"One, two, three, four!"With loud chants, squads of soldiers jogged in formation on the training field. Meanwhile, in the dormitory building at the edge of the field, a boy around thirteen or fourteen years old—sporting horn-like protrusions on his head—was fast asleep. A bubble of snot puffed in and out of his nostrils in rhythm with his breathing.
BANG!A deafening crash echoed as the dorm room door was violently slammed down, but the sleeping boy remained undisturbed. The snot bubble continued to rise and fall, undeterred.
"KAIDO! You bastard! Skipping training again!"With a loud shout, a figure burst into the room, grabbed the edge of the boy's bed, and with a powerful heave, flipped the entire bed—boy and all—into the air.
SPLAT!The snot bubble burst. Kaido snapped awake instantly, flipped mid-air, and kicked off the wall with a burst of speed. In the blink of an eye, he was back on the floor, somehow holding a spiked club in his hands.
"Rosé Lily!"
"Kaido!"
With a pair of simultaneous shouts, his spiked club and her longsword clashed. Despite being a simple weapon collision, the impact kicked up a strong gust of wind, sending everything in the room tumbling and stirring up a cloud of dust. As the dust cleared, Kaido's opponent was revealed—a girl with long white hair and black eyes. Like Kaido, she had horns, but hers were red and grew from her forehead.
"Kaido! Skipping training again! As the kingdom's strongest warrior, you're supposed to set an example!"Lily retracted her sword and pointed it at Kaido as she scolded him.
"I'm not going. It's boring. Those guys can't even land a hit, and this kind of training is totally useless!"Kaido slung his club over his shoulder, looking completely unimpressed.
"AAAH! You piss me off! Get your ass to training!"
Enraged, Lily lunged at Kaido. He didn't back down—grabbing her by the arms, and the two discarded their weapons and began wrestling head-to-head like bulls. They were about the same height and strength, and for a moment, neither could overpower the other.
"If you want to train, go by yourself! You can give me orders once you've taken back the title of strongest warrior, musclehead—Lily!"Kaido used his full strength to push Lily back inch by inch.
"You brat! Is that how you talk to your adorable older sister who's always helping you?"Lily suddenly countered with a surge of power. Being a year older, and with girls developing earlier than boys, she held her ground. Teeth clenched, neither backed down. The standoff dragged on.
Just then—
"AAAAHHH! MY DORM ROOM!!!"
A man's anguished cry rang out. Kaido and Lily turned toward the door, where the just-returned soldiers stood led by their captain. The one who had just screamed in despair? The dorm room's other occupant.
"Kaido! Lily! You two—my office, now! The rest of you, clean up this mess."The squad leader, his face dark and stormy, called their names and walked away.
"This is your fault. Now Dorro's gonna nag us again," Kaido muttered as he followed the captain, Dorro, out of the room.
"How is it my fault?! You're the one who skipped training and locked yourself in the room to nap! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be getting chewed out by Dorro!"Lily fired back without hesitation.
"Your fault!"
"No, your fault!"
"Yours!"
"YOURS!"
As their voices grew louder, Dorro's face grew darker. He clenched his fists, wanting nothing more than to punch the two behind him—but thinking better of it. He knew full well he wasn't a match for either of them. Pretending not to hear, he picked up the pace toward his office.
The year is Sea Calendar 1478.Location: Voka Kingdom, Grand Line – Royal Army Barracks.
"So… what were you two fighting about this time?"In his office, Dorro took a sip of water, rubbed his temples, and looked at the pair sitting on the couch before him.
"Sir! Reporting! Kaido was slacking off in his room, so I came to get him for training, but he refused and attacked me first!"Lily stood up and rattled off her complaint.
"That's a lie! You barged in and flipped me—bed and all! Of course I fought back!"Kaido shot up and pointed at her in protest.
"If you had gone to training, I wouldn't have flipped your bed!"
"If you hadn't flipped my bed, I wouldn't have fought you!"
"You skipped training!"
"You're being unreasonable!"
"YOU'RE the one being unreasonable!"
"YOU!"
"YOU!"
"Enough! Silence!!"Seeing another fight about to erupt, Dorro quickly cut them off. One wrong move and his office would be in ruins. Worse yet, if they found his hidden stash of sketchbooks… his reputation would be ruined.
Clearing his throat, Dorro spoke sternly:"Ahem. The two of you—this is outrageous! Kaido, the current strongest warrior of the kingdom. Rosé Lily, the former strongest warrior. Fighting in the dorms and destroying property—what kind of example is that?! Your punishment: go to the field and pack up all the training equipment. Don't let it happen again."
"Got it~""Okay~"They replied half-heartedly and immediately bolted from the room. Shockingly, Dorro hadn't given them a long lecture this time. Usually, he'd scold them for at least an hour. Today, he wrapped it up in seconds—so why wait around?
As they disappeared, Dorro sighed heavily. He returned to his desk and pulled out a letter from the king.
Order: In five days, escort "Kaido" and "Rosé Lily" to the royal palace.
Dorro read the order again, massaging his temples. He knew exactly what this meant.
Though not heir to his noble family, he was well informed. The king of Voka Kingdom wanted a seat at the World Government conference. But the kingdom was too poor. To keep paying the Heavenly Tribute, they relied on constant warfare and had no wealth to offer. So the king had devised another plan: send the kingdom's most talented young warriors—13-year-old Kaido and 14-year-old Rosé Lily—to the Marines as a tribute in exchange for membership.
Dorro looked out the window at the pair hauling equipment on the field. In his heart, he cursed the king's foolishness. If they kept these two, they could bring unimaginable prosperity to the kingdom. Once grown, they could conquer vast lands—earning a seat at the table without groveling.
"Haah…"Dorro sighed again, feeling he'd sighed more in the past two days than in the entire previous year.
The king's orders couldn't be changed. Word was the Navy had already been contacted and may even be en route now. What could Dorro, a second son of a noble house, possibly do?
"Good luck, you two," he thought silently. "With your talents, you could at least become vice admirals… maybe even admirals."Then again—who was he kidding?
Shaking his head, Dorro silently wished the best for his two finest warriors.
But just then—
WHOOSH!A piercing sound cut through the air. Dorro leapt back instinctively—CRASH! A lead projectile blasted through the window and embedded itself in the wall. If he'd reacted a second slower, it would've taken his head off.
"Nice block, Kaido! Let's see how many more you can handle! Take this—cannonball pitch!"Lily's voice came from outside, through the smashed window.
"Then watch closely! Lily! Here comes my special move—Thunderous Eight Trigrams!"Kaido shouted. With another BOOM, a lead projectile crashed through the building.
Feeling the tremors beneath his feet, Dorro bolted to the window. Down below, Kaido and Lily were playing baseball—with spiked clubs and lead cannonballs.
Dorro took a deep breath.
"YOU TWO—KNOCK IT OFF!!!"
(End of Chapter)
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