"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, ten thousand!"
On the small boat, the wooden sword in Bai Yu's hands slashed rhythmically.
As time passed, his slashes grew faster and faster.
When the final slash fell, the afterimages along its path converged into one, becoming a Flying Slash that instantly struck a reef in the sea.
Ding! Congratulations, host. You have completed the daily quest and gained 0.1% unlock progress. Current unlock progress: 7.3%.
The ethereal notification echoed in his mind.
Bai Yu put away the wooden sword in his hands and exhaled a long breath of stale air.
As expected, relying on tedious daily quests to unlock his original-body template was still far too slow.
"You've already finished ten thousand?"
Beside him, Zoro, who had been imitating Bai Yu's basic slashes, froze.
Ever since staying aboard, Zoro had begun paying attention to how Bai Yu trained.
When he saw Bai Yu practicing the simplest slashing exercise, a trace of disdain had even appeared on Zoro's face.
In his eyes, who didn't know how to slash?
But as time passed, Zoro found himself gradually unable to keep up with Bai Yu's speed.
Those seemingly plain, unadorned slashes flowed from Bai Yu's hands in one seamless motion.
They even carried a feeling of unrivaled dominance, sweeping wide and striking hard.
Especially at the end, when the sword's momentum joined into a single line and unleashed a Flying Slash.
That had left Zoro utterly dumbstruck.
He had practiced plenty of slashes himself.
But compared with Bai Yu, he had fucking practiced a whole lot of nothing.
The gap was too vast!
Of course, if he knew that Bai Yu also wore wrist weights weighing over a hundred kilograms, which restricted his own Spiritual Pressure...
He probably wouldn't even have that nothing left in his head.
"Nami, are we heading in the right direction? What weather will we encounter next?"
After turning the helm all the way, Carina looked up toward the lookout.
The next moment, Carina was stunned.
Nami was already nowhere to be seen in the lookout.
Had she escaped?
No!
Carina glanced back at Bai Yu.
Faced with this vast sea and this monster-like young man...
Even if Nami sprouted three heads and six arms, she would never escape.
If she wasn't here, she was probably in only one place.
"Come on, let's go in together. She probably ran to my room."
Bai Yu sheathed his wooden sword.
Carina was bewildered.
Was she going to get dragged into this too?
Most importantly, Bai Yu had told her to come along.
Did that mean a threesome was about to unfold?
Beside them, Zoro froze as well, his slashing motions involuntarily coming to a stop.
Watching Bai Yu head into the cabin without another thought...
Wasn't this the scene men dreamed of?
"Zoro, you come in too!"
Bai Yu's voice drifted over on the sea breeze.
The Wado Ichimonji in Zoro's hand fell straight to the deck with a clatter.
This was fucking far too wild.
No!
Zoro still decided that he had to tell Bai Yu in no uncertain terms that this corrupted public morals.
The three of them quickly reached the cabin.
Looking at the tightly shut door, Carina's and Zoro's nerves stretched taut.
Both of them wanted to speak but held back.
"Knock, knock. Nami, you're in there, right? We're coming in now."
Bai Yu knocked on the door, waited a moment, then pushed it open.
Seeing such a civilized scene, Carina and Zoro were dumbfounded.
Wasn't this supposed to be a threesome?
Wasn't the script supposed to involve kicking the door open, then getting started amid strange laughter?
Why was this so different from what they had imagined?
Soon, the door swung open.
Hiding under the covers, Nami's cheeks were crimson.
Seeing Zoro and Carina coming in with him, she hurriedly spoke.
"B-Bai Yu, I only promised I could do anything for you, but I have my limits too. If you do this, I'd rather die than submit."
"Lord Bai Yu, Nami is right. Why don't you let me do it this time?"
Carina hurriedly spoke up too.
Beside them, Zoro also looked embarrassed and hurriedly chimed in on instinct.
"I can do it too..."
You?
Bai Yu rolled his eyes and said.
"Forget it. I'm not interested in men."
"As for you two, stop adding so many scenes for yourselves."
Bai Yu gave each girl a sharp flick on the forehead, looking at their resentful faces as they clutched their foreheads.
Bai Yu plopped down to one side and said.
"Tell me how you offended Treasure."
Treasure?
Zoro froze.
Nami's and Carina's expressions, however, changed drastically.
They instinctively stepped half a pace back.
"L-Lord Bai Yu, we don't know any Treasure..."
Nami hurriedly spoke.
But Carina soon reached out to stop her and shook her head.
"Nami, don't forget that Lord Bai Yu is a Marine. His intelligence network is beyond anything we can compare with. We should just tell him!"
"We do know the treasure hunter Treasure."
"But we were working with him, helping him search the East Blue for the Demon Sword Murasame, one of the twelve Great Grade Swords."
"Unfortunately, we knew he wouldn't honor our agreement once he got the sword, so we pocketed the goods."
At this point, Carina glanced at the Demon Sword Murasame at Bai Yu's waist before speaking.
"If you have any concerns, Lord Bai Yu, Nami and I can leave right now."
Nami sat up wrapped in the bedsheet, while Carina beside her also tensed.
That was what they said, but shaking off Treasure, who had a bounty of eighty-nine million Beli, on this sea was still far too difficult.
Carina was choosing to throw caution to the wind now to take a gamble.
"No need to test me. Leaving aside the fact that I've commandeered you two, Treasure alone being a pirate means I can't stand by and do nothing."
Bai Yu casually took a swig of liquor and said.
"I've brought this out into the open now because there's just one thing I want to know. Treasure should be a chain man with the powers of the Paramecia Jangle-Jangle Fruit, right?"
"A chain man?"
A trace of surprise appeared on Zoro's face.
He had heard that Devil Fruits were the secret treasures of the sea.
But in a backwater like the East Blue, this was his first encounter with one.
"Yes. I once saw him conjure a whole bunch of chains out of thin air in his hands and smash a pirate with a bounty of ten million to death."
Nami grew anxious. With such a powerful thigh offering itself to her, never mind hugging it-she wished she could bury her head in it.
"Lord Bai Yu, with your strength, killing Treasure should be easy, right?"
Beside them, Zoro stared fixedly at Bai Yu.
There were plenty of pirates with bounties in the East Blue.
But a bounty of eighty-nine million Beli was probably an astronomical price in the East Blue.
Right now, Zoro only wanted to use Treasure to gauge just how strong Bai Yu was.
"Sorry, as I am now, I only have a fifty percent chance of winning!"
Bai Yu took a swig of liquor and spoke nonchalantly.