73 73. Beidou Read The Manga in The Shop

In the Jade Chamber above Liyue Harbor, Ningguang is stunned after hearing a report from her secretary about Ryūhei's duel against the person who has always pestered her. While holding her smoking pipe, she chuckled.

"Ufufu, looks like Ryūhei is quite interested in me. Maybe with a little more touch, he'll be easy to manipulate." Then, she glanced at her secretary. "Anything else?"

"Yes. He made an agreement with Lady Yuheng and he asked for manpower to run his game company." The secretary replied. But this made her frown.

In her mind, Ryūhei should have liked her considering he had dueled for her. And if he needs anything, he will definitely come to visit the Jade Chamber. Yet, how come he asked Keqing instead of her?

The members of Liyue Qixing knew that Ningguang and Keqing's relationship wasn't that good. However, they maintained the status quo because both of them were members of Liyue Qixing, a committee that governs Liyue.

Seeing Ningguang's expression, the secretary immediately explained,

"Lady Yuheng happened to visit Sir Ryūhei in the morning. At that time, Lady Yuheng took the initiative to make an agreement with him. In exchange, she cleared his debt and prepared some manpower for his company. As for the agreement between them, I'm sorry, I didn't dare to pry it."

Ningguang was in shock after hearing the report from her secretary. It wasn't just once, but twice. Last month, Ryūhei got a building for free from the young master of the Feiyun Commerce Guild. And now, his debt in the Northland Bank was cleared by Keqing, which means that he got a building from Keqing almost for free.

'As expected, he's so genius!' Ningguang could only praise him in her heart.

However, she wondered what kind of agreement caused her to go that far. In any case, she should visit Keqing by herself.

"Anything else?" Ningguang asked again.

"Yes. We spotted a person from Snezhnaya. According to our intelligence, that person is the Eleventh Seat of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers, codenamed Childe. A while ago, he walked leisurely toward the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. According to previous reports, this man appears to have met a consultant from the parlor, Mr Zhongli."

"Previous reports, huh? Was he really visiting Zhongli for business because Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's finances were in a crisis? Or perhaps something else entirely?"

"I believe it was just for a business purpose. Almost everyone in Liyue knows what kind of person Mr. Zhongli is. He is a person who is proficient in almost every subject and holds all of the historical knowledge of Liyue in the palm of his hand. Just like what Miss Yanfei said, he is a walking library of Liyue. If he wanted to do something evil, Liyue is screwed by now. Moreover, as a person who works in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, he is a respectable gentleman because of his way to send the spirit to the afterlife, preventing any evil spirit from lingering in the mortal world."

As the people who work for Liyue Qixing, the secretary naturally knew a lot of things including the background of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor or even a Yaksha who was guarding Liyue from the Wangshu Inn to purge the evil spirits. Though, they didn't know that Zhongli was an Archon or that a certain granny was an Adeptus.

"Then, you should arrange for some people to watch Childe! Oh right, how about the person from the Fontaine that was beaten by Ryūhei?"

"The Millelith guards brought him to the Bubu Pharmacy. He is still unconscious until now. Well, I guess he received mental damage from the duel, so he can't wake up for the time being." The secretary smiled awkwardly when she recalled what Ryūhei did.

"That's odd. How come he received mental damage? Did Ryūhei perform a certain Mystic Art?"

Then, without hiding anything, the secretary told the chronology in detail.

Ningguang listened to her while smoking using her favorite pipe. But then…

*Cough* *cough* *cough*

Ningguang choked on hearing such an outrageous trick to win the duel.

"Lady Ningguang, are you alright? Here's the water."

After drinking the water, Ningguang said with a smile.

"What a devious youngster."

— — — —

Meanwhile, Beidou and Kazuha, who enjoyed the festival, also heard the news about Ryūhei's duel.

Beidou suddenly laughed in the middle of the street after hearing the news.

"Hahahaha. Your friend is so deceitful. He used such an underhand method to win the duel. Did he do the same to you at that time?"

"Well. More or less I guess. Although I hate to say that he always dishonored a fair duel, I admit that he's so talented in fighting since he has more tricks on his sleeve. You can say the person who challenged him was lucky that Ryūhei wasn't serious. And I heard that he is proficient in Mystic Arts, but he never used them when he was still in Inazuma. Thus, I have no doubt that he is still strong without such Arts. Even without his Mystic Arts, he almost killed me with his techniques, strength, and tricks."

