One day on Merveille.
"...The heck are you doin'?"
Shiki and Indigo had come to Sue's private quarters on business, and there they found her slumped face-down on her desk, completely limp and drained.
It didn't look like fatigue from writing or work. It was unusual for her. More like she was troubled by something, or maybe just dejected.
The two attendants standing nearby, Beauty and Blume, also wore wry smiles.
"Oh, Papa, welcome back... It's just, I've been wallowing in the loneliness of being all by myself."
"All by yourself? We're literally right here with you, y'know?"
"There's no point nitpicking, Beauty. Anyway, welcome back, Big Boss. As you can see, Sue's like this today, so if you're here on business... sorry, but could you just go ahead as is? She can at least listen, probably."
"...Well, fine by me. It ain't like we stand on ceremony with each other anyway... But before that, I gotta ask. What happened here?"
"She was saying something about being lonely... Come to think of it, Miss Suzu and the others aren't here, are they? Actually, I didn't run into a single one of them on the way here."
"Oh, Dr. Indigo, sharp eye. Yeah, it's exactly that... Sue's daughters are the cause of this little episode. They excluded her from something, and she's moping about it."
"Excluded? Those girls excluded Sue?"
"Putting it that way makes it sound bad... Basically, it seems like they're scheming something behind Sue's back. Not anything malicious though, probably just some kind of prank at most."
"All five daughters seem to be in on it, but she's the only one not allowed in. They told her 'Not Mama!' and shut her out, and now she's moping. That's what this is."
"Ahh... So that's how it is."
Shiki and Indigo nodded in understanding.
These six were usually inseparable to an almost excessive degree, always together, maintaining a parent-child bond so healthy it was as if the concept of a rebellious phase simply didn't exist. Even so, apparently they didn't share or confide absolutely everything. Or perhaps the time had simply come for that to change.
Still, all five at once was something else. Especially considering that even the two who came from the future, and Alice, who adored Sue in a rather different sense, were all part of it. As Blume had said, the most likely explanation was that they'd banded together to plan something.
And as for what they were planning... the truth was, it was easy enough to guess.
'Miss's birthday is coming up soon, after all... They're probably preparing a present for her.'
'Oh yeah, is it already that time? ...Living here on the Grand Line really does kill your sense of that stuff.'
'There's essentially no sense of the seasons, after all.'
On the Grand Line, where climate varied wildly from island to island, sea to sea, and season to season, dates on the calendar existed but carried no corresponding seasonal feeling. There was no such thing as thinking "It's getting hot, must be summer." Cross to a new island, and the climate would change completely regardless of whether it was technically summer or winter.
Because of this, people who stopped keeping track of what month or what day it was were far from unusual. Especially pirates and sailors who didn't settle on any particular island but kept moving from place to place.
Sue herself was usually fairly busy and only kept track of deadlines like "X days until the manuscript is due" or "Y days until the research trip," so her own birthday never even crossed her mind. She didn't particularly care about it, either.
In her own words: "Once you're past thirty, a day where you just get one year older isn't really anything to be happy about anymore."
Well, if that was the case, the daughters could probably prepare without being found out. Might as well keep quiet about it. Shiki and Indigo exchanged a look.
Glancing over, Beauty and Blume seemed to have figured it out too. They had that look in their eyes.
With a deliberate cough to clear his throat,
"Don't worry about it, Sue. It ain't like they hate you or anything... They just want to try doing stuff on their own without their parent for a bit. Happens all the time with kids their age."
"You really think so...? It's not like I was hovering too much and got on their nerves or something?"
"No way, they all absolutely love you. ...Actually, Alice especially would welcome that kind of thing. She storms into the bath with you, and she's already sixteen, mind you. ...Well, she doesn't just barge in on Sue's bath. She crashes mine and Blume's baths sometimes too, that little perv."
"She loves Sue to a worrying degree, honestly, in a different kind of way... Especially since Iris and Snow are already living 'proof' of that..."
"Leaving aside the questionable chastity standards between step-mother and step-daughters. Don't worry, they'll come back to normal just fine. It's just a phase, that's all. Kids grow up before you know it, almost suddenly. There's bound to be a complicated stretch along the way."
"That classic 'Don't wash my clothes with Dad's!' thing, right?"
"They're all daughters, so that probably doesn't apply?"
"On a related note, the other day Alice said she 'didn't even need hers washed, she just wanted Mom's laundry.'"
"That's a whole different direction."
As things started to devolve, Shiki reined it in with a forceful "Ahem!"
"Look, there's no need to mope or overthink it. Like I said, kids are gonna hit that phase sooner or later and give their parents a hard time. Every parent goes through it. And I'm saying this as your parent, so you know I'm right."
"You've got zero experience with that!!" (Smack!)
"Ha, right! A daughter in her late twenties just appeared out of thin air!"
""Yes, ma'am!!""
It devolved anyway.
☆☆☆
Meanwhile, at that same time.
Still within Merveille airspace, but on a different Sky Island, away from the island where the Hideout was located.
