Kuina nodded slightly, closed her eyes, and began to simulate battle scenarios in her mind.
After a long while.
"Please advise!"
The pirate with a hat hesitated for a few seconds, picked up the two swords on the ground, thought about it, and threw one away, holding a sword in one hand as he looked at her.
Unexpectedly, after the pirate crew shattered, he had actually been reduced to a sparring tool for a brat.
Wait, that high-status brat from earlier seemed to place a lot of importance on this girl.
If he used her as a hostage, he might be able to escape with his life.
Thinking of this, a strong surge of hope rose in the pirate with a hat's heart, and his gaze gradually turned serious.
"I'm coming!"
Bang!
Blades crossed, and Kuina involuntarily took half a step back.
Such great strength!
Realizing she could not win a direct frontal clash, Kuina immediately changed tactics, using her nimble footwork to attack the opponent's left side.
"Brat! You're still too green to win against me!"
The pirate with a hat turned his wrist over, unleashing a horizontal strike.
Bang!
This time, although Kuina blocked the blade, she was forced to retreat several steps in a row.
"It looks like the outcome won't be decided in a short time."
Shirou sat on a chair, watching the two people fighting on the deck at his leisure.
Seeing this, Zepp and a crowd of chefs stepped forward carrying food trays one after another, quickly filling the table to the brim.
Borsalino pulled out a chair, sat down nearby, and suggested with a smile:
"She's too young, why not send her to Marine Headquarters for training for a while?"
"There's no need for that, actual combat is the best teacher."
Shirou had also considered what he said about sending her to Marine Headquarters.
But upon careful thought, even if she went to Marine Headquarters for training for a few years, coming out, she would at most be at Smoker's level.
Not weak, but looking across the world, it was truly not enough.
Rather than that, it was better to keep her by his side, just in case a version of himself who specialized in swordsmanship entered the White Mist Space at some point.
"Oh my... she almost won just now, what a pity." Borsalino said with a smile.
Two steps—two seconds ago, Kuina thrust a sword toward the eye socket of the pirate with a hat, just a step away from victory.
Yet she obviously hesitated for a moment, and was instantly caught by the opening, losing the great opportunity to win.
"This is also something that can't be helped; you surely can't expect a young girl who has never traveled far from home to kill people without any reservations, can you?"
At this moment, Kuina suddenly avoided the opponent's blade with a bizarre posture, slid behind him, and stabbed his right arm with a sword.
Clatter!
The sword fell to the ground, and the pirate with a hat covered his right arm, gritting his teeth against the pain as he lowered his head in silence.
"I won!"
Clap clap...!
Shirou clapped his hands a few times in succession, smiling:
"Not bad, was that some kind of swordsmanship just now?"
"It wasn't swordsmanship." Kuina shook her head slightly. "I just suddenly thought I could do that."
"Good, fighting is about using your brains flexibly, utilizing your own advantages to attack the opponent's weaknesses."
Shirou smiled, his thoughts stirring slightly, and a bottle of medicine appeared out of thin air in his right hand as his gaze shifted toward CP0.
"Feed this to him, not all of it—one-fifth is enough."
"Understood."
CP0 immediately took the medicine, pinned the pirate with a hat's lower jaw, and forced one-fifth of it down his throat.
Feeling his arms gradually recover as before, the pirate with a hat was filled with pleasant surprise, but even more so with panic and unease.
"Next, break his left leg."
"Understood."
"Kuina, this time he's stronger than you again. Want to go try?"
"This..." Kuina's face showed reluctance.
Shirou shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice:
"He's a pirate who commits all manner of wickedness, kills without blinking an eye, and has hands stained with blood. Among them might be newborn babies, newly married young women..."
The pirate with a hat seemed to want to say something, but before the words could leave his mouth, his neck was gripped by CP0, forcing him to swallow the words back down.
"I understand." Kuina's expression gradually grew resolute as she slowly walked in front of the pirate with a hat, and said softly, "Sorry, I'll give you a quick end. Please advise!"
Kuina did not repel fighting against crippled pirates, but she felt extreme resistance toward repeatedly torturing them.
Therefore, in the time that followed, these pirates all became disposable sparring tools.
Still Liking to Gloat Just as Much
Still Liking to Gloat Just as Much
Food Wars World.
"More grand than imagined, but there aren't many people? Should I say it's worthy of being a school built in two days?"
Yukihira Soma stood in front of the wide-open gates of Zhengyang Academy, his expression subtle as he let out an involuntary sigh.
Could a school built in two days like this really recruit anyone?
Looking through the gates, one could see that the school interior was completely empty, giving off the quiet feel of a holiday.
"Sigh... Are the next three years going to be wasted here?"
