"Here, this is your share for this time."
Night had fallen on a small town, and the trio had taken a room in a modest hotel.
El placed a small box filled with five million Belly in front of Carina and Nami, then stood up and stretched.
"Rest early. Tomorrow we'll head to a country with a proper bank," he said, walking toward the bathroom.
"Nii-san, I'll scrub your back!"
"Nii-san, I'll help wash your hair!"
The box—normally something they'd guard with their lives—was tossed aside carelessly as Carina and Nami hurried to flank El, one on each side, their enthusiasm almost overflowing.
El raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you two trying so hard to please me today?" he teased. "You're not planning to drag me into another card game, are you? Didn't you lose enough last time?"
"...Hehe, of course not!"
At his words, both girls visibly twitched.
The smiles on their faces froze as a shadow passed through their eyes—clearly remembering the horrible experience of playing cards against someone who could read hearts 24/7.
Carina forced a laugh.
"We just feel like what we did this time doesn't match what we gained. So we wanted to make it up to Nii-san."
"Yeah!"
Nami nodded hard and added,"Besides, Nii-san's hair is really long. It's easier if someone helps."
"...Fine."
Using his ability, El glanced into their hearts and saw that they were genuinely being sincere this time.
Since this wasn't their first time helping him bathe, he didn't refuse and gave a small nod.
In the steam-filled bathroom, El sat on a low stool, a towel wrapped around his waist.
Behind him, neatly dressed in fresh clothes, Carina and Nami busied themselves—one scrubbing his back, the other working shampoo into his long silver hair.
"Nii-san," Carina said as she worked the soap into bubbles, "we've pretty much taken down all the big-name pirates whose info is fully listed in the real-time rankings."
She paused, then made a suggestion:
"Should we lay low for a while next? Or change our target list? Maybe aim for the 'Strongest Pirate Crews in East Blue – Real-Time Ranking' instead?"
As Carina spoke, El felt the small hands on his head suddenly pause.
In his perception, Nami's emotions spiked sharply.
Of course she was stirred up.
It had only been a little over a month since the three of them had formed their team.
In that time, the Arlong Pirates were still ranked No. 1 on the current "Strongest Pirate Crews in East Blue" list.
Nami had watched El cut down four big pirates in just over a month, as easily as slaughtering chickens.
She had developed a very concrete impression of his strength:
Overwhelming. Invincible.
She had wanted to ask El for help more than once during that month.
But every time, her kindness and sense of guilt held her tongue.
Now, if El really decided to target that "Strongest Pirate Crews" list…
Nami knew she would finally gather the courage to speak.
However—
"Let's keep a low profile for a while," El said softly. "After we deposit the money in a bank, there's somewhere I want to go. I want to visit a strong person."
"Nii-san, where are we going?"
Carina, who had no idea what Nami was thinking, blinked curiously.
"Visit a strong person? Is there really someone stronger than you in the East Blue?"
Nami also stared at him, stunned.
To them, El was already beyond the category of "normal."
"…"
El was briefly at a loss for words.
He hadn't expected that in just over a month, the two girls would develop this kind of blind faith in him.
He sighed and patiently explained:
"The world is huge. There are countless people stronger than me."
"The person I want to visit is the one who first taught me swordsmanship."
"It's said that the master of that dojo is a very powerful swordsman."
"One of my goals in going to sea is to challenge him."
"I don't have a clear grasp of my current strength yet. I need to fight a strong person to understand myself better."
What he said was half true and half not.
The "teacher" who had taught him swordsmanship for a few days back at the orphanage's arrangement was just an instructor-in-training from some dojo.
But it was true that El now wanted to visit a very powerful swordsman.
Strictly speaking, not just a swordsman—
A Master Swordsman.
One who, like El, had mastered the balance of hardness and softness in their cuts, but whose accomplishments far surpassed his.
That great swordsman was none other than Zoro's master, from a bloodline rooted in Wano:
Koushirou Shimotsuki.
The surname Shimotsuki might mean nothing to most people in the current era.
But hundreds of years ago, it belonged to a man whose name shook the world.
A man who made the world understand that Wano produced Master Swordsmen.
The legendary swordsman who slew a flying dragon and was worshipped as the "Sword God" of Wano—
Ryuma Shimotsuki.
Koushirou and Kuina were his distant descendants—the descendants of the Dragon Slayer.
Although Koushirou never showed his full power in the original story, the philosophy he taught Zoro about "cutting everything and cutting nothing," plus his later meeting with Monkey D. Dragon, were more than enough hints.
El was certain that at his current stage, he had no chance of defeating Koushirou.
Rather than "challenging" him, it was more accurate to say El wanted to seek his guidance.
Because in the entire East Blue, aside from Monkey D. Garp, the Marine hero who occasionally came home to visit his grandson, El could only be sure of two people who definitely had Armament Haki:
One was Luffy's elderly master, Naguri, who once boasted of being defeated by Gol D. Roger.
The other was Koushirou.
Compared to chasing an old man with unknown whereabouts like Naguri, asking Koushirou for instruction was clearly more realistic.
Neither Carina nor Nami knew any of this.
But they were both shaken by a single line El had spoken:
"There are countless people stronger than me."
For two girls whose view of the world was still limited to the East Blue, a flying slash was already beyond anything they could imagine.
And El was telling them…
That such power was just the beginning.
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