Ten minutes later, in the dojo.
Tang An sat upright with a cup of hot tea placed before him, while opposite him sat Koushirou, wearing glasses and looking smilingly at the Sunflower Manual in his hands.
Beside him, Kuina accompanied them, pouring tea.
Ten minutes ago, Tang An had wanted to trade the Sunflower Manual for a ship, and Kuina had introduced him to Koushirou.
That was how this situation came to be.
"Truly incredible."
Koushirou was completely captivated by the Sunflower Manual.
It was a sword manual the likes of which he had never seen before, and it offered him immense inspiration.
Most magical of all was the script; he could not recognize it at all, yet he could somehow read the entire manual.
From this point alone, the supreme value of this secret text could be seen.
Not to mention the unfathomable contents within.
Though much of it was incomprehensible and their meanings unclear, to Koushirou it was undoubtedly a treasure.
"This manual is extraordinarily precious."
Koushirou suppressed his excitement, closed the Sunflower Manual, and placed it before him, his smiling expression turning dead serious.
"Are you truly only trading it for a single ship?"
"Yes."
Tang An nodded, sighed, and said, "This manual is of no use to me; right now, I only wish to return to my hometown."
"If you are only trading it for a ship, you will be taking a heavy loss."
Koushirou had no desire to take advantage of Tang An.
Such was his adherence to principle, and his personal path of the sword.
"If possible, I would also like to exchange it for some food and treasure worth one million Berries."
Tang An hesitated before speaking.
"Very well."
Koushirou readily agreed.
"Many thanks."
"It is I who should thank you. A ship and one million in treasure fall far short of matching the value of this manual."
Koushirou shook his head with a smile.
He had a premonition that perhaps this manual would allow his swordsmanship to advance once more.
"The ship and provisions can be prepared by tomorrow morning, but tonight you will need to stay here as a guest, sir."
"No problem."
Tang An was not afraid that Koushirou would murder him for his goods.
If he had harbored malicious intentions, he would not have acknowledged the manual's immense value just moments ago.
"Kuina, go arrange a room for our guest, prepare the supplies he requested, and call Zoro along."
"Understood."
"Wait, I'll go with you! I might as well look around."
Seeing that Kuina was about to leave, Tang An stood up as well.
"Please follow me."
Kuina was deadpan, her expression very serious.
With that, the two of them left the room one after the other.
"Zoro, come with me to the village."
Arriving outside the dojo, Kuina called out to Zoro, who was still training desperately in the distance.
"What is it?"
Zoro stopped, covered in sweat, looking somewhat reluctant.
Still, he made his way over to Kuina's side.
"Hello."
Tang An offered a greeting, only for Zoro to ignore him completely.
"How rude."
Kuina struck Zoro on the head with a punch, causing him to clutch his head in furious resentment.
Unfortunately, against Kuina, he had no recourse.
Afterward, the three of them followed the path into the village to procure the supplies Tang An required.
That night, Tang An lay in his assigned room, staring at the ceiling and turning thoughts over in his mind.
The ship had already been prepared during the day; they only needed to load the remaining food tomorrow, at which point Kuina and Zoro would certainly help out.
That timing would be the absolute best moment to strike.
Koushirou was already entirely absorbed by the Sunflower Manual; by the time he realized Zoro was dead, Tang An would have long since vanished into the boundless sea.
However, the opponent possessed Observation Haki.
Still, Observation Haki couldn't be maintained twenty-four hours a day, could it?
Though risks remained, he could wait no longer.
He had three months and five days left.
He had no time to drag things out any longer; he had to eliminate Zoro as quickly as possible, then head to Cocoyasi Village to finish off Nami, and finally find a way to the New World.
Three months was simply too rushed.
Who knew if accidents might happen along the way, such as this recent storm.
If all else failed, he would have no choice but to use Random Transmigration.
If time had been abundant, he would have loved to stay here for a while, perhaps learning some swordsmanship and mastering Shave along the way.
Having settled these thoughts in his mind, Tang An quickly drifted off to sleep.
The day had truly been exhausting, particularly with the trial of the storm.
The night passed without incident, and early the next morning, Kuina brought Tang An and Zoro along to finish preparing the provisions.
Zoro was extremely reluctant, his face as dark as thunder.
