Master, Disciple

Early in the morning, just as Werther was about to head to the back mountain for his training, Nisse stopped him midway.

"Werther, you've been at the Sword Hall for over a year now, and you've grown much stronger. But if you keep training like this, you won't see any qualitative improvement. Besides, no matter how strong you become through training alone, it'll all be for show. What you need now is real combat." Nisse paused, seeming to consider something.

"Yes, Master. I also feel that I can't keep training like this forever. No matter how strong my swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat become, without real combat experience, I'll definitely be the first one to die when I face an enemy someday." Werther agreed with Nisse's words. He had long wanted to gain more practical combat experience.

"Very well. In that case, I have two suggestions for you. The first is to go to Loguetown and the surrounding islands to challenge the various sword dojos, using your own name. This method is safer, but the results won't be too obvious. The second is to first learn wilderness survival skills, which will take about two months. After that, you'll go to nearby deserted islands to fight and survive against the beasts there. It will improve your combat skills, temper your courage, and help you get used to the smell of blood and develop your survival ability. Think it over. Once you've made up your mind, come find me." After giving his suggestions, Nisse said no more and turned to leave.

"Master, please teach me wilderness survival skills. I choose the second option." Werther answered Nisse without a moment's hesitation.

Nisse turned back and looked at Werther with an expression he had never shown before. He simply said, "Follow me," and continued forward.

Werther followed him into the middle room. After entering, Nisse did not sit on the cushion at the innermost end as usual. Instead, he stepped on it with one foot, tapping lightly several times in a steady rhythm before stomping down hard. With a click, two iron bars sprang out above the door and locked into hidden grooves on either side, bolting the door from within.

The wall opposite the room's entrance slowly split apart down the middle, revealing a secret room of roughly thirty square meters.

The secret room was simply furnished, with a large round table and Six chairs. One of the chairs was more luxurious than the others and seemed to be Nisse's personal seat.

After entering the secret room with Nisse, Werther watched him press a circular mechanism on the wall. The two walls behind them slowly closed.

Nisse sat in the seat of honor and gestured for Werther to sit wherever he liked before speaking.

"Werther, when you first came to the Sword Hall, I didn't like you very much. The moment you arrived, you took away one of my errand-running apprentices. But over the past year, you proved both your character and talent. As for where you came from, what your identity is, and how you can use lightning without being a Devil Fruit user—

I don't want to ask about any of that anymore. I only want to ask you this: are you willing to become my disciple? Longliang's disciple, not merely an apprentice of Nisse's sword dojo." Longliang looked at Werther and revealed his true name.

In the East Blue, and even throughout the first half of the Grand Line, including himself, only three people knew his real name. Now Werther was the fourth, because Longliang saw in him the hope of someone who could help him fulfill his dream—the dream he would never be able to accomplish in this lifetime.

"Master, from the time you patiently taught me swordsmanship every night, you were already my master. My only master in this life, no matter what your name is." Werther looked at Longliang, at this old man whose hair was already completely white but whose bearing remained as imposing as ever. He answered sincerely.

"Hahaha! Hahahaha! Good! From today onward, you are Longliang's disciple. A disciple, no longer merely an apprentice of the sword dojo." Nisse—no, Longliang—was clearly delighted as he continued speaking to Werther.

"My real name is Longliang. I came from Wano Country in the New World. Later, after accidentally learning the secret of Wano Country's Kozuki Family, I was hunted by Kozuki Oden. The Kozuki Family is Wano Country's royal family. So I could only flee to the East Blue with that secret. As for what exactly it is, you are not strong enough to be told yet. It would bring about your death.

"Those blockheads from the Kozuki Family will sooner or later cause Wano Country to perish because of their stubbornness. Every one of them is obsessed with loyalty and righteousness. Do they not know that monster already has its eyes on them?"

"My family was a retainer of the Kozuki Family. One of my ancestors was the dragon-slaying swordsman, Ryuma! Sadly, my family has already fallen into decline.

"Kozuki Oden never truly intended to kill me. Rather than calling it a pursuit, it would be more accurate to call it an expulsion. He drove me out of the New World.

"I know myself that my talent for swordsmanship was considered poor even within my own family. Then many things happened, leaving me without even the chance to work hard.

