Chapter 4 The strange Twins
Hiyori woke up and looked around. She saw two 8-year-old kids sleeping on a futon.
Both had white hair and horns on their heads.
They were sleeping, with Yamato's head on Ragnar's stomach. Ragnar's hand rested on her forehead, while his other hand was holding hers.
"Are they twins? Why do they have horns? Wait… where am I?"
Hiyori was completely lost.
Ragnar woke up, sensing her, and looked at her.
"Yo! You're up?"
"Kyaa!"
Hiyori jumped as she was startled by him.
"Umm… where am I? And who are you?"
"Oh, this is the Shogun Castle. And I'm the Shogun of Wano—Ragnar."
Hiyori was speechless.
"Am I in some kind of weird dream? Wasn't the Shogun of Wano Orochi? And who are you?"
"Well, my dad kicked Orochi's ass and made me Shogun. Can you believe it? He made me, an 8-year-old, Shogun."
Ragnar complained, his hand caressing Yamato's head as she smiled in her sleep.
"Umm… who is your father?" Hiyori asked.
"Umm, Kaido—the dragon flying around Wano. You might have seen him. Seriously, the old man has nothing to do. All day he is either running around or drinking."
Ragnar huffed.
Hiyori nodded.
"Mine was… well, let's not even talk about it."
She paused, then froze.
"W-who is your father?"
"Kaido," Ragnar replied, enjoying her reaction.
Hiyori bit her lip.
"What the hell…?"
"Khahaha! Don't worry, it was me who brought you here," Ragnar said, laughing at her reaction.
Hiyori looked at him.
"Why?"
Ragnar shrugged.
"Well, you see, I have a habit of admiring princesses. And you happen to be one. So from now on, you are my princess."
Hiyori froze.
"What? What kind of logic is that?!"
Ragnar waved it off.
"Who cares about logic? You said you wanted to be Shogun, right?"
Hiyori nodded.
"So all you gotta do is train with me and Yamato and grow stronger. When you are strong and smart enough, As my princess, you can become Shogen. "
Hiyori was completely baffled by his logic.
Soon Yamato woke up and looked around, searching for something.
She saw Ragnar and jumped on him, falling asleep again while hugging him.
Ragnar's mouth twitched.
"Wake up, you sleepy head. It's time for training."
Yamato woke up, looked at irritated Ragnar, smiled, and hugged him.
"Morning."
Ragnar's irritation faded as he sighed.
"Well, let's go. Hiyori will be joining us today."
"I will?"
"She will?"
Both girls looked at him.
He nodded.
"Yep. Since she wants to grow stronger, she has to train super hard."
Yamato nodded.
"Don't worry. Just train as much as you can."
She patted Hiyori encouragingly.
Hiyori didn't even have time to sort out her confusion as she was dragged to training with Ragnar and Yamato.
After a few hours, Hiyori was panting, completely exhausted.
She looked at Ragnar and Yamato doing frog jumps while carrying boulders their own size.
"Monsters…"
Hiyori took a short break.
Ragnar and Yamato's frog jumps ended.
"Good, we're done—"
"Now to swinging kanabo!"
Yamato shouted.
Hiyori froze.
Ragnar grinned.
"Tsk. You want to become stronger with just this much training? We just did frog jumps. After this—kanabo swings. For you, sword swings. After that, running and hill climbing, then punching trees."
Hiyori froze.
"This… this?!"
Yamato looked at her.
"Don't worry. You'll get used to it. Just train till you can't, and eat lots of meat. And the next day, do more than yesterday."
Hiyori took a deep breath.
"Fine… I will do it."
Ragnar smiled.
Just then, a tall boy came running.
"Huff… huff… I'm late!"
"Yo Jack, took you a long time today," Ragnar said.
Yamato waved.
"I had some work," Jack replied as he started his own training.
Ragnar took out a Den Den Mushi.
"Yo, Uncle King, mind coming to the training ground for a bit?"
"I will be there, young master," King's reply came.
Hiyori was again dragged to an area where wooden practice weapons were stored—but each one was as heavy as, or heavier than, real ones.
"Pick a sword you like and follow us," Yamato said as she picked up a metal kanabo, heavier than a real one.
Hiyori looked at all the swords and picked one similar to Enma.
"This one."
She picked it up with both hands and followed Yamato.
King was already standing there.
Hiyori clutched her sword nervously.
"Yo, Uncle King, mind giving some basics on swordsmanship to Hiyori?" Ragnar asked casually.
"This…?"
Hiyori blinked.
"If you want me to, young master," King said as he looked at Hiyori.
She took a deep breath and pointed her sword forward.
Yamato was already swinging her kanabo.
Ragnar grinned and started his training, his fists landing on seastone slabs.
After the hellish training, Hiyori lay on her futon.
"That was exhausti—wait?"
She froze.
"I'm in the Beast Pirates. Why am I so relaxed? They are my enem—"
She stopped.
Yamato's encouraging smile and Ragnar's smiling face appeared in her mind.
"Are they…?"
She fell silent.
"I will stay, grow stronger, and figure it out in the future. As of now… I'm too weak."
Hiyori said softly and fell asleep.