A Temporary Lull

As night fell, Vivi and Momousagi arrived at a room behind the casino, where Vivi usually trained.

"Attack me using only physical techniques, not abilities."

Momousagi stood in front of Vivi and looked at her as she spoke.

"Good."

Vivi ran towards Momousagi, and when she reached her, she leaped up and kicked out, aiming for Momousagi's shoulder.

Bang.

Momousagi raised an arm and blocked in front of her. After a muffled thud, Vivi's leg returned to nothing, but she flipped in the air and kicked out again, only to have Momousagi block it with her hand once more.

Snap.

After Vivi kicked out with both feet, her body could no longer stay in the air, and just as she was about to fall, she swung out her right hand.

Swoosh.

A Peacock Chain was thrown out, the peacock feathers at the end slicing towards Momousagi's face.

"Oh?"

Momousagi was somewhat surprised. With a gentle squeeze of her left hand, she had already caught the peacock feather.

Snap.

Vivi landed slowly from the air, stood there and looked at Momousagi, saying, "Vice Admiral Momousagi, this is the technique I am good at."

"Is this your weapon?" Momousagi looked at Vivi curiously. "This is the first time I've ever seen a weapon like this."

A Peacock Chain also appeared on Vivi's left hand. She said, "This is the Peacock Woodcutter. It is made of ring wire and the most precious peacock feathers. These feathers are extremely tough and are no less than steel."

"So that's how it is."

Momousagi lowered her left hand, looked at Vivi, and said with some admiration in her eyes, "Your speed is good, and your strength is also decent. In terms of strength, you are much stronger than many of the new recruits at the Marine Headquarters."

Vivi's strength is not weak. She received training from Cecilia and is already much stronger than her historical counterpart.

She was originally Intermediate Agent, but now, if we only consider physical skills, she's probably on the verge of becoming Senior Agent.

In terms of physical ability, at the age of sixteen, Vivi is hard to beat.

"Then could you teach me?" Vivi asked quickly.

"Can."

Momousagi looked at Vivi and said, "I will teach you some basic swordsmanship. Depending on your performance, I will continue to teach you if you are able."

"Swordsmanship?"

Vivi asked with some surprise, "I'm good at kicking and chains, which doesn't seem to match swordsmanship quite well."

"That's alright, swordsmanship can be learned slowly. Besides, girls can never match boys in strength. But swordsmanship is different; it's a skill-based art that emphasizes reaction time to moves, and of course, physical fitness is equally important," Momousagi said. "Your physical fitness meets the most basic requirements, which is sufficient for learning swordsmanship."

"Okay, I'm willing to learn," Vivi said earnestly.

"Um."

Momousagi nodded and said, "Then let's go back. Tomorrow I'll start teaching you some swordsmanship. If you can master what I teach you, then I might really take you as my disciple."

Vivi has good aptitude, meets the minimum physical requirements for learning, and is also mature in character.

At the same time, she was Princess of a country, and her status was noble enough.

Given the Navy's actions, I can't stay here forever, so teaching her something wouldn't be a bad idea.

If she has sufficient qualifications, I wouldn't mind taking her as my apprentice.

"Ace and Baroque Works' president Heckle., killed Moria," Marco said, standing next to Whitebeard.

"I remember Nami saying that the Giant Beast is the president, right?" Whitebeard looked at Nami not far away.

Nami nodded and said, "That's right, that guy named Heckle is just his subordinate."

Marco looked at the newspaper and said, "Ace's bounty has reached 800 million, and he killed a Shichibukai. I estimate that the Navy will definitely focus its attention on him. Not long ago, Aokiji made a move, and I estimate that at least one Admiral pursuing them."

Nami said with some concern, "What should we do? Ace is no match for Admiral."

"Since he chose to do it..."

The Whitebeard said softly, "Then he must take responsibility for this. He is no longer a child."

"All right."

Nami lowered her head, Whitebeard smiled and said, "Don't worry about Ace. He's not as fragile as you think. Besides, he has a Haki Giant Beast. I'm sure when you see Ace again, he'll be a different person."

"Um."

Nami nodded, but her worry for Ace was still palpable.

"Yes, yes, I understand."

Robin hung up the Den Den Mushi, rubbed his temples, and looked somewhat troubled.

"What's wrong?"

Sabo looked at Robin and asked curiously, "Is it about Little Qiu?"

"That's right."

Robin replied, "He asked me a lot of questions about Little Qiu, inquiring about her background and what he planned to do."

"Really? Even the leader is paying attention to this matter."

Sabo stroked his chin and asked, "Is he angry?"

Robin shook his head and said, "He just wanted to confirm Little Qiu's purpose. After all, he knows about our agreement with Little Qiu. He told me that defeating Moria this time is a good thing no matter what, so there's nothing to worry about."

Koala said with a smile, "So all we need to do is wait for Little Qiu to contact us."

"Well, we can only wait." Robin nodded, feeling a little worried.

Sabo looked at the picture in the newspaper and said, "I don't know why, but the more I look at Ace, the more familiar he seems to me."

"Haha, you left the East China Sea when you were ten years old, how could you possibly know her?"

Koala waved his hand and said, "You've been saying Ace looks familiar ever since he first showed his talent, but you don't know him."

"It might just be my imagination."

Sabo shook his head and put the newspaper aside.

The uproar caused by the incident gradually subsided over time.

Sakazuki arrived at Thriller Bark but found no trace of Ace and his crew. He questioned the survivors but received no relevant information.

All that is known is that Moria's henchmen Hogback and Perona joined them.

Not only were they uninjured, but their strength also increased significantly.

This infuriated Sakazuki, who ordered the Navy to search for Ace. Sakazuki deduced that Ace and the others wouldn't simply disappear without a trace, so he issued alerts in various locations. He also guessed that they would travel to the New World via Fish-Man Island, so he arranged for people to hide in the Sabaody Archipelago and contacted the World Government to send agents to search for Ace's whereabouts.

However, no relevant information was received. All that was known was that the Giant Beast had appeared in the Sabaody Archipelago, but then disappeared.

For the next period of time, Ace and Heckle disappeared without a trace, and no information was obtained.

This terrified Sakazuki, and the Five Elders began a new campaign to recruit Shichibukai pirates.

In the blink of an eye, three months have passed.

On Island No. 2.

Xia Qiu was filled with excitement. After three months of training, he had finally mastered the Tekkai.