Flower Vases Don't Need Combat Power, Only Need...

March 5th, Sea Circle Calendar 1530.

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

Hiyori knelt before an ebony dressing mirror, her waterfall of emerald-green 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 a prey animal's instinctive submission to a predator, refined through training until it had seeped into her bones.

"You may all leave."

At the command, the android maids bowed and withdrew. The instant the sliding doors shut, every sound from outside was cut off.

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

He walked toward her. His tall body cast a long shadow over the floor, gradually engulfing her reflection in the mirror.

His fingers brushed the side of her neck. Her skin felt like cold jade, yet the pulse beneath it quickened under his touch. Observation Haki flowed in like a thin stream, wandering along the shallows of her consciousness. Those obsessions that had once been as stubborn as reefs had now crumbled into fine sand, repeatedly washed over by the tide called "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 materialized from nothing, warping the light in the mirror. A fruit fell from within and came to a steady stop in his hand. He placed it on the vanity beside the rouge and hairpins.

"Eat it."

Hiyori picked it up and bit into it without hesitation. The moment the flesh