Night.
After Sephiroth finished telling Perona a bedtime story, he intended to return to his room to rest. However, his intention immediately vanished as his bedroom door was tightly locked from the inside by Hancock. He wasn't allowed in.
Seeing the closed door before him, Sephiroth fell silent in contemplation. Hancock's intention was crystal clear: she wanted Sephiroth to sleep on the living room sofa, or at least, make him utter sweet words and beg to be let in.
The corner of his eye twitched. A mischievous smile spread across his face. Instead of pulling out his Butcher Knife and opening a dimensional door, he chose to walk out into the villa's garden. He glanced towards his bedroom, and saw the window on the second floor was slightly open.
Without wasting time, with three or four nimble, light leaps, he shot from the first-floor garden, jumping and landing perfectly on the windowsill of the second-floor bedroom.
Initially, Hancock had indeed planned to drive Sephiroth out of the bedroom. However, Sandersonia and Marigold, her two formidable younger sisters, failed to meet her expectations. They instead took the initiative to "approach" Sephiroth in the room.
Seeing her two sisters grow more passionate and excited, Hancock couldn't suppress the surging anger in her chest!
In the end, Hancock could only ruthlessly pin Sephiroth to the bed. She wanted the young man to bow his head, apologize, and realize how helpless he was before the Pirate Empress!
However...
Five hours later, Hancock lifted her slender, snow-white leg and kicked Sephiroth out of bed. "Go! Roll yourself into Perona's room and please don't keep destroying me!" she commanded, panting, her voice slightly hoarse yet still dominant.
East Blue, Shimotsuki Village.
As soon as Sephiroth stepped into Shimotsuki Dojo, his gaze immediately fell upon Kuina. The little girl, armed with a bamboo sword, was currently sparring against an older dojo cadet, launching very swift and precise attacks.
Clack!
In just ten rounds, the adult was already helpless. Kuina held the bamboo sword to his throat.
"Wow! Kuina defeated Big Brother Jack!" a young student exclaimed with sparkling eyes.
"She's only eight, isn't she? So amazing!" another chimed in, awestruck.
"Jack is the strongest among us students!"
A swordsman named "Jack," after a moment of stunned silence, his face slightly gloomy. However, he still bowed respectfully towards Kuina, who had defeated him, "I lost!"
"Good!" Kuina replied curtly, retracting the bamboo sword from her hand. Calmly, without showing the slightest expression of euphoria, she also bowed slightly towards Jack.
Afterward, she took another bamboo sword from a basket and caught up with the silver-haired youth who had just entered the backyard.
"Sephiroth, let's compete for the 101st time! Old rules," Kuina invited with an enthusiastic voice.
Hearing that, Sephiroth stopped, turned to look at the short-haired girl. The corner of his lips lifted slightly, then he chuckled. "Yes!"
Squeak-squeak.
A large colony of black bats quickly separated from Sephiroth's body, hanging upside down from the hallway roof.
In just a few seconds, the 2.1-meter tall silver-haired youth transformed into a small 1.3-meter shota, as short as the loli-like, short-haired Kuina.
This was a little trick Sephiroth developed out of boredom, from his Devil Fruit ability, the Bat-Bat Fruit, Zoan type, Model: Vampire.
Because the black bats could form his body, under his deliberate control, the black bats could naturally rearrange his body into different heights and physiques.
This little trick was gradually refined under his continuous research, so that he could now assume the body and appearance of various ages, ideal for use in disguises.
If someday he was wanted with a bounty from the World Government, he could also escape by disguising himself as a harmless, cute child.
However, during battle, Sephiroth was still strongest in his normal height.
After all, he had fully adapted to all kinds of battle situations with that physique, and the same applied to the use of sword skills!
However, the three Boa sisters, for some reason, liked his state when he transformed into a child, and often asked him to become younger while playing.
Shimotsuki Dojo, Inside the Courtyard: Mentor-Disciple Duel
Sephiroth gestured to Kuina after twirling the bamboo sword she handed him twice.
"Unleash!"
Hearing that, Kuina didn't waste words. She let out a low cry, stepped forward, swiftly swung her bamboo sword, and struck towards Sephiroth's head.
"If you're not sure you'll win, you can consider using seven points of strength and leaving three points of strength."
"This way, you can respond to some unexpected situations in a timely manner and make changes and withdrawals."
"Keep your breath steady, don't mess around!"
"Don't rely entirely on your eyes to catch my movements."
