A Vase Doesn't Need Combat Power, Only...

March 5, Sea Circle Calendar 1530.

Morning light cut through the lattice of the paper windows, carving sharp geometric patterns of light and shadow across the floor.

Hiyori knelt before an ebony vanity, her waterfall-like emerald hair falling to her waist as the android maids' fingers moved through it with mechanical precision.

When Dawn's reflection appeared in the mirror, the lines of Hiyori's shoulders and neck relaxed almost imperceptibly. It was the instinctive submission of prey before a predator, drilled so deeply into her that it had seeped into her bones.

"You may all leave."

Upon receiving the order, the android maids bowed and withdrew. The instant the sliding doors shut, all sounds from outside were sealed away.

Now, only he, she, and the pale daylight filtered through the paper windows remained in the room.

He walked toward her. His tall frame cast a long shadow across the floor, gradually swallowing the reflection in the mirror.

His fingers brushed the side of her neck. Her skin felt like cold jade, yet the pulse beneath it raced under his touch. Observation Haki flowed into her consciousness like a thin stream, wandering along its shallow shores. The obsessions that had once been as stubborn as reefs had now shattered into fine sand, washed over again and again by the tide named "Dawn" and reshaped into entirely new terrain.

"Looks like the training is complete."

A smile devoid of warmth appeared at the corner of Dawn's lips. He turned his palm over, and a black vortex appeared from nowhere, twisting the light in the mirror. A fruit fell from it and came to a steady stop in his palm. He set it on the vanity beside the cosmetics and hairpins.

"Eat it."

Hiyori picked it up and bit into it without hesitation. The