After roughly two hours of bustling about, everything was fully prepared.
Before them lay a vessel comparable to a merchant ship, its hold already stocked with a month's worth of food, alongside one million Berries in treasure.
Among it were over a dozen gold coins that Tang An tucked into his pockets, as well as a golden dagger inlaid with red and blue jewels.
"Mr. Tang An, is there anything else you need?"
Standing on the deck, Kuina asked Tang An.
"No, that's all."
Tang An shook his head.
"Then I wish you a safe journey."
Kuina brought her hands together.
"Many thanks."
Tang An smiled, and seeing Kuina and Zoro turn away, he pulled out his Type 92 pistol without the slightest hesitation and fired straight at the back of Zoro's head.
"Bang!"
Splashes of blood erupted. Accompanied by a cry of pain, Kuina collapsed forward, her chest instantly soaked in crimson.
At the critical moment, driven by female intuition, Kuina had thrown herself in front to block the shot for Zoro.
"Kuina!"
Knocked to the deck by Kuina, Zoro felt a few drops of warm blood splatter across his face.
"Bastard!"
With bloodshot eyes, Zoro scrambled to his feet and charged straight at Tang An.
Regrettably, he held no wooden sword in his hand.
Sidestepping to dodge Zoro's punch, Tang An's gaze turned fierce as he drove a fist directly toward Zoro's throat.
Military Combat Techniques were all aimed at human vital points; they were designed to kill.
The only pity was that the pistol was out of bullets.
Zoro reacted with great speed, blocking the blow with his left arm and stumbling back several paces.
Had it been any ordinary child, they would have already been sent flying, but Zoro merely retreated a few steps.
Tang An was no longer an ordinary person; even ten grown men could be easily slain by his hands--after all, this past month had not been spent in vain.
Yet had it been the Tang An of over half a month ago, he truly would not have been a match for Zoro.
"I'm going to kill you!"
Regaining his footing, Zoro launched himself at Tang An once more.
With his eyes narrowed, Tang An waited until Zoro closed the distance before executing a sweeping leg kick, instantly throwing Zoro off balance to the deck, followed immediately by a fierce kick to Zoro's head.
Crossing his arms to block, Zoro slid sideways across the ground.
Tang An strode forward closely behind.
Dodge another kick from Tang An, Zoro swiftly scrambled up, breathing heavily as he glared at Tang An with vicious intent.
Neither adult nor child wasted breath; they plunged into close combat once again.
Every single attack from Tang An targeted the throat, the armpits, the eyes, or the groin; every strike was ruthless and devoid of human mercy.
With Zoro fighting bare-handed, his combat effectiveness was plainly insufficient.
"Puff..."
The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh rang out. Not only was Tang An bullying someone smaller and discarding all fair play, but he had even resorted to a weapon.
The golden dagger inlaid with red and blue jewels had sunk halfway into Zoro's chest.
Had Zoro not twisted aside at the absolute last fraction of a second, that blade would have pierced his heart.
Tang An yanked the dagger free, sending scalding blood spurting out like a fountain.
Just as Tang An raised the blade to deliver a second and third stab, a sword aura capable of tearing all creation apart churned the winds and clouds, freezing Tang An's body and leaving him utterly paralyzed.
Moving almost in a blur of spatial teleportation, Koushirou crossed a distance of ten thousand meters in mere breaths, materializing upon the deck.
When his gaze fell upon Kuina lying in a pool of blood and Zoro kneeling on the deck at death's door, his eyes grew razor-sharp, brimming with overwhelming killing intent.
Lifting his palm, he slashed through the empty air toward Tang An. A dazzling arc of sword light burst forth like a crashing thunderbolt in a blinding flash of brilliance.
Damn it, how could he have arrived so fast?
His calculations had failed.
"Random Transmigration."
Without a second thought, Tang An invoked Random Transmigration.
At this moment, only Random Transmigration could save him; as for the consequences, he had no time to ponder them.
The fire was already burning his eyebrows.
"Rumble..."
The entire surface of the sea was cleaved apart in a clean break, splitting in two and churning the waters into chaos all the way to the horizon.
Koushirou lowered his hand, his expression dark and gloomy as he stared at the spot of light that had just vanished before him.
The target had vanished using some unknown method.