A Year and Cutting Steel / Taking Out a Pirate Crew While We're at It ...

"Absolute Justice can sometimes turn people into weapons. I've decided to let you leave this island... Nico Robin."

Kuzan stood on the shore, watching the figure recede. Once Nico Robin had passed beyond his sight, he turned toward the warship without a backward glance. The setting sun stretched his shadow endlessly behind him...

September, Sea Circle Calendar 1500. Shimotsuki Village, East Blue.

Atlas was fourteen that year... and nearing her fifteenth birthday.

Three days had passed since Atlas arrived in Shimotsuki Village. Koshiro had first assessed her fundamentals, then discovered, to his surprise, that they were far more solid than he had expected. That pleased him somewhat. Even if he had no wish to offend the Marines, he did not want to entrust his swordsmanship to a useless fool.

Koshiro also adjusted the way Atlas applied force and the posture she used when drawing her blade. Wano Country truly deserved its reputation for producing swordsmen. Koshiro, in particular, placed great importance on fundamentals. When Zoro first began training, Koshiro had taught him no specific techniques, telling him only to hone his basics. That solid foundation had later paid off.

Zoro's extraordinary talent was part of it, but his solid fundamentals mattered too. And, of course, no one could question his talent for naming techniques. Names like "Three Thousand Worlds" and "There Is Nothing I Cannot Cut" were almost unfairly cool. After Koshiro's corrections, Atlas found that her strikes had grown sharper and her movements smoother.

On her fourth morning in Shimotsuki Village, Atlas was running around the village to build her stamina. Just as she reached the shore, a News Coo flew past, and she called out to buy a newspaper. She normally read the papers, but she had been too busy studying swordsmanship these past few days to subscribe.

The News Coo stared at Atlas with innocent eyes, its wings clasped tightly around the newspapers it carried.

Atlas did not know whether to laugh or cry. Did she look like the sort of person who would steal a paper to save a hundred Beli?

Still, fifty Beli was pretty expensive. That was as much as Chopper's bounty, even after his two years of training.

After paying, Atlas took the newspaper to the foot of a tall tree and sat down to read it at her leisure.

She unfolded the paper, and three words leaped out at her: "Buster Call." Her expression grew grave. A Buster Call was a merciless attack that burned everything to the ground. Authorized by the World Government and carried out by Marine Headquarters, it unleashed indiscriminate destruction upon a designated area, wiping out everything and everyone there that might threaten the World Government's rule.

It used one Golden Den Den Mushi to issue the order and one Silver Den Den Mushi to receive it. The three Marine Admirals and the Fleet Admiral controlled them, though they could authorize someone else to use a Golden Den Den Mushi.

A Buster Call deployed ten warships, five Vice Admirals, and the Marines' elite forces. The warships were among the strongest and best-armed in the fleet, built at the official shipyards of Water 7. Their quality was unquestionably top-notch; small Sea Kings posed little problem for them.

Each warship carried around a thousand ordinary Marine soldiers, making for thousands of elite Marines in all. That force was not to be underestimated. Well-trained Marines were far stronger than the average pirate underlings who each did as they pleased. If the Marines could be dismissed as insignificant, then those pirate underlings mattered even less.

There were also ten officers who went unmentioned. With five Vice Admirals commanding ten warships, each Vice Admiral must have had two subordinate aides; none could stand on two ships at once to direct them. Every warship needed its own captain. Those captains were probably Rear Admirals or Commodores, officers whose strength fell between a Vice Admiral's and a Colonel's, and elite fighters in their own right. In short: five Vice Admirals, ten Rear Admirals, nearly ten thousand elite Marines, and ten top-class warships made up a Buster Call. What a terrifying force!

As Atlas searched her memory for everything she knew about Buster Calls, she read on. Just as she had expected, this was the Ohara Incident. Only a handful of Buster Calls had appeared in the original story, and the timing fit: Sea Circle Calendar 1500 was the year of Ohara.

Between the newspaper and her own memories, Atlas pieced together a rough picture of the Ohara Incident.

A group of scholars on Ohara had sought the truth of history. Defying the World Government's ban, they secretly collected and translated Poneglyphs. When the World Government discovered them, it decided to launch a Buster Call and destroy Ohara.

