Beneath a gloomy sky, dark clouds pressed low over the sea, as if the heavens themselves were about to collapse.
The Chris sailed slowly across the choppy waves. Behind it, the ocean had been cleaved apart, leaving a massive trench that stretched for miles, seawater surging back into the gap.
Countless fish and shrimp, stunned by the sudden rupture, drifted helplessly with the currents.
One unfortunate pirate ship was dragged into the rift—though who could say whether Weiss hadn't done it on purpose?
This was Weiss's first test of his sword since leaving Forge Star Island. The results were... very satisfying. Finally, he had a weapon that felt like an extension of himself. From now on, he wouldn't have to fear any fight.
Yesterday, after Zeke finished crafting the scabbard, Weiss had set sail aboard the Chris under the gleeful eyes of Spike—though he still didn't understand what that guy was so happy about.
As for the sword itself, Zeke had ultimately refused the pile of Berries Weiss had offered as payment. Weiss didn't push it; he agreed that a Supreme Grade Blade wasn't something that could be measured by money.
He merely told Zeke: "If anything happens, the Peck family can use my name."
That single statement made Theodore sulk for an entire day.
Back then, just to get Weiss to associate his name with the family, Theodore had bent over backward. He'd even boarded the ship himself!
---
"Captain! Where are we headed next?" Kadun asked, holding the Log Pose, its magnetism fully stored.
"Straight to the Sabaody Archipelago. There's nothing left on the Grand Line that's worth my time."
Rescue Vivi? Don't be ridiculous. Leave that to the Straw Hat kid.
Once everything's done, maybe he'd visit Skypiea and have some fun. Weiss was practically drooling at the thought of the gold up there.
After all, who ever complains about having too much money?
Cold wind swept across the deck. The sunshade flapped loudly in the breeze. Karina and Joanne were preparing lunch. Kadun adjusted the course and monitored the air currents. Jack was carefully cleaning the revolver Weiss had given to him—a weapon lost and now treasured even more.
"Captain," Theodore moaned, "that method you mentioned to get stronger... are you sure it works?"
One hundred push-ups. One hundred sit-ups.
He did more than that every day. So why wasn't he getting any stronger?
"Uh..."
How was Weiss supposed to explain this? That the guy who invented that method only met a worthy opponent in his dreams? That the whole thing was basically a bug in the system?
"People have different constitutions," Weiss replied solemnly. "For him, maybe that was enough to unlock his body's limiter. But for you? You'll have to work even harder."
"Captain... are you saying I have no talent?"
"…"
If that's how you want to take it, I guess there's no helping it, Weiss thought to himself.
"You know how Jack and Kadun went through their hellish training, right?" Weiss asked, thinking this couldn't go on. He couldn't be the only one fighting all the time.
"Yeah, they told me about it."
"So did you follow it?"
"No…"
Weiss spread his hands. "There's your problem."
Theodore was always trying to challenge strong enemies to grow. But how could you improve like that? Without a solid foundation, you'd always be on the receiving end of a beating.
It was like trying to solve math problems without memorizing any formulas. Absurd.
(Though, to be fair, even if you did memorize them, you still might not be able to solve the problems.)
"Right now, I want you to get in the sea and swim around the Chris one hundred times. You're not allowed back on board until you're done!"
Seeing Theodore hesitating near the edge of the ship, staring into the water like he didn't want to jump, Weiss didn't wait—he kicked him straight overboard.
"Aaah! Captain, it's not that I didn't want to go in! There's a Sea King down there!"
A massive sea beast burst out of the water, snatching the airborne Theodore in one giant gulp.
A generous gift from nature!
"SON OF A—!"
Weiss reacted instantly, swinging his sword. A brilliant white slash tore through the sky, illuminating the overcast heavens. The Sea King, still eyeing the Chris hungrily, was cleaved cleanly in two.
Blood rained down, dyeing the ocean crimson.
"Jack! Kadun!"
"Understood, Captain!"
Both men dove into the sea, searching through the Sea King's corpse.
Fifteen minutes later...
Theodore emerged, soaked and sulking, looking at Weiss with puppy-dog eyes. "Captain... if you wanted me dead, you could've just said so. No need for all this."
Weiss rubbed his head, sheepishly. "It was an accident. I really thought you were just scared to jump, so I gave you a little... encouragement."
Even he didn't believe what he was saying. This was the same guy who'd once charged at a Marine Admiral alone. Cowardice? Not a chance.
He'd just assumed Theodore was being lazy and trying to skip training.
"Fine, forget it. Looks like a storm's coming. You can skip today's training."
The weather was turning ugly, and they'd already had a Sea King attack. If Kadun's bad luck was contagious and something else went wrong...
"No way! I'm going back in!"
With determination burning in his eyes, Theodore jumped up from the deck, did a few stretches, checked the dark waters for any more Sea Kings—and dove back in.
"Captain… are you sure this is a good idea?" Jack looked up at the stormy sky, his voice heavy with concern. Rain was imminent.
"If he can't overcome weather like this, what's the point of getting stronger?"
"Hmm... now that I think about it, you two haven't been training much lately either," Weiss said, frowning.
Had they been slacking off?
"Captain, I swear on my life—by the time you wake up, we've already trained. After you go to sleep, we're still training. It's just… we haven't had a chance to fight anyone recently!" Kadun cried out, sounding wronged.
"Oh really? Then next time we run into pirates, we'll lower the flag. You two handle it on your own. I won't lift a finger."
Those two were the opposite extreme of Theodore—they memorized all the formulas but never put them into practice.
"No problem, Captain! Next time, just watch us!" Kadun said excitedly.
Jack simply nodded, his expression cool, hand resting on the revolver holstered at his thigh. His eyes burned with anticipation.
"Lunch is ready!"
At Karina's shout, the two fired-up warriors instantly transformed into drooling huskies and sprinted toward the kitchen.
Training? Fighting?
What could be more important than food?
Weiss scratched his head and followed them, wobbling a bit. On such a gloomy day, a hot meal really did sound like the perfect cure.
Inside the galley, the five of them devoured the feast Joanne had prepared. Dishes were still being brought out. They even marinated the Sea King's finest cut for dinner.
"Wait… aren't we missing someone?" Karina suddenly frowned, chopsticks pausing mid-air.
Everyone froze.
They all stopped chewing.
Then shouted in unison: "THEODORE!"