Awakening a Devil Fruit could greatly enhance its abilities.
For a Zoan Devil Fruit, awakening would bring a terrifying increase in physical capabilities. Everything from recovery to offense and defense would undergo a qualitative change.
On the way back to Isshin Dojo, Dunn recalled what he remembered about the matter.
Most of the information about this world had grown somewhat hazy, but he still had a clear memory of certain important things.
For instance, as far as he could remember, only a handful of people had awakened their Devil Fruits, and most of them had Zoan types.
It seemed Zoans were easier to awaken than Paramecia and Logia types.
There were awakened Paramecia, too, such as Doflamingo's Ito Ito no Mi and Katakuri's Mochi Mochi no Mi.
As for Zoans, there were many. Apart from people like the Five Elders and Monkey D. Luffy, even Impel Down had five awakened Zoan jailers.
They had simply failed during the awakening process.
If Dunn followed the panel's instructions to improve the Mera Mera no Mi's abilities, perhaps he really could try to awaken it.
If he succeeded, he might even be able to replicate Old Man Yamamoto's techniques.
After all, strength was temporary, but being cool lasted a lifetime.
With his gains in mind, Dunn returned to Isshin Dojo with a smile.
With the other students watching, Kuina and Zoro were in the middle of their 2,000th duel.
Compared to how badly Zoro had been outclassed at the start, Kuina was now clearly having a much harder time.
Zoro had trained hard, and the gap between their swordsmanship was growing smaller and smaller.
Just as Koushiro had said, it was becoming difficult for Kuina to defeat Zoro cleanly.
Dunn watched from the sidelines for a long while before Zoro finally left himself open, and Kuina knocked the bamboo sword from his hand with a single strike.
"Damn it! I was so close."
Zoro looked frustrated.
The other students watching nearby 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 following her until she disappeared from sight.
He didn't know whether his arrival would change Kuina's future and prevent that deadly accident from happening.
But he kept his Observation Haki active, so if anything like that happened, he would notice at once.
Truthfully, Dunn really wanted to see whether another female great swordsman might emerge on the seas if Kuina didn't die.
The only female great swordsman he could think of was the future Marine Admiral candidate, Momousagi, also known as Gion.
But Dunn hadn't expected things to happen so soon.
"Challenge number 2,001!"
Zoro stood holding three real swords, his expression serious as he faced Kuina.
Their duel earlier that day had shown Zoro a chance of winning, so he didn't want to wait any longer.
He would defeat Kuina, then challenge Dunn.
Kuina held Wado Ichimonji and readily accepted Zoro's challenge.
The clash of swords rang out through the woods.
Dunn's Observation Haki covered the area around the dojo and could even faintly sense the island where Shimotsuki Village was located. Through it, he watched the two of them fight in perfect detail.
The result hadn't changed.
Even with real swords, Zoro still lost.
But this time, Zoro didn't fly into a rage. And thanks to Dunn, Kuina's old heartache had rekindled her yearning to reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship.
Still, they once again affirmed their dreams and set their sights on becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman.
"What a wonderful age to be."
Sensing it all with his Observation Haki, Dunn felt a spark of passion stirred by the two brats.
Though this body was fourteen, Dunn's mind had matured since he'd been transported to this world.
Maybe he'd been passionate as a child, but time had long since worn that away.
"Should I give it a try?"
Dunn muttered to himself, then shook his head.
"Better to leave it to Zoro and Kuina."
He was confident he could keep getting stronger, but setting a goal he absolutely had to achieve would just mean creating pressure for himself.
After going through the trouble of being transported to another world, he might as well do whatever made him happy.
Thinking it over, Dunn nodded again and again.
Unaware that they'd been watched the entire time, Kuina and Zoro went their separate ways.
The next day, Kuina, who had used Wado Ichimonji the night before, went upstairs to look for a whetstone and slipped on the stairs.
Wado Ichimonji slipped free of her grasp and spun through the air as it fell.
Its sharp blade slashed toward Kuina's neck as she fell backward.
Bang!
A ball of flame appeared out of nowhere and burst in an instant. The exploding fire knocked Wado Ichimonji aside. It spun through the air, then plunged blade-first into the floor.
Kuina lay on her back, staring blankly at the flames that had burst overhead and quickly vanished. Then she turned to look at Wado Ichimonji, its blade embedded halfway in the floor.
Whoosh!
A figure appeared. Seeing what had happened, he let out a sigh of relief.
Flames!
Dunn had stepped in.
Kuina sat up in a daze and turned to look at Koushiro, who had suddenly appeared.
"Father!"
Koushiro nodded, then looked at Wado Ichimonji.
Wado Ichimonji wasn't a cursed sword.
And yet, just now, his Observation Haki had seen that Kuina had nearly died beneath its blade.
There were many legends in Wano Country about cursed swords that devoured their masters.
As descendants of swordsmiths, they believed those tales all the more.
When he saw Kuina get up to pick up Wado Ichimonji, Koushiro stopped her.
"Wait, Kuina!"
After stopping her, Koushiro stepped forward and pulled Wado Ichimonji free. He gazed at its gleaming, razor-sharp blade with an inscrutable expression.
"This sword is an ill omen for you."
Though it hadn't succeeded, in Koushiro's eyes, the sword had tried to devour its master.
If Kuina kept handling it, she might be hurt by Wado Ichimonji again—or even meet her end at its blade.
Footsteps sounded. Koushiro and Kuina turned and saw Dunn approaching, holding the long sword Flame.
"No need to thank me. You know I've kept my Observation Haki active."
When they looked his way, Dunn smiled, then turned his eyes to Wado Ichimonji.
"My father left this sword to Kuina, but it seems it doesn't suit her. Would you like to try it?"
Shimotsuki Koushiro looked at Dunn and spoke gravely.
Dunn had saved Kuina's life. There was no way to thank him enough.
"It's all right. If I accepted it, Flame here would be unhappy."
Dunn raised his hand to show them the unusually long sword he held.
"Perhaps it was just a coincidence."
Hearing Koushiro offer the sword to someone else, Kuina looked at Wado Ichimonji and spoke hesitantly.
"Until you master Armament Haki, you may use only bamboo swords."
At his daughter's words, Koushiro replied sternly.
Before you continue