Savage revealed a cruel expression and laughed loudly.
Then suddenly, his eyes narrowed, because he was already familiar with the Black Sword Princess's attack style, had figured out the pattern, and she had been easily forced into desperation and confusion by him.
When the Black Sword Princess slashed over again, he first blocked it with a punch, and then extended his other hand and directly grabbed the blade.
The Black Sword Princess was instantly startled; she hurriedly tried to pull the sword out. She was now completely flustered, lacking even the ability to think calmly.
Lu Yue, seeing this scene, frowned, not because of the Black Sword Princess's current predicament, but because the previous battle had been far from ideal.
She discovered the problem: knowing full well that the opponent was a strength-type fighter, she insisted on clashing power against power. Furthermore, most women are inferior to men in terms of raw strength, yet this Black Sword Princess seemed somewhat obsessed with strength-based swordsmanship.
This was why she ended up in such a state.
At this moment, the battlefield had changed. Savage revealed a cruel smile and forcefully snatched the sword from the Black Sword Princess's hand.
Throwing it backward, the Black Sword Princess's sword instantly landed behind the group of pirates.
"Pay the price." Looking at the Black Sword Princess, whose expression was already frantic, Savage threw a punch.
The Black Sword Princess rolled sideways, dodging the punch, looking somewhat pathetic. It was clear she only knew swordsmanship and lacked other martial arts skills.
In other words, she was a swordsman who couldn't fight without her sword.
The Black Sword Princess wanted to retrieve her sword, but seeing a large crowd of pirates blocking the way, she immediately stopped. However, suddenly, she saw a sword similar to the one she had been using lying next to a nearby corpse.
Bending her legs, she jumped over, just about to grab it.
But her momentary pause gave Savage an opportunity. He rushed over and immediately grabbed the Black Sword Princess's ankle.
The Black Sword Princess was startled, and then she felt a huge force transmit through her. To be precise, Savage had swung her into the air.
Spinning in circles, the Black Sword Princess even felt dizzy from the high-speed rotation she was subjected to.
Finally, on the merchant ship side, everyone was horrified and despairing, the pirates cheered, and Lu Yue shook her head.
The Black Sword Princess was directly thrown away by Savage.
She crashed heavily against the ship wall, and the intense pain caused her to spit out a mouthful of blood when she fell onto the deck.
"It seems I should intervene." Seeing Savage still preparing to attack the Black Sword Princess, Lu Yue decided to make her move, because she realized she seemed to know this Black Sword Princess. Moreover, in her eyes, this person was already hers.
"Gliza Beam." Red and purple lightning-like rays of light were released from her eyes. One ray aimed at Savage, and the other ray targeted the pirates.
"What?" Looking up at the rays of light before him, let alone the ordinary pirates, even Savage revealed a look of horror.
Because he had already sensed the aura of death; the Grim Reaper was waving at him.
But it was too late. He and his subordinates were instantly engulfed in the explosion that followed the lightning-like rays' impact.
They didn't even let out a scream. After the flames and smoke from the explosion subsided, only a few pools of blood and flesh remained on the spot.
After all, they were just small fries and petty pirates from the East Blue. The power of Lu Yue's move was already comparable to Admiral Level, as it was Gliza's basic technique.
However, wiping out all these pirates simultaneously was no problem.
"This... what is going on?"
"How are all those pirates...?"
"What exactly happened here?"
"Even Savage... was instantly killed in one strike?"
The people on the merchant ships were stunned.
The Black Sword Princess was the same. Kneeling where she was, she looked at the scene before her, utterly shocked.
She had originally thought she wouldn't escape this disaster, but she never expected her luck to be so good; she had actually been saved by someone.
Wait, who was that? Who released those two bolts of lightning just now?
The Black Sword Princess quickly thought of this question and was about to look around to see who it was.
"Dong—Dong—Dong—." A deafening bell sound rang out, sounding indeed very much like a large bell shaking.
But as the sound reverberated, everyone present felt dizzy. Eventually, everyone, including the Black Sword Princess, fell unconscious.
Lu Yue floated down with a smile, arriving in front of the Black Sword Princess.
Lu Yue squatted down and saw the Black Sword Princess's face up close.
"This face really is... and Tashigi couldn't possibly appear here. You are indeed Kuina."
Lu Yue exclaimed in surprise.
She was absolutely certain this was Kuina. After all, when she watched One Piece, she had a very deep impression of Zoro's flashback segment, especially Kuina's appearance.
Even though this person was definitely much older than the impression she had from watching the anime.
But she could confirm that this was Kuina, and absolutely not that look-alike Tashigi.
But she was also confused as to why Kuina, now grown up, would be here.
