Supreme Great Fast Ladder

Sure enough.

Zoro let out a loud yell and charged forward, looking imposing. The next second, he screamed and went flying, landing face-first on the ground.

He rolled over and sprang back up, glaring at Kuina beside him. "Hey! Why didn't you attack?"

"Weren't you the one who said this was a one-on-one fight?"

Kuina replied irritably, but in the end, she still adjusted her position, forming a pincer attack with Zoro. With a low shout, they slashed at him simultaneously.

The two of them bickered, but their teamwork was still impeccable.

What a shame.

Before absolute stats, all those fancy techniques were meaningless.

Even though Xia Nuo had restrained his strength as much as possible, he still easily knocked all three bamboo swords away with three smacks, then took advantage of the opening to knock the two of them down with two more strikes.

A plain and unadorned five-A-ranked combo.

"Damn it!" Zoro couldn't accept reality. He grabbed his hair in frustration. "How could this happen?"

"Losing to Lord Xia Nuo was only natural, wasn't it?" Kuina said.

She instinctively wanted to mock him. This brat has lost to me so many times. Shouldn't he be used to it by now?

But when she saw Zoro's expression, she swallowed the words that had reached her lips, bent down to pull him up, and said with a smile:

"Come on, get up. At least now you know there's always someone better, and there are always greater heights. Having a higher goal is a good thing. From now on, let's work hard together and catch up!"

"But I'm still so frustrated!"

Zoro gritted his teeth.

He actually knew there was a gap between them and could accept losing, but he had never expected to lose so miserably.

He hadn't even seen the path of Xia Nuo's sword. Was this guy, who didn't look much older than them, really that incredible with a sword?

Kuina patted him on the shoulder and stopped trying to console him. She lowered her head and went to find her bamboo sword. The back courtyard was dim, and it took her quite a while to find it behind one of the beams.

Dejected, Zoro also went to pick up his own. But before he could bend down, he saw Xia Nuo pick it up first.

"?" Zoro stared at Xia Nuo with wide eyes.

"I'm confiscating one sword as punishment for your earlier disrespectful attitude toward me. I'm a very petty person, you know."

Xia Nuo smiled broadly. "Don't look at me like that. If you feel wronged, then train even harder and take it back with your own strength someday."

"Of course, by then, you might not even care about a bamboo sword anymore. So if you ever defeat me, I won't mind giving you the sword behind me."

"Really?!"

Zoro's eyes lit up, and he immediately forgot about his own bamboo sword.

He had been drooling over Masamune for a long time. He never expected Xia Nuo to take the initiative and make such a promise to him.

He's actually a pretty good guy!

"It's a promise!"

His spirits soared again. He rose onto his tiptoes and extended his little finger.

"Pinky promise! No taking it back. Just wait—sooner or later, my swordsmanship will surpass yours, and I'll make you willingly hand over that sword!"

"How childish."

Xia Nuo sighed, but faced with Moss Head's determined expression, he still extended his own finger.

"Pinky promise, hook and hang, a hundred years without change!"

After loudly sealing the promise, Zoro excitedly ran off.

Judging by how he couldn't wait even a moment, there was no need to guess. He had obviously gone to train even more obsessively.

Such poor manners. When will he ever grow up? Kuina sighed as she watched him disappear into the distance.

She turned back toward Xia Nuo and bowed deeply with great seriousness. "Thank you, Lord Xia Nuo. It was an honor to spar with you, although..."

She gave a wry smile. "Your sword was simply too fast. My eyes were too dull and my skills too lacking, so I really couldn't learn anything from it. I do find that somewhat regrettable."

Xia Nuo wasn't sure how to respond, so he laughed awkwardly and changed the subject directly. "Speaking of which, I haven't sharpened my sword in a while. Does your family have a whetstone?"

A whetstone?

Kuina nodded. "We do, but the dojo usually uses bamboo swords, so it rarely sees any use. It's been kept in the attic. I'll go fetch it for you now."

"No need." Xia Nuo quickly stopped her. "Just show me the way. I'll get it myself."

Don't joke around with your life, girl!

Why do you think I brought this up? Besides earning points, wasn't it also to save your life while I was at it?

If I let you go get it alone and you fall to your death ahead of time, wouldn't I feel guilty for the rest of my life?

A secluded storeroom.

Xia Nuo looked up at the wooden ladder before him, rubbing his chin. He still found it utterly baffling.

Wait, the attic isn't even that high. Three meters at most. How could a swordswoman who had trained since childhood and could beat ordinary adults just fall to her death like that?

He glanced at the information on the System Panel.

The bamboo sword he had just conned from Zoro had already been successfully sacrificed.

[Offering: Zoro's Bamboo Sword]

[Quality: Fine]

[Value: 500 points]

[Appraisal: One of the bamboo swords that accompanied Zoro for several years, bearing witness to countless dawns and dusks mottled with his sweat. In the future, he might replace it with one famous blade after another, but he would never forget these first companions.]

[Remaining Points: 8825]

Five hundred points was more or less within his expectations, so Xia Nuo was reasonably satisfied.

"I just don't know whether this one will be worth more or less..."

He gently stroked the ladder before him and tried to activate the sacrifice.

[Offering: Kuina's Supreme Great Fast Ladder]

[Quality: Epic]

[Value: 1500 points]

[Appraisal: There are many theories surrounding Kuina's mysterious death. The only certainty is that she fell from this ladder and died while going to the attic to fetch a whetstone for her beloved Wado Ichimonji. From that point onward, the world line changed. The future seas lost an outstanding swordswoman, but gained a man who swore to become the World's Number One Swordsman—"I'll become stronger for both of us, until my name reaches Heaven!"]

Fifteen hundred points?

Xia Nuo was genuinely surprised this time. Strictly speaking, Kuina was only a minor supporting character. Her current strength and importance should barely add any value, and the sacrificed item should have been worth at most one or two hundred points.

Sure enough.

Besides the three sacrifice rules he had summarized, there was another special rule.

—Special items that had altered the world line and were connected to famous scenes often possessed much greater value.

Xia Nuo looked toward the points display.

[Remaining Points: 10325]

The points he had spent earlier had almost all been replenished at once. The Supreme Great Fast Ladder had certainly contributed a great deal.

How many points would Luffy's Straw Hat provide?

It was probably worth even more than he had originally expected.

Xia Nuo looked forward to it even more.

He had more or less exhausted all the sacrificial items available in the surrounding waters.

As long as he obtained that final Straw Hat, he could safely return to Cocoyasi Village and enter secluded cultivation.

After that,

he wouldn't have to worry about points again for quite a long time.

Coming back to himself, he looked toward the dojo outside the storeroom.

A light rain was falling, and Kuina was still waiting in the courtyard.

After thinking it over, he rummaged through the storeroom, found a brush and ink, and strode outside.

As the saying went, taking something from someone left you indebted, and eating someone's food left you obligated.

He had just earned so many points for free. It was time to offer a small return gift—such as saving Kuina's life.

Removing the ladder and moving the whetstone downstairs didn't mean the danger of Kuina falling to her death had disappeared.

Xia Nuo rather liked this intelligent, courteous girl with extraordinary talent in swordsmanship. Deep down, he didn't want her to leave this world in such a ridiculous manner.

Absurdities always had a reason behind them.

Xia Nuo had noticed earlier that when Kuina was searching for her bamboo sword, she had groped around for quite a while before finding it. The lighting was admittedly dim, but it shouldn't have been that bad.

Could it be...

Like Tashigi, who had exactly the same appearance, was Kuina actually severely nearsighted too?