Roronoa Zoro

Somewhere in the East Blue.

Seagulls cried cheerfully as the warm morning sunlight shone down on a small sailboat.

The sea breeze blew gently, and waves rolled in. A muscular man, bare-chested, swung his sword again and again. Large beads of sweat dripped from his body onto the deck, forming dark spots.

"Hard training alone is still a lesser path. I have to fight to the death if I want to improve my strength quickly!"

Daddy sheathed Sandai Kitetsu, picked up a towel, and wiped himself down. Then he grabbed a bottle of water and gulped it down. The water level dropped with each swallow until the bottle was soon empty.

He took out Baba Yuba's Two-Color Haki Training Manual and continued studying it. He could train Armament Haki relentlessly to keep strengthening his body, but Observation Haki required someone else's help—or a dangerous island full of beasts where he could train hard.

Still, the best way was to fight enemies in life-or-death battles. That was how he could master it faster!

For now, Daddy could only cover his eyes and practice the basics of Observation Haki by dodging dozens of iron balls hanging from the ceiling and swinging around.

But the results weren't great. After all, the iron balls moved too slowly and had no awareness.

Daddy adjusted the sail and steered the boat, then started making himself a meal.

"This is taking too much time. I have to find a few subordinates soon!"

As he ate, he looked through the newspaper. It was an East Blue paper, not a worldwide publication from Big News Morgans's World Economic Journal.

However, these newspapers also worked with Morgans and had access to News Coo delivery services. They seemed to have ties to the World Government as well.

Daddy bought a copy of every newspaper he could find. He wasn't going to begrudge the expense. After all, newspapers were his only source of information at the moment.

He had neither his own intelligence network nor any allies or partners.

Daddy pulled out a stack of East Blue wanted posters and looked over the criminals pictured on them. They were all small-time riffraff, but they could serve as sacrifices to feed Sandai Kitetsu.

Slaughter could increase the cursed blade's ghostly aura, while Armament Haki could temper and nourish a sword until it became a Black Blade. He wanted to see if he could forge one himself.

Some famous swords had already been rated as Skillful Grade Swords or Great Grade Swords as soon as they were forged. They started at a very high level.

Other swords had begun as ordinary blades, then their owners had tempered them through countless battles and nourished them with Armament Haki, gradually turning them into famous Black Blades.

In the Wano Country arc, Gyukimaru had said that Black Blade Shusui had become a Black Blade only after Shimotsuki Ryuma fought countless battles throughout his life!

When Hawkeye Mihawk taught Zoro to cover his blade with Armament Haki, he had also said, "Any sword can become a Black Blade!"

Daddy continued looking through the wanted posters. He couldn't find the pirates who wandered from place to place, but he could easily track down pirate crews that controlled territory.

There was something he couldn't understand. Why hadn't Smoker the White Hunter gone after pirate crews like Arlong's and Buggy the Clown's, which controlled their own territory?

If Arlong had evaded capture by bribing Captain Nezumi and colluding with the Marines, then why had the Marines done nothing about Buggy the Clown occupying Orange Town?

Was it because branch Marines had strict rules against crossing into another branch's territory to capture criminals?

Otherwise, how had Captain Nezumi of the 16th Branch and Captain Morgan of the 153rd Branch been able to act like tyrants, doing whatever they pleased?

Smoker was also a branch captain stationed in Loguetown. In terms of rank and position, they were all Marines of equal standing. So even if there was a huge difference in their strength, he still had no authority to interfere in someone else's jurisdiction.

Later, Smoker disobeyed his superiors' orders, abandoned his post in Loguetown, and entered the Grand Line to pursue the Straw Hat Pirates.

If he hadn't gotten lucky in Alabasta, the Marines at Marine Headquarters wouldn't have awarded Smoker the credit for arresting Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai. He probably would have been demoted several more ranks.

After all, repeatedly disobeying orders and abandoning one's post were major taboos in the Marines.

"If a branch captain can only operate in the waters under his jurisdiction, then Marines from Headquarters should be able to enter the Four Blues to capture pirates!"

Daddy remembered Fullbody, a lieutenant in the Marines from Headquarters. He had been able to enter the East Blue to pursue the defeated Krieg Pirates, and had even captured Gin the Man-Demon and locked him up for a few days.

"Forget it. The Marines' mess isn't my problem! First, I'll find a few pirate crews to test my skills on, then I'll recruit some subordinates!"

Daddy continued sailing toward Buggy the Clown's territory, Orange Town. Buggy had a fairly permanent base there, and besides, Daddy was very interested in this apprentice crewman of the future Pirate King!

But things didn't go as planned. He had barely adjusted course according to the map of the East Blue when a pirate ship appeared behind him and came straight after him. It even fired on Daddy's small sailboat.

Daddy didn't panic. If anything, he was a little excited. He hadn't expected someone to come looking for a fight so soon.

He quickly turned the boat around and blocked the cannonballs. The pirates across from him seemed to realize he was no pushover, so they stopped firing and slowed down.

Daddy hauled in the sail and turned the tables, chasing after the pirate ship. They'd blasted his boat and thought they could just leave? Not a chance!

The next moment, another small boat appeared quickly from the right. There were only three people aboard, but one of them had an unmistakable head of green hair.

"It's him!!!"

Daddy's eyes lit up. He had actually run into Mosshead Roronoa Zoro. What a coincidence!

Wasn't this the perfect crewman—powerful, loyal, and brimming with potential?

Aboard the Tulip Pirates' ship, a long-faced man in a blue one-piece coat, with a pink sash around his waist, two long swords at his side, and a purple tulip growing from his head, had his hands on his sword hilts and looked flustered.

He was the captain of this pirate ship, Rika, a minor pirate from the East Blue with a bounty of only eight million.

"Captain! That guy over there looks like Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro. We'd better run!"

A pirate underling with a yellow tulip growing from his head hurriedly advised the captain.

He saw the green-haired pirate hunter paddling furiously. Their little boat was closing in at incredible speed, its paddles sending up several meters of spray. The force behind them was obvious.

"W-what's there to be afraid of? There are only three of them! Open fire and blast them away!!"

Captain Rika immediately gave the order, though a few drops of cold sweat had appeared on his face. He'd heard of the famous pirate hunter from the East Blue, after all.

"Captain, this is bad! The sailboat we attacked earlier is also charging straight at us!"

The pirate underling carrying a cannon shouted. Every cannonball he'd fired had been blocked by the man on the other boat. It was obvious that he was a skilled fighter, too.

Roronoa Zoro was doing the same thing. Standing at the bow, he casually cut down their cannonballs.

With two boats closing in on them from either side, the Tulip Pirates had no choice but to turn and flee, cursing their rotten luck for running into two powerful fighters in a single day.