Master and Disciple

Early in the morning, just as Werther was about to head to the back mountain for his daily 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 achieve 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 actual combat experience, I'll definitely be the first one to die when I face an enemy in the future." Werther agreed with Nisse completely. He had long wanted to gain more real combat experience.

"Alright, then I'll give you two suggestions. First, you can go to Loguetown and the surrounding Islands to challenge the various Sword Halls, but you must do it in your own name. This method is safer, though the results won't be very obvious. The second is to first learn some wilderness survival skills, which will take about two months. After that, you'll go to a nearby Deserted Island to fight and survive against the Beasts there. It'll improve your combat skills, temper your courage, get you used to the smell of blood, and strengthen your survival ability. Think it over. Once you've decided, come find me." After making his suggestion, Nisse said no more and turned to leave.

"Master, please teach me wilderness survival skills. I choose the second option." Werther answered Nisse without even thinking.

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

Werther followed him into the middle room. After entering, Nisse did not sit on the innermost cushion as usual. Instead, he stepped on it with one foot, tapping it 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 concealed grooves on either side, sealing the door shut.

The wall opposite the room's door slowly split apart from the middle, revealing a Secret Room of about thirty square meters.

The Secret Room was simply furnished: one large round table and six chairs. One chair was more luxurious than the rest and appeared to be reserved for Nisse.

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 much. You showed up and took away one of my errand-running apprentices. But over the past year, you've proven both your character and talent. As for where you came from, what your true 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 Hall." Longliang looked at Werther as he revealed his true name.

In the East Blue, and even throughout the first half of the Grand Line, only three people, including himself, knew his real name. Today, Werther became the fourth, because Longliang had seen in him the hope of fulfilling his dream—the dream he could no longer accomplish in this lifetime.

"Teacher, from the moment 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 the old man whose head was already full of white hair but whose presence remained imposing, and answered sincerely.

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

"My real name is Longliang. I come from Wano Country in the New World. Later, after I accidentally learned the secret of Wano Country's Kozuki Family, Kozuki Oden hunted me down. The Kozuki Family is Wano Country's Royal Family, so I could only flee to the East Blue with that secret. As for what it is, I cannot tell you with your current strength. It would bring about your death.

"Those stubborn fools of the Kozuki Family will sooner or later destroy Wano Country with their stubbornness. Their heads are filled with brotherhood and righteousness. Do they not know that monster has already set its sights on them?

"My own family served as retainers to the Kozuki Family. One of my ancestors was the Dragon-Slaying Swordsman, Ryuma! Unfortunately, my family has already fallen into decline.

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

"I know myself. Among my family, my talent in Swordsmanship was considered quite poor. And many things happened afterward, 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 take as disciples. I trained them in the hope that one day, a disciple could help me fulfill my mission and dream.

"So far, including you, I have taken 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 Brother and junior fellow disciples. Originally, I wanted to train Roy into a top-tier swordsman, but unfortunately, he... Sigh. Forget it. I'll tell you later.

"That's enough for now. We'll discuss the rest after you return from the Deserted Island. For the next two months, I'll personally teach you wilderness survival skills and broaden your horizons. After all, I come 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 after hearing all that. Just as he was about to speak, Longliang waved his hand.

"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'll spend all your time learning survival knowledge." With that, he activated the mechanism to open the Secret Room.

Werther said, "Master, I'll head out first," then turned and left the Secret Room, walking toward his room.

"Don't disappoint me, Werther. I've entrusted my final hope to you. I no longer have the energy or time to train another disciple." Longliang muttered as he watched Werther's departing figure.

Back in his room, Werther lay on his bed, unable to calm down for a long time.

He had casually found a decent Sword Hall to learn swordsmanship, only to run into such an incredible Master. Although Master said his strength was not that impressive, his background was truly formidable. Do transmigrators really have some legendary 'transmigration halo'? Coincidence. It had to be a coincidence.

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

What was the Kozuki Family's status? 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 were the Stonecutters clan, possessing the most advanced stone-processing techniques of their time. Their most famous work was the indestructible book, the Poneglyph.

Their ancestors were the creators of the Poneglyphs. Could the secret Longliang had accidentally learned be related to the creation of the Poneglyphs?

The more Werther thought about it, the more interesting it became. 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. The stronger Werther became, the stronger its lightning became. It was closely connected to his physical condition.

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

Before dawn the next day, when Werther arrived at Longliang's room, he was dumbfounded by the huge pile of books and assorted materials scattered everywhere. Damn, was this preparation for the college entrance exam?

For the next two months, Werther suffered the greatest hardship since arriving in the pirate world. Practicing and learning all sorts of skills every day was manageable. What was truly painful was memorizing the environmental changes of every island, the appearance of various plants and animals, their danger levels, whether they were poisonous, whether they were edible, and so on. There was also how to avoid dangerous animals on Deserted Islands, especially all kinds of insects and cold-blooded creatures. How to find seasonings in the wilderness, along with a mountain of other materials.

If he had not endured the baptism of the college entrance exam in his previous life, Werther truly did not know how he could have persisted. If he finished memorizing something but failed to retain it, Master would beat him. In Master's words, it strengthened his memory while also training his ability to take a beating.

At last, after two grueling months, Werther finally graduated—at least in terms of surviving on Deserted Islands. All that remained was for him to put that knowledge into practice himself. That was something he could not do in Loguetown.

Werther planned to go 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 they were all powerful. If they used cannons to clear out the Beasts, setting aside the cost, the land devastated by cannon fire would no longer be worth developing. It was only one of countless Islands in the sea, so the branch Marines abandoned it. They only gave it the name "Arabella," with the title "Deserted Island" placed before it.