To make absolutely sure Sue wouldn't find out, they had moved all the way out here for this meeting, and just as Shiki and the others had guessed, it was a birthday present strategy session held by Sue's daughters. However...
"How do all of us manage to overlap this perfectly?"
"...Well, I guess it can't be helped? Our reasons for choosing were all the same, after all..."
Lined up before Alice as she muttered in exasperation were four swords.
The whole point of this meeting was supposed to be avoiding overlap, and yet when the cards were laid on the table, four out of five had prepared gifts in the exact same category. An impressively perfect collision, in its own way.
That said, as Iris had just noted with a wry smile, there was a reason they had all chosen swords as their gifts.
Because of that reason, no matter how many swords they gave Sue, it wouldn't be a burden. She'd be happy about it, in fact. But even so, it felt like a separate issue somehow.
"So the real surprise is Leona being the only one who didn't pick a sword?"
"Aunt Leona, is that... a book? It looks pretty old. What is it? At this point I'm actually really curious."
Leona's prepared gift: several old-looking books.
"They're old manuscripts. I got them from an island we rescued recently and added to our Territory. Apparently, that island used to be part of a much bigger nation, but... the World Government cracked down on them and destroyed it. The reasons and background were all covered up by the Government so nobody knows, but... these books are from that era, so they've got all sorts of potentially dangerous stuff written in them."
"...Wait, that sounds like a straight-up bombshell. And ye're giving that as a present? To Mother?"
"Mama loves that kind of stuff, right? Hidden historical mysteries and dramatic source material."
"That may be true, but... you've gone and unearthed something incredible without even realizing it."
Potentially more dangerous than any sword. The kind of thing that could very well invite action from the Government if its existence became known. The sisters stared at Leona, dumbfounded.
Now then, the remaining four gifts were swords, so let's look at them one by one.
Iris's prepared gift:
Cursed Blade "Hina"
Rank: None
"Ye're really giving a Cursed Blade as a birthday present?"
"It's fine. Sure, it gives off a slightly sinister aura, but it's not like it has some real curse that drives whoever holds it into a frenzy or anything."
"Is that so? Then I guess it's okay... but it definitely gives off a dangerous vibe?"
"Oh, but apparently this sword has a power that makes it easier for the wielder to use Haki, like it draws out and amplifies their Haki... The problem was idiots who suddenly got power and thought 'I'm strong now!' and got ambitious and went on rampages and self-destructed, or caused tragedies and disasters... There was some of that, apparently."
"That's plenty cursed!"
"A sword that draws out its owner's Haki on its own? I didn't know those existed... Would it be good for Haki practice, maybe?"
Snow's prepared gift:
Fine Blade "Christ"
Rank: None
"It's not a katana, more of a saber. Relatively thick blade... with a knuckle guard, too."
"The blade is black. Could it be... a Black Blade?"
"No, it's simply the material it was made from. Unlike Iris's Clau Solais, which 'became' one later... Even so, I'm told the quality is top-tier. As for its history, when a certain nation fell, some of its nobles and their private soldiers smuggled it out as they fled the country. It was originally that nation's national treasure... Well, those people had turned into would-be pirates, and we crushed them recently."
"Oh, so it's something you took from those guys we wiped out the other day... Hm? What's wrong, Alice? You've got a complicated look on your face."
"No, it's nothing major... I just thought this sword would really suit Mom. Something about it... stirs me up."
"...Why?"
"Don't get horny, you idiot."
Alice's prepared gift:
Cursed Blade "Minazuki"
Rank: Grade
"That's the second Cursed Blade."
"And it's a Grade!? You found something amazing, Dad..."
"Listen, Suzu, this one isn't like Iris's Hina with dangerous special effects or anything. ...Well, it does have a story behind it."
"It does?"
"Its cutting edge is incredibly sharp, and the lightness, center of gravity, and everything else are so perfectly balanced that if you can master it, it's powerful, but if you can't, it swings you around instead. In the chaos of battle, it'd slash through allies and enemies alike, and before you knew it, everyone around you, friend and foe, would be cut in half and dead... That kind of cute little issue."
"That's plenty scary! It literally lives up to its name!"
"But if you master it, it's strong, and apparently it was also good for holding back when cutting. It cuts so cleanly that minor wounds heal fast without leaving scars, and there are even Legends about limbs being sliced clean off and reattaching perfectly."
"Either way, a certain level of scariness follows it around."
Suzu's prepared gift.
"...Hold on, Suzu... isn't that a lot?"
"She's right... How many did you prepare? How much effort did you put into collecting these?"
"Aunt Suzu, that's not fair! Isn't it supposed to be one per person?"
"And every single one appears to be a sword of no small quality... How did you manage to gather them all?"
"Stop talking all at once. I can't explain anything, can I? ...Look, I didn't originally plan to prepare this many either. There's a bit of a reason for it."
Suzu looked down at the five swords lined up at her feet, turning the words over in her mind for a moment before speaking.
