Chapter95:
Mihawk gripped the Supreme Grade Blade—Yoru—and launched the first attack.
Victor saw that Mihawk wasn't using Haki, only pure swordsmanship. So he responded with pure swordsmanship as well, without using any abilities.
The two began their duel like this. This fight had no grand spectacles—even to everyone watching, it felt like child's play.
Even Heracles and the others felt somewhat stunned. After all, it had been a long time since they'd seen Victor fight so purely with the sword.
"Hm, it's been ages since I last saw Victor fight with such pure swordsmanship." Heracles looked at Victor in the battle with gratification.
He suddenly remembered the days on Boin Archipelago—when Victor was just a teenager. Many training techniques, power usage, body techniques, and more—he had to teach them all. Thinking back now, time really flew.
"Yeah. It's been a long time since I saw the Captain fight like this too." Crocus walked up and sighed with emotion.
"Ho ho, the Captain's swordsmanship is truly impressive. I wonder—can I learn it too?" Brook looked at Victor's swordsmanship with great longing.
"Of course. Any member can learn." "And this is the top-tier swordsmanship personally taught to Victor by the Pirate King Roger."
Heracles laughed as he explained.
"That's wonderful! I'll definitely learn swordsmanship from the Captain properly." Brook immediately became excited.
The duel on the small island continued.
After observing Mihawk's swordsmanship, Victor couldn't help but acknowledge his talent. At this stage, Mihawk's swordsmanship was already quite impressive.
Looking at Mihawk before him, Victor felt a sense of familiarity—like when he had asked Roger for guidance. In Mihawk, he saw a reflection of his younger self.
"Mihawk, your swordsmanship is excellent, and your talent is very high."
Victor's Polaris moved with lightning speed, pressing against Mihawk's throat and ending the fight.
"Captain, I've lost. But I will train hard." Mihawk accepted defeat frankly and firmly expressed his determination.
"Hm, very good." "Training swordsmanship—physique, body techniques, and Haki are the foundation, then comes technique." "From now on, I will strictly guide your training."
Victor said seriously.
"Yes, Master."
Mihawk wasn't foolish—he immediately started calling him Master.
"Hahaha, you're not that stubborn after all." Victor laughed happily upon seeing this.
"Um, Captain… I also want to learn swordsmanship." Brook cautiously spoke up at this moment.
"Sure, no problem. We'll learn together when the time comes." "But with your bony frame, you probably don't need to train body techniques. Decide for yourself."
Victor looked at Brook's skeleton and wasn't sure if "body techniques" even applied.
"Yes, thank you, Captain." Brook immediately stood at attention and gave a gentlemanly bow.
"Come on—let's open a banquet! Hahaha."
Then Victor brought Mihawk aboard, and they once again held a welcoming banquet for the new member. Brook also played his role as musician. Nico Robin had a lot of fun too.
In the following days, Victor began teaching Mihawk and Brook swordsmanship. Meanwhile, Heracles sailed the Plant Scholars back to Boin Archipelago.
When he saw the super-giant Baron Omatsuri, he was stunned.
"My god—the world has changed this much?" "How did the Baron Omatsuri grow so huge? This isn't reasonable."
Heracles and the other botanists looked at the massive Baron Omatsuri in disbelief.
"I fused them using the Devour-Devour Fruit—pretty spectacular, right?" Victor laughed.
"Phew, no wonder. I was scared my knowledge had become outdated." Heracles finally relaxed.
But he planned to go up onto the super Baron Omatsuri with the other five botanists to study the plants. They wanted to see what changes had occurred here.
So the group boarded the Baron Omatsuri. Now everyone had self-defense capability—no need to worry about the carnivorous plants or insects on the island.
Of course, the twin medic girls and Robin still needed protection. That task fell to Crocus.
Over the next year, Victor taught Mihawk and Brook swordsmanship while having them hunt food for the Baron Omatsuri. He himself constantly collected delicacies—eating frantically while gathering more.
With reserves, there was no harm—and he could eat however much he wanted.
When Brook and Mihawk first saw Victor's insane eating, they were shocked. When they learned it was Victor's talent, they were astonished. Of course, seeing it often made them gradually get used to it.
During this time, both of their strengths improved rapidly—at least reaching Vice Admiral level.
Brook used the Revive-Revive Fruit to enhance his swordsmanship and boost his power. Mihawk trained swordsmanship while also working on physique, body techniques, and Haki. His Haki had now reached the ultimate level—quite respectable strength.
Victor had taught them all the techniques he could. Some moves required coordination of body techniques and Haki—even he couldn't teach those if they weren't ready.
So Victor decided to return to Windmill Village and let them train on their own. Afterward, Victor packed up, said goodbye to Heracles, and left directly.
Heracles and the others were living very comfortably on the Baron Omatsuri—no worries about food or drink. Crocus had even started planting herbs on it—the plants weren't afraid of the Baron Omatsuri's eating.
Victor quickly arrived at Windmill Village.
"Hm, not bad. Rouge and Ace are both fine." "Ace has grown quite a bit—and this must be Sabo. Looks like their fates are still intertwined."
Victor used Mantra to see what he wanted to see. But now, thanks to Rouge's patient teaching, Ace knew much more and was far more polite.
Sabo was even more so—he was nobility, so his studies were never lacking. Still, he learned alongside Ace under Rouge.
In the end, Ace changed his name—dropping Roger's surname and becoming Portgas D. Ace. No helping it—to avoid the Navy or World Government finding them and exposing flaws. So Rouge simply changed Ace's surname completely.
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