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"Huh? You wanna follow me to the hot spring?"
"It's not really a good idea, Gion," Ikki frowned and deliberately emphasized her name, trying to remind Gion that guys and girls have different boundaries.
"Ikki, is a guy still worried about someone seeing his body?" Gion smiled and looked at Vivi standing nearby. "Or are you worried that Princess Vivi might get the wrong idea?"
Under Gion's gaze, Vivi immediately lowered her head. She wanted to tell them that she and Ikki were actually married, but she was worried that telling the Marines about it would make the news spread to the people of Alabasta.
"Momousagi Vice Admiral, isn't this kinda inappropriate?" Vivi didn't speak, but Tashigi blushed and spoke up.
Gion smirked and said toward Vivi: "Don't worry, Princess Vivi, I'm just asking Ikki something and I won't mess with your prince."
Though Gion was talking to Vivi, her eyes glanced at Tashigi. Seeing this, Tashigi immediately lowered her head too.
Gion's job was to learn Ikki's swordsmanship style. If possible, she wanted to figure out Ikki's abilities. The disappearance of the 'Gym' and 'Sword Training Room' on the Explorer made Gion think they were part of Ikki's Devil Fruit power.
She wouldn't admit that she followed Ikki into the hot springs to see if Ikki's gym and sword training room could make people stronger quickly. Tashigi had also spent time in Ikki's gym, the bathhouse, and the Sword Training Room.
Gion now thought that the gym and the Sword Training Room had a big part in making Tashigi and Ikki's friends stronger.
Ikki would be shocked if he knew what Gion was thinking. Aside from not knowing about the nutritional potions and other strength boosters, Gion's guess was pretty close to Ikki's real ability.
"Forget it, I'm not into taking a bath with strangers watching," Ikki waved his hand and started to walk away. "Plus, if you suddenly get all excited and pull out your sword while we're bathing, that'd be pretty awkward."
Just kidding, that's Momousagi Gion. If she suddenly pulled a sword on him while he was bathing, Ikki figured he'd have to fight naked. He wasn't into that kind of thing. Although Momousagi Gion was a Marine, she wasn't exactly a friend.
"Oh, so that's what Ikki's worried about," Gion laughed. "How about I just join you in your hot springs?"
'This woman's got guts,' Ikki thought. 'No wonder she can pretend to be a geisha and fool pirates. She's so casual about it.'
Ikki raised his eyebrows and checked out Momousagi Gion. Still, Ikki knew the bathhouse was built like a public bath. For some bold women in the pirate world, going to a public bathhouse wasn't a big deal as long as they had something to cover up with.
Especially if they had something they wanted.
Ikki shook his head and walked toward the gym without answering.
"Hey, wait up, Ikki," Hina called, grabbing his shoulder. "Hina still has a question for you. You said you'd teach Hina your sword skills before, remember?"
"Huh? Teach you swordsmanship?" Ikki turned his head and gave Hina a disbelieving look. "Did you bring a famous sword? I'm pretty sure I told you to bring a famous sword to trade for lessons."
It was just a joke at first. Was she seriously taking him up on it? Waving his hand, Ikki sped up and disappeared through the gym door.
"Damn it, Hina's pissed!" Seeing how Ikki acted, Hina immediately frowned.
Gion patted Hina on the shoulder, then quickly followed after Ikki with her long legs. Seeing this, Hina took a deep breath and went after them.
Smoker shook his head and turned to look at Nami and the others.
"Nami, Nojiko, and Princess Vivi," Smoker said. "Mind helping us answer a few questions?"
He didn't really want to deal with this, but Hina and Gion had already left. Obviously, the job fell to him.
On the other side, Tashigi approached Vivi.
"Hey, Princess Vivi, can we talk?"
Meanwhile, in the gym's bathhouse.
"So, you're still here, Gion?" Ikki leaned against the pool wall, looking at Gion across from him with a resigned face.
"Ikki's worried I'll suddenly pull out my sword and make you fight me naked," Gion said with a smile, wearing just a bath towel. "But I'm in the same boat as you now, so you shouldn't worry about that."