"So I came to the East Blue, opened a Sword Hall, taught swordsmanship, and searched for talented young people to accept as disciples and train. I hoped that one day, a disciple would help me fulfill my mission and my dream.

"So far, including you, I have accepted five disciples. Two of them have already died. You know the remaining two: Rom Roy and Olivia An."

"The two of them are husband and wife, as well as senior and junior disciples. Originally, I wanted to cultivate Roy into a top swordsman, but unfortunately, he... Sigh, forget it. I'll tell you about that later."

"That is enough for now. We'll discuss the rest after you return from the deserted island. For the next two months, I will personally teach you wilderness survival skills and broaden your horizons. After all, I came from the New World. Though my strength was nothing special there, I still have some knowledge of the world." Longliang spoke to Werther as if confiding in him, yet also as if reminiscing.

Werther was stunned by what he had heard. Just as he was about to speak, Longliang waved his hand and said,

"Go back for now. I need to prepare some things. Come here tomorrow morning. For these next two months, aside from training for a while at night, you will spend all your other time learning survival knowledge." With that, he opened the mechanism to the secret room.

Werther said, "Master, then I'll head out first," before turning and leaving the secret room, making his way back to his own room.

"Don't disappoint me, Werther. I'm placing my last hope in you. I no longer have the energy or time to train another disciple." Longliang murmured as he watched Werther's departing figure.

Back in his room, Werther lay on the bed, unable to calm his heart for a long while.

He had casually found a decent Sword Hall to learn swordsmanship, only to run into such a formidable master. Although his master said that his strength was not particularly great, his identity was truly incredible. Do transmigrators really have some legendary "transmigration halo"? It was a coincidence—definitely just a coincidence.

Being Ryuma's descendant was one thing, but knowing the Kozuki Family's secret was another matter entirely.

What kind of identity did the Kozuki Family have? Ordinary people might only think of them as Wano Country's royal family.

But their other identity was far more dangerous. Eight hundred years ago, the Kozuki Family had not originally been royalty. They had been a clan of "Stonecutters" possessing the most advanced stone-processing techniques of the era. Their most famous work was the indestructible book, the Poneglyph.

Their ancestors had created the Poneglyphs, so could the secret Ryuma had accidentally obtained have something to do with how the Poneglyphs were made?

The more Werther thought about it, the more interesting it seemed. In any case, he would deal with the future when it came. For now, he should continue developing the Thunder Core.

Werther discovered that the Thunder Core's lightning intensity was not fixed. Rather, the stronger he became, the stronger its lightning became. It was closely tied to his physical condition.

He sat up and continued studying the Thunder Core and its branch abilities.

Before dawn the next day, Werther arrived at Longliang's room and was dumbfounded by the huge pile of books and all kinds of materials scattered carelessly before him. Damn, was this preparing for the college entrance exam?

Over the next two months, Werther fell into the greatest suffering he had experienced since arriving in the world of pirates. Practicing and learning various skills every day was manageable. What truly tormented him was memorizing the environmental changes of every island, the appearance of various plants and animals, their danger levels, whether they were poisonous, whether they could be eaten, and so on. There was also learning how to avoid dangerous animals on deserted islands, especially all kinds of insects and cold-blooded creatures, as well as how to find wilderness seasonings. It was a mountain of information.

If he had not endured the ordeal of the college entrance exam in his previous life, Werther truly did not know how he would have held on. If he memorized something but failed to retain it, his master would beat him. In his master's words, it strengthened his memory while also training his resistance to blows.

At last, after two bitter months, Werther finally completed his training—at least in surviving on deserted islands. What remained was for him to put that knowledge into practice himself, something that could not be done in Loguetown.

Werther was going to an island some distance from Loguetown: Arabella Island.

Arabella was discovered by an East Blue Marine branch. Later, the local Marines wanted to develop the island, but there were too many beasts on it, and all of them were powerful. If they used cannons to clear out the beasts, setting aside the cost, the land devastated by cannon fire would no longer have much development value. Since it was only one of countless islands scattered across the sea, the branch Marines abandoned it. They only gave it the name "Arabella," with the title "deserted island" added before it.