Sword Master

As far as Ellie was concerned, leaving Boke Village was nothing much.

Although she had grown up here, most of what Boke Village had left her were painful memories. She had no family or friends here. All alone, she still had to endure the villagers' hostility. If she had not been so young and unable to cross the sea on her own, she might have long wanted to leave Boke Village.

Besides, children were simple-minded. They remembered whoever treated them well. Luo Ze had treated her to a delicious feast she had never eaten before today, and he had even bathed her until she was squeaky clean. Yesterday, he had saved her from the fish-men. In Ellie's heart, he already held an extremely high position.

So, after Luo Ze asked her, she only thought for a moment before agreeing.

"Haha! Good. Then you'll have to call me big brother from now on."

Luo Ze laughed happily. Perhaps he had some latent little-girl-loving tendencies, but he was especially fond of Ellie. That feeling had grown even stronger after he had washed her clean earlier.

"Big brother," Ellie called softly, seeming to familiarize herself with the strange yet intimate word.

As Ellie's call fell, the system's mechanical voice rang out once more.

Hidden mission completed.

Mission reward distribution begins.

One percent... one hundred percent.

Mission reward distribution complete.

Ding!

Achievement unlocked: Crazy Guy Who Raises Kids.

Achievement reward distributed: 500 Swordmaster Upgrade Points credited.

Beli-to-Swordmaster Upgrade Points exchange function unlocked.

The system's rewards left Luo Ze slightly stunned.

He quickly came back to his senses, rubbed Ellie's head, and said, "Ellie, big brother is going to the training room now. Go play by yourself for a while. There are lots of things to play with on this ship. The room on the left has lots of books and posters. Can you read? If you can, go take a look. Over there is where we grow vegetables and oranges, so you can wander around there too. Big brother is going to train first. I'll have the robot make you lunch at noon."

Ellie was very obedient as well. She cutely nodded at Luo Ze and quickly agreed.

Luo Ze turned and left. He realized that he ought to add more things to the ship, or the little girl would get bored when she was alone.

He soon entered the training room. After entering, Luo Ze did not immediately activate the gravity system. Instead, he casually sat down on the floor and opened the system in his mind.

Squeak, squeak!

A blue panel quickly appeared, and the system's voice sounded, explaining its contents to Luo Ze.

Host: Luo Ze

Sword: Ordinary Iron Sword

Swordsmanship: 550

Strength: 150

Agility: 50

Haki {Observation Haki}: Not Learned

Haki {Armament Haki}: Not Learned

Haki {Conqueror's Haki}: Not Learned

Available Swordmaster Upgrade Points: 500

Luo Ze carefully examined the contents of the blue panel. After thinking for a while, he ultimately decided to add all five hundred Swordmaster Upgrade Points to Swordsmanship.

Compared to Swordsmanship, Luo Ze's Strength and Agility could both be improved through the "Gravity Machine." But if he wanted to improve his Swordsmanship, Luo Ze would need to continuously seek out swordsmen of equal or greater strength for combat and sparring. That was far more difficult than staying in a room and using the Gravity Machine to improve his Strength and Agility. Therefore, putting the Swordmaster Points into Swordsmanship would yield greater benefits.

Ding!

The 500 Swordmaster Points were quickly added to Swordsmanship.

Luo Ze's Swordsmanship had now changed from 550 to 1050.

Almost the instant those 500 Upgrade Points were added to Swordsmanship, a parenthetical label appeared behind Luo Ze's Swordsmanship stat. Inside were the words "Swordmaster."

Luo Ze was somewhat puzzled. Did this mean he was already a Swordmaster?

He hurriedly drew his longsword. With the sword in hand, his entire presence changed completely.

He suddenly slashed forward once and found that his sword seemed much lighter and much faster.

"Was that an illusion?"

Luo Ze muttered to himself.

But after thinking about it, it was probably because his improved Swordsmanship had deepened his understanding of the sword.

He quickly took his stance and used all three of his techniques in sequence.

"Killing Sword Form."

"Blood Sword Form."

"Guard Sword Form."

After using them, Luo Ze frowned slightly and stood quietly in place.

As his Swordsmanship improved, his understanding of swordsmanship had deepened as well.

He suddenly felt that his previous three techniques had some flaws.

Take the "Killing Sword Form," for example. Although his Killing Sword Form had always been unstoppable, that was largely because it was utterly unpredictable, catching his opponents off guard.

But if Luo Ze entered the Grand Line and encountered opponents who had mastered Observation Haki, that greatest advantage would completely disappear.

Then his "Killing Sword Form" would basically be useless.

Opponents who had mastered Observation Haki could accurately predict the trajectory of his attacks. That so-called unpredictability would have nowhere to hide before their Observation Haki.

"If that's the case, then I need to focus even more on the speed of my sword. As long as I'm fast enough, even if they can predict it through Observation Haki, they still won't be able to block it."

"At that point, if I make the trajectory of my sword even trickier, I'll definitely leave them unable to defend themselves."

After thinking for a long time, Luo Ze finally determined the general direction for improving the "Killing Sword Form."

However, exactly how to improve it became a difficult problem. Should he change the way he held the sword, or alter the force behind his strikes?

Luo Ze sank into deep thought.

His improvement in swordsmanship had made him aware of the shortcomings in his techniques. He constantly thought and practiced, refining them bit by bit.

Before long, several hours had passed.

Luo Ze felt that his "Killing Sword Form" had improved greatly, though it still had not reached his ideal state. However, it was already noon. He had promised Ellie that they would eat lunch together, so Luo Ze temporarily sheathed his sword.

Following Ellie's tastes, he had the robot prepare lunch, and the siblings enjoyed their meal in comfort.

After lunch, Luo Ze had Ellie take a nap.

Ellie was still young, and an afternoon nap was essential for her every day.

Luo Ze casually took a book from the shelf and had Ellie get into bed first. Then he read her the stories in the book to lull her to sleep.

In the end, under the double hypnosis of the Red Clear Flower in the bedroom and Luo Ze's storytelling, Ellie happily drifted off into dreamland.

The little girl closed her eyes, her beautiful lips slightly curled upward as she peacefully fell asleep.

Luo Ze lowered his head and gently kissed her forehead. Carefully setting down the book, he returned to the training room to continue training.