The sea beast was frightened after being whipped twice by the fishing line. It possessed some wisdom; facing someone it clearly couldn't defeat, and who obviously didn't care much about it—otherwise, she would have struck long ago—it knew better than to resist.
The sea beast stopped not far from the dream ship and remained still, lowering its head as if acknowledging its mistake, conveying a desire for the other party to let it go.
Seeing the sea beast stop not far from the ship, Raiden Ei naturally didn't use the fishing rod again. Watching the sea beast's next move, she was certain that this beast had become quite sentient.
She withdrew the Armament Haki from the fishing rod, and the fishing line was easily bitten off by the sea beast. The sea beast widened its eyes, looking quite incredulous.
Raiden Ei looked at this silly, cute sea beast with a smile. Who would have thought she'd have the chance to encounter such a large bird? It wasn't fierce at all; it was basically a giant plush toy! "I'll let you go, be off! Don't eat fish caught by others in the future."
As if understanding her words, the sea beast let out another cry toward her. This time, the cry was clearly much friendlier than before. Its wings flapped against the seawater, and the entire sea beast leaped out of the ocean, showing the Raiden Ei what it meant for a fish-dragon to enter the sea.
The sea beast leaped less than a few meters high, only managing a single cry in the air before falling back into the ocean under the force of gravity, creating splashes several meters high.
Watching this scene, Raiden Ei didn't know how to feel: "A bird that should soar in the sky has lost its wings and cannot even stay aloft. What about me? If I lose the Raiden Ei, what will be left of me?"
She stared at the spot where the sea beast fell for a long time, as if determined to find the answer she sought: "The bird lost its wings, but it evolved fins to survive in the sea."
"And I still possess all of this. Right now, I should strive to become stronger so that I can protect the things I care about in the future and not lose what I am unwilling to lose."
With her resolve strengthened, Raiden Ei adjusted the ship back to its original course. She no longer spent her leisure time comfortably but continued her day-to-day training, wanting to master the martial arts from Raiden Ei's memories as quickly as possible.
As the dream ship sailed across the sea, time passed, and it traveled further and further. The peaceful sea was eventually disrupted by the arrival of uninvited guests.
From afar came the loud laughter and cheers of men. This startled Raiden Ei out of her serious training. She abruptly activated her Observation Haki to investigate what was happening around her.
In an instant, the perception of her Observation Haki Swirled out, extracting all life reactions in the vicinity, and she understood what was occurring.
A Pirate Crew was approaching the dream ship and had already gotten very close; she could even hear the pirates' laughter. She had been focused on her training and had long since lost track of time.
Raiden Ei took a towel from her system backpack and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her Current constitution was very strong and she rarely sweated, but her intense training had been too mentally taxing.
She turned and walked toward the direction the pirates were coming from. Standing by the gunwale, she looked at this small Pirate Crew; it was as unoriginal as those she had seen before. She used her Observation Haki to sense the opponent's situation anyway.
As the two ships drew closer, the pirates shouted excitedly: "Ooh, ooh, ooh, a beauty, a beauty!"
"Hahaha, pull the ship alongside!"
"Gah gah gah, we're finally open for business today!"
Raiden Ei ignored the foul language of these pirates and focused on her own task: "17 pirates, all rookies. Let's settle this all at once."
Raiden Ei took an ordinary Musou Isshin from her system backpack, her purple eyes looking coldly at the group of pirates as if they were already dead.
Faced with Raiden Ei's cold gaze, the pirates did not restrain themselves; instead, they grew more excited, even mocking Raiden Ei as if she were a weak and powerless noble lady.
"Truly things that don't know the meaning of death. Go to hell together!" The Musou Isshin in Raiden Ei's hand slashed out rapidly. A flying slash erupted from the blade, growing faster and larger as it cleaved toward the pirate ship.
The pirates on the ship, who had been at the gunwale shouting obscenities at Raiden Ei, naturally saw the slash she unleashed. Their legs went weak with terror. They wanted to stop it, but they couldn't; they wanted to run, but the slash was too fast—so fast they didn't even have time to react.
The slash skimmed across the sea's surface, splitting the pirate ship in two. The momentum of the slash did not diminish, carving a mark into the sea. Behind her, the Pirate Crew fell into the ocean from the halved ship; some survived and were splashing about on the surface.
Raiden Ei looked at her slash and nodded with satisfaction; its power was increasing. Seeing the struggling pirates and sensing through Observation Haki that some were swimming away underwater, she realized this wasn't what she wanted.
Her purple eyes narrowed slightly, and a powerful aura Swirled out from the Raiden Ei as the center, knocking all the pirates unconscious. Even those in the water were no exception, and they began to sink into the deep sea.
After clearing out these disgusting pirates, Raiden Ei felt much better: "It's settled. Back to training! However, I'll have to keep a bit of my mind on the outside this time to prevent what just happened from occurring again."
Having thought it through, she continued her training while keeping a small portion of her attention on the sea. The dream ship continued to sail across the ocean, occasionally encountering various situations.
By nightfall, Raiden Ei had dealt with two more Pirate Crews.
On the second day, she encountered four Pirate Crews and killed them all with a single strike.
On the third day, she encountered three Pirate Crews and bad weather. Killed.
On the fourth day, she encountered a strange Current and five Pirate Crews. Killed.
On the fifth day, after encountering one more Pirate Crew, Raiden Ei finally reached a fairly large island. On this island was a country called the Duchy of Hilton, with various large and small villages scattered around it.
Raiden Ei looked at the port from the gunwale, and her mood improved significantly: "It's quite lively. I'll replenish some supplies here and spend a couple of days sightseeing!"
After docking the ship at the port, Raiden Ei put the ship into her system backpack. The people around had been watching her because they saw such a beautiful woman and wanted to take a few more looks. Seeing this move, they realized she was a woman of strength and averted their gazes, though some still kept an eye on her.
Raiden Ei only knew about this country from books and wasn't clear on many specifics. However, she was only coming ashore to rest for a day or two. These past few days at sea had been too dull and constantly filled with pirates; now, she just wanted to come here to relax.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the fanfiction has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 or more chapters in advance over on my patreon: patreon.com/FTLGenBen
Also every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone, Thanks.