"I've decided to meet Zoro at the pinnacle of the sea!"
As Kuina's words fell.
The large dojo couldn't help but fall silent.
For quite a while.
"Yare yare."
Koushirou smiled bitterly and shook his head, his clenched fist relaxing.
"When a girl grows up, she can't be kept at home. Since Kuina has this aspiration, Papa naturally won't stop you, but... before that, you need to get consent from someone other than Papa!"
Kuina reacted and quickly looked at Sora with hope.
Three days of interaction had given Kuina not just curiosity about the big brother who saved her, but also dependence.
It was precisely because she knew Sora was about to leave that she made this decision.
But...
If Sora was unwilling to take her aboard...
Regarding Kuina's plea, Sora didn't respond immediately.
To be honest, he naturally wanted to bring along this 'familiar person' Kuina for the journey.
If they could encounter Zoro at sea, it would definitely be very interesting.
But...
On the other hand.
Koushirou and Kuina had been separated by death for nine years and had just reunited.
From Koushirou's perspective, Sora really didn't want to be the 'villain' who caused the father and daughter to separate.
As if seeing through Sora's concerns, Koushirou took a deep breath.
"Sora-san, this is also my request. Please take my daughter to sea with you!"
Koushirou made his request earnestly.
"Are you really sure?"
Sora asked in return.
"Of course! Sora-san, you are a person of miracles. Having Kuina by your side is her good fortune! Besides, there's still plenty of time ahead. As long as Kuina can come back to visit from time to time, I'll be satisfied!"
Koushirou said.
"Alright then!"
Sora raised his cup.
"Thank you so much!"
Koushirou raised his cup in response.
The next day, early morning.
Shimotsuki Village's western coast.
The [Never Empty-Handed] set sail and departed.
At the shore.
Old father Koushirou smiled through his tears, waving goodbye.
At the ship's stern.
Kuina was also waving with tears in her eyes.
Not wanting to disturb the father-daughter farewell.
Sora pushed open the door and entered the cabin.
Having not been on the ship for a few days.
The interior of this system-gifted ship had already undergone tremendous changes.
The most significant change was the addition of rooms.
This was naturally because of Kuina boarding the ship.
As a fine sailboat produced by the system, it came with growth potential.
As team members increased, the ship would correspondingly grow larger to accommodate more members' living needs.
This feature was indeed extremely convenient and won Sora's heart.
Five minutes later.
Shimotsuki Village was just a small dot.
Kuina, having sorted out her farewell emotions, entered the cabin.
"Kuina, since you've joined us, there's one thing I need to say upfront!"
Sora said seriously.
"Mm mm mm, I know. I'll read the atmosphere from now on and absolutely won't disturb big brother and Sister Tohru!"
Kuina nodded repeatedly, her face slightly red, thinking Sora was worried about having her as a third wheel on the ship, concerned about letting loose.
Sora: "?"
What was this little girl thinking about?
"Well, what I wanted to say is that on this ship, you'll witness countless unbelievable things next. I'm giving you a heads up so you won't be too surprised!"
Sora said.
"Ah... oh!"
Kuina nodded blankly, not quite catching on.
"Also, since you call me big brother, then as your big brother, I naturally need to give my little sister a meeting gift!"
Sora said while placing two swords, one red and one blue, into Kuina's hands.
"This... this this this..."
Kuina's eyes suddenly widened.
As someone from a swordsmanship family who had dealt with swords since childhood.
Kuina could naturally tell the extraordinary nature of the red and blue paired swords in her hands.
In terms of quality, these two swords were even superior to the O Wazamono Grade sword Wado Ichimonji.
What shocked Kuina even more was that these two swords carried their own killing intent.
"The paired swords Gan Jiang and Mo Ye! The red one is the male sword Gan Jiang, the blue one is the female sword Mo Ye! These are two complementary killing swords that now belong to you. Try your best to master them!"
Sora introduced.
"This this this... is it really okay? Such precious swords, can you really give them to me?"
Kuina felt like she was in a cloud of confusion.
"What silly things are you saying? Isn't this natural? You're my little sister!"
Sora shook his head.
"Thank you, big brother~"
Coming back to her senses, Kuina leaped up and hugged Sora, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Alright, that room from now on is yours. Go organize it first!"
Sora pointed to the room with a 'Kuina' nameplate.
After sending Kuina away.
Only then did Sora return to the deck and pick up his fishing rod again.
Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, another week had gone by.
After a week of adjustment, Kuina had completely integrated into the new family.
Because there was a child like Kuina around, it also prevented Sora from being endlessly exploited by Tohru.
The days were peaceful and beautiful. The only slight disappointment was that the system's catch rate had been really low recently.
Food and money were still plentiful, and Doriki was occasionally caught, but after witnessing SSS-rank big catches, ordinary rewards could no longer catch Sora's eye.
Near noon.
Beautiful weather with gentle winds.
"Woah, it's coming! It's coming! This time it's definitely a big catch!"
Seeing the fishing float suddenly sink beneath the sea surface, Sora's eyes lit up and he immediately pulled the rod.
Sure enough.
This 'catch' seemed quite substantial and couldn't be pulled up immediately.
Though substantial, it wasn't as large as Sora had expected.
After just one minute of standoff, the catch was reeled in.
[Ding dong]
[Congratulations, host, for catching a wallet containing 100,000 berries]
"Huh? Huh? Huh?"
Hearing the system's catch announcement, small question marks couldn't help but appear above Sora's head.
What the heck?
A wallet?
And only containing 100,000 berries at that!
Such trash could cause a one-minute standoff?
Just as Sora was wondering if the system was suffering from dementia.
The next second.
"Ahhhh, wallet... my wallet! Mine mine! That's mine!"
The beautiful girl's frantic cry came from not far away on the sea surface.
"Eh?"
Looking at the beautiful girl who appeared along with the wallet, Sora first froze, then couldn't help but smile.
He never expected to encounter this 'familiar person' in such a way.