章 44: Chapter – 44 The New Beginnings

"Alright then, it's time," Kuina muttered as she took one last look at her room, the dojo, the dining room, as well as the other areas of her house and the village before finally making her way to the shore. She was wearing a short kimono along with a bamboo hat, carrying a small backpack and her trusted Wado Ichimonji.

As Kuina arrived at the shore, Ryuma looked at her and asked, "Ready?" It was the evening of the day he had returned to Shimotsuki Village, and it was time for the two to leave the village and move to the Eastern base of operations of the Revolutionary Army along with the East Army Commander.

"Yes, Aniki," Kuina nodded. She turned to her father and bowed lightly, saying, "Otou-sama, I will be leaving. Please watch over me."

"Hmm, good luck out there," Koushirou nodded. After a pause, he added with a serious expression, "Go spread your wings and prove me wrong by becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman!"

"I will!" said Kuina with a smile. Then she turned back to Ryuma and said, "Alright, Aniki, let's go."

Just as Ryuma was about to respond, he suddenly noticed a young figure running toward them at full speed and said with a smile, "Well, it seems your self-proclaimed rival is here to see you off, Kuina-chan."

Surprised, Kuina turned toward the small figure and realized that it was none other than the guy whom she had defeated almost two thousand times in duels. She smirked, saying, "What? Here to taste defeat once again, Zoro-kun?"

"Humph," snorted Zoro and said, "Kuina, I will let you go this time, but I am going to warn you in advance. Get stronger, so strong that when I defeat you in our next duel, I become the World's Greatest Swordsman. Because if you don't, then I will leave you behind in the dust and become the World's Greatest Swordsman on my own!"

Hearing Zoro's words, Ryuma chuckled, "You know, Zoro, that's a weird way of encouraging someone to get stronger."

Zoro blushed and turned his head to the side, embarrassed.

Noting Zoro's expression, Rio muttered, "What are you, a tsundere?" That was a jab straight to Zoro's heart, and it dealt 50 Doriki worth of damage to his heart.

At this time, Kuina smirked and said arrogantly, "Huh? Defeat me? What are you on about? That hasn't happened until now and will certainly not happen in the future either. I will make damn sure it doesn't! You can dream all you want, but even in your dreams, you aren't going to defeat me. Well… I will allow you to be number two. I will be the World's greatest Swordsman while you will be second. Yes, that would be acceptable, so don't disappoint me and at least become number two!"

"You!" Zoro gritted his teeth, but he chose not to return any insult. If they started doing that, they would continue to do the same for who knows how long. Instead, he simply folded his hands over his chest and said, "Whatever, we will see!"

"That we will!" nodded Kuina. Then she turned around and walked toward the ship, saying, "Let's go, Aniki!"

Ryuma shrugged, "Hmm," gave one nod to the Dōjō Master, took one look at the sword strapped at Zoro's waist, and then left too.

A large ship with a figurehead and a dark red flag bearing the symbol of the Revolutionary Army on the sail was waiting at the shore. It was the Wind Granma, the flagship of the Revolutionary Army. After this ship brought the residents of the Grey Terminal to Shimotsuki Village, it had been docked here to complete the follow-up procedure and help those residents properly accommodate on this island.

Moreover, it was also waiting for Ryuma and Dragon, who stayed behind in the Kingdom of Goa for a while longer than initially planned, so the Revolutionaries had to wait here. When Ryuma, Rio, and Kuina approached the ship, Ivankov–who was wearing a black hooded cloak above his new Kama clothes–rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "So, this is the body that will be joining our ranks for the next few years, huh?"

Standing beside Ivankov, Betty exhaled a puff of smoke, then nodded, "Yes, he might be young, but his strength is nothing to scoff at. I have witnessed it first-hand myself. I reckon he is like a young Kaido!"

"Kaido, you say?" muttered Ivankov in surprise and questioned with an amused smile, "N-fufufu, for you to make such a claim, Betty-chan, have you witnessed the strength of the Captain of the Beast Pirates?"

"This…" Betty was left speechless. "I haven't," and realized that she really couldn't compare Ryuma to any strong individual except maybe their Supreme Commander Dragon and Kuma because personally she had never really seen any other person of that strength fight. She added, "It's just an assumption."

"N-fufufu," Ivankov giggled and looked at the approaching figures of Ryuma, Kuina, and Rio with curiosity. He had certainly taken an interest in the Oni-boy.

Not long after, Ryuma and his gang boarded the Wind Granma and were greeted by Betty, who had been waiting for them. "Welcome to the team," she said.

Ryuma nodded, "Yeah, good to be here, even if it's only for a short while."

"Killjoy," pouted Betty, then lit another cigarette.

At this time, Kuina greeted Betty with a bow, "Betty-san, please take care of us."

The purple-haired woman took a long smoke as she nodded, "Hmm, likewise," then she thought of something as she looked at the cigarette in her hand, then at Kuina, and asked, "Wanna take a smoke?"

