About an hour later.
"Phew."
When Shaya returned, he looked thoroughly refreshed.
All the frustration he had suffered at Roger's hands earlier had been taken out on Stussy.
It had to be said, she was smooth.
"Hiss."
As for Stussy, her expression was exceptionally ugly right now.
"Such a brute. He may be young, but that part of him definitely isn't small..."
"He has no idea how to treat a woman gently. I'm still burning down there."
Stussy followed behind Shaya, first glaring viciously at him as he strode ahead of her.
Then she took out the compact mirror she carried with her and quietly touched up her makeup.
"Shaya, according to our agreement, you'll be training with me next. My standards are very high. Are you really ready?"
As Roger spoke, he drew the famed blade Ace, one of the Greatest Grade Swords, from inside the house and walked over to the two trees planted before his cabin...
By pure coincidence, the two trees Roger had planted outside his door were both jujube trees.
Clearly, Roger had excellent taste. Even the famed literary master Mr. Zhou Shuren would have given him a quiet nod of approval upon seeing this scene.
Meanwhile.
"Swish..."
Roger lightly swung Ace in his hand.
In an instant, the two ten-meter-tall trees standing before Roger's yard were felled by the blade's sharp edge.
Then Roger gripped the supreme-grade blade, its edge gleaming with cold light, its hilt resembling that of a rapier while its body resembled a katana.
He walked over to the trunks of the two severed jujube trees and began chopping at them...
Before long, two rough wooden swords had been carved out beneath Roger's slashes.
"Oh?"
Behind Roger, Shaya narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Roger's movements.
It had to be said, Roger's swordsmanship was incomparably refined!
Clearly, aside from the immensely powerful Haki he had cultivated through hard work, Roger also possessed meticulous swordsmanship...
He just didn't know who would be superior if Roger, one of the strongest men of this era, were compared solely in basic swordsmanship with the future man known as the World's Greatest Swordsman.
That man had eyes like an eagle's, earning him the nickname Hawk Eyes: Dracule Mihawk.
"Here, take this! Consider it a gift for you."
Roger picked up one of the wooden swords from the ground and casually tossed it to Shaya, who had been silently admiring Roger's dazzling swordsmanship.
"Thanks."
Shaya caught the wooden sword Roger had handed him, a faint smile on his face.
This truly was a special gift.
The wooden sword in Shaya's hand reminded him of his childhood before he had transmigrated, when he would pick up pretty branches by the roadside and use them as toys.
A man remained a boy until death; pick up a branch, and it became a holy sword!
Who said Shaya's head was filled mostly with schemes and lacked a little romance?!
"Then training begins!"
As Roger spoke, his body became a streak of light, instantly arriving before Shaya.
"Ha..."
Shaya's pupils trembled slightly, and he instinctively raised the wooden sword in his hand, slashing at Roger.
Roger naturally used his own wooden sword to block Shaya's strike...
"Clang! Clang! Clang..."
For a time, Roger and Shaya engaged in an incomparably fierce battle within the courtyard!
Their figures moved so quickly that, to ordinary eyes, they were like two black shadows that could not be seen clearly at all...
"Whoosh!"
At the same time, gusts of howling wind swept through the area!
The wooden swords in Roger and Shaya's hands continuously unleashed dazzling slashes.
As their Haki and sword strikes collided, even the air around them shook, producing ripple after ripple.
"Incredible!"
Stussy's pupils contracted slightly as she watched Shaya fight Roger.
"That kid might even surpass Roger and me in the future!"
Just as Stussy marveled at Shaya's formidable strength...
Garp appeared silently at Stussy's side and spoke softly.
"Uh..."
Stussy looked at Garp beside her, her eyes full of wariness.
Stussy would not lower her guard simply because Garp was the Hero of the Marines while she was CP0, both under the World Government...
The World Government was far from as united as outsiders imagined.
"Don't be nervous! I'm a Marine who upholds justice, not some lawless pirate. I certainly won't do anything to you, even if you're one of those CP0 agents I dislike..."
"Of course, dislike is one thing. I still hope that, as a member of CP0, the World Government's strongest intelligence agency, you'll properly fulfill your duties!"
"As for what comes next, consider it some advice from an elder, offered in the capacity of your senior! Or you can take it as an old man's unnecessary nagging."
