The start of the week did not initially go how Swiss envisioned.
Despite getting into bed late, he woke an hour before dawn.
More than enough time to stare at the ceiling and imagine oneself as a yonko level pirate pwning fodder.
He rationalized his lack of sleep to be akin to the mindset of kings haki users who chased their ambitions wholeheartedly.
But by the half-hour past dawn, the eager expectations that Swiss had about this week of training had already started to pick up unwanted anxious energy.
Swiss sat in the living room keeping an ear out for any sudden movement in the bedrooms. He wanted to get breakfast started as soon as he knew someone was waking up.
Yet it was not until what he estimated to be 09:30 AM did the Stacy family emerge from their hidey holes.
"Mornin' Swiss! Wow, this smells good!" Lockett smiled at his new house guest performing a heartfelt gesture of cooking while he ruffled the hair of a half-awake Amsterdam.
"Morning. Or should I say mid-morning? Trololol. Have you ever wondered why we have 'noon', and 'afternoon', but we only have 'morning'? Where is the 'after morning' or 'mid morning' at? It's fucking racist."
Lockett, Amsterdam, and Mayah all looked at Swiss like he was an absolute nut case. Swiss cringed so badly it felt like he died inside.
'I guess they don't appreciate shit-posting?'
Mayah found the pained face Swiss made at the awkwardness he caused to be extremely humorous.
She placed her hand on her chin and giggled a tad before hating herself and pretending like it never happened.
Her brother and father took notice. Thankfully for her, Swiss was lost in his own world.
When they did finally start doing some training they did it at the beach across the road.
They trained three hours a day going through the motions.
Strikes, parries, footwork, the whole works.
Well… they tried to.
For the most part, they trained for as long as Amsterdam's attention span could muster.
After around an hour, Amsterdam would get bored and want to go exploring, to which Lockett would happily oblige.
"What about MY training?" Swiss would ask.
"What about it? We ran through the movements. Maybe YOU should decide what to do next." Lockett would retort.
"Jeez, okay old man. Who knew you were such a savage?"
Hence, Swiss would do what he could during any spare time had.
At first, he felt like a wuss about it.
It's understandable; he had expectations about how his sensei and student relationship would go.
It's only natural that he would feel disgruntled at the lack of attention Lockett paid to seriously advancing his martial prowess.
He quickly shook off that feeling. There was a time when he was a solo player roaming the seas of OPO. It was a world where no one wanted to share information about how to become stronger.
You could call it petty, but in a skill-based game where you could not pay your way towards victory, you needed to figure out all the advantages possible. Why would you share your hard-earned secrets?
So really, Swiss was used to being alone. And maybe he preferred it that way.
But it was during his sparring sessions with Mayah that he felt like he was getting somewhere.
At first, Mayah only agreed to help Swiss train for an hour a day. Then it became two hours, then it became from after lunch until the sun went down.
How many losses had Swiss suffered? 600? 700?
After a while, his skin had gotten so used to being clobbered that it no longer blemished as easily.
It had gotten to the point where Mayah's hits felt like they only just bothered Swiss.
Think of it this way: It's not that a bee sting becomes any less painful, but rather after getting stung so many times, you get used to it.
His confidence grew, yet mental simulations of how it would go if she fought seriously like their first duel plagued his mind and kept him up at night.
The fifth day arrived.
Lockett, Amsterdam, and Mayah elatedly observed Swiss, impressed with how much he had improved.
'Qaqa. We might just make a soldier of him yet.' Lockett thought.
Swiss had progressed to the stage where Mayah could not land any obvious blows.
But that did not matter considering Swiss still could not manage to find an opening to strike back himself.
Nonetheless, the matches were interesting and became more like drawn-out battles of stamina and willpower, a contrast to their earlier bouts where Swiss' lack of technique held him back.
Just before sundown, Mayah decided to blow off some steam, giving Swiss a glimpse at game speed.
She dashed at him with serious intentions.
With a large inhale through the nose and a serious expression, Swiss tensed up initially. But once he took a moment to realize he could follow her movements, his muscles relaxed.
This allowed him to narrowly nudge his body to the side and dodge her deadly thrust finisher.
Mayah and Swiss both held the pose at the end of this exchange as if it was the dramatic end to the theatre.
Both breathing heavily, they got lost in the eyes of each other for a moment. Swiss pictured his victory. Mayah pictured a snake failing to snatch its prey.
Lockett clapped slowly, "Bravo, bravo!"
Amsterdam and Lockett were pleased with the results of today's session, but Swiss was felt disgruntled.
Mayah's eye was far better trained than his. Her speed was difficult to handle. Her finisher delivered immense damage.
But the thing that most humbled Swiss was Mayah's stamina. She had been able to oblige Swiss wanting to spar for many hours straight during this week so far.
Swiss grunted and clenched his fists, "Thank you, Mayah. Let's have a rest day tomorrow."
"You don't want to train tomorrow?" Mayah was surprised. She thought that surely Swiss would want to train as much as possible before the big day.
"That's not it. I just feel bad for stealing you this whole time. Out of respect, I'm going to hold back my urge to take advantage of your value as a sparring partner and do my own thing."