She casually ran her hand through the hot spring water.
"Your ability is really something special. What kind of Devil Fruit makes such an awesome environment? This hot spring water seems great for getting rid of tiredness. Maybe your friends and Tashigi got stronger so fast because of these hot springs."
Gion's eyes lit up as she said this. She didn't just randomly decide to join Ikki in the public bath. She wanted to see if this water had something to do with making Ikki's friends and Tashigi stronger so quickly.
Ikki ignored Gion's question and looked behind at Hina, who was standing by the edge fully dressed in her magenta uniform.
"You and I might be in the same situation," Ikki said, "but that lady behind me is still glaring at me with all her clothes on. By the way, if you keep staring at me like that, it's really messing with my relaxation time, Hina."
"Hina's just as curious about your training methods as I am," Gion said casually. "Besides, don't you and Hina already have a deal?"
"Even if we had a deal, Hina didn't bring the famous sword I mentioned," Ikki replied.
"Teaching one person or two is still teaching. How about you teach both me and Hina?"
Gion's eyes lit up at this. For the Marines, the more people who knew Ikki's swordsmanship style, the better. For Gion, having someone else learning with her meant she'd have another reference point for analysis.
Gion knew Hina was totally different from her. Gion was a swordsman, but Hina didn't know how to use a sword. She wanted to see how Ikki's swordsmanship style would work with both sword users and non-sword users.
"Haha, teaching two people means I'll have to spend a bunch of time," Ikki said. "But I could teach Hina. If you could show me how to do that 'Geppo' thing from Rokushiki, I'll give Hina some pointers."
Ikki's mouth curled into a smile. He really liked Rokushiki's Geppo technique. Although he and his friends could use Zanpakutō, they couldn't float in the air like real Shinigami. So learning Geppo seemed like a great option.
"Geppo? If you can teach Hina, I can show you how to do Geppo," Gion nodded. "Of course, whether you can learn it or not is up to you."
Though Geppo was a Marine technique, Marines weren't the only ones who could use it on the sea. In the New World, plenty of pirates could use Geppo. So Gion didn't mind showing Ikki how to do it.
To show she meant it, Gion started explaining the basics of Geppo.
"...You need these things to learn Geppo. If there's anything you don't get, I can show you myself later."
As a Marine Admiral candidate, Gion could obviously use all the Six Powers techniques, including Geppo.
"You're being pretty generous," Ikki said. "Guess I should return the favor."
After memorizing how to practice Geppo, Ikki stood up from the pool with a bath towel wrapped around him and went over to Hina.
"Give me your hand, Hina," Ikki smiled and held out his hand.
"Handshake?" Hina looked at Ikki's wet hand, reached out and took it.
"Now I'm gonna test which breathing style would work best for you," Ikki explained. "There might be some weird elemental stuff happening, but don't worry, it won't hurt you. Might feel a bit uncomfortable, though."
Ikki activated his Water Breathing first, making a ball of water form on the hand holding Hina's. As soon as the water appeared, it crawled up Hina's arm and spread across her whole body, like it had a mind of its own.
Hina frowned, but not because the cigarette in her mouth got put out by the water from Ikki. It was because besides the water on her skin, she felt like water vapor was somehow getting inside her body. Her body seemed to be fighting against this invading water.
Gion got up from the pool and walked over to Ikki and Hina. She didn't know what Ikki was doing, but she wanted to remember everything she saw.
"Looks like Water Breathing isn't your thing," Ikki shook his head and made the water around Hina disappear. Still, her clothes and hair were soaking wet.
"Sorry about that, Hina. This is a new test I came up with," Ikki said with a smile. "It quickly shows which breathing style someone's body would be good at. It has some downsides, though. If you're not used to it, your body might feel swollen and sore."
"Hmph, you better try that fire power next," Hina snorted, clearly annoyed. "I'm more into that anyway, and I need you to dry off my clothes."
"Whatever you want," Ikki's smile widened, and the next moment, his hand holding Hina's was covered in warm flames.