier, which originally gave her a massive, insurmountable advantage. But recently, the absolute gap in their physical strength and technique was rapidly shrinking. If things continued at this natural pace, within a year or two, puberty would hit, and Zoro would inevitably secure his very first victory.
Acutely aware of her own impending physical plateau, Kuina's mood had plummeted drastically. She frequently spaced out, staring blankly into the distance with eyes full of profound despair. Seeing his beloved daughter suffering such intense psychological torment deeply pained Koushirou's heart.
Suddenly, Koushirou paused his meditation, his eyes narrowing sharply. 'Hm? An incredibly powerful presence is approaching!'
The absolute microsecond the White Dragon entered the coastal waters of Shimotsuki Village, Koushirou's highly refined Observation Haki detected the terrifyingly dense auras radiating from the vessel. Protecting the village from pirate raids was his solemn duty, and he often traveled to neighboring islands to quietly dispose of dangerous pirate crews.
Moving with blistering speed, Koushirou vanished from the dojo and arrived at the coastal port long before the massive galleon even dropped its anchor.
'They aren't flying a Jolly Roger,' Koushirou noted, feeling a slight margin of relief.
However, his guard remained absolutely raised to the maximum. The sheer, overwhelming pressure radiating from the individuals on that ship was completely unnatural. Individuals possessing that caliber of monstrous strength absolutely did not belong in the East Blue.
Similarly, the exact moment Koushirou locked onto the White Dragon, Bardock's own Haki instantly detected the master swordsman standing on the shore.
Bardock's thumb subconsciously slid up to the tsuba of his sword, slowly applying pressure. A fierce, burning desire to test his blades against a true, hidden Grandmaster surged within his chest.
However, he quickly suppressed his battle intent. Initiating a high-level duel before they even stepped off the ship was terribly rude. Everything else could wait until they officially made landfall.
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