Akainu's actions during the Ohara Incident were a stain he could never erase. Suspecting that scholars might be hiding among the evacuees, he had ordered their ship shelled. Atlas could not pass judgment on everything that had happened, but she could never accept that.

As for the scholars of Ohara, Atlas could only say they had been far too naive.

Seeking historical truth was a historian's calling. But pursuing it after the World Government had expressly forbidden it was overly self-centered. The scholars might have been prepared to die for their cause, but what had the island's residents done to deserve the same fate? The scholars had failed to foresee the terrible consequences, and even if they uncovered the truth, they had no power to protect it. They were admirable people, but tragic ones too.

Atlas put those thoughts aside. She intended to return to the dojo and ask Koshiro about the Iron-Cutting Realm.

As she closed the newspaper, a Wanted Poster slipped free. It bore the portrait of a dark-skinned little girl.

Devil Child! Bounty: 79 million Beli!

A Year and Iron Cutting

January, Sea Circle Calendar 1502. Shimotsuki Village, East Blue.

Beneath a huge cherry tree, a young woman in a black training uniform sat cross-legged and perfectly upright. An unsheathed long sword rested across her slender legs. Her eyes were closed, her expression naturally calm, though the sharp lines of her profile lent her an edge. This was Atlas, training in swordsmanship in Shimotsuki Village. More than a year had passed since her arrival, and she was now sixteen. Her birthday was in January, after all.

Suddenly, Atlas opened her eyes. She narrowed her keen gaze, and an invisible pressure spread from her.

Atlas sprang to her feet and drew her blade. The scabbard struck the trunk with a resounding bang, shaking the great cherry tree and sending a shower of blossoms down. Beneath it, Atlas began to move her sword. Terrifying flashes of steel swept through the falling petals, yet not one showed a cut. Had Koshiro been there, he would have applauded and sighed in admiration. The Iron-Cutting Realm! She had achieved it!

—One year earlier—

"Mr. Koshiro, I feel as though my swordsmanship has reached a bottleneck. No matter what I do, I can't touch the next realm."

Atlas sat on a cushion in the sitting room, looking toward Koshiro in the seat of honor.

"Heh... The next realm you speak of must be the Iron-Cutting Realm. Only after reaching it can someone truly be called a Swordsman."

Still smiling, Koshiro explained without hurry.

"Oh? Then how does a swordsman cut through steel, Mr. Koshiro? I hope you'll teach me."

Atlas unconsciously straightened her already upright back.

"Come outside. I'll demonstrate it for you myself."

With that, Koshiro walked straight outside. Atlas followed.

Winter had arrived. Layers of white snow adorned the otherwise plain landscape. Apart from the unpredictable weather on the Grand Line, the Four Seas had fairly normal seasons. Though the two wore only thin training uniforms, neither felt cold.

Koshiro produced a sheet of white paper from nowhere, as if by magic, and tossed it into the air. He drew the Wado Ichimonji in his hand. A cold flash of steel cut through the air, adding a sense of danger to the still winter scene. Yet the paper remained whole. It drifted down along its original path, settled over the snow, and was soon buried by fresh flakes...

Atlas was stunned. She was no ignorant child. The Wado Ichimonji was a Great Grade Sword, one of the Twenty-One Great Grade Swords. Even an ordinary person with no knowledge of swordsmanship could easily cut through metal with it, let alone a sheet of paper. Koshiro's control over his strength was astonishing.

"There are swordsmen in this world who cannot cut anything at all, yet can cut steel or even harder things with the very same blade. The strongest swordsmanship means having the power to protect what you wish to protect and to cut what you wish to cut. A sword that harms everything it touches is no sword to me."

Koshiro was describing his own path: a conviction to protect. In the world of the Pirate King, conviction mattered enormously. Only those who held fast to their beliefs could hope to reach its heights. Once those beliefs shattered, their strength gradually faded. Former Marine Admiral Zephyr, for instance, had believed in a Justice that did not kill. Pirates took revenge on his family, and the World Government later betrayed him. His beliefs collapsed, driving him to extremes, while his strength declined sharply.

