Awakening a Devil Fruit could greatly enhance its abilities.
For a Zoan Devil Fruit, awakening brought a terrifying boost to the user's physical abilities. Their recovery, offense, and defense would all undergo a qualitative change.
On the way back to Isshin Dojo, Dunn recalled what he remembered about the world.
Most of the information he had about this world was already somewhat hazy, but he still remembered certain important things clearly.
For example, by the point in time he remembered, very few people had awakened their Devil Fruits, and most of them had Zoan types.
It seemed Zoan types were easier to awaken than Paramecia and Logia types.
There were awakened Paramecia types, such as Doflamingo's String-String Fruit and Katakuri's Mochi-Mochi Fruit.
As for Zoan types, there were many more. Apart from people like the Five Elders and Monkey D. Luffy, even Impel Down had five awakened Zoan jailers.
Though they had failed during the awakening process.
If Dunn followed the Panel's prompts to improve the Flame-Flame Fruit's abilities, perhaps he really could try to awaken it.
If he succeeded, maybe he could even replicate Old Man Yamamoto's techniques.
After all, being strong was temporary, but being cool lasted a lifetime.
Grinning at his gains, Dunn returned to Isshin Dojo.
With the other students watching, Kuina and Zoro were in the middle of their two-thousandth duel.
Compared to the one-sided beatdowns at the beginning of their matches, Kuina was clearly having a much harder time now.
Thanks to his diligent training, Zoro was steadily closing the gap between them in swordsmanship.
Just as Koshiro had said, Kuina was finding it increasingly difficult to defeat Zoro cleanly.
Dunn watched from the sidelines for a long while before Zoro finally left himself open. Kuina struck his Bamboo Sword from his hand.
"Damn it! I was so close."
Zoro looked thoroughly frustrated.
The other students all let out disappointed sighs.
"Aw, he lost again!"
"What a shame!"
They had clearly all been beaten by Kuina before. They just weren't as stubborn as Zoro, and had stopped challenging her after losing.
Dunn watched Kuina walk away with her chin held high. His eyes followed her until she disappeared from view.
He wondered whether his arrival might change Kuina's future, keeping that fatal accident from happening.
But he kept his Observation Haki active, so if anything like that happened, he'd notice immediately.
Truthfully, Dunn wanted to see whether the seas would gain another female Great Swordsman if Kuina survived.
As far as he knew, the only female Great Swordsman was Momousagi, Gion, the future Marine Admiral candidate.
But Dunn hadn't expected things to happen so soon.
"Two thousand and first challenge!"
Holding three real swords, Zoro stared at Kuina with a serious expression.
Their duel that day had shown Zoro that victory was within reach, so he didn't want to wait any longer.
He would defeat Kuina, then challenge Dunn.
Holding Wado Ichimonji, Kuina gladly accepted Zoro's challenge.
The clash of swords rang out among the trees.
Dunn's Observation Haki covered the area around the dojo, and he could even faintly sense the island where Shimotsuki Village stood. Through it, he watched the pair's every move.
The result didn't change.
Even with real swords in hand, Zoro still lost.
But this time, Zoro didn't fly into a rage. And thanks to Dunn, Kuina's old insecurity had given way to a renewed desire to reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
Once again, they reaffirmed their dreams: to pursue the title of World's Greatest Swordsman.
"What a wonderful age to be."
Sensing it all through his Observation Haki, Dunn found himself stirred by the two brats and their youthful fervor.
Although this body was fourteen, Dunn's mind had matured over the course of his life before transmigrating.
He might have had that kind of passion as a child, but it had long since faded with time.
"Maybe I should give it a try?"
Dunn murmured, then immediately shook his head.
"Better leave it to Zoro and Kuina."
He was confident he could keep striving to grow stronger, but setting himself a goal he absolutely had to achieve would just put unnecessary pressure on himself.
He'd finally gotten the chance to transmigrate. He might as well live however he pleased.
Thinking it over, Dunn nodded to himself again and again.
Unaware that they'd been watched the whole time, Kuina and Zoro went their separate ways.
The next day, Kuina, who had used Wado Ichimonji the previous night, went upstairs to look for a whetstone. She lost her footing and fell down the stairs.
Wado Ichimonji slipped from her grasp, spinning through the air as it fell.
Its sharp blade slashed toward Kuina's neck as she landed flat on her back.
Bang!
A ball of flame appeared out of nowhere and exploded. The blast knocked Wado Ichimonji away as it fell, sending it spinning through the air until its blade plunged straight into the floor.
Kuina lay on her back, staring blankly at the flames bursting overhead and vanishing just as quickly. Then she turned to look at Wado Ichimonji, its blade half-buried in the floor.
Whoosh!
A figure appeared. Seeing the scene, he let out a relieved breath.
Flames!
Dunn had intervened.
Kuina sat up in a daze and turned to look at Koshiro, who had suddenly appeared.
"Father!"
Koshiro nodded, then looked at Wado Ichimonji.
Wado Ichimonji wasn't a Cursed Blade.
But his Observation Haki had just shown him that Kuina had nearly died beneath its blade.
There were many stories in Wano Country about Cursed Blades turning on their owners.
As descendants of swordsmiths, they believed those tales even more strongly than most.
When Kuina got up to retrieve Wado Ichimonji, Koshiro stopped her.
"Wait, Kuina!"
After stopping her, Koshiro stepped forward and pulled Wado Ichimonji from the floor. He studied its gleaming white, razor-sharp blade with an unreadable expression.
"This sword is an ill omen for you now."
It hadn't succeeded, but in Koshiro's eyes, the sword had still turned on its owner.
If Kuina continued using it, she might be hurt by Wado Ichimonji again—or even lose her life to it.
Hearing footsteps, Koshiro and Kuina turned and saw Dunn walking over with the long sword Flame in hand.
"No need to thank me. You know I keep my Observation Haki active."
Seeing them look his way, Dunn smiled, then glanced at Wado Ichimonji.
"My father left this sword to Kuina, but it looks like it doesn't suit her. Would you like to try it?"
Looking at Dunn, Shimotsuki Koshiro spoke solemnly.
Dunn had saved Kuina's life. There was no way to thank him enough.
"Forget it. If I accepted it, Flame would be upset."
Dunn raised the unusually long sword in his hand to show them.
"Perhaps it was just an accident."
Hearing Koshiro offer the sword to someone else, Kuina looked at Wado Ichimonji and hesitated.
"Until you master Armament Haki, you may only use a Bamboo Sword."
Koshiro replied sternly to his daughter.
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