"So I'm just a 'valuable sparring partner'? You're a dick." Mayah crossed her arms unimpressed.
"Qaqaqaqa! Smart call, Swiss. With women you have to quit while you're ahead!"
Lockett laughed as he dodged the wooden sword that Mayah angrily threw at him.
Swiss watched on, thankful for the Stacy family and their hospitality.
The time had come.
Seven days passed quickly. Lockett had given Swiss the tools to educate himself. All that was left was for him to show what he learned.
"Good luck. I sure hope you're ready!"
Amsterdam spurred Swiss on. He was a good kid who wanted to let Swiss know that he appreciated him win or lose.
Swiss did not let Amsterdam's support make him go sentimental. He had a mission to accomplish.
It was high noon. Mayah had just finished tying her hair.
"Alright! This is it, lad! Don't fuck this up, qaqaqaqa!" Lockett sat down and got himself comfortable.
Swiss and Mayah faced each other, grasping their wooden swords.
They both locked their eyes on a falling leaf. Once it hit the ground…
"FIGHT!" Amsterdam hollered.
As if it was a carbon copy of how their first match went, Mayah attempted to speed blitz Swiss again with her silent dash.
Though Swiss could see it coming, the sudden intensity still caught him off guard. With no time to dodge, he braced himself for impact.
["Final March!"]
'Did she just say a named attack?!' Swiss took the full force of the strongest thrust he had ever taken from Mayah. He got sent flying so far back that the only thing that stopped him was slamming into a tree.
"Nice start!" Lockett gave a thumbs up.
'Tch, seriously?' Swiss picked himself up from the ground and brushed the imaginary dust from his shoulder.
"All she has is one good move. I just need to-"
Mayah was upon Swiss once again, only now he dodged it with a barrel roll to the side.
"Trololol. Get baited noob."
Swiss and Mayah engaged in sword combat.
Swiss was able to strike with as much power and finesse an amateur could, yet it was nothing that caused any concern for Mayah.
It went on for hours, with no one giving any ground.
Swiss held his own rather well. The only times he would get hit during an exchange was when he allowed his mind to wander.
Sometimes he would imagine himself like he was Will Turner and Jack Sparrow in that one scene during the first POTC movie. But every time he did, Mayah always managed to make him pay.
Swiss noticed this. It made him think back to his days of One Piece Online. The great players would be in a constant state of flow. The moment you started thinking during PVP you allowed your opponent to gain precious time over you.
Swiss came to realize that he had been neglecting an important component that helped him defeat countless opponents; the psychological.
He disengaged from his sword flurry with Mayah and jumped back some distance.
'If I ignored such an obvious adjustment, what else have I overlooked?'
That's when Swiss felt a spark of creative electricity. Perhaps he had something up his sleeve after all. 'Could that work?' he giggled, looking at Mayah with a sly smirk on his face.
Mayah felt the air change. 'What is he planning?'
"Trolol, ur ez nao" Swiss had an idea. He didn't think to trash talk all this time. How could he have strayed so far from who he was?
[swiss: zzz]
[swiss: zzz]
[swiss: noob]
[swiss: lawl bruh who is dis fodder scrub]
…
Now that he had some muscle memory with sword fighting, Swiss was able to conduct himself more naturally, channeling the vibes that got him to the top in his old life.
"Lez do dis. Imma win nao"
Swiss threw his sword out towards Mayah and prepared himself in an awkward stance. He looked like that skinny kid on his first day at the boxing gym.
Seeing Swiss stand there like an idiot made Mayah's blood boil. She didn't know why, but for some reason, she had an overwhelming urge to defeat Swiss and rub it in his face.
She cleared her mind and resolved to put everything into this last attack.
Lockett observed the final moments of the match with great anticipation.
"What do you think dad? Will he dodge, or will he charge first?" Amsterdam asked his father.
"In crucial moments such as these, oftentimes it's option C that prevails."
"Huh?" The young boy did not understand.
"Just watch. You'll see."
Mayah pounced with the most speed and technique she had ever displayed. She too had grown over the week.
This attack had the emotional weight of a daughter waiting for their dad to come home from war behind it.
All the while, Swiss kept his cocky smirk.
It felt like it happened in slow motion. Mayah planted her foot and thrust her sword.
["Final March!"]
But Swiss had planted feet of his own. He contorted his body so that Mayah hit him with all her power on the left half of his body.
Mayah's force combined with Swiss' jump forward, a jump which he did with rotation.
"Downstairs?" Lockett stood from his chair.
Swiss may have taken a nasty hit, but due to where Mayah landed it, it actually helped add power to his attack.
["CUNT PUNT OF DEATH!"]
Against his own will, the words escaped his mouth.
'What the fuck? First it was the uncontrollable eccentric laughing styles.. Now I can't stop myself from saying the names of important attacks?'
It was no time to think about this. Swiss kicked Mayah so hard in the groin section that now it was her turn to be sent flying- albeit only a few meters.
She stabbed her sword into the ground and used it to try help herself back to her feet. But Swiss did not let this opportunity slip.
