Three Years (Part 2)

Before Adams even stepped into the Arena, the shriek of torn air and dull impacts reached him.

On the left side of the Arena, two small figures clashed at terrifying speed.

The blonde girl wore round-framed glasses, her gaze behind the lenses sharp as needles. She spun, her right leg tearing through the air as a blurred vacuum slash howled forth.

Opposite her, the pink-haired girl's figure suddenly blurred. Her burgundy dress bloomed like petals, leaving only an afterimage behind as her real body appeared three meters away, lightly evading the attack.

Her toes tapped the air in the rudiments of Geppo, borrowing the force to rebound as her small fist, wrapped in a fierce gust, shot straight toward the blonde girl's face.

The latter lowered her shoulder to block. With a dull bang, a burst of air exploded across the small area.

The sight on the right was even stranger. A long-nosed boy hovered three meters above the ground, his legs turning into indistinct blurs. The high-frequency trembling air was compressed to its limit, kicking out pale crescent-shaped vacuum slashes that tore through the air with piercing hisses.

Below him, a little pink-haired girl in an elaborate gothic pink dress moved like a ghost, darting and shifting through a tiny space at high speed, narrowly avoiding every sharp slash. Her skirt fluttered, yet never gathered a speck of dust.

Any outsider who witnessed this would have been struck speechless. These children had mastered the Six Powers to the level of Captains. Such talent would put ordinary Marines to shame.

Like a weightless feather, Adams silently hovered high above the edge of the Arena. His silver hair swayed in the fierce wind like metallic tassels. He looked down at them as though examining four blades being sharpened, cold and focused.

Only when sweat had soaked through the four children's clothes, their movements had begun to slow, and their panting drowned out the battle's howls did he drop straight down. With a thud, his feet landed firmly on the hard stone floor at the center of the field.

The sound was not loud, yet it instantly froze every movement in the Arena.

The two pink-haired girls rushed toward Adams one after the other like birds returning to their nest.

Adams reached out, his large palm settling atop the fluffy pink curls of the little girl in the gothic pink dress, and gave them a vigorous rub.

"Perona, your Soru is getting more and more decent. Next, focus on Geppo. Also, don't neglect the other Six Powers."

Naturally, he did not expect Perona to use the Six Powers in battle. He merely wanted to improve her physical abilities somewhat, giving her a better chance to dodge or endure it when someone got in her face. Having her focus specifically on Soru and Geppo was only meant to improve her mobility.

Perona raised her little face and nodded vigorously.

"I understand!"

Then longing immediately appeared in her lively eyes.

"But, Brother Adams, next time... can you take me along on the next operation? I don't want to stay in the sky forever."

Because of Adams, the possibility of her ever meeting Moria had been completely severed, and the gloomy shut-in air that had surrounded her in the original story had also been dispelled.

At this moment, she was incomparably cheerful. Moreover, under Adams's usual protection, she had developed the desire to do something for him.

What they called an operation was looting.

Over the past three years, aside from tempering his body, Adams had naturally not forgotten a pirate's proper work. However, he had never taken Perona along.

Adams looked down at her sparkling, expectant eyes and pondered for a moment.

Those Mafia Families in the West Blue dared to stuff even children into sweatshops. Compared to that, taking Perona to see the "scenery" of his work did not seem like much.

Besides, seeing some blood would also strengthen her courage, so she would not be defeated by something as ridiculous as intimidation.

"Fine."

He nodded in agreement.

Perona's little face instantly lit up with overwhelming delight. She cheered and ran off like a light butterfly.

Adams turned his gaze toward the other pink-haired girl.

"Hina, your grasp of the Six Powers is good as well. But you still need to practice diligently from now on."

A year ago, when Adams's intelligence network had begun to take shape, he started searching for her. By the time he found her, she had just suffered a pirate attack, and her parents' bodies had not even grown cold. Before her eyes, he had crushed those perpetrators into unrecognizable piles of flesh, then taken her away.

To Adams's surprise and delight, Hina had not eaten the Barrier Fruit. He was quite satisfied with that, since it meant her future potential would be higher.

Having Hina learn the Six Powers was merely meant to give her a solid foundation first and raise her stats a little.

In Adams's eyes, the Six Powers' greatest use was actually to lay foundations. In the terms of fantasy cultivation worlds, it was foundation establishment.

Using any ability consumed stamina. There was never anything wrong with building a solid foundation first.

Hina nodded forcefully, her little chest rising and falling.

"I understand!"

She took a deep breath, and a fierce hatred appeared on her childish face.

"I want to join the next operation too! Hina doesn't like those people. Hina... hates them!"

The targets of Adams's raids were all top predators of the West Blue underworld, people burdened with blood debts and steeped in evil.

It was not because Adams possessed lofty morals. In the filthy West Blue, truly "good people" had either long become dry bones or were poor as dirt.

Robbing them? Aside from a few moldy loaves of bread and scraps of junk metal, there was nothing of value. Only those villains who sucked the blood and tears of countless people were worthy prey.

And those people were precisely the ones Hina hated most.

"Of course."

Adams agreed readily. Herding one sheep was no different from herding two; there was no reason for him to refuse.

The hostility in Hina's eyes eased somewhat, replaced by a trace of satisfaction at achieving her goal. She turned and ran off, her burgundy skirt drawing a crisp arc through the wind.

Adams turned his gaze toward the long-nosed boy among the last two.

"Use Rankyaku on me. Let me see how much you've improved."

"Yes."

Kaku's answer was brief and decisive, like a blade leaving its sheath.