Atlas had a conviction of her own: to be the strongest. Not merely the World's Strongest Man, like Whitebeard. She wanted to break through the ceiling and become invincible. But she would not become a slave to power. She had her own sense of Justice too. "When poor, cultivate yourself; when successful, help the world." The culture of her previous life had shaped her deeply. And once she reached the top...

"Mr. Koshiro, what does that have to do with cutting iron?"

Atlas pulled herself from her thoughts and looked Koshiro in the eye.

"Ah! My apologies. I got carried away."

"Everything in the world has a breath. To cut iron, you must follow the breath of the steel."

Koshiro explained patiently.

"And you've already awakened Observation Haki, haven't you? Perceiving the breath of all things should come easily to you."

Koshiro smiled without waiting for Atlas to answer.

Atlas fell into thought. Perceive the breath of all things? It sounds like a lesser version of the Voice of All Things, a pinnacle of Observation Haki. Then Observation Haki should help...

When she came back to herself, Atlas raised her head to speak, only to find that Koshiro had quietly left.

Over the following months, Atlas continued strengthening her body and practicing hand-to-hand combat. She also tried using Observation Haki to help her grasp the breath of all things, but made no progress. When she asked Koshiro, he told her that her swordsmanship had not matured enough. He was right. She had been learning the sword for barely two years and was not training in swordsmanship alone. Though she had drilled her basic moves countless times, her foundation still lacked depth. So she settled down and honed her skills carefully...

At last, today, shortly after turning sixteen, Atlas perceived the breath of all things and officially became a Swordsman!

"Wow! Big Sister Kanos, you're amazing!"

A little voice rang out from behind a nearby tree. Its owner was a girl with black hair in two little pigtails and dark eyes: Koshiro's daughter, Kuina. Atlas had noticed Kuina hiding there long ago but had not called her out. This was hardly the first time.

Kuina was over a year old now. Perhaps people in the world of the Pirate King were simply sturdier than most, but she could already run and jump. Growing up in this household, she had taken an early liking to swords and often sneaked over to watch Atlas practice. Atlas did not mind letting her play nearby. With her Observation Haki, she could keep an eye on Koshiro's child as a small way of repaying him. Kuina was too young to understand swordsmanship; she had exclaimed simply because she thought Atlas looked cool.

"Big Sister Kanos, it's time to go back and eat."

Kuina patted her empty stomach and called out to Atlas.

Atlas stood, brushed nonexistent dust from her clothes, then picked up little Kuina and set her on her sturdy shoulders before heading toward the dojo.

In the distance, the two figures, one large and one small, gradually vanished amid the falling cherry blossoms...

Taking Down a Pirate Crew on the Way

Morning sunlight spilled across the blue sea, and the clear cries of gulls sounded now and then overhead...

Shimotsuki Village, East Blue.

A simple sailboat lay moored against the uneven shoreline. Beside it stood Atlas, a young woman two and a half meters tall with delicate features. Her bulging muscles stretched her clothes taut, giving her powerful build a striking beauty. She had spent the past year training in Shimotsuki Village.

Facing Atlas were the smiling Koshiro and his wife, along with Kuina, whose eyes still brimmed with tears. Haiti, Kuina's mother, looked much healthier than she had when Atlas first met her.

Atlas seemed to recall hearing in her previous life that Haiti had died when Kuina was very young, so she had made a point of mentioning it to Koshiro.

Pretending to know a little medicine, Atlas told Koshiro she suspected something might be wrong with Haiti's health and urged him to find a skilled doctor to examine her.

Atlas had wanted to try the Horse Talisman's power, but unfortunately, it worked only on Atlas herself.

Somehow, Koshiro found a doctor. He kept the matter mysterious and even avoided Atlas while arranging it. Fortunately, after the doctor treated Haiti, her health visibly improved.

The matter had also brought Atlas closer to Koshiro's family. At least they were no longer as distant as they had been at first. Hearing so suddenly that Atlas was leaving made them reluctant to say goodbye. Kuina had even cried. However determined she was, she was still a little girl with a tender side.