He took a deep breath and sprinted full speed towards Mayah, picking up his sword on the way and raising it high.
The movements mimicked when Swiss tried to overpower Mayah in their first fight. Only this time the strike had a more educated movement behind it.
With all his might, Swiss used a two-handed grip and swung his sword down with everything he had.
Though he had not thought of this before, for some reason these words escaped his mouth…
["HASH SLINGING SLASH!"]
…
*PSH, PSH!*
Mayah had just managed to put her sword up to block. Her and Swiss' wooden swords could not handle the clash and thus splattered into splinters.
They both held hilts with no blade. Swiss could not stop his momentum. He fell into Mayah and they tumbled on the grass.
There she lay with him on top, their faces so close that their exhausted pants are blowing air into each other's necks, a veil of cold sweat the only thing that seemed to be separating them.
Swiss plants her shoulders to the ground with his hands and then pulls back a fist.
Mayah just looks to the side, her cheeks flushed, ready to take the official finishing blow.
But something grabbed his fist before it could go anywhere.
"Let's stop it here. Bravo, Swiss. You win." Lockett let the arm go of the still battle-crazed victor.
"Nani? I… I won?" Swiss snapped out of it immediately.
"Yes. So you can get off my daughter now."
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Swiss helped Mayah up and then groaned in pain, "Owww!"
"Haha. You start hurting after the adrenaline wears off, huh?" Lockett chuckled.
"You can say that again…"
Amsterdam ran to Swiss with a cheesy grin and gave him a high five, "Wow! That was awesome! You were like Ahh! But then you were like wow kapow!"
Swiss scratched his head like it was no big deal.
"That was impressive. A kick to the groin eh? Why not try that earlier?" asked Lockett.
Swiss looked out to the sea, "Because she was a girl, I never even thought to consider such a move. Without balls, what's the point of attacking there? But then I was like, wow, why am I limiting myself?"
Just like how he hadn't thought of talking shit during any of their matches, he came to think there had to be millions of other things he hadn't considered.
He needed to sharpen up. The PVP of One Piece Online required creativity amid battle. Why should it be any different different here?
Besides, half of the fun would always be finding cool ways to defeat your opponents.
"So I thought 'fuck it', trololol. Sometimes you gotta risk it for the biscuit."
"Qaqaqa! See Amsterdam? What did I tell you? Always choose option C!"
Mayah was finding it hard to hold back her saltiness, "Pfft. If we were using real swords that would never have worked. You'd be dead."
Swiss rolled his eyes, "umad bro?"
[swiss: gg ez]
The four of them sat at the picnic table on the front lawn enjoying a mug of hot chocolate.
"So.." Lockett clapped his hands and rubbed them together, "Now that you can handle yourself. What do you plan on doing with your life?"
His question reminded Swiss of the end of his school days. How many awkward seminars did the school host where dorky middle-aged people came in and gave a speech about planning for the future?
Swiss was feeling himself, so he put up his pinkie as he took a sip from his cup like he was the queen of England, "I'm not quite sure yet. I have some ideas, but they are big-picture plans. I guess for now I might focus on finding the one piece."
"The one piece?" Amsterdam asked.
Swiss raised a brow. His instincts had been correct. Wherever he was, this was either set before the time of gold roger, or it was another universe entirely.
Hell, for all he knew the void century hadn't even happened yet.
"Yeah, you haven't heard of it? The great treasure waiting at the final island in the new world. No one knows if it exists, yet people sail out to find it anyway."
"Wow, awesome!" Amsterdam replied.
"Sounds romantic," Mayah added.
"Romantic is an understatement." Swiss acted casual, but the Stacy family thought he was being pretty epic right now.
First, they thought Swiss was just some random passerby. Now they were starting to think that he is more special than previously assumed.
Swiss misread their expressions towards him and felt the need to explain himself, "It's just a story though! But I may as well go see for myself."
Lockett stood abruptly, "Right! You're heading out tomorrow. So it's time for a surprise!"
He went into the house. After a couple of minutes, he came back out carrying something.
"This here was my sword during all my years in service. Swiss, you have earned the right to be armed. Take this for your travels to Russel."
Swiss took the item from Lockett, "Aw man, a sword? You shouldn't have."
"I didn't. You are to give this back later." Lockett said curtly.
"lol k den" Swiss brushed Lockett off and unsheathed the sword. It was a well-polished cutlass with a hilt made from green jade. "It's marvelous."
The cutlass reminded Swiss of the time Oda finally gave the readers a Gold Roger flashback. Were it not for the jade hilt, the blade would look the same as the pirate kings. 'What did he call that sword again.. Ace, wasn't it?'
Needless to say, Swiss felt pretty badass right about now. His image was one befitting a pirate.
That night, Swiss slept like a baby.
Dreaming of what tomorrow will bring.
The next morning, Swiss got dressed in shorts and an island shirt with bright hibiscus flowers drawn on it.
Lockett gave him money for the booze, as well as some spending money for his time in Russel.
With a sword strapped to his waist and a pocket full of coin, Swiss waved the Stacy family goodbye and walked the main road.
The little bird finally leaving the nest of Ahipara behind.