His body suddenly arched backward like a fully drawn bow, astonishing power bursting from his waist and abdomen as he spun upside down in midair.

His movement was swift as lightning. At the instant his rotation reached its highest point, his right leg tore through the air like a battle axe and chopped down violently.

"Bzzzt—!"

A blue vacuum slash several times more condensed than the ones he had used during sparring, and nearly twice as wide, shot from his leg. Carrying a shriek that tore at the eardrums, it crossed the distance between them in an instant and slashed savagely toward Adams.

Wherever the slash passed, its stray sharpness plowed a shallow groove through the hard stone ground.

Adams's expression remained indifferent. He casually raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and grabbed head-on at the violent vacuum blade.

"Pop!"

A dull explosion sounded, like a massive bubble being crushed. The vacuum slash, capable of cutting through steel, was snuffed out barehanded in his palm.

Violent air currents burst outward, whipping his silver bangs wildly and making his clothes snap in the wind.

He opened his hand. His palm was as smooth as before, with only a nearly invisible wisp of white vapor rising from it—the intense heat produced when air was compressed and rubbed to its limit.

"The power is acceptable. Stronger than an ordinary cannonball. Continue."

A sharp gleam flashed through Kaku's eyes, and he did not pause in the slightest. His hovering body abruptly accelerated, his legs turning into two rapidly vibrating blurred afterimages.

"Hiss hiss hiss hiss—!"

The piercing shrieks merged together as more than a dozen smaller but denser and faster vacuum blades covered every inch of space before Adams like a raging storm.

Adams could not even be bothered to change his stance. He casually raised his right hand and extended one finger.

His fingertip darted out like an illusion.

"Pop!" "Pop!" "Pop!" "Pop!"...

A rapid series of soft explosions rang out, like a string of taut balloons being punctured.

Every finger strike landed with incomparable precision upon those sharp vacuum blades. Each vacuum slash capable of tearing apart flesh shattered one after another before that single finger, fragile as soap bubbles.

The scattered shockwaves intertwined, collided, and vanished before him, brushing against his sharply defined face as his silver bangs fluttered wildly across his forehead.

The wind stopped, and the blades vanished. Adams slowly withdrew his finger.

"This power is not bad either."

He assessed Kaku while glancing over the boy's calves, which trembled slightly from his rapid kicks.

"The impact of every strike is far stronger than a pistol bullet. Looks like you haven't been slacking off."

"Thank you for the praise."

Kaku landed steadily. His breathing was slightly hurried, but his eyes shone brightly.

After thinking for a moment, Adams voiced the suggestion he had prepared long ago.

"Next, try combining Rankyaku with Swordsmanship."

He had no intention of wasting Kaku's talent for Swordsmanship.

Kaku's body trembled slightly, and intense light instantly burst from his eyes.

"Mm! I understand! I'll work hard in that direction!"

"Very good."

Adams's tone softened slightly.

"Also, if you have a chance to eat a Devil Fruit, what kind of ability would you want?"

He asked as though it were merely casual.

Kaku barely hesitated. His long nose even seemed to lift slightly with excitement.

"If I get the chance, I want... an ability that can turn me into a long-necked animal!"

The skin at Adams's cheek twitched almost imperceptibly.

Sure enough, his bizarre obsession with long necks ran deep. Suppressing the absurdity in his heart, he answered in an even tone.

"A long-necked animal? Understood. I'll keep an eye out for one in the future."

That was what he said, but he had no plans to truly search for one. Instead, he intended to have Vegapunk customize an Ancient Zoan such as a Brachiosaurus or Brontosaurus.

That giraffe in the original story had too low a ceiling. It would waste Kaku's talent.

As for a Lineage Factor Source, there were plenty of dinosaurs on Little Garden. There was no need to find an ability user and draw blood.

Overwhelming surprise and gratitude instantly appeared on Kaku's face. He bowed deeply.

"Thank you so much!"

"I'm never stingy with my own people."

Adams waved a hand, his tone carrying an unquestionable sense of control.

"Go train."

"Yes!" Kaku answered loudly, filled with surging motivation as he turned and ran toward the wooden swords by the edge of the field.

Finally, Adams's gaze fell upon Kalifa, who had been quietly standing at the side of the Arena.

"How is your studying going? Before long, you'll officially begin working."

Kalifa seemed to snap awake. Her body trembled slightly as she raised her head, her gaze behind the lenses flickering while she quickly pulled it away from her book.

"I've already mastered the theories and procedures I need to know."

She pushed up the glasses on her nose. Her voice strove to remain steady, though it carried a faint, imperceptible tension.

"But... from now on, I'll be staying by your side... handling close personal matters, right?"

"Of course."

Adams looked as though it were only natural.

"A secretary naturally handles every trivial matter around her boss. Never leaving his side and being available whenever called are the basics."

Kalifa raised her little face and said something that caught Adams off guard.

"That's sexual harassment."

Adams's mouth twitched sharply. He nearly failed to maintain his stern expression.

Why had that catchphrase appeared already?

He forcibly suppressed the urge to rub his forehead. His Adam's apple bobbed as he barely kept a blank face, though his voice carried the faintest trace of helplessness and warning.

"Kalifa, stop reading all that nonsense. Clear those distracting thoughts out of your head and go make your preparations."

"Yes!"

Kalifa answered, a sly glint of triumph flashing through her eyes. She immediately lowered her gaze to hide that small satisfaction, then turned and left the Arena with steps as steady as she could manage.

To be continued