Double-transformation: I, Sakura Haruno! Will crush the pirates!

As if his tail had been stepped on, the village chief raised his cane and shouted.

"With boats coming and going at the village dock, how can it be a good place to fish?"

"That village chief is really stubborn, is he getting old?"

"Is it because his wife lectured him earlier, so he wants to save face? Hahaha!"

The villagers in the tavern started discussing it amongst themselves, but the content was getting increasingly outrageous.

"Kora, you bunch of little bastards!"

Attracted by the attention, the village chief turned and rushed towards the villagers, causing even more laughter and noise from the crowd.

Jingle Bell.

The doorbell rang inside the tavern, and two reluctant-looking teenagers walked in.

"Ace, Luffy!"

Makino smiled, her eyes narrowing, and pressed her hands together against her cheeks.

"Maginot!"

Luffy immediately forgot what he had agreed on with his brother and threw himself into Makino's arms.

Ace, still looking resentful, moved step by step toward Sakura.

The Supreme Grade Sword, which he had tied to his back with rope, hung down with its scabbard, scraping against the ground.

"Kid, what are you doing?"

Sakura slammed her glass on the table and looked at the boy's flustered expression, a mischievous urge rising within her.

"You must be a great pirate, could you... teach me how to... use this sword?"

Ace's eyes and mouth were turned to the right, and his voice was so faint it was barely audible.

"Huh? What did you say? I can't hear you~"

Sakura pretended not to hear, put her hand to her ear, and bent down to walk over.

Ace's face flushed red, he bowed deeply, and shouted:

"Please teach me swordsmanship!"

"I never want to experience again the feeling of my brothers being kidnapped and mere spectators helplessly watching!!!"

Sakura's playful expression vanished, and she asked in a serious voice, "What happened?"

"Sabo was taken back by his father, for my sake... for our sake!"

All the pent-up frustration of the past few days finally erupted at this moment, and Ace's tears dripped vertically onto the ground.

"You want me to help you...?"

"do not want!"

The suggestion was rejected by the boy before it could even be made.

Ace raised his head, his stubborn eyes fixed on the girl, and bit his lower lip hard.

"I see, so it's a man's resolve... Come on, follow me."

Sakura picked up her coat from the chair, stepped out of the tavern, and led him toward the cliff outside Mount Colbo.

On the shore, Sakura casually smashed a boulder to pieces with a single punch.

He picked up a long, narrow stone slab from the rubble, about the same height as Ace, and placed it in front of the boy.

"Here, lift it up and swing it hard until you have no strength left!"

Ace stared blankly at the stone slab in front of him, pointing to himself and then to it.

That look seemed to say—Me? Go and swing this thing? Do you want to hear what you're saying?

"What's wrong? Your willpower was so strong just now, why did it wilt now?"

Sakura conjured a long, frost-covered sword and swung it in front of Ace.

"I'll practice! It's just swinging stones!"

Ace gritted his teeth, lifted the stone slab, and began to swing it around, mimicking Sakura's movements.

It wasn't that Sakura was teasing him, but rather that she couldn't stay in Windmill Village for long, and there was only so much she could teach Ace.

However, there is one thing that beginners must learn.

That is—basic skills.

The basics of swordsmanship are simply to assume the correct posture and then swing the blade.

Moreover, as the foundation of swordsmanship, it is called the foundation because it has almost no upper limit and can be studied for a lifetime.

Generally speaking, it's not a matter of whether you can reach the top or not, but whether you can practice until the end.

"Empty your mind, concentrate fully, and wholeheartedly enter a positive state!"

Sakura tells Ace the key points Rayleigh taught her, regardless of whether Ace can understand them or not.

Anyway, this kid has plenty of time to slowly cultivate, so I just need to help him lay a solid foundation.

"Okay, don't rush me!"

Ace's panting was like a broken bellows, and he was sweating as he tried to find peace, making the expression on the boy's face look very distorted.

"Haha, what an interesting little brat!"

Sakura smiled and turned her attention back to her practice.

The air currents created by the two wielding heavy objects stirred up the grass and chaff on the ground, sending it into the sky.

Then it was picked up by seabirds and flown to a distant town.

When they returned, they brought with them billowing sandstorms, as well as thick smoke and fire that the upper echelons of the Goa Kingdom would soon unleash.

Chapter 161 Arson? I'm a professional!

"Don't worry, Bluejam, once it's done, you'll be able to enter High Town and become someone important."

The man, seated in the shadows, swirled his wine glass and solemnly swore an oath into the Den Den Mushi's receiver.

Kaka!