"We... the Golden Lion Pirates protect a pretty wide range of islands and nations, right? Among them, there's an island with a skilled swordsmith who lives in obscurity, unknown to the wider world. The swords these craftsmen forge are sometimes offered to us as thanks for our protection. These are some of them."
With that, Suzu picked up four of the five swords and set them in front of her where they could be seen clearly. The remaining one she handled carefully, setting it apart at a slight distance.
Most of them were more curious about that single separated sword, but first, they turned their attention to the four.
"All four are by the same swordsmith. He lived on an island that Mother and I saved together in a joint operation. I've continued looking after that island since, including food supplies and such, and these were presented to us from there. On top of that, apparently the smith was a fan of the Pirate Literary Master, and he laughed and said, 'I went ahead and made these inspired by her work. Use them if you like.'"
"...And that person, now?"
Alice asked, half-sensing the answer from the slight heaviness that had crept into Suzu's voice.
"He passed away not long ago. These are works that a master swordsmith literally poured his life into crafting, so I did wonder whether using them as something so mundane as a birthday present was appropriate... But the swordsmith himself asked me to do exactly that. The man was past seventy and still knew Mother's exact birthday. His own family was amazed at his dedication. I was amazed too. Now, as for these four swords he forged... They're newly made, so naturally they haven't been given a Rank yet, but I had other master swordsmiths I'm acquainted with examine them, and they said every single one is on par with a Skillful Grade or a Grade blade."
Having said that, Suzu pointed to each of the four swords in turn.
Spring Rain. Azure Swallow. Hinokami. Hiten. She introduced them one by one.
"I see, they really are all named after Mom's books... Giving Grade-quality works names like those, that swordsmith really was a devoted fan of Mom's, wasn't he? ...So, Suzu?"
Alice paused there and turned her gaze to the remaining sword.
"You set that one apart from the rest, which means... it's different from these? ...Just my gut feeling, but that one looks way more intense in terms of its aura."
"Sharp where it counts as always, aren't ye."
With a tone somewhere between admiration and exasperation, Suzu brought out the final sword.
It certainly looked like a fine blade from appearance alone, but a closer examination of the details revealed that it was not recently made. Well-maintained, but clearly an aged weapon with years behind it.
"This was also presented to us by that swordsmith... but it wasn't his own work. It's a family heirloom, forged by one of his ancestors. I asked him multiple times whether it was really all right to give such a thing away, but he said he didn't have long left, and there was no one he could entrust it to..."
"His own masterpieces weren't enough, so he went and added the family heirloom too... As a fan, that's truly next-level dedication."
"Well, it must be because he considered Mother a worthy person to entrust it to... Still, if it's a sword that a smith of that caliber kept as a family heirloom, it must be quite the famous blade."
"Aye. An unquestionable masterpiece among masterpieces. Supreme Grade, Kaguya Murasaki... so it's called."
"""Su... preme...!?"""
Everyone was struck speechless.
Supreme Grade blades were known as the pinnacle of all swords in existence.
Those who currently possessed, or had once possessed, such weapons were without exception figures of world-renown.
The Black Blade "Yoru," wielded by the world's strongest swordsman, Hawk-Eye.
The great naginata "Murakumogiri," used by the Great Pirate Whitebeard.
The beloved sword "Ace," swung by Pirate King Gol D. Roger.
Others included "Yakuza Kasen," held by the swordsman Fujitora, who had recently become a new Marine Admiral, and the Cursed Blade "Shodai Kitetsu," whose current owner remained unknown but whose name was widely recognized.
Only twelve were said to exist in all the world. Famous blades among famous blades.
And one of those twelve was now the sword before their very eyes.
"A Supreme Grade blade kept as a family heirloom... The smith's skill goes without saying, but his family must have been truly remarkable. ...Do you have any information about this swordsmith?"
"I kept it all hidden. Nothing good comes of people knowing where such things originate. ...Even the man's grave was made to look like an ordinary grave, with not so much as a hint of 'swordsmith' engraved on it. That was his last wish, his family told me. So... these swords entrusted to me, I will deliver them properly to Mother."
With that, Suzu summed things up.
"As I said before... from here on, Mother can never have too many fine swords. All five of these... no, including all of yours as well, every last one of them will lend Mother strength in the battles ahead. I'm sure of it."
☆☆☆
Shortly after that.
The present meeting, which had produced several items beyond anyone's expectations, seemed like it was about to wrap up, but before everyone could disperse, Iris spoke up with a "Wait a moment."
"Sorry, don't leave yet. I have a proposal for everyone here."
"A proposal? What is it?"
When Alice asked curiously, Iris said,
"So... the presents we just showed, we'll each give those to Mom individually. But on top of that, I'd like us to prepare one more present, from all of us 'daughters' together."
"We have an idea, you see... and to make it happen, we'd like to borrow the three of you's help."
Snow joined in, and the three who were their seniors as 'daughters' settled in to listen.
"Sounds interesting, but... what exactly are you giving her? A sword?"
"No, everyone's already giving swords individually, so that's covered... This is just an idea, like I said, a proposal, but..."
"...We want to give Mom her very own Homies as a present."
To be continued...