Farewell

Locke came to the door and knocked.

"Come in!"

When Locke opened the door, he saw Koushirou sitting on the tatami as usual, slowly brewing tea.

"Sit." Seeing Locke enter, Koushirou pointed to the spot across from him.

"Go on. What is it?" Koushirou asked again after Locke sat down.

"Master, I came to bid you farewell."

"Is that so? From the moment you arrived on this island, I knew this day would come sooner or later." Koushirou sounded somewhat wistful upon hearing Locke's words.

"Master..." Hearing Koushirou's sigh, Locke did not know what to say for a moment.

"All right, I understand. Shimotsuki Village is indeed too small. If you want to improve your swordsmanship faster, going out to sea truly is the only way. When do you plan to leave?" Fortunately, Koushirou spoke up and interrupted him.

"Tomorrow."

"Have you told Zoro?" Koushirou asked again.

"I wanted to tell Master first before speaking to him."

"Sigh. There may be many students in this dojo, but the only disciples I have taken in are you and Zoro. And the two of you have always gotten along well. He has no idea how upset he'll be when you leave."

"I'll explain it to him properly."

"Go on, then. Life is your own. How far you can go depends on your own fate."

"There is one more thing I wish to ask, Master."

"What is it?"

"Does Master know about Haki?"

Koushirou looked mildly surprised at Locke's words. "How do you know about Haki?"

"I saw it in ancient books at home."

Koushirou gave Locke a deep look, then continued, "I do know that Haki exists."

"Then can Master teach me how to cultivate Haki?"

"I can, but judging by your current physique, you are still some distance from the threshold for cultivating Haki. Once you learn it, remember not to rush into training." As Koushirou spoke, he stood and walked deeper into the room.

Before long, Koushirou came out of the inner room with a small booklet in his hand.

After handing the booklet to Locke, Koushirou waved him away.

Holding the booklet, Locke did not rush to read it. Instead, he stood and gave Koushirou a deep bow.

Then he turned and left the room.

Watching Locke leave, Koushirou sighed softly. "The child has grown up. It's time for him to go out into the world. Kuina, I wonder how you're doing now."

After leaving Koushirou's room, Locke did not linger and headed straight for the kitchen.

When he arrived, Carmen was still practicing her cooking. Over the past three years, her skills had improved by leaps and bounds. Not only were the dishes she created herself delicious, but they also looked quite beautiful. She had even recreated several dishes Locke had described to her, and they had turned out surprisingly good.

When she saw Locke at the doorway, she stopped practicing and came over.

"Carmen, I've already told Master that I'm leaving. You should pack as well. We set off tomorrow," Locke said.

"Mm." Carmen nodded.

"All right, go pack. I'll go tell Zoro we're leaving."

"Go ahead."

After hearing Carmen's reply, Locke left the kitchen and headed for the training ground.

When he arrived, he saw Zoro. Zoro was holding a massive stone overhead with both hands, another large stone clenched in his teeth, doing squats.

"Hold on. I need to talk to you," Locke said as he approached Zoro.

Hearing him, Zoro put down the stones and walked over. "What is it?"

Seeing Zoro's cool expression, Locke might have thought he was showing off if he had not known it was just his usual tsundere behavior.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. I came to tell you."

"You're leaving tomorrow? So soon?" Zoro frowned at Locke's words.

"Yeah. I feel like my swordsmanship has reached a bottleneck. I need to seek a breakthrough out at sea."

"Are you showing off?"

"You can see it that way."

"You bastard! I challenge you to a duel!" As he spoke, he drew the sword he always carried and charged at Locke.

Watching Zoro rush over, Locke also drew the Tang blade he had kept by his side ever since the pirate attack.

In an instant, the two clashed.

This time, Locke did not use his Devil Fruit abilities or any swordsmanship techniques. He simply traded blows with Zoro.

Locke knew that, rather than a duel, this was Zoro picking a fight to vent his dissatisfaction. But that suited Locke just fine. He was not good at comforting others, and if a fight could make Zoro feel better, why not?

"Clang! Clang! Thud! Thud!" As the two fought, a ball of purple light flashed beside them and formed a band, which began to play a song.

Locke had discovered this when he had nothing to do during training. As long as he played a passionate song while fighting, he felt as though he grew stronger.

As a saying from his previous life went, no one could defeat him while his BGM was playing.

The fight lasted a long time, and the music played for just as long. Only when both men were gasping for breath did they stop.

When they stopped, the music shifted from fiery to soothing.

"Just you wait. I'll definitely defeat you!" Zoro panted at Locke from a short distance away.

"I'll be waiting."

After they had both recovered from the fight, they went to the mountaintop where they watched Naruto together at night. Neither bothered with ceremony and simply sat on the ground.

They stared blankly at the boundless sea beyond the island.

"One day, I'll go out to sea too," Zoro said after a moment of silence.

"I know. We'll meet again on the sea."

"When we do, I'll definitely defeat you."

"Sure. I'll wait for you to defeat me." Locke looked at Zoro with a broad smile.

Zoro looked back at Locke with equal determination.

After watching each other for a while, they burst into laughter at the same time.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha..."

Their laughter startled countless birds from the previously quiet forest.

Later, Locke and Zoro went into the village to buy some alcohol, then returned here. They drank as they chatted about amusing memories from the past and imagined meeting again out on the sea someday.

Only when the moon hung high in the sky did the two drunkenly return to the dojo.