"I advise you not to do anything unnecessary. Otherwise, you'll not only cause trouble for others, but also bring needless trouble upon yourself..."
"You and I are part of the World Government. Sometimes, it's better to play dumb..."
Garp looked at Stussy beside him and spoke quietly.
"I'll remember Vice Admiral Garp's advice!"
Stussy's pupils suddenly contracted after hearing Garp's words...
Then she nodded firmly in response.
"If you truly take those words to heart, that would be for the best..."
Garp merely smiled lightly at that.
He seemed not to care much whether Stussy had truly understood his words. He remained calm and untroubled, as though nothing mattered to him, carrying the open-minded air of a man who had seen through life.
Yet Stussy, having been warned by Garp, was now thinking darkly:
"Hehe, Garp means that if I do something I shouldn't, then while he, as a Marine, may not do anything to me, Roger, as a pirate, definitely won't let it go! Roger doesn't share Garp's concerns about the World Government..."
"After all, if I report everything here truthfully to the higher-ups, they will definitely dispatch warships and launch a Buster Call on all of Baterilla Island, striking it with devastating force! Roger's wife and child could very well die in that attack..."
"Once Roger's wife and child die because of me, I'll be facing a world-class powerhouse who has lost every relative, is terminally ill and doesn't have long to live, has no attachment or lingering feelings toward this world, possesses no weaknesses whatsoever, and is filled with hatred for me! Just thinking about it is terrifying."
"Forget it. I'll just gloss over what happened here for now! Just as Garp reminded me, the mission of CP0 is to wholeheartedly serve the Celestial Dragons! Since this is the decision of Saint Shaya, a Celestial Dragon, why shouldn't I go along with it?!"
In just a few minutes, Stussy seemed to have seen through life.
Besides, strictly speaking, she could now be considered one of Saint Shaya's people...
The greater Saint Shaya's future achievements, the more beneficial it would be for her.
Although Shaya's methods had been exceptionally simple and crude...
He had still, more or less, tied Stussy to his chariot.
Thinking of this, Stussy smiled helplessly and looked at Garp. "If you're worried that I might betray Young Master Shaya, then I think you're overthinking it."
"Hm?!"
Garp was slightly stunned by Stussy's words.
"Young Master Shaya offered too much..."
Stussy looked at Garp and said softly.
"Huh?"
Garp looked at Stussy in confusion, clearly not understanding what she meant.
"Young Master Shaya promised that once we return to Mary Geoise, he'll directly announce that I'm his first wife."
Stussy looked at Garp, unable to hide the excitement in her eyes. Her tone was incredibly light. "As a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral, you should understand the value of being the first wife of a World Noble, right? Even if my status won't compare to that of a legitimate Celestial Dragon, I'll still count as half a master. At that time, I'll use the title of the first wife of a World Noble to completely seize control of CP0."
"Money! Power! This lady wants it all..."
As Stussy spoke, her eyes brimmed with desire.
As for love and such things, Stussy had never taken them seriously.
As the Queen of the Pleasure District, the world's largest Pleasure Street, Stussy never talked about love...
"This woman..."
Garp's expression darkened slightly as he looked at Stussy beside him.
"So she really is Bakin's clone? Even her personality is incredibly similar..."
"Be careful not to end up like Bakin, devoured by your own desires!"
After staring at Stussy's delicate face for a long while, Garp let out a helpless sigh.
"Sigh..."
"At the end of the day, I still ended up walking the same path as the original."
"If that's the case, then so be it."
"Perhaps this is fate..."
"Still, I don't care how many women Shaya has around him..."
"But the position of official wife must be mine."
"With my charm, if I can't even get a little Celestial Dragon brat under control, then what kind of Queen of the Pleasure District am I? I might as well retire beside Vegapunk..."
Stussy had never imagined that Shaya, as a Celestial Dragon, would have only one woman by his side! That was unrealistic and absolutely impossible...
But no matter what, Stussy had to try to fight for the position of official wife.
If Shaya truly sat upon the vacant Void Throne...
Then she, Stussy, would become the woman of the king of the world, second only to one and above all others.
Of course, if Shaya failed, she would simply continue being CP0.
Still, Stussy had never put all her eggs in one basket. She had long prepared a way out for herself! However, as long as Shaya showed no signs of decline and had not completely fallen from power, she would wholeheartedly serve the great Saint Shaya.
After all, Shaya was a Celestial Dragon, while she was merely pitiful CP0?!