After reaching the Iron-Cutting Realm a few days earlier, Atlas had planned to say farewell to Koshiro and Haiti. She had also paid someone "handsomely" to build a simple boat within a few days, one that could just about make it to Loguetown. She had chosen this calm, sunny day to set sail.

"This is far enough. Goodbye, Mr. Koshiro. Goodbye, Kuina. I hope you'll be a big girl by the next time I visit."

Atlas smiled as she said farewell to the family, taking the chance to tease Kuina.

"Sniff... I will! Next time we meet, I'm going to beat you, Big Sister Kanos!"

Kuina sniffled and looked at Atlas with determination.

"Hahahaha! I'll be waiting, Kuina!"

Laughing, Atlas leaped aboard, drew her sword to cut the mooring rope, and raised the sail. Wind and current carried the boat out toward the horizon...

Atlas had been sailing for two days since leaving Shimotsuki Village. During that time, her training had consisted of swimming to build stamina, her daily sword drills, and meditation.

She had no wish to eat a Devil Fruit yet, and she had not encountered a suitable Devil Fruit Ability anyway. For now, she could swim through the sea to her heart's content.

Swimming was an excellent workout. Someday, she wanted to cross the Calm Belt unaided, just like Silvers Rayleigh. The thought alone sent her adrenaline surging. That was the romance of life at sea!

Koshiro had taught her to meditate. Before that, she had cobbled together a method of her own, but it was nowhere near as effective as his.

She had practiced meditation for over a year, and her Observation Haki could now cover half an island. She had become remarkably proficient with it. Whether that was because her mind was unusually strong or because Koshiro's method was so effective, she did not know.

Sailing was tedious in the end. Once Atlas finished training, a red glint passed through her eyes and she let her Observation Haki spread without restraint. The world seemed to sharpen around her.

Suddenly, a pirate ship entered its range.

What perfect timing. I'm bored, so you'll do for practice! You can be a welcome gift for Colonel Randall, too. I'm already a little later than the year we agreed on.

Atlas warmed up and loosened her joints. She could at least give these pirates a proper send-off.

Before long, the pirate ship closed in on Atlas's little sailboat. Its flag showed a skull with an iron hammer, and the ship itself was nothing special. It was probably an obscure crew. Otherwise, it would not be sailing such a shabby vessel.

Then again, perhaps that was unfair to them. Pirates produced nothing and lived for pleasure. As soon as they stole money, they spent it. As for their ships, anything that could sail was good enough.

That was the state of most pirates.

As the ships drew closer, the Iron Hammer Pirates spotted Atlas alone and immediately thought of robbing her.

"Hey, kid! Want me to give you a ride? Hahahaha!"

The captain of the Iron Hammer Pirates stuck his head out and grinned at Atlas like a clown.

"Sure. Sorry for the trouble, but could you take me to the Marine Base in Loguetown?"

As if oblivious to their hostility, Atlas casually jumped aboard the pirate ship.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't push your luck, you brat! Do you know who I am?"

Atlas's move stunned Haohei. In all his years as a pirate, he had never met anyone so unafraid of dying.

I'm a pirate! The kind who burns, kills, and robs! Show some respect!

Haohei's face twisted into a vicious scowl.

Slash!

A blood-red flying slash burst from the standard-issue sword Atlas had drawn. In an instant, it split Haohei, captain of the Iron Hammer Pirates, in two. The cut was perfectly smooth. The slash continued on, striking down several unlucky pirates and leaving them sprawled on the deck, their fates unknown...

"What the hell was that?"

"How did she kill the captain without her sword even touching him?"

The remaining pirates erupted in panic, gripped by fear of the unknown. Swordsmen were rare throughout the Four Seas, especially in the East Blue, the Weakest Sea.

Atlas offered no explanation. She held her sword across her body and, without even using a technique, cut through the remaining small fry. Then she wiped the blood from her blade on a pirate lying on the deck.

Naturally, Atlas took possession of the ship and searched it for supplies. As expected, a big ship sailed faster than a small one. She would probably reach Loguetown in just a day now!

Mm. Sudden wealth really does make all the difference. This feels great...

A Mix-Up

"Woooo..."