"Ehh? N-No… maybe when I grow up, not now," said Kuina as she declined the offer. Smoking or something similar wasn't something she was interested in at the moment.

Betty shrugged, "Your choice," then turned to Ryuma and asked, "What about you, Ryuma? Wanna take a smoke?"

"Huh?" Ryuma was stunned that Betty made such an offer. In his previous life, he was never a smoker, never once did he touch a cigarette or any tobacco-related item, but well, since this is a different world, and it is the time of new beginnings, why not? With this in mind, Ryuma smirked, "In fact, let's do it… this will be my first time," and took the cigarette handed to him by Betty.

Betty was surprised that Ryuma actually took the cigarette; she had asked just for fun but hadn't expected Ryuma to actually take the cigarette and looked at Ryuma with an expression of interest.

After taking the lit cigarette from Betty, Ryuma held it between his index finger and middle finger and brought it closer to his mouth. There was a red lipstick mark on the cigarette that came from Betty. Ryuma ignored the lipstick mark and put the rear end of the cigarette between his lips, then took a deep breath, inhaling the smoke.

Just as he had inhaled a puff, suddenly, a very big head appeared in front of him and said, "What's up?"

"Huh?" Ryuma was a little taken aback by the sudden appearance of a giant head in front of him and almost choked on the smoke he had just inhaled.

"Bud… you… you okay?" Rio flapped his wings in panic.

Kuina also looked at Ryuma in worry, "Aniki!"

"I… I am fine!" said Ryuma and added, "I was just shocked," then he took a few deep breaths and looked at the giant head with a purple afro as well as too much make-up, and exclaimed, "Hey, don't go shocking others like that; you almost gave me a heart attack there!"

The person with the giant head retracted their head backward, then said, "I have heard some great many things about you from Betty-chan, nice to meet you, Oni-boy."

"You are Emporio Ivankov, right?" asked Ryuma. It was obvious that there could only be one person with such an iconic appearance.

Ivankov nodded, "Heehaw, that is correct, Oni-boy. Vye are the Commander of the Grandline Division of the Revolutionary Army and the Queen of the New Kama land, Emporio Ivankov!"

'Yup, it's the Hormone Hormone human,' thought Ryuma and asked curiously, "So, you are the legendary New Kama Queen who is famous for being capable of changing a person's biological gender, huh?"

"Why vyes, of course, have vyou heard about me, Oni-boy?" asked Ivankov with a surprised expression. She hadn't expected that her reputation would reach the ears of people all the way to the East Blue.

"Uhh, something like that," nodded Ryuma as he took another puff from the cigarette.

Ivankov came close once again and asked, "Could it be that you want me to change your body into that of a woman? Are you a maiden at heart?"

COUGH! COUGH!

Once again, Ryuma choked on the smoke, and this time it was more terrible. The others got worried about him, however, Ryuma didn't care about his health in the slightest and took a few steps back from Ivankov with a scared expression while retorting, "No way, no way… Sexually, physically, mentally, psychologically, socially, emotionally, and biologically, I am a guy through and through… so please refrain from using your powers on me. I do not wish to become a maiden or whatever you call them!!"

"Hmm, is that so?" muttered Ivankov a little dejected, but ultimately didn't care and turned to Kuina, "What about you, ojou-chan, do vyou vant to become a man?"

"I…?" muttered Kuina while pointing at herself with a stunned expression. For a moment, she couldn't help but ask, "Is such a thing even possible?"

"Well, of course, it is!" nodded Ivankov, and added, "Let me show you!" then used his injection-like fingers to inject himself with the required hormones to become a woman. Visible to the naked eye, Ivankov transformed from a man into an extremely tall, curvy, and sexy woman.

Ryuma whistled. No, he wasn't being horny or calling shots for the Newkama Queen; he was whistling because he was amazed, "Anything is possible with the powers of Devil Fruits, huh?"

Rio also looked at the biologically female Ivankov in wonder, "She really can transform from a man into a woman!"

Kuina blinked her eyes in surprise, "It's really possible."

"What do you say, Oni-boy-chan?" said Ivankov while winking at Ryuma.

Ivankov's wink sent chills down Ryuma's spine, "Don't mess with me dammit!" His outburst brought out laughter from Betty, Kuina, and the others around.

"So, anyway," shrugged Ivankov, then turned back to Kuina, "What do you think, Ojou-chan? Want me to turn you into a man?"

"I… I don't know," answered Kuina as she looked down.

The others around also noticed Kuina's conflicting emotions; it was supposed to be a gag, however, realizing that this information seems to have a certain meaning to the young girl, they became silent.

Ryuma inhaled another puff of smoke from the cigarette, this time finally succeeding without any gag intervention, and successfully exhaled it. After that, he passed the cigarette back to Betty, saying, "Here you go, Betty."

Betty received back the cigarette and took a puff while watching Ryuma with curiosity.

