On the Training Ground in the backyard of Isshin Dojo.
The sun blazed overhead. It had baked the ground until it was hot to the touch, and even the air felt hot to breathe. The children from the dojo were cooling off in the shade of the willows beside the Training Ground.
Yet in that heat, a slightly thin boy was running lap after lap across the Training Ground, drenched in sweat. The other children had long since grown used to it. None of them paid him any attention, though the sight was a little puzzling.
The boy was thin, but he was full of strength. Every stride was steady, his footsteps firm and his gaze resolute.
His clothes were soaked through and clung to his body. Beneath the wet fabric, his well-developed muscles were plain to see.
That boy was thirteen-year-old Roronoa Zoro.
Ever since Ye Chen had left, Zoro had trained like a man possessed.
He had worked hard enough while Ye Chen was there, but after Ye Chen left, Zoro became like a spring wound tight. He was on edge every day, and apart from eating and sleeping, he devoted himself entirely to sword practice.
Thunderstorms or blazing sun made no difference. He never took a break. Even on pitch-black nights, Zoro still went to the Training Ground to run and train.
"The teacher's here..."
The children resting in the shade suddenly saw Koshiro approaching with a smile. They hurried over to him, full of excitement.
Zoro paid them no attention. After dozens of laps, he went straight to the Plum Blossom Stakes without a moment's rest. Strictly speaking, Ye Chen had not left the stakes there. He had simply chopped down the saplings Koshiro had planted.
Zoro tightened his belt, pushed off with both legs, and