Sword Training and Disturbance

The next morning, the usual morning training began.

Sirius once again pushed himself through several rounds of sit-ups until he was nearly spent, only heading to Teacher Queen's classroom with Yamato and the other two after they'd finished breakfast.

Teacher Queen wasn't eating this time; he tossed a brand-new Spiked Club to Yamato and yawned, "Take it, kid, and stay away from that brat Sirius's teeth from now on!"

"Oh!"

Yamato caught the Spiked Club, her eyes lighting up instantly. "Aken! You're alive!"

She asked happily, "Did Father give this to me?"

Queen glanced at her, a strange smirk curling at the corner of his mouth. "If that's how you want to see it, sure."

"Father's the best!" Yamato hugged the Spiked Club, beaming with joy.

Kids' moods sure come and go fast.

Just yesterday she was sulking with Kaido over Kozuki Oden, and now she's cheerfully saying Father's the best.

Watching Yamato's delight, Sirius couldn't help but smile to himself—brutal as his methods were, Uncle Kaido probably still cared about his daughter.

Then, the morning classes began.

It was the same combination of Chinese class and Math class.

After that, class ended, lunch was eaten, and idle chatter filled the break.

Then the most grueling part of the day—the afternoon lessons—started.

Nothing much to say; during sparring, Sirius still got beaten black and blue by King, who continued to give him special attention.

But what surprised him was that he wasn't the only one getting singled out today.

"What are you doing? Deliberately avoiding the heart?"

King casually swayed his body, dodging a flying kick from Yamato, and reached out to grab her calf. "I've said it before, haven't I? If it's a fight, fight with the resolve to kill your enemy. Are you,"

"Pitying me?"

Without mercy, the man hoisted Yamato up and slammed her hard into the ground.

"Whoa!"

The ground trembled slightly from the impact, and Yamato let out a pained cry.

That's way too harsh! Was it because Yamato lost yesterday?

Sirius winced sympathetically and couldn't help but shout, "Yamato!"

But he wasn't any better off—Teacher King showed him no leniency either. Hearing his voice, the man turned around.

"Looks like you've still got plenty of energy."

Sirius ended up getting beaten even worse than Yamato, since as long as he had food, his recovery was superhuman—both stamina and injuries healed rapidly while eating.

King was just making the most of it.

Soon, a week passed like that.

Sirius's memory of this week was nothing but training, training, training—endless training.

Morning drills left him drained several times over, afternoon sparring had King pounding him into a mess, and the subsequent physical training was a nonstop cycle of sit-ups.

Becoming a strong man was really tough.

But this week's high-intensity training wasn't without results; the most obvious sign was that Sirius's weights had increased to seventy kilograms, and Teacher King was already considering adding more.

Pushing his body past its limits without regard for strain, combined with his trait of growing stronger by eating, his physique was indeed improving at a startling rate.

Compared to his rapid physical progress, Sirius's performance in afternoon combat training wasn't as impressive. In the end, whether in his past life or this one, he'd never received systematic combat training, and his abilities were no help—he truly started from zero, climbing forward bit by bit.

Now, it was combat training again. After the unarmed fighting session, they moved on to weapons.

King was sparring with Yamato using a wooden Spiked Club.

He easily parried the iron club Yamato swung at him with the wooden one, then whipped it back into her stomach, sending her flying.

"I remember telling you many times—if it's a fight, fight with the resolve to kill! Aim for my vitals!"

"No way! Uncle King isn't an enemy!"

Shouting this, the knocked-back Yamato charged in again without fear.

While they clashed on the field, Sirius and Jack were whispering to each other off to the side.

"Isn't Uncle King being a bit too strict?" Sirius said quietly.

"Huh? Is that so?"

Jack asked in surprise, "Do you have the right to say that, Sirius?"

Clearly, you're the one getting beaten the worst.

Sirius's expression stiffened—true enough.

"But yeah, lately Uncle King's been telling Yamato to be ruthless and never hold back," Black Maria added.

