One Piece Swordsman's Heart - Chapter 37

The ship sailed once again on the sea, but this time, Vir was not alone.

Initially, Vir had no intention of adventuring with others, but the rabbit was different. At first, he considered the rabbit his savior, but after two years together, with the rabbit relying on him, they had become family.

Yes, to Vir, the rabbit was not a pet or anything else but family. Having experienced the pain of losing family once, he would never allow such a thing to happen again, absolutely not.

The rabbit had once asked Vir to give it a name, but Vir refused. He believed the rabbit should find its own name rather than him treating it like a pet and giving it a random name.

As for the rabbit’s Devil Fruit ability, through testing, Vir discovered that the fur generated by the Fur Fur Fruit was incredibly strong. Without using Haki or Thunder Mode, he couldn’t easily break free from it.

However, it wasn’t without flaws. Unlike the String-String Fruit, it wasn’t as sharp, but it was more resilient.

So now, the rabbit was fully developing the Sky Path ability and had even created a new move.

It would wrap itself in a large amount of fur, weaving many appendages to run quickly on the ground.

Seeing the rabbit’s move, Vir was speechless, thinking to himself how afraid of dying it must be to have not just an aerial escape move but now also a ground escape ability.

However, Vir felt more at ease bringing the rabbit on adventures, knowing that with its current escape abilities, few pirates in the first half of the Grand Line could harm it.

Traveling with someone was much more enjoyable than being alone. Vir had tried many times to trick the rabbit into drinking alcohol, but after one experience, the rabbit refused to drink again, always giving Vir a disdainful look when he drank.

Though the attempt to get the rabbit to drink failed, it surprisingly started eating meat.

Once, while having lunch together, the rabbit, tempted by the smell of meat, took a few bites, and since then, it couldn’t stop.

Vir wondered how a herbivore could digest meat without showing any signs of unhealthiness, though its waistline had noticeably increased recently.

One day, while Vir was idly teaching the rabbit combat techniques on the deck, he suddenly spotted a large warship approaching in the distance.

Vir had been at sea for some time but had never seen a naval ship before. He didn’t know what department it belonged to.

He initially thought it was a coincidence, but as the warship approached, a signalman began shouting.

“The ship ahead, stop immediately and submit to a naval inspection. If you resist, we will use force.”

For the first time, Vir felt the navy’s dominance and arrogance at sea. Indeed, there were few genuinely kind-hearted and righteous marines.

Who was Vir? He had been an assassin since he was thirteen and had lost count of how many people he had killed.

And recently, his two swords at his waist had given him a strange feeling, different from before when he held them.

Ignoring the warship, Vir continued to sail forward.

On the warship, a marine reported the situation to an officer.

The highest-ranking officer on the warship was a sullen man with a helmet and a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

“Not stopping? And no flag? They must be newly out-to-sea pirates. Sink them,” the sullen officer ordered, and the warship prepared to fire.

Vir noticed that the warship had stopped shouting and paid it no mind. But just as he turned around, his Observation Haki sensed cannonballs flying toward him.

Drawing his dual swords, he slashed out several blue sword waves, slicing the cannonballs in half before they fell into the sea and exploded.

“I didn’t provoke you, but you dare to provoke me. Today, I’ll see just how capable the navy is,” Vir muttered, gathering strength in his legs. Almost instantly, he jumped high toward the warship at incredible speed.

This was a technique Vir developed using electromagnetic acceleration, similar to the navy’s Soru but much faster.

Due to his long-term use of the “Thunder Pulse Method,” Vir’s reflexes were almost superhuman. Others using electromagnetic acceleration would be unable to react to the speed, but Vir could easily control it. With Thunder Mode activated, he was even faster.

Vir named this technique “Flash.”

Using “Flash,” Vir landed on the warship and looked around to see who was so arrogant to order an attack without stopping. Today, even if it were Akainu, Vir would fight him.

What he saw was not Akainu, but a familiar face from the original story, a man with a helmet and a cigarette: Vice Admiral Onigumo.

Encountering such a strong opponent for the first time, Vir couldn’t help but feel excited.

“Hahaha, what luck, running into Vice Admiral Onigumo. Unprovoked cannon fire? You’ll die here today,” Vir said, his excitement giving him a slightly manic edge.

“Huh, there are all kinds of people at sea. I don’t know where this little pirate came from, but speaking to me like that? Ignorance truly is fearless. You want me to die here? More like you’ll die here,” Onigumo sneered, eyeing the small man before him.

If he were a pirate, he must be a completely unknown one, not even worth a bounty. Though he had speed, Onigumo found it unimpressive, believing that in his chaotic swordplay, speed alone was useless.

Feeling underestimated, Vir laughed angrily.

Drawing his dual swords and activating Thunder Mode, his aura completely changed. If he previously seemed lazy and harmless, now he was a red mist-shrouded demon, chilling to the bone.

Onigumo had initially underestimated Vir, but seeing him in battle mode, he quickly revised his opinion.

Though the small man before him was barely 180 centimeters tall, he exuded a tremendous pressure.

Onigumo stared intently at Vir, sensing a terrifying presence that far surpassed his own cruelty. How many people had this man killed to gain such an aura?

Without further words, Vir charged at Onigumo, his darkened, blue-lightning-covered dual swords clashing with Onigumo’s eight Haki-covered swords.

The impact of their clash caused a loud explosion, and the warship sank deeper into the water.

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