Rockheart Kendo Dojo!

On the first floor, in the living room.

Merlin leaned comfortably against the sofa, reading a copy of that day's newspaper.

Three cups of ginger juice sat on the coffee table in front of him, sending up wisps of steam. He breathed in the fragrant aroma filling the air.

Then he looked at Yol, seated on the sofa opposite him, and smiled.

"Tomorrow, we'll go enroll. Yol and I will sign up for VIP classes, and Lami can take the regular course!"

A gentle smile played on Yol's lips, but she hesitated.

"I've only just started learning the basics. Isn't that too expensive? Maybe I should sign up for regular classes too? If I turn out to have talent, I can switch to VIP later."

Lami sighed like a little grown-up and said to Yol in exasperation,

"Sister Yol, that's not right. How could regular students possibly teach you as well as the dojo master or his children?

"You're learning the fundamentals, so you should find the very best person to teach you. What if the students aren't skilled enough and teach you the wrong way?"

"It's like how my father taught my brother medicine. No matter how busy he was, he never let his apprentices teach him. He always taught him personally, step by step. Well, my father is the best surgeon in the country."

Lami spoke with a proud expression.

"Haha!" Merlin laughed aloud. Looking at Lami with admiration in his eyes, he said,

"Exactly. If Lami weren't still so young and in greater need of physical training—and if we couldn't teach her ourselves after we've learned—then I'd sign her up for VIP classes too."

Yol smiled helplessly. "All right, I was wrong. But when did you two become a team?"

Lami, sitting beside Merlin, grinned and hugged his right arm. She cheekily winked at Yol.

"Why, we've been a team from the very beginning!"

At that, Yol deliberately put on an incredulous, tearful expression. She folded her hands over the lower half of her face, her voice turning mournful.

"So that's how it is. I guess Lami never liked me at all?

"Sniff, sniff..."

Lami blinked, then looked at Yol with exasperation and complained,

"That's so fake, Sister Yol. I'm not a little kid. You can't fool me like that."

Despite her teasing, Lami let go of Merlin's arm, hopped off the sofa, and went over to hug Yol around the neck, comforting her.

"Lami was wrong, okay? Lami and Sister Yol are on the same team!"

Seeing this, a playful look appeared in Yol's eyes. She asked softly, "Then you don't want to be on Brother Merlin's team anymore?"

Lami rolled her eyes, thoroughly speechless.

"Compared to me, you're more like a little girl, Sister Yol! A stingy little girl who gets jealous easily."

Hearing that, Yol's expression became hard to keep straight. She pulled Lami into her arms and began tickling her mercilessly.

"Hahahaha! I was wrong, okay? I was wrong! Please stop, Sister Yol! Brother Merlin, save me!!!"

Lami laughed until tears streamed from her eyes, struggling the whole time...

But there was no way little Lami could escape Yol's clutches. Yol held her firmly in her arms and mercilessly tormented her.

Merlin watched them, the corner of his mouth twitching. The scene felt strangely familiar.

Right. When he was little, Yol had often tormented him like this too.

Hearing Lami's cries for help, Merlin set the newspaper on the coffee table and couldn't help speaking up.

"Yol, that's enough! If you don't stop, I'm going to hit you!"

Yol's tickling came to a halt. She fixed Merlin with a brooding stare. Merlin's lips twitched slightly. Then he acted as if he hadn't seen a thing, stood up, and coughed.

"I've been a little tired these past few days. I'm going back to catch up on sleep. I didn't say anything."

Watching Merlin go upstairs, Yol's eyes took on a nostalgic smile. Then she looked at Lami in her arms, who now wore an utterly defeated expression, and asked with a chuckle,

"Do you want to be on your sister's team or your brother's?"

Tears glimmered in the corners of Lami's eyes. She answered at once, "My sister's, of course! Definitely Sister Yol."

A satisfied smile appeared on Yol's lips. Pleased with Lami's good sense, she pinched her cheek and laughed.

"So that's how it is? Then your sister will believe you for now!"

Lami: "..."

Back in the master bedroom on the second floor.

Merlin took in his room. A two-and-a-half-meter-wide bed had been made up by the window.

The clean bedsheets were light gray, and a brown quilt was neatly folded at the foot of the bed.

The wooden floor was a clean, dark brown.

Beside the bed stood a wardrobe and a small round table, with a single-seater sofa next to the table.

At the center of the little round table sat a vase holding a bouquet of orchids.

Their delicate fragrance filled the room.

Merlin took off his clothes and went into the bathroom near the door. A set of toiletries had been neatly arranged on the sink.

His reflection appeared in the mirror above it. His smooth skin had a healthy, wheat-colored tan.

His muscles were firm, but not exaggeratedly bulky. Instead, his physique was streamlined, like steel wires twisted together.

His muscles were well-defined, their proportions harmonious.

He brushed his teeth, took care of his personal needs on the toilet, then lay in the bathtub and soaked in the pleasantly warm water.

Twenty minutes later.

Merlin drained most of the water from the tub, then picked up a dagger from the sink and began cutting various wounds into his body.

Soon, the water below him turned red with blood.

Black Flame rose from his body and curled around him.

Before long, all ten fingertips had changed color. The middle finger on his left hand was the only one that remained pale all the way to the base; the other nine were entirely crimson.

His bullets were fully stocked.

Scarlet Lead and Scarlet of Wounds.

Merlin now completely understood the principles behind how these two calamities were formed.

His face was slightly pale, making him look weak. His mind and stamina had been drained too much, and he slowly let out a breath.

Merlin rose slowly and rinsed the blood out of the bathtub. Then he washed the blood from his body under the shower nearby.

After quickly finishing his shower, Merlin dried himself and went to the window beside the bed.

Through the window, he could see a clear lake five hundred meters away.

The bright, crystalline moonlight spilled over the lake, and the rippling water shimmered.

"The surroundings really are nice here. But how much longer will I be able to stay?"

Yol hadn't guessed wrong earlier. Merlin really was interested in Doflamingo.

That was because Doflamingo had access to all kinds of resources that could make people stronger, resources that Merlin could most easily reach at present.

A blue light screen appeared before his eyes. In the Equipment Slot, he checked the Synchronization Value for [Lynx].

[14%]

It had increased by another 1% over the past two days.

Now that he had gained the skill proficiency [Lynx Body Tempering Technique], every time Merlin trained, he formed a faint connection with Lynx.

This sped up the synchronization process.

As for the Calamity Fruit, its progress remained stubbornly fixed at an increase of 1% every three days.

Just then, Merlin thought of the newspaper he'd read earlier. It was now early November.

Today was the third of the month.

It was Monday, too.

According to the newspaper,

nothing particularly noteworthy had happened in the North Blue over the past two days.

Everything seemed calm and uneventful.

A peaceful, quiet life.

But only because nothing major had happened.

Recent newspapers no longer carried any news about Flevance. It was as if the sea had already forgotten the kingdom's destruction.

Merlin raised his left hand and held up his middle finger, gazing at the deep, pale hue of the Scarlet Lead there.

His eyes were as still as an ancient well, revealing not the slightest ripple of emotion.

The next morning.

Merlin opened his eyes in bed. Feeling the weight pressing on his chest, he helplessly lifted the covers. Two heads with different hair colors appeared, one on either side of him.

Yol, wearing pink pajamas, and Lami occupied either side of his body. Merlin looked at Yol's fair arm resting across his chest, rolled his eyes, and pushed it aside.

"Since you're both awake, get up. Stop pretending to be asleep.

"And starting tonight, you two are sleeping in your own rooms."

Yol opened her eyes, yawned, and sat up in bed. She shot Merlin a look and snapped,

"You're not happy having two beautiful girls sleep with you? Besides, I've gotten used to sleeping with you two lately. If I hadn't had insomnia last night, I wouldn't have come looking for you. And why are you only talking to me? Why not Lami?"

Merlin's expression became hard to keep straight. "And then you used me as a body pillow all night? Do you hear yourself?

"How old is Lami? How old are you? Fine, I won't say anything else. Starting tonight, I'm locking the door."

"Brother Merlin?"

A timid voice sounded. Lami opened her eyes and looked at him pitifully.

"Can you leave the door unlocked? I'm scared to sleep alone."

"Then go find Yol."

Merlin was at a loss for words.

Lami looked helpless. "I did last night, and then I found her here with you."

Merlin sighed. "That's settled, then. We didn't have the space before, but we do now. You can sleep on your own."

After saying that, he got up. A little while later, he had washed up and was sitting on the living-room sofa, glancing at the time on his pocket watch.

It was seven thirty in the morning.

After Yol finished washing up and came downstairs, she took milk, bread, and ham from the refrigerator and began making breakfast in the kitchen.

Then Merlin took Lami out to the flagstone-paved yard to exercise.

Afterward, they finished breakfast.

They rested for a while.

A knock sounded at the front door, followed by Monde's booming voice.

"Brother Merlin, it's time!"

Merlin heard him and glanced at the round clock with its dark gold finish, hanging on the living-room wall.

It was eight fifty in the morning.

Right on time.

Soon, Yol slung a brown handbag over her shoulder, and the three of them headed out in matching gray-brown athletic outfits.

With Monde leading the way, they headed out of town.

Before long, the four of them arrived at a sprawling manor covering several acres, just outside town near the foot of Sea Swallow Mountain.

A three-meter-high wall surrounded the manor. Its iron gates stood wide open, and two young men in purple-black training uniforms were on guard outside.

Monde greeted the two men on duty with a smile, then led Merlin and the others into the manor.

Inside was a broad, level expanse of flagstones. Young boys and men of various ages stood in orderly lines, swinging Japanese-style bamboo swords as they practiced.

Monde gave them a brief introduction, then led the three of them into the first-floor living room of the manor's main building.

In the center of the living room was a reception area with sofas and a coffee table.

At that moment,

a man sat upright on the sofa, wearing a purple-black training uniform.

He held a teacup in his left hand and read a newspaper with his right.

He was a sturdy, purple-haired man in his fifties.