At that moment, a stream of idle chatter drifted over from behind:
"Just why? Even though our school didn't have much fame, it shouldn't have gone bankrupt out of nowhere, right?"
"It's not bankruptcy, it's a merger."
"Is there any difference? So irritating! I specifically chose that school because it was close to home, and now it's suddenly gone, and I have to come all the way to such a remote place for school."
"Eh...? First time hearing this, you chose your school because it was close to home?"
"Of course! If it weren't for being close to home, I would have gone to Totsuki long ago; how could I possibly go to some unknown little school."
"Must be nice. I entered my previous school because I failed the Totsuki entrance exam. Speaking of which, if you didn't want to come here, you should have been able to transfer to some other place close to home, right?"
"You think I don't want to? But the conditions at the new school are just too good: huge scholarships for cracking the top ten in culinary arts, opportunities to travel abroad..."
Yukihira Soma stared blankly at the two of them, quickly realizing that another culinary school had been merged into this place.
I see. No wonder that guy wasn't worried about students and teachers.
Still, he definitely must have used some despicable method to force the other school to merge here, right?
Discovering that Yukihira Soma was staring stupidly at her, the long-haired girl on the left stopped in her tracks and teased:
"Look, what did I find? A rare specimen."
"What rare specimen?" The bespectacled girl on the right showed a surprised look.
"Hee hee... A fool, isn't that rare?"
"Mm... That really is quite rare."
The distance between both sides was less than two meters, and the two girls were mocking Yukihira Soma right to his face.
Therefore, Yukihira Soma could not help but retort:
"Who are you calling a fool? You actually went out of your way to come to school just to learn culinary arts—how stupid! Isn't this something anyone can do as long as they have hands?"
"Tch... Turns out he's just an outsider." The long-haired girl glanced at him with contempt and shook her head slightly. "What a headache. Not just anyone can be a chef; fools who think they're already master chefs just because they can stir-fry a few dishes should transfer out as early as possible."
"Oh...? So you're saying your culinary skills are very high?"
"I didn't say that, but I should be about ten times stronger than you."
When she spoke, the long-haired girl even deliberately made a ten gesture with her hand.
"Is that so?" The corners of Yukihira Soma's mouth ticked upward as he said with absolute confidence, "A chef should speak through their craft. Since you think you're ten times stronger than me, let's have a cooking match!"
"Sure. But if I win, you have to tie my shoelaces every day for the next three years."
"Fine! It's the same condition on my end."
"Boss, why am I the one acting as principal?"
Inside the chairman's office of Zhengyang Academy, Minezaki Yaeko sat on the edge of the desk and asked curiously.
"What? You don't want to be?" Shirou chuckled softly.
"It's not that, but it just feels a bit awkward."
"Do you know what a principal is supposed to do?"
"Mm, I asked several veteran principals continuously yesterday, and I basically understand it now."
"Then just try it out first. If you can't hack it, I'll find someone else."
"Boss, can I ask a question?"
"Ask."
A trace of bewilderment appeared on Minezaki Yaeko's face as she thought involuntarily to herself:
How come ever since getting thinner that day, Boss has felt a little bit gentler?
"Umm... Why build Zhengyang Academy? If you wanted revenge, there should be plenty of other ways, right?"
"Revenge? What stupid nonsense are you talking about?"
Shirou sneered, his face turning cold as he said:
"I am doing this simply to pull Totsuki down from its pedestal."
"The world's premier culinary school, and its graduates are all super elites? Ridiculous."
"They cultivate students using a Gu-worm breeding method, with the countless remains of failed contenders beneath every single graduate."
"When it all comes down to it, they are using their own method to tell the world that cooking is a game of talent. People without talent have no qualifications to become chefs."
"Whether it's the theory of talent or the theory of lineage, those are the things I detest the most."
"From beginning to end, I believe in only one thing—the theory of hard work. Where there's a will, there's a way."
"Therefore, I am going to use my own method to tell the world that as long as you work hard, you will definitely succeed. The only reason you haven't succeeded is simply because your effort hasn't been enough."
So Boss thought of it that way!
Minezaki Yaeko gazed intently at Shirou, thinking:
So handsome!
"Then... why did Boss go to such great lengths to recruit Yukihira Soma over here? According to Boss's philosophy, isn't he also a person with talent?"
"No, Yukihira Soma is not some gifted person; on the contrary, he is a firm believer in hard work."
Shirou shook his head slightly, rejecting her judgment.
Compared to Nakiri Erina's God Tongue, Hayama Ryō's extraordinary sense of smell, and Miyokura Akira's imitation ability, Yukihira Soma possessed only the culinary experience polished from head-to-head duels with his father since childhood, alongside a flexible mind.
A Yukihira Soma like that could not be categorized under the theory of talent by any stretch of the imagination.
Before you continue