"Cultivate chakra?"
Hearing Revy's words, Kisame's dead-fish eyes widened in surprise.
Don't joke around—he's an executioner! If you want him to teach something, teaching how to kill would make more sense than teaching chakra cultivation.
Besides, the brutal training methods from the Bloody Mist era of Kirigakure weren't suitable for someone like Revy.
Though he didn't oppose Revy's request, he truly didn't know how to handle it.
Suddenly, as if something came to mind, he reached for the pouch on his lower back. At this moment, he was incredibly grateful that when he was revived, he had even brought this along.
After all, this pouch contained all his belongings.
Finding the storage scroll, he quickly formed a simple hand seal to open it. With a puff of smoke, a pile of miscellaneous items tumbled out with a clatter!
"Do I really have this much stuff?"
Staring at the messy heap before him, even Kisame himself was a bit dumbfounded.
"W-what kind of ability is this?"
Although she was already used to strange things happening around this man, Revy was still startled by the sudden pile of items.
Curious, she squatted down and started rummaging through the mess.
There were bottles and jars, small scrolls, and oddly shaped weapons—it was practically a treasure chest.
Even though it was late at night, Kisame's vision remained unaffected.
Revy, clad in ultra-short shorts, squatted down deeply—nearly making Kisame lose his composure.
This girl… seriously…
Kisame shook his head to himself, then picked up a fresh Akatsuki cloak from the pile and tossed it onto Revy's head.
"Ah! What are you doing?"
"Nothing. Just don't want you catching a cold."
"Cold?"
Revy removed the cloak from her head and looked around in confusion.
"But it's hot… Where's the cold?"
Puzzled, Revy suddenly realized her own posture. She looked up slyly at Kisame and, instead of putting on the cloak, sat cross-legged right in front of him.
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
Kisame's expression stiffened upon hearing that. His face darkened as he responded coldly, "Don't try to get close to me."
"Tch, acting all serious—so boring!"
Revy pouted and tossed the cloak over her lap before continuing to pick through the pile of items.
Soon, she was completely absorbed in her search. From the mountain of treasures in front of her, she picked up a particularly eye-catching pink liquid in a bottle.
"What's this?"
"Uh…"
"You probably shouldn't mess with that. Scorpion gave it to me. I heard it's highly toxic… and there's no antidote." Kisame glanced at the bottle and replied.
"Poison?"
Revy shuddered upon hearing that and almost threw the bottle away. She had initially thought it was some kind of perfume, but to her surprise, it turned out to be a deadly poison.
Carefully, she placed the bottle down and continued sifting through the pile with caution. Who knew what other strange things might be hidden in there?
"Found it!"
Before long, Kisame tossed two relatively thin scrolls to Revy.
"These are beginner ninja training scrolls. Deidara gave them to me back then. I originally planned to throw them away but forgot about them…"
"If you want to learn, read these. They're better than learning from me."
Having found the scrolls for her, Kisame turned his attention back to the miscellaneous items scattered around him. He figured he should organize them—who would have thought he had accumulated so much over time?
Looking back on his life in the ninja world, he spent the first half killing enemies and even teammates. The latter half was spent striving for world peace.
Had he ever truly lived for himself?
It seemed… not really.
But regrets? He had plenty. The biggest one, undoubtedly, was Itachi's death.
"Huh?"
"What's this…?"
Kisame's gaze fell on a particular scroll, and he suddenly froze.
Didn't this belong to the organization?
How was it in his hands?
Looking at the scroll titled Impure World Reincarnation Technique, Kisame's mind grew hazy. He distinctly remembered Itachi giving it to him, and he, in turn, had handed it over to White Zetsu.
So why was it still with him?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out where the mistake was.
"But this might not be a bad thing… If I have this, doesn't that mean I can bring them back?"
Thinking of his fallen comrades, Kisame felt his mind begin to race.
They had their conflicts, sure—but when it came to missions, they worked together seamlessly.
If given the chance, he wouldn't mind reviving a few of them. Maybe even share his newfound joy with them.
Especially after encountering that Marine in the brothel earlier—if the Marines had powerful individuals, wouldn't the pirates as well?
With that thought, the idea of resurrecting his comrades became an uncontrollable urge, growing stronger like bamboo shoots after the rain.
After handing Revy the two beginner ninja scrolls, Kisame packed away the rest of the items.
Except for Impure World Reincarnation.
Since the pirate ship was being pulled forward by a summoning beast, there was no need for manpower. Kisame sent Revy inside the cabin and remained alone on the deck, carefully studying the technique.
---
Brrrr… Brrrr…
Early in the morning, Sengoku had just stepped into his office when the Den Den Mushi rang incessantly.
Seeing the sluggish, somewhat sleazy-looking snail, Sengoku felt as if he had seen a ghost.
"Kizaru?"
He wasn't sure at first and glanced outside at the rising sun. No doubt—it was coming from the east.
"Yo… Good morning, Fleet Admiral…"
There was no need to confirm. That slow, drawling, punchable voice—no one in the Navy had one quite like it.
Sengoku had no patience for Kizaru's nonsense.
"Something wrong?"
"Mmm, just a little something. I want to look into two people…"
After returning to his bed last night, Kizaru had been pondering Kisame's strength. While he didn't believe the guy could surpass him, based on Towa's description, Kisame's abilities were likely on par with those of a pirate with a bounty exceeding 100 million.
A man like that joining the Marines wouldn't just be a valuable asset—his recommendation bonus alone would be quite substantial.
As for any past records, well, that was just a matter of paperwork.
So, first thing in the morning, he made two calls—the second one was to Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
"A fish-man?"
Hearing Kizaru's report, Sengoku was slightly surprised. When it came to powerful fish-men, aside from the recently deceased Fisher Tiger, the only one who had left an impression on him was Jinbe.
As for other strong fish-men, he hadn't heard of any.
He thought about it for a moment but couldn't recall anyone by the name of Hoshigaki Kisame.
"Alright, I've got the name. I'll have someone look into it. Anything else?"
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku… just don't forget, if this guy enlists, remember that I was the one who recommended him, okay?"
"You bastard! Stop thinking about salary and bonuses all day and do some real work!"
Clack!
Sengoku roared as he slammed the Den Den Mushi down. His once-peaceful morning was now completely ruined by these troublemakers.
Sometimes, he truly worried about the Navy's future.
The three most accomplished vice admirals were all problem children—lazy, sleazy, violent. Three promising young officers… how had they turned out like this?
Even though he was in a foul mood, Sengoku still gave orders to investigate Kisame Hoshigaki and the young woman accompanying him.
As one of the top forces in the pirate world, the Navy's intelligence network was formidable.
It didn't take long before two detailed files were delivered to Sengoku's desk.
After finishing some work, he finally opened the files and began reading.
One glance—and he was shocked.
"These… how did these two end up together?"
(End of Chapter)