For now, Stussy could only apologize inwardly to the Five Elders: "Sorry. It's not that you Five Elders haven't treated me well enough. It's just that Saint Shaya truly offered too much~"
However, Stussy's calculations had long been within Shaya's calculations.
Shaya naturally knew that a woman like Stussy would never talk about feelings with others.
If you tried to talk about feelings with Stussy, a CP0 agent...
Stussy would think you were looking down on her and insulting her dignity!
To a woman like Stussy, only tangible and concrete benefits were real!
Perhaps Stussy still remembered the debt she owed Vegapunk for creating her, but that was all she remembered of Vegapunk...
Shaya believed that although he had spent several years with Stussy and they could be considered among each other's closest people, when it came to Stussy's feelings for him, how could an employee possibly develop feelings for an evil capitalist?
So after pulling Stussy into the woods, Shaya did not waste any words and directly stated his terms.
He told Stussy that as long as she stood on his side, he would grant her the position of a Celestial Dragon's wife.
Furthermore, after the nations of the world submitted Heavenly Gold to the World Government each year, he would give Stussy twenty percent of his own share to maintain expenses befitting her status and position.
Faced with the assault of money and status, Stussy immediately fell...
As for the issue of testing for nucleic acid, time was pressing, so the big matter could wait...
But surely Shaya still had to inspect the goods in other ways beforehand, right?!
Yet the truth was that Stussy had been even more proactive than Shaya expected.
As for Stussy's skills? Shaya could only say softly, "Worthy of being the Queen of the Pleasure District. Her skills truly are extraordinary."
So there was a reason Boss Cao liked mature women...
And he, Cao Shaya, just happened to share the same surname as Cao Cao. Cough, cough...
Thus, with Shaya and Stussy each getting what they wanted, the two hit it off immediately.
Stussy pledged loyalty to Shaya and provided him with services!
All kinds of services!
Shaya granted Stussy power, status, money, everything...
For Shaya, a Celestial Dragon, those were precisely the things he lacked least.
As for the benefits Stussy wanted, he would simply give them to her.
Besides the concrete benefits Stussy could already see and touch, Shaya had no shortage of promises about the future.
Cough, cough...
As for Shaya's promise to support Stussy in becoming CP0 Commander afterward? Of course he would fulfill it...
After all, Shaya still hoped to use Stussy's hand to completely control the World Government's entire intelligence apparatus.
Speaking of intelligence agencies, Shaya thought of the man known as CP9's strongest genius in eight hundred years, Rob Lucci—the one who went from "I never considered you an Emperor of the Sea" to "Yellow Monkey and I alone are enough to defeat you all," and then to "Even an Emperor of the Sea's right-hand man is worth killing."
Come to think of it, Kalifa was quite pretty too...
Mm, whenever Shaya ate, he liked eating from his bowl while watching the pot, thinking about the rice cooker, and fantasizing about the restaurants outside...
After successfully winning over Stussy, Shaya's goals changed once again.
Of course, Shaya still needed to calmly see Roger off and successfully inherit Roger's legacy: "Don't you agree, my dear Lucky Charm Ace?"
But for now, Shaya's goal was still to learn combat techniques from Roger.
Thus, three days later...
"So this is Kamui? It's nothing special!"
After spending three days, Shaya had finally mastered Kamui.
The very moment Shaya successfully learned Kamui, his proficiency in it directly reached Level Seven—the level of minor mastery!
A black crescent slash flew from the wooden sword in Shaya's hand as he smiled and said, "Wasn't that easy?!"
"Three days? Just three days, and it surpassed seven or eight years of my work?"
"I feel like all the time I spent honing my swordsmanship in this life was fed to dogs..."
"Maybe you kid can conquer this sea through swordsmanship alone..."
Roger was too stunned for words as he looked at Shaya, who had learned Kamui in three days.
Roger had seen people born with immense strength, like Charlotte Linlin and Kaido, who displayed astonishing talent from childhood and walked the path of overpowering all techniques with sheer force...
But someone like Shaya, whose talent for technique was completely maxed out, was something he had never seen before~
"Sigh, keep a low profile. It's just basic stuff~"
Shaya said modestly.
Brothers, Happy New Year~ Another four-thousand-word chapter. Please keep reading! Please keep reading! Still asking for you to keep reading!
Before you continue