The Den Den Mushi hung up, and the man raised his large, fat hand.

The servants around him rushed forward and carefully wiped his arm that had come into contact with the Den Den Mushi.

"Hmph, interacting with these things is really making me tainted with their baseness."

Just then, a girl with orange hair entered the hall.

Hearing the man's voice, she ran to him and leaned against him.

"Hey, Father, why aren't the people at the Waste Terminal human? Why do we have to burn them?"

The man withdrew his hand from the servant's cleaning and patted his daughter's head.

"Of course they brought it on themselves. Who told them they weren't born into noble families?"

The girl covered her mouth and laughed: "Yes, isn't it great to be born into a noble family? How silly!"

"Alright, go and get some rest. You have an etiquette class tomorrow!"

The man patted his daughter's head again, urging her on.

"Yes~"

The girl agreed and ran out of the hall, waving her hands.

The man looked at the sky by the window and called to his servant to draw the curtains.

On the other side, on the cliff overlooking the sea in Windmill Village.

Sakura and Ace were wielding their swords high up, while Luffy lay fast asleep under a tree.

"9998, 9999....10000"

With a final, powerful swing, Ace, having completed his training, threw the stone slab, twice his width, onto the ground.

The person also collapsed, panting heavily on the ground.

"You're quite capable. You've only been able to lift a stone slab twice your own weight in just one week."

Sakura put down her sword and stepped forward to use Yang Release chakra to repair the damage caused by his intense training.

The continuous training has already given the boy the outline of muscles. If he doesn't plan to become a pirate in the future, becoming a bodybuilding coach would be a good option.

"Hmph, of course! Don't you know who I am?"

Ace opened his eyes with difficulty and gave Sakura a smile.

Just as Sakura was about to tease him, a glint of rainbow light flashed in her eyes.

But then he changed his mind before saying it: "Alright, that's enough for today's training!"

Sakura picked up Ace and tossed him towards Luffy, who was sleeping soundly under the tree.

"Luffy, take your brother back to the bandits."

The two rolled together and tumbled down the steep hillside.

I don't know if it was just my imagination, but I could vaguely hear someone cursing from a distance.

"Alright, they're all gone, come out now!"

Sakura clapped her hands and focused her gaze on the shadow of a large tree.

A strange wind suddenly came and enveloped the entire forest.

Hidden among the leaves and dust, a man draped in a dark green robe slowly emerged.

"It's been a long time since I've seen Ms. Sakura. I never expected to meet you here."

"Why did you come to the East China Sea? Aren't you afraid of being surrounded and attacked by the World Government?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, picked up the half-empty bottle of rum from the nearby wooden post, and drank it all in one gulp.

Given the size of the Revolutionary Army, if they rashly enter the East China Sea, the most heavily fortified place in the world by the World Government, they will likely be discovered very quickly, and then face a large-scale encirclement and suppression.

Sakura craned her neck to look out to sea, wondering if this guy had brought the Navy or CP into the village.

"No, they are busy dealing with things in Elbaf and have no time for us."

Dragon pulled down his hood, and from under his robe, he reached out and tossed a bottle of fine wine to Sakura.

"Elbaf? What happened to those giants?"

Sakura accepted it without hesitation, smiling as she put it in her arms.

"The situation there is chaotic. Without the giant king's suppression, the conflict between the already uncooperative villages has intensified."

The World Government fears that the situation within their borders will force a large number of giants out to sea, reviving the legendary Giant Warrior Pirates, so they have deployed a large force to garrison the area.

He sat cross-legged against a hollow in the tree trunk, and Dorrag took the spear hidden in his robe.

He took out his gun maintenance tools from his small bag and began to care for his beloved gun.

"Therefore, we plan to take advantage of the weakening of the World Government's suppressive power to gather weapons, equipment, food and manpower from all over the world."

After hearing what Dragon said, Sakura suddenly felt the wine in her arms become scalding hot.

Although this guy comes from the Monkey family, he has absorbed the wisdom of three generations of his family. Now that he has come to find her, he has most likely already arranged how to use her abilities into their plans.

"Sigh, tell me, what do you need my help with?" Sakura sighed softly. "Let me make this clear first, I'm dirt poor. If you're asking me to sponsor you, I can't help you."

"It's nothing serious. By the way, would you set a fire?"

Upon hearing his words, Sakura's eyes lit up.

—Arson? She's a professional!

"Okay, time and place!"

Sakura didn't hesitate and raised her head to ask him.

Dorag looked up, his smile suddenly turning mischievous: "What, aren't you going to ask me who I want you to deal with?"