Pirate King: Starting by Rejecting Shanks's Invitation - Chapter 7

The moment Lin Mo's Haki improved, Dragon and Koshiro's expressions suddenly turned solemn.

A thought flashed through both their minds at the same time: This kid has gotten stronger!

He clearly hadn't done anything. They had only clashed Haki for a brief spar just now, yet this little devil's strength had inexplicably increased!

Could he have experienced some kind of epiphany?

Dragon's gaze toward Lin Mo gradually shifted from appreciation to eager anticipation.

He now understood what Koshiro had meant last night when he said that Lin Mo was a miracle.

At only ten years old, this kid already possessed such astonishing talent and strength. In the future, he would surely become a key figure capable of turning any situation around.

If they missed out on him, it would definitely be the Revolutionary Army's greatest loss.

Thinking of this, Dragon couldn't help saying, "You want freedom and don't want to be bound by anything. I understand that. But you're only ten years old, still a child. Traveling alone is simply too dangerous. Join the Revolutionary Army. At least until you've fully grown, we can temporarily serve as your protection."

"No." Lin Mo's attitude remained unchanged. "I don't need protection, and I won't join any faction. There's no point in saying more."

"Lin Mo."

"I'm leaving." Lin Mo rose and cut Dragon off, then left the wrecked tearoom without hesitation.

Koshiro did not stop him.

Dragon rubbed his temples. "What a completely unyielding brat..."

"Haha." Koshiro laughed. "Lin Mo is a child with very strong ideas of his own. It won't be easy to persuade him."

In the courtyard.

The spot where Zoro had been sent flying by Lin Mo's punch happened to be directly opposite the tearoom's entrance.

After crawling around in pain several times, he finally managed to get up. He had just complained, "Damn, you hit way too hard."

But when he looked toward the tearoom with its doors wide open, he happened to witness the moment Dragon and Lin Mo's Haki collided.

"Huh?" Zoro was stunned. He stood rooted to the spot.

Only when Lin Mo came out of the tearoom as though nothing had happened did Zoro recover.

Watching Lin Mo's departing back, Zoro's eyes flickered.

His grip on the bamboo sword tightened unconsciously.

Chapter 10: Shimotsuki Village: The Results of Guidance

The next day.

Lin Mo left Isshin Dojo early in the morning and headed for the valleys around Shimotsuki Village to carry out his daily hunting practice.

This time, however, he had a little "tail" behind him whose tracking skills were rather questionable.

Although Zoro's talent and strength were still inferior to Kuina's, he was definitely the earliest riser, latest sleeper, and hardest trainer in the dojo.

At this time of day, he would normally be practicing his fundamentals at the dojo.

Today, however, he had decided to secretly follow Lin Mo into the mountains to train.

Looking at the person a hundred meters ahead, walking faster and faster toward the depths of the valley,

Zoro's gaze was resolute as he whispered, "If you won't take me with you, I'll follow you myself!"

Yet several minutes later, after he gave chase at top speed, panting for breath as the person ahead drew farther and farther away, he ultimately lost track of him. Instead of feeling discouraged in the slightest, he became even more excited. "As expected of Lin Mo. He's so fast! I gave it everything I had and still couldn't catch him. Amazing. I'll definitely catch up to you tomorrow!"

In fact, Lin Mo had noticed Zoro following him long ago. He simply didn't want to be bothered, so he had shaken him off.

After finishing his hunt, Lin Mo returned to Isshin Dojo with his prey.

That afternoon.

Lin Mo carried an empty wine gourd to the tavern.

He had just entered.

The tavern was bustling with noise.

"The brat who defeated Kuina is here!"

"Brat, how exactly did you defeat Kuina? Tell us about it!"

"His name seems to be Lin Mo. I've never seen you before. Which village did you come from?"

"Hey, hey, don't ignore us! Did you come to Shimotsuki Village alone?"

Lin Mo silently walked to the counter and placed a handful of Beli and the empty Wine Gourd on it. "Fill it."

The tavern owner smiled awkwardly. "All right, just a moment."

After filling Lin Mo's Wine Gourd and handing it back, he casually asked, "Brat, have you already become Koshiro's disciple?"

Lin Mo answered casually, "No."

Carrying the filled Wine Gourd, he calmly left the tavern amid everyone's dissatisfied voices.

The tavern owner smiled helplessly. "What a spirited brat."

Back at the dojo.

As Lin Mo passed the training ground, Kuina suddenly called out to him. "Lin Mo, let's have another match."

Losing last time, along with Wado Ichimonji, had dealt her a heavy blow.

Although she was very unwilling to accept it,

the gap in strength was right there, and she had no choice but to concede.

But that did not mean she had given up.

Therefore, Kuina had decided to continue challenging Lin Mo.

She refused to believe she could keep losing forever.

Compared with the battle-hungry Kuina,

Lin Mo had no interest in wasting time sparring with her.

He walked past her without saying a word,

rejecting her challenge through his actions.

When she saw that he was ignoring her, Kuina immediately chased after him. "Lin Mo, I'm seriously challenging you. Why are you ignoring me?"

The answer Kuina received was still nothing but silence.

Lin Mo had no intention of paying her any attention.

"You jerk!" Kuina's temper flared at once.

"Kuina." Zoro appeared just in time and stopped Kuina as she was about to settle accounts with Lin Mo. "Let's have another match."

"I want to fight Lin Mo. Move!"

Zoro continued, "If he wanted to fight you, he would've entered the dojo already. There's no point in pestering him."

Having experienced it himself, he dared to say this.

Kuina stopped, her expression unpleasant. She tightened her grip on the bamboo sword and stared stubbornly at Lin Mo's back. After a long while, she finally turned around and walked back.

Zoro remained standing where he was.

Kuina gritted her teeth. "What are you standing there for? Weren't you going to fight me?"

"Yeah! I'm coming!" Zoro immediately followed her.

The match ended within a few minutes.

The result was the same as always. Kuina won in the end.

But this time, Zoro had blocked several of Kuina's attacks in succession and had even nearly landed a hit on her.

If this had been him two days ago, he wouldn't have had any chance of hitting her.

Was it a coincidence, or had this guy's swordsmanship improved within two days?

Kuina felt increasingly uncomfortable.

She had watched Zoro's efforts over the past year. To keep him from surpassing her, she had also been extremely strict with herself, working twice as hard to improve whenever no one was watching.

Even so, every time they exchanged blows, she could still feel Zoro gradually drawing closer to her. The distance between them was shrinking.

Before, the gap had always slowly widened. But over the past two days, this guy's swordsmanship had clearly risen to a higher level than before. Could someone be guiding him?

Kuina sheathed her bamboo sword and stared at the person she had knocked to the ground with a complicated expression.

Zoro climbed up from the dojo floor, patted the dust from his body, and remained silent as he began replaying Kuina's moves in his mind. The old Zoro would never have done something like this.

Koshiro walked over with a smile. "You lost again, Zoro. You really have gotten stronger, especially over these past two days. Your improvement has been tremendous."

As soon as Koshiro finished speaking, the other children in the dojo swarmed over.

"Teacher, don't tell me you're secretly giving Kuina special training just because she's your daughter?"

"That's not fair!"

Koshiro said helplessly, "No, no, I wouldn't do that. Zoro really has gotten stