[A Few Days Later]
The Straw Hat Pirates were still drifting aimlessly across the sea.
The weather was nice, and the sea breeze was neither too strong nor too weak, perfect for traveling.
The Going Merry slowly cut through the water. The sheep figurehead at the bow was soaked by the splashing waves, making it look even sillier.
"Hey, hey, Zoro, take a break."
Usopp sat at the dining table on the deck with his back against the railing and called out to Zoro, who was sweating through his training.
"We finally became crewmates. Come chat with us for a while."
On the wooden table in front of him, Luffy was hugging a huge piece of roasted meat, eating until his mouth was covered in grease. The smacking sounds alone were enough to make Usopp feel sick of it.
Meanwhile, Nami was lying lazily on a beach chair nearby with an outdated newspaper covering her face, enjoying the sun.
Her long legs were crossed high in the air, occasionally swaying gently with the rhythm of the waves.
"No."
Without even looking up, Zoro gritted his teeth and swung another diagonal slash.
"I still have to train. Until I catch up to that woman, I won't stop."
Hoo!
He let out a heavy breath. Sweat ran down his chest, slid over his abs, and dripped onto the deck.
He had no famous teacher to guide him, so he could only rely on hard practice.
One move, ten moves, a hundred moves... repeating them over and over until his arms were too sore to lift.
"Speaking of which."
Nami pulled the newspaper off her face, sat up lazily, narrowed her eyes, and smiled at Usopp.
"Usopp, you've been in a pretty good mood lately, haven't you?"
Resting her chin in one hand, she spoke lightly, as if making casual conversation.
But in reality, she was probing him.
There was something off about Usopp. Very off.
She had secretly suspected it from the very beginning.
This guy probably had some connection with the World Government.
And what happened that night, when he called out the honorable name, had only confirmed her suspicion.
Not just anyone who called out that man's honorable name would receive a response from the eye in the sky.
She herself had that qualification, but that was because of her family. Someone in the Holy Land was looking after things for them.
'But Usopp?'
'Why does he qualify?'
'Something isn't right'.
'Then again, if Usopp really has ties to the World Government, how did he let his wife and child die so miserably that night?'
'Besides, the murderer who killed Kaya, Kuro, reportedly entered the Grand Line a few days ago, and the Navy just put a bounty of one hundred million on him.'
'If Usopp really belongs to the World Government...'
'Forget his wife and child dying. Even if an ordinary villager had merely been harassed, the killer would have been struck to ashes by heavenly punishment on the spot.'
'How could he still be running free with some lousy bounty on his head?'
And over the past few days, Usopp's condition had also felt strange to her.
For the first day or two, he had been depressed, listlessly leaning against the rail while staring at the sea.
But he recovered far too quickly. Before long, he was laughing and chatting as if nothing had happened.
According to him, people always die, but life goes on.
He had to carry everyone's share and keep moving forward. His family in heaven wouldn't want to see him stay depressed.
That explanation was more than enough to fool someone as simple as Luffy.
But Nami and Zoro?
Neither of them believed a single word.
"Of course I'm in a good mood!"
Usopp grinned and grabbed a piece of bread from the table, tossing it into his mouth.
"At our current speed, we'll reach Loguetown in just a few more days."
After chewing a couple of bites, he lowered his voice and added, "But Loguetown isn't the important part. The important part is Reverse City. That's the most prosperous city in the World Government!"
"Really?"
Nami's eyes curved slightly as she put on a look of anticipation.
"Then I really have to see it for myself."
In reality, she wasn't looking forward to it at all.
It wasn't as though she had never been to Reverse City. At the meeting point of the Four Seas, it was crowded with every sort of person and served as the World Government's transportation hub.
The public security was excellent, but it was far too noisy and lively for her taste.
She preferred the quiet of the Holy Land.
"Still," Changing her posture, Nami rested her chin on her knees, her gaze turning distant, "I've heard the Holy Land is the largest city in the world. I wonder if I'll ever get a chance to see it..."
There was just the right amount of longing in her voice.
"Huh?", Zoro paused in the middle of a swing, glanced back at her, and curled his lip, "The Holy Land Mary Geoise? That place isn't that great. It's full of World Nobles. Without some strength, you won't have a comfortable time there."
"Hm?"
As soon as he finished speaking, both Nami's and Usopp's eyes turned toward him almost at the same time.
The expressions on their faces were surprisingly identical, both carrying an extremely strange look.
Zoro froze for a moment, confused by their sudden stares, and frowned, "What? Why are you two looking at me like that?"
Nami and Usopp exchanged a glance.
In the end, Nami spoke first.
Resting her chin in her hand, she blinked and asked, "People like us don't know what the Holy Land is like, do we? At most we've only seen bits of it on Den Den Mushi broadcasts. How do you know so much?"
She had actually thought about this long ago.
Aside from Luffy, everyone on this ship seemed anything but ordinary.
And if everyone on a ship except the captain was extraordinary, then looking at it the other way around... didn't that mean the captain, who looked like such an idiot, was actually even more extraordinary?
But whatever.
What did it have to do with her?
She just wanted to travel around the world once and see the customs and scenery everywhere.
Then...
Then she'd probably return to the Holy Land, become a decorative vase, and settle down there.
"Of course I know."
Zoro sheathed his sword and answered casually, completely open about it.
"That woman is in the Holy Land now. She told me before."
He had no intention of hiding it.
"Zoro!"
Resting his chin in his hands, Usopp leaned over with a gossip-loving look.
"You've mentioned that woman so many times. Who exactly is she?"
"That woman..."
Zoro stopped wiping his sword. His gaze drifted into the distance as if sinking into an old memory.
The windmill turned and turned in his mind. He seemed to remember the girl with short hair, the sound of wooden swords in the dojo, and the rain-soaked footprints on the stone steps...
Just as he was about to speak—
"Whoa! There's a huge ship up ahead!"
Luffy's loud voice suddenly exploded. The chunk of roasted meat he hadn't finished eating pointed straight toward the horizon.
The memory was abruptly interrupted.
Zoro snorted but still looked in the direction Luffy was pointing.
It really was a huge ship.
Calling it a ship would be less accurate than calling it a giant building floating on the sea.
It stood several dozen meters high. The hull was painted blue and white, with several stories rising above the deck, lined with elegant glass windows and balconies.
The most eye-catching thing was the flag fluttering in the sea breeze at the top.
"Hey!"
Zoro's pupils shrank, and his expression became serious, "That flag... belongs to the World Government, doesn't it?"
"It sure is."
Usopp nodded, looking completely relaxed.
"But this isn't a government ship. It's a floating restaurant. The reason it flies the government flag... there's a story behind that."
"A floating restaurant?"
Nami, who had been lounging around, suddenly sat upright, her eyes lighting up.
"You mean that one! The story about the head chef saving the World Government Crown Prince?"
"Well, that's not exactly wrong."
Usopp chuckled and nodded vaguely.
As for what had really happened, he knew far more than the newspapers did.
That incident had happened when Rosse threw his own children and the young people he had personally raised into the Grand Line for training.
Each represented a different faction, competing against one another.
Among them, Sanji had been one of the unlucky ones, randomly dropped onto a deserted island where there wasn't even a bird in sight.
It wasn't as though he'd actually starve to death.
With Sanji's physique, he could go half a month without food and still survive.
The problem was that Sanji hadn't learned to cook yet back then.
By coincidence, there happened to be an old chef stranded on the island, the very old man who would later open the floating restaurant.
The two hit it off immediately and divided the work clearly.
Sanji was responsible for diving into the sea to catch Sea Kings, while the old man handled the cooking.
Although Shirahoshi eventually found Sanji with ease and knocked him down in just a few moves, it was precisely because of that friendship that, after leaving the island, the old man returned to the East Blue and opened this floating restaurant, funded by Sanji and granted permission to fly the World Government's flag.
To ordinary people, that alone was already a legendary story, so naturally countless versions of it spread afterward.
Of course, Usopp wasn't about to tell Nami and the others any of this.
If he did, how was he supposed to explain why he knew so many details?
He had actually participated in that training himself.
He had just been little more than baggage the whole time.
Compared to that bunch of freaks, he had just been an ordinary nobody.
Honestly, he missed those days.
Back then, Shirahoshi hadn't thought much of him, but he still had Brother Ace looking after him.
"Floating restaurant! I want to eat!"
Luffy suddenly jumped up, his eyes shining as drool nearly ran from his mouth.
His way of thinking had always been that simple.
If there was food on the ship, then he wanted to eat it.
"We're almost out of money, and all you can think about is food!"
Nami knocked him on the head in annoyance.
"Hahaha!"
Usopp patted his chest and proudly crossed his legs, "Don't worry, don't worry. This meal's on Lord Usopp!"
His current identity was that of a rich man.
"Yay!"
Luffy cheered and nearly jumped into the air.
"Then I'll really eat all I want."
Nami also smiled sincerely, already calculating in her head which expensive dishes to order.
For a while, the entire Going Merry was filled with cheerful laughter.
The only exception was Zoro.
As the two ships drew closer and closer, his expression became increasingly grave.
His grip on Wado Ichimonji tightened unconsciously.
From the floating restaurant, he sensed several presences.
All of them were strong.
And among them, one radiated an exceptionally sharp sword intent.
He knew that sword intent.
He knew it so well that he would never forget it even if it were carved into his bones.
'Could it be you?'
'Kuina!'
.
.
.
Soon, the Going Merry slowly approached and came to a steady stop at the floating restaurant's dock.
There weren't many ships berthed there. Including theirs, only four.
Usopp was the first to get off.
Without changing expression, he stepped onto the gangplank, jumped onto the dock, then turned around with a grin.
"I've eaten here once before. Back then I came with Kaya, and... well, just the two of us. We both thought this place was pretty good."
'Hey! Hey!'
Nami had just stepped off the ship and nearly jumped right back on.
'Kaya only just died!'
'Is it really okay to say that in such a cheerful tone?'
She silently complained in her heart as she followed him onto the dock.
Her face still wore a casual expression, but alarm bells were already ringing inside.
Usopp's current state was far too strange.
Either he had really gone insane.
Or Kaya wasn't dead at all.
Either way, something was seriously wrong.
Still, as long as Luffy didn't notice, it was fine.
"Wow, this place is decorated pretty luxuriously."
As she walked up the gangway, Nami looked around in amazement, "The floor is actually covered with the fur of a mink-type Sea King? One of these pelts could probably be traded for two of our ships."
"Probably more than that. Just what's in front of us is worth over a million berries," Usopp smiled.
"Food! Food! Fooood!"
Luffy no longer had time to admire the decorations. Sniffing the rich aroma in the air, he rushed forward as though his soul had been hooked away.
"Don't rush, Luffy!"
Usopp followed behind him, laughing helplessly as he waved his hands.
With Luffy shouting the whole way, the group pushed open the restaurant's heavy carved wooden doors and walked inside.
The moment they entered the restaurant, Nami and Zoro both froze in place.
Usopp was actually a little surprised as well.
But he had already swept the area with Observation Haki on the way over, so he knew what to expect. His expression barely changed.
"Hey! H-Hey, hey, hey!"
Zoro's hand slammed onto the hilt of Wado Ichimonji, his whole body tensing as though struck by lightning.
Staring fixedly at a table by the window in the corner of the restaurant, he gritted out,
"What kind of joke is this? Why are you here?"
Sitting at that table was a woman with short blue hair.
Her neat short hair and sharp features matched the relaxed way she leaned back in her chair, carrying a natural edge.
'That woman!'
'Kuina!'
The woman he thought about day and night.
The woman he dreamed of defeating with his sword just once.
As for Nami, she had frozen on the other side.
Her trembling gaze was locked onto another table.
At that table sat two breathtakingly beautiful women, eating with relaxed expressions without even sparing Nami a glance.
Nami's hand slowly rose to cover her mouth.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Can't I come?"
Kuina smiled softly without getting up.
Supporting herself against the back of her chair with her right hand, she lounged there with impossible ease, merely flicking a fingertip lightly toward Zoro.
Clang!
A clear sword cry rang out.
The next instant, a pale blue crescent flying slash shot from her fingertip out of nowhere and cleaved straight toward Zoro's chest.
Speaking with swords, that was the etiquette of swordsmen.
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