"You need to grasp carefully with your heart that everything has its own breath, and as long as you can perceive its changes, you will be able to predict it in advance."
Sephiroth provided theoretical guidance to his opponent while effortlessly dodging the opponent's bamboo sword, which continuously attacked him.
Between the two, it wasn't a matter of learning from each other, but rather it was more of a tendency for Sephiroth to give Kuina a practical instruction lesson, teaching the other party how to attack and defend.
Fifteen minutes later.
Under the successive offensive and defensive battles, Kuina's breathing became faster and faster and her physical strength rapidly declined.
Seeing this situation, Sephiroth flashed to the side. After choosing, he immediately waved the bamboo sword in his hand and slapped Kuina on the side of the face. Only when the sword was about an inch away did he stop.
"Okay! That's it for today."
"Remember, when you have time, you must be calmer and comprehend Observation Haki."
"After all, this is a power that is not physically demanding, relying more on individual perception."
"Oh~!"
Kuina reluctantly responded, and after taking the bamboo sword he had handed back, she pulled out a white handkerchief from her pants pocket and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
After fighting for so long, the bamboo sword in her hand couldn't even touch Sephiroth's body, and her opponent either easily dodged or suppressed her sword movements without leaving a trace.
Since Sephiroth gave Kuina sword instructions a year earlier, he had frequently engaged in sparring with Kuina.
She preferred the silver-haired youth's extraordinary swordsmanship and profound explanations to the swordsmanship of the cadets in the sword dojo, as well as her father's ambiguous and riddle-like teachings.
Of course, it wasn't without its price.
In order to prevent the little loli from pestering him every day, Sephiroth stipulated that the interval between two competitions must be at least three days, and after each competition was over, if he won, then Kuina would massage and relax him after he finished forging knives.
Sephiroth, who had regained his normal physique, stepped into the forging house. After greeting Kozaburō, who sat on a chair next to him smoking a dry pipe, he took off his leather jacket, revealing the graceful and smooth muscle lines on his upper body, as well as his six-pack abs.
Skillfully, he pulled a red-hot iron bar from the furnace, placed it on the forging table, swung the hammer, and continued to forge and fold the iron bar.
Every one or two days during this time, Sephiroth would come to Shimotsuki Dojo at a specific time and follow Kozaburō to forge iron in the workshop, and he would basically learn all of this old master's skills.
Of course, the main reason was that Kozaburō did not hide his knowledge.
Kozaburō sat on the chair, and while casually smoking his dry pipe, he asked, "Sephiroth, this knife is almost finished... Decide what to name it?"
"Only with an 'accurate name' can I deal with it in some details and bring its quality closer to perfection..."
Bang!
The hammer in the silver-haired youth's hand struck the iron bar hard, causing sparks to fly. He said in a positive tone.
On the tatami floor, Sephiroth lay on a cushion with his eyes closed, and Kuina knelt beside him, helping him massage his shoulders.
"Press a little harder, on the rib bone of the waist."
"Is it here?" Kuina moved her hand slightly down and pressed hard a few times on Sephiroth's back on the rib bone of his waist.
"Yes, that's it!"
Whoosh—!
The paper door of the reception room opened. Sephiroth turned to look and saw Monkey D. Dragon in a green cloak standing outside the corridor.
"Mr. Sephiroth, there's something I'd like to discuss with you."
"Kuina, that's it for today!"
"I'm discussing something with him privately."
"Okay!"
It was only when Kuina closed the door and left completely that Sephiroth looked at Dragon.
"What do you want to talk to me about?"
Dragon coughed lightly before hesitating, "Cough!... Comrade, our Revolutionary Army has been planning for a long time to prepare a rebellion in a country in the West Blue, but there aren't enough weapons..."
"This is easy to say! Old rules, I'll give you a 40% discount."
"No! This... Our funds are a bit tight, do you think we could get credit first?"
"Ha."
"Comrade! Oh, the great struggle we are waging to overthrow the cruel World Government and liberate and emancipate the people!"
"..."
"Don't worry! The payment, we will definitely pay it back to you!"
After being fed several large bowls of chicken soup by Dragon—a metaphor for cajolery and grand promises—Sephiroth finally decided to give the other party credit for the time being, based on his assessment of the Revolutionary Army's war potential!
However, he stated something first. After the Revolutionary Army truly controlled the country and acquired the royal family's treasures, he had to return the capital and interest to the Umbrella Corporation.