Forging

The next day, in the courtyard of Isshin Dojo.

Koshiro brought Kuina, who had only just learned what had happened, back to the courtyard where Louis was staying temporarily to offer their thanks.

"Thank you so much for saving Kuina's life!"

In front of the courtyard, Koshiro and Kuina bowed to Louis and the others, their eyes filled with deep gratitude.

Louis smiled and helped them back up. "It's fine. You welcomed us, didn't you?"

"That's not the same." Koshiro shook his head gently, his face still etched with lingering fear.

At the time, his mind had gone almost completely blank. All he could think about was getting Kuina medical attention. It wasn't until she had been treated and his senses returned that he realized just how serious her condition had been.

Neither Isshin Dojo nor Frost Moon Village had the medical resources to treat Kuina. In other words, without Louis, there was no way Kuina could have been saved.

After losing his wife and then his father, he would have had to endure the pain of losing his daughter as well.

By comparison, his hospitality toward Louis and the others was nothing at all compared to Louis's kindness.

Behind Louis, Uta watched what was happening, her face full of confusion.

She quietly tugged on Yelena's sleeve where she sat beside her and whispered, "Did pirates attack while I was asleep last night?"

Yelena shook her head and leaned over to briefly explain what had happened.

"Kuina fell down the stairs last night. Louis saved her..."

"Louis is amazing!" That was Uta's first reaction.

The next moment, she seemed to think of something. She looked up into Yelena's red eyes. "Yelena, you must've been really scared and hurt when you fell from halfway up that cliff with your prey when you were little!"

Yelena smiled. "It was so long ago, I've forgotten."

"..."

Just then, a short boy with green hair and a Shimotsuki Family Crest on his clothes shoved open the courtyard gate.

He carried two finely crafted swords and stared wide-eyed as he shouted, "Kuina! I heard you fell down the stairs. Are you okay?"

At the sound of his voice, everyone turned to look.

Koshiro was momentarily stunned when he saw Zoro.

Kuina's eyes widened, and she looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

Then Zoro spotted Kuina and rushed over, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her back and forth, sweat pouring down his face.

"How are you? Are you hurt?"

"You're still going to become the world's greatest swordsman with me!"

Kuina's face, however, was full of shock. "Zoro, how did you find your way here?"

Kuina couldn't understand it. Zoro usually took half a day just to find his way back from a short trip outside. Yet today he'd found this place in no time at all. She and her father had only arrived a few minutes ago!

Zoro let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness, you're okay!"

"I just heard that last night you were covered in—"

Suddenly, Zoro realized something was off about what Kuina had said. He flew into a rage. "What do you mean by that?!"

Kuina folded her arms and turned her head away.

Just then, Koshiro smiled and patted Zoro on the head. "We have guests. You mustn't be rude."

Zoro froze. Only then did he notice the three strangers nearby: a man and two women.

The man at the front had a pair of white wings growing from his back. The taller, white-haired woman had a pair of black horns on her head.

As for the third person, he'd overlooked her.

The strange group left Zoro a little bewildered. He'd never met anyone with extra body parts like these before.

After calming his disciple down, Koshiro smiled at Louis. "Louis, regarding the materials for forging swords that my father left behind..."

"I have a proposal."

"Go ahead." Looking at Koshiro's beaming face, Louis had a hunch about what he was going to suggest.

At the same time, though, he was rather puzzled.

Koshiro pushed up his transparent glasses and answered unhurriedly, "How about I forge a weapon for Miss Yelena?"

"Father can forge swords?!" Before Louis and the others could react, Kuina was already staring in astonishment.

Ever since she could remember, she'd only heard that her grandfather, Kozaburo, was a master swordsmith, and that the First Generation had been made by him.

But after Kuina was born, she'd rarely seen her grandfather forge a sword. The two swords Zoro carried were among the few he'd made.

In all her years, she'd never heard that her father could forge swords too.

Now, she was hearing it from her father himself. The revelation left her utterly astonished.

At that, Louis thought, Just as I expected. The proposal Koshiro had mentioned was for him to do the forging himself.

Koshiro lowered his gaze to his daughter, his eyes filled with nostalgia.

"Before you were born, I also studied swordsmithing under my father. But my talent for forging swords was no better than my talent for swordsmanship. Neither was anything special."

"For many years, I couldn't forge a decent sword. In the end, Father drove me out of the forge."

"Then I'll leave it to you..." Louis said with a smile.

Kuina looked embarrassed. She quietly reminded Koshiro, "You just said yourself that you're not very good. How can you take this on?"

Koshiro's expression turned serious. "Swords are different from heavy weapons like hammers. I can still forge heavy weapons."

Then Koshiro explained that the process for forging an ordinary katana was relatively complicated. It involved the geometry of the edge, its sharpness, the blade's toughness and curvature, and the engravings.

Not to mention the more complicated fittings...

For heavy weapons such as hammers and kanabo, you just had to keep hammering them into shape, then mold them according to the user's needs.

Heavy weapons didn't require consideration of the weapon's curves or sharpness. All they needed was weight.

Put simply, as long as the material was high-grade, even a factory that made ship anchors could produce a decent heavy weapon.

Kuina remained unconvinced. She eyed Koshiro's rather slender frame suspiciously but said nothing.

Seeing her expression, Koshiro guessed what she was thinking and said with a smile, "Kuina, don't judge a swordsman's strength by his build!"

"When I trained back then, the steel barbell I used was far larger and heavier than you can imagine..." Koshiro's gaze was earnest. He wasn't lying at all.

With that, he turned to Louis and the others. "Please stay a few more days, Louis. I'll forge a weapon that Miss Yelena will be happy with."