According to the original plot, she should have died long ago, having only lived to the age of 11, yet her appearance now suggested she was at least 20 years old.
"Wait a moment, I remember a theory from my previous life that Kuina faked her death. After all, people in the Pirate King world have strong physiques; it's impossible to die from falling down stairs. You know, even in my original world, the chance of dying from falling down stairs isn't very high."
"The reason she chose to fake her death was also due to her father Genzo. The purpose was naturally to let Kuina grow up independently, away from Zoro, or perhaps secretly join the Revolutionary Army."
"Because he clearly understood that his daughter could only grow by venturing out; she couldn't always stay by his side. An eagle should spread its wings and fly on its own."
"And the Bounty Hunter Black Sword Princess... it's obvious Kuina has been a Bounty Hunter, hunting pirates in the East Blue waters, for some time. If that's the case, then Genzo must have let his daughter go out alone for training, thus staging the brilliant act of Kuina's fake death in front of Zoro."
Lu Yue quickly figured out the answer. Combining it with the current situation, she was certain that the answer she had come up with was the most correct one.
Furthermore, even before seeing her face up close, she had already suspected that this Black Sword Princess was Kuina.
Because she remembered that Kuina's father had once told her that female swordsmen, due to limitations in physical strength, could never become the world's strongest swordsman.
That is, he believed that female swordsmen's stamina and strength were far inferior to male swordsmen, and becoming the world's strongest swordsman was too distant or unrealistic for Kuina.
But when she watched it, Lu Yue really wanted to say that this was obviously wrong.
Since when did swordsmanship duels only rely on strength and stamina? By pursuing quick decisive battles and focusing on speed, Kuina could also become the world's strongest swordsman.
If she had taken this route, facing Savage just now, Kuina could have completely used speed to overcome strength and easily deal with that guy.
In other words, there are thousands of paths in swordsmanship; one should choose the path most suitable for oneself, rather than continuing down a path one is not good at.
Kuina's father still had too narrow a vision.
And it was precisely because of Kuina's obsession with strength in swordsmanship during the previous duel, coupled with the fact that this was the East Blue, that Lu Yue immediately suspected that this person was actually Kuina.
But the result now was: it truly was her.
However, Lu Yue quickly became delighted.
Because her System had finally assigned her a task.
"The host task assignment begins now."
"Detection confirms the host has the idea of forming her own Pirate Crew and wants to become a pirate."
"Therefore, please persuade Kuina and invite her to join your Pirate Crew, becoming the first crew member."
"The reward for completing the task is: demon blade thousand blades, Shadow Assassin Qi memory inheritance."
"Haha, this timing is perfect! This is truly a pillow delivered when one is sleepy, hahahaha." Seeing the message that suddenly appeared in her mind, Lu Yue couldn't help but beam with joy.
But at the same time, she didn't notice that her laughter was beginning to sound more and more like Gliza's signature sound.
But the System was indeed correct. When she watched One Piece in her previous life, what she most anticipated and yearned for was to be able to form an elite-route Pirate Crew, bound by partnership and friendship, just like Luffy.
She definitely wanted to learn from Luffy and Shanks in this regard.
But she also wanted to create her own unique characteristics.
Let's put it this way: if the Red Hair Pirates represent brotherhood, and Luffy's Straw Hat Pirates represent friendship, then regarding the core factor of a Pirate Crew...
...then the core factor for the establishment of her, Lu Yue's, Pirate Crew would be sisterhood.
That's right, she wanted to form an elite Pirate Crew composed entirely of talented women—a true sister Pirate Crew.
At the same time, she had already thought of several targets on the great seas, but she truly hadn't expected Heaven to send her such a great gift: Kuina was actually alive.
This person, the true future world's strongest swordsman, whose talent far surpassed Zoro's existence—if it weren't for plot necessity to highlight Zoro, she would have been the one striving to become the world's strongest swordsman in the future.
Kuina's swordsmanship talent was absolutely far superior to Zoro's; there was no doubt about that.
Coupled with her tenacity and unyielding spirit, she was not necessarily inferior to Zoro.
She just took the wrong path, but now with the contents of the reward, she could completely train Kuina into a Shadow Sword Princess who follows a speed-attack route.
Just like her current title, Black Sword Princess.
If Luffy's beginner gift package was Zoro...
...then, excluding the System, Lu Yue's beginner gift package was Kuina. There was no doubt about that.
As for persuading and recruiting Kuina, she was very confident.
But at the same time, based on Kuina's current age, she could guess what time period it was now.
However, further concrete confirmation was needed, but one thing she was certain of was that she was currently in the East Blue.