Chapter Six: Era of Wings

“On the 21st of January, Sea Circle Calendar year 1506 (note), the notorious pirate ‘Moonlight Moria’, who had just been appointed one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea with an original bounty of 320 million Berries, vanished mysteriously with his crew in the New World. Their whereabouts remain unknown to this day, and the specific cause is still unclear, though a severe natural disaster cannot be ruled out. As we all know, the seas of the New World are bizarre and defy common sense, with many regions…”

Ain read aloud from the freshly delivered ‘World News’ in a voice utterly devoid of emotion and at a steady pace, unmoved even by the major headline that a figure as prominent as a Warlord of the Sea had possibly been eliminated.

After all, it made no difference to her who drowned, so long as it wasn’t anyone she cared about—like Qiubai… Well, perhaps not Qiubai; as irritating as he was, it was better for him to stay alive.

Qiubai, too, had grown accustomed to extracting the information he wanted from Ain’s voice—though this habit had only formed in the past three days.

This was, after all, his third day of studying swordsmanship under Ryoma, and his third day on this island. Though his list of things to learn had grown, he had not let it disrupt his training.

Now, as he swung his sword, his mind raced with thoughts.

“Ryoma, the swordmaster, doesn’t have much time left and, driven by a kind of homesickness, is about to return to his homeland, the Land of Wano…”

“As for Moonlight Moria, I suspect that, for the sake of maintaining the dignity of a ‘legitimate pirate’, the World Government or Marine Headquarters has glossed over his defeat. A maritime disaster? Some calamity? I don’t think so. If I recall correctly, the Moria Pirates were wiped out swiftly and cleanly by Kaido, and only Moria survived. The psychological trauma inflicted by Kaido transformed him from a rising star and hope of the pirate world into an overweight, reclusive grave robber over the next decade…”

“So, is that why Moria ended up digging up Ryoma’s grave?”

“Wano has always pursued an isolationist policy, but… Moria—Moonlight Moria—does his name have any connection to the Kozuki clan of Wano? Is the reversal of the surname just a coincidence? Like how many people are called ‘Mian Si’ in the world, but only one can really jump?”

Before Qiubai arrived in this world, One Piece was still an ongoing story. But now it was no longer a tale, but a vast world. The narrative only depicted a fragment; what Qiubai knew was but a fraction of that fragment, and compared to the magnitude of information contained in this world, his knowledge was almost negligible.

Thus, more often than not, he could only make inferences and deductions based on what he knew—but whether reality matched his conjectures, who could say?

In any case, it didn’t matter whether he was right or wrong. For Qiubai at this moment, not to mention Kaido—even matters related to Moria were far beyond his reach. Ultimately, it all came down to strength.

He knew his own limitations. His main reason for setting out to sea was not to make a name for himself in the New World, but rather to leave this high-tier region and train in the other Four Seas.

“Why did you stop reading?” Qiubai snapped back to the present, realizing that Ain’s voice had gone silent.

“The rest of the news is meaningless,” she replied.

In truth, she was a little annoyed because Qiubai’s daydreaming had ignored her “duties.” As she spoke, she casually folded the stack of newspapers to set it aside, but at that moment, a wanted poster slipped out and fluttered to Qiubai’s feet.

The newspapers delivered by the ‘News Bird’ would often be accompanied by the latest bounty posters, highlighting the most dangerous pirates. However, there were exceptions; wanted notices for individuals deemed ‘SSS-level’ threats to the World Government were repeatedly distributed—such as the one now at Qiubai’s feet.

“Bounty: 79 million Berries. Devil’s Child—Nico Robin.”

Qiubai remembered that the destruction of Ohara by the Navy’s ‘Buster Call’ had happened five years prior. It was this milestone, paired with the death of Pirate King Roger, that helped him align the events and timeline of the story.

The sole survivor of Ohara was Nico Robin, then only eight years old… Eight years old, with a bounty of 79 million. For bounty hunters, there could hardly be a more tempting prize… Her plight was all too easy to imagine.

The greatest irony was that, in this world, those deemed the highest priority threats were not mad scientists, nor even pirates, but archaeologists.

“The Void Century…”

Qiubai’s thoughts began to drift again, but he quickly forced his focus back to the sword practice at hand.

His movements were monotonous and endlessly repetitive—stepping forward from a standing position, bringing his blade down in a full arc, then recovering his stance and weapon, only to repeat the sequence again and again.

Qiubai’s form was crisp and efficient, each swing precisely one second apart. One could even use his motions to keep time with complete accuracy.

This training seemed simple, but it had two critical aspects. First, he had to swing continuously for three hours daily, totaling 10,800 repetitions. Second, his weapon was not an ordinary sword, but a pair of oversized, weighted blades—twin hammers.

With every swing, sweat streamed from his arms down the blade, flicking outward in a straight line.

Beyond this, he also subjected himself to purer forms of physical training. This was why his physique far surpassed that of an average person—some qualities are not innate, but must be forged through discipline.

Such monotonous training is difficult to persist with, yet Qiubai endured, for he truly had something he wanted, and that desire allowed him to withstand it all.

“Time’s up.”

“Mm.”

As his final blade fell, Ain’s voice signaled the end of his session—she had counted every swing, one by one.

Just as the sword practice was tedious, so too was the counting, but she did it gladly, as a matter of routine.

When together, Ain’s presence was not overwhelming, but even if she pretended to be aloof, there lingered the faint, sour-sweet air between two people who had grown up together—one that made others want to curse them.

By Qiubai’s reckoning, this was a world where individual strength could sway the balance of power, making martial prowess paramount. Yet there are always things one cannot accomplish alone, hence the need for companions—a bond as close as siblings, or perhaps, more accurately, as extensions of oneself.

But the difference in gender rendered his argument entirely unconvincing.

With his self-training complete, it was time for Master Ryoma’s swordsmanship class, which Ain also attended alongside Qiubai, qualifying her to learn as well.

She could be considered a swordswoman, after all, accustomed to wielding dual short blades—a style not far from a close-combat twin-sword technique.

Note: By this time, Roger has been dead for eight years, and Luffy is about three years old.