After pondering for a moment, Ryuma approached Kuina and patted her head, "It's alright, Kuina-chan. There's a lot of time until we reach the base of operation of the East Army, so you have a lot of time to think about it."

Until a few months ago, she had always cursed the fact that she was born as a woman, and not as a man. Although she seems to have gotten over it, who knows, maybe there's still some doubt that plagues her mind and she still internally contemplates this question.

In fact, the very reason Ryuma brought up this topic and brought it to the table was to let Kuina know that changing one's biology is not impossible. If she desires, she can indeed become a 'man.' Ryuma did not tell her this directly; he just let her indirectly know that Emporio Ivankov is capable of changing the biology of a person so that, if she desires, she can change her biology.

Of course, the ultimate decision is up to her. If she wants, she can request Ivankov's assistance. If she doesn't want to, then she doesn't have to bother with this piece of information.

"I know," nodded Kuina.

After that, Ryuma met up with other important personnel of the Revolutionary Army on the ship, including Bartolomeo Kuma, with whom Ryuma was already quite familiar, and Inazuma, the Deputy Commander of the Grandline Division of the Revolutionary Army.

A while later, Dragon, who had been missing the entire time, also arrived, and the ship set sail from the Frost Moon Archipelago to the East Base of Operation of the Revolutionary Army. There, they would drop off Belo Betty, Ryuma, Rio, Kuina, along with a few other people of the East Division, before setting sail to the General Headquarters of the Revolutionary Army somewhere on the Grand Line.

Once the ship had set sail, Ryuma dozed off on the deck of Wind Granma; he hadn't slept much in the past few days because of all that was happening in the Kingdom of Goa, so he needed to catch his sleep.

So, while the top command of the Revolutionary Army discussed their actions from here on out, and while Kuina was pondering over the 'opportunity' of becoming a man that suddenly came before her out of nowhere, Ryuma and Rio were dozing off.

A few hours later, as the light of the rising sun passed through the window and hit his face, Ryuma woke up and muttered, "Is it morning already?"

"Aniki, you should wake up; Betty-san told me that we will be reaching their base soon," said Kuina as she caressed Ryuma's hair.

"Hmm," nodded Ryuma as he opened his eyes and looked at the pair of dark eyes staring back at him. Looking at the familiar pair of eyes, it wasn't all that difficult to notice that it was none other than his minion who was caressing his hair, and couldn't help but mutter, "Kuina-chan?"

At the same time, he realized that his back wasn't resting on the deck of the ship as it was when he dozed off. Rather, he was inside a room, probably on a sofa or something, while his head was resting on Kuina's lap. "What happened? How did I end up here… in this room?"

"Huh? Oh, that… Well, you fell asleep on the deck, so Betty-san brought you to this room that she was using… and I was here to watch over you," explained Kuina.

"Oh…" nodded Ryuma as he got up from Kuina's lap and sat down on the sofa. He stretched his body after a yawn. He didn't care all that much that he was sleeping on Kuina's lap. 'I mean, would you care if you slept for a while on your younger sister's lap? Not really, right? But, if it had been Betty, then maybe… Cough, no distractions, no distractions,' and wondered as he asked aloud, "Aren't your legs numb?"

Kuina shrugged, "Not really, something like this is not a problem… Besides, I needed something to distract myself while pondering over 'that' thing; playing(caressing) with your hair was distracting enough."

"I see," said Ryuma as he observed Kuina's body. There was still a curve around her chest, and all the feminine features, including her voice, were still there, which clearly meant that she was still a woman. Understanding the implication, he asked, "Seeing that you are still a woman, I guess you have made up your mind, am I correct?"

Kuina nodded, "I pondered over it the entire night, I even discussed it with Betty-san and Kuma-san, and sought their opinions. Finally, I made my decision to walk this path as a woman. Becoming biologically a 'male' would certainly help and make my path comparatively easier than it is now, but there is no fun in that…" She paused for a moment before a grin appeared on her face, and she said, "However difficult or impossible it may be, I have made up my mind to achieve the dream of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman. On this path, I would either achieve my goal, or I would die trying. There won't be any other choice!"

As she made this declaration of hers, a wave of energy emerged out of Kuina's body and spread throughout the ship like a shockwave. Not everyone felt this shockwave, but some people, including Ryuma, Dragon, Kuma, Ivankov, Betty, Inazuma, and a few others, clearly felt it.

Everyone's eyes widened as the shockwave brushed through their bodies. "That was…."

"Kuina-chan, you–!" Ryuma, in particular, was taken aback and couldn't help but think, 'So, she has it within her, huh?'

Realizing the implication of what that shockwave meant, a smile appeared on Ryuma's face. He ruffled Kuina's hair and said, "Well said, work hard and achieve your dream. I will support you in whatever way I can as your Captain and friend, got it?"

Kuina nodded with a smile, "Got it, Aniki."

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