"Isn't that normal?" Jack scratched his head, looking confused.

Yes, that's perfectly normal.

Aren't all pirates like this?

It just seemed like Yamato was being too stubborn.

But Sirius felt like something was off.

Soon, after Yamato had been thoroughly beaten, it was Sirius's turn to step up.

King casually tossed aside his Spiked Club, looking down at Sirius from above, then gave a slight nod. "It should be about enough."

"Enough?"

Sirius gripped his greatsword, puzzled. "What do you mean, Teacher King?"

"After a week of practice, you've more or less learned how to swing a sword, haven't you?" King said calmly.

For some reason, his calm sent a shiver down Sirius's spine.

He felt like something bad was about to happen.

"Haha, I think there's still a lot I'm lacking," Sirius said with a dry laugh.

"It doesn't matter. With a sword, knowing how to swing it is enough."

King shook his head, then slowly drew his Katana from his waist. "Next, I'll teach you everything I know about swordsmanship."

Sirius pursed his lips, then pointed at the sharp blade in King's hand, a cold sweat forming on his forehead. "Teacher King, did you grab the wrong weapon?"

Teacher King paid no attention to Sirius's words at all. He just went on, "My swordsmanship isn't some rigid dojo style. It's a killing art, forged through countless battles."

"So are you ready, kid? Now that you've learned to swing a sword, it's time to learn how to cut people down!"

Without giving Sirius any chance to argue, King's towering frame shot forward, his longsword swinging down in an instant.

This guy was serious!

Luckily, a week's worth of training kicked in. Sirius's body immediately assumed a stance, raising his greatsword to block King's strike.

Clang!

Sirius stumbled back a few steps.

Huh?

Unexpectedly, the force wasn't as strong as he'd imagined.

"Run, defend, attack—do whatever it takes to survive this, kid!"

King's voice was as swift as his blade. Before the words even faded, his sword was already slicing through the air.

Sirius gritted his teeth.

So this was what he meant by teaching him how to use the sword properly?

He really does keep his word, Teacher King!

And where was the chance to run? Even if he was holding back his strength, wasn't his speed still ridiculously fast?

Sirius roared inwardly, gripping his greatsword as he charged forward.

At this point, he had no choice but to go all in, right?

Sirius's mind had never been so focused. Every ounce of his attention was locked onto King's blade.

He didn't even realize it when King announced the fight was over.

"Sirius, are you okay?"

It wasn't until Yamato and the others ran up worriedly that Sirius noticed the pain all over his body.

King had carved countless wounds into him. Now, drenched in what looked like blood, he collapsed to the ground, grimacing. Seeing him like this, Jack and the others panicked.

"Uncle King!"

Yamato's eyes reddened at Sirius's miserable state, and she snapped angrily at King, "That's too much! Sirius is about to die!"

"Die? Don't be ridiculous. Don't underestimate this kid."

King sneered, then tossed a huge food container to Sirius.

"That's right, hurry up and feed Sirius! Once he eats, everything will be fine!" Black Maria urged.

Jack silently stood up, opened the food container, and lifted it. "Sirius, open your mouth!"

Sirius complied, and a flood of food was immediately poured into his mouth.

Then—

"Revived!"

Sirius wiped the blood from his face and stood up, Full of energy. Even the wounds on his body had mostly healed.

Seeing Sirius mostly recovered, King nodded. "Good. Same time tomorrow."

Sirius felt exhausted.

I'm only six years old. Why do I have to go through this?

"Next up: physical training!"

And so, another few busy weeks passed, and Sirius had endured nearly a month of training.

He'd more or less gotten used to the daily routine of being beaten and slashed by King.

After all, as long as there was food to eat, both his stamina and injuries could recover.

Then, one morning, while Sirius and the others were running laps—

Boom!

A sudden, thunderous noise rang out from the distance.

"Disaster!! The prisoners have broken out of their cells!"

A shout like that came through.