With her departure arranged, Vivi had less to worry about and spent her time waiting.

During the following evenings, she wandered around the Flower Capital, remembering her intention to eliminate the three wealthy merchants.

Earlier, she had found Bungo thanks to the arsonists who guided her and because he lived in the city, which made him easier to find. However, Bongo, who dealt in lumber, and Bingo, who was in the coffin-making business, lived in more secluded areas due to the nature of their trades.

Vivi had been searching for the remaining two merchants, but she always had trouble finding their locations.

Fortunately, her luck changed when she wandered into the outskirts of the city. She stumbled upon a large house. A casual inquiry revealed that it was the home of Bongo, the lumber merchant. 

What else was there to say? Without hesitation, she looted the place and then cruelly crushed the fat, pig-like Bongo to death using the wood from his own house.

A day later, under the bright moonlight, fortune smiled upon her again when she found the last of the three merchants, Bingo, who ran a coffin shop.

"Huh?" At the back door of Bingo's house, Vivi encountered a slim man dressed in yellow with his face covered. Both were startled for a moment.

Vivi had jumped from a tree to the south, while the man had emerged from the bushes to the east. They found themselves at the back door at the same time, sizing each other up.

What's going on here? Was this a fellow thief?

For her robberies, Vivi had to discard her kimono and wooden sandals, as they hindered the fight and made it difficult to conceal her identity. She opted for her long, short-sleeved dress, which set her apart from the locals.

"Foreigner?" the slim man inquired in a lowered voice.

"A cat burglar? You must be the so-called 'Ushimitsu Kozo' who is so notorious in the city, right?"

"Indeed, I am," he replied quickly. As he spoke, he drew a short knife and swung it quickly at Vivi's shoulder. His intention was clearly to drive her away rather than to kill her.

His expertise was evident from the very first move.

Vivi recognized that his swordsmanship was superior to hers. She estimated that his skill was at least Lv5 Swordsmanship according to her panel skill evaluation. However, while his swordsmanship was impressive, his overall strength was far inferior to Yamato's.

Excited by the challenge, Vivi coated her blade with Armament Haki and quickly slashed at the slim man's left arm.

The backyard of the estate was pitch-dark, and the man's eyes were mere slits, but he somehow detected the Haki on Vivi's blade. He dodged nimbly and struck back, his short knife now covered in Haki as well, aiming at her ribs from a tricky angle.

Undeterred, Vivi flicked her wrist, parrying the man's knife while simultaneously launching a kick at his face.

Given that the man's swordsmanship was superior to hers, Vivi didn't rush in. In the dead of night, she worried about attracting stronger foes and thus avoided using her most powerful moves. She concentrated on defense, carefully watching the man's swordplay to find openings.

Trained for a month by Zephyr, Vivi had discarded her previous haphazard fighting style and started from scratch. She had practiced Marine Swordsmanship hundreds of times during that month. Although this swordsmanship wasn't exceptionally strong, it had been refined by countless experts and was well-rounded in both offense and defense.

This style gave Vivi an advantage over the slim man. Even though her opponent's skill and experience far exceeded hers, he had never encountered such a stable and solid style. Coupled with Vivi's superior speed and strength, the two found themselves in a stalemate after two or three dozen exchanges, neither able to gain the upper hand.

"Damn it!" the slim man cursed under his breath. He was skilled with a katana, and using a short knife limited his ability to perform many moves.

Even though the place wasn't in the city center, Vivi, still shaken by her recent close call under the bed by Kaidou, didn't dare to unleash her full strength. She refrained from using her signature moves like "Ikoku" and "Shishi: Senjindani," which were too distinctive. Hence, the fight was conservative on her part.

After exchanging blows for a while, both stopped their attacks, apparently wary of attracting the attention of others.

Feeling unsatisfied with the restrained battle, Vivi decided to retreat first. "Alright, Bingo is yours. I'm leaving!"

"Wait!" the slim man called out.

Vivi stopped in her tracks.

"A warning to you, foreigner. Leave Wano Country as soon as you can."

"Oh, got it," Vivi said something perfunctory before disappearing into the night...

Bingo didn't die, nor was he injured; only his wealth was stolen.

The next day, the magistrate's office was abuzz with discussions about the righteous thief Ushimitsu Kozo. The higher-ups decided to intensify the manhunt. However, the matter eventually faded into obscurity.

Having dealt with the three crooked merchants as best as she could, Vivi abandoned her role as a Robin Hood figure and focused on her bloodletting clinic.

She watched Isis grow day by day, and in her spare time, she taught Otama medical skills. The little girl held a thick medical book in her hands every day, her petite body making her look all the more fragile.

...

"Lord Kyoshiro has arrived!" announced several formidable-looking ronins standing at the entrance of the clinic.

A man wearing a high-collared cloak and a dark blue kimono, his ponytail pulled back into a massive faux pompadour on top of his head, entered the clinic as if he owned the place.

His eyes were barely visible slits that gave nothing away as he looked around. There were many patients in the clinic, but none dared to meet his gaze. The regular sumo wrestlers in the clinic immediately bowed in respect, and the common people even prostrated themselves to show their submission.

"How dare you be so disrespectful! Kneel down! This is Lord Kyoshiro!" a man who appeared to be a henchman shouted at Vivi. She was the only person standing in the clinic, which made her quite conspicuous.

Vivi had been observing Kyoshiro, who in turn was squinting back at her.

When she heard the provocation, she turned to the man and gave him a casual look, "Are you a patient too? Do you want bloodletting as well? Have a seat here, don't move a muscle."

Her strength had been noted as "very strong" by Zephyr during her fight with Binz in Lulusia, and with the all-round enhancement from the Vampire Fruit, her strength had increased even more.

The merely brave and belligerent ronin could not resist her dragging him.

He was pinned helplessly onto a stool, where Vivi first injected an anesthetic into his thigh, then slit his wrist. Becoming increasingly adept at controlling the blood, she pricked the ronin's wrist and the blood spurted like a fountain, flying over two meters before landing neatly in a bowl. The whole process was smooth and fluid.

Vivi shook her head, looking at the ronin as if he were a dead man, and said, "Look how serious your condition is, you would have died without the bloodletting. Be thankful that I saved your life..."

(End of the Chapter)

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