Honestly, he didn't want to remember his duel against Ryūhei since it was so unpleasant. However, Ryūhei's fighting style was already etched in his mind due to how tricky he was.

"If he is as strong as you said, why did he use such a method to defeat the opponent?" Beidou asked. Kazuha pondered for a moment before replying.

"Hmmm. Except for beating that person again, what else?"

Beidou was stunned by that statement. But then, she burst into laughter.

"He is such an interesting young man. If he doesn't succeed in his business, I might force him into my crew like Luffy did to recruit his crew. Too bad I don't have that chance. Well, how about we visit his shop? I heard a new One Piece volume was released today."

With Beidou's suggestion, both of them walked toward the manga shop.

Beidou thought that she could meet Ryūhei. However, when she asked Atsuko, Ryūhei seemed to be meeting with guests.

Something like this happened whenever she wanted to meet him as if they were separated by fate.

"Sigh. Whatever. Miss Atsuko, give me the new One Piece volume!"

Atsuko picked it up, then gave it to Beidou. At that moment, Kazuha remembered something.

"Sis Beidou, the cook from your ship asked me if I could bring the first to third volumes of Shokugeki no Sōma."

"Oh. Miss Atsuko, give me the manga he mentioned as well!"

After that, Both Beidou and Kazuha sat down at the seats provided inside the shop. Then, they began to read.

When she read chapter 45, the conversation in the manga mentioned the Hawk-Eyes, a person who can split a ship with just one slash. This intrigued her. And after reading it a few moments later, she exclaimed.

"What the—"

"What is it, Big Sis?" Kazuha turned to Beidou due to her sudden exclamation.

"A huge galleon ship suddenly split into three."

Beidou said that while pointing at the manga page. Kazuha twitched his cheek.

"That's just fiction, okay! There's no need to be shocked."

*****

A figure is seen standing on a small boat decorated with a pair of candles on the left and right and a sail on the back.

Sweat dripped from Zoro's body as soon as he saw the person who split the ship. And that person is the person Zoro has been looking for all this time.

"I-It can't be… Is that… The Hawk-Eyed man?" Zoro said in a stutter.

On the other hand, Zeff commented as he looked at a weird looking one edge black sword.

"From the weapon on his back, there's no mistake. He was the one who cut that ship. He is a renowned swordsman. More renowned than any other swordsman in the world since he is the world's strongest swordsman, Hawk-Eyes Mihawk."

At that moment, a random pirate shouted at Mihawk.

"Damn it! What did we ever do to you? When did we do something wrong?"

Mihawk stared at that man before replying nonchalantly.

"You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just killing time."

"That's bullshit!" The pirate raged and immediately fired the pistols toward Mihawk.

However, with a graceful movement of his sword, he deflected the bullets by changing the trajectory with the tip of his sword.

"Heh. It's no use. No matter how many times you shot, he'd deflect it regardless. That's the strongest swordsman for you." Zoro said, then walked step by step in Mihawk's direction. "Hehe, you really are the strongest. I set sail just to meet you, Hawk-Eyed Mihawk!"

Mihawk glanced at Zoro before asking.

"What do you aim for?"

"To be the strongest!" After saying that, Zoro wore his green bandana before pointing his sword at Mihawk. "You just said "killing time" before. So I guess you have a lot of free time, right? In that case, let's have a duel!"

"Pitiful weakling. Know thyself and know thy world! If you're a competent swordsman by any means, then I can demonstrate the clear difference in strength between you and I, without needing to cross blades at all. But still, you dare to challenge me. Does your bravery come from your conviction? Or from ignorance?"

"It comes from my ambition and a promise to a friend."

Then, Zoro placed the second sword in his mouth where he bit the sword's handle, and pulled out the last sword to be held in his left hand. But, Mihawk grimaced seeing that.

He removed the cross-shaped pendant around his neck and sheathed it. It turned out the cross-shaped pendant was a one-edged knife.

Zoro furrowed his brow before asking.

"Just what are you planning to do with that?"

"I'm different from those stupid brutes who'd go all out just to hunt a mere rabbit. Unfortunately, I don't have a blade smaller than this at this moment."

They fought for a moment. But, the difference between them was so obvious and Zoro lost badly against Mihawk.

*****

"This fight is so exciting. Too bad Zoro is still far from being the world's strongest swordsman. Hey Kazuha, you should aim to be the strongest samurai! And I will be the pirate king, hahaha."

Kazuha could only cover his face because of this although he knew that Beidou was just joking. But still…

"Down your voice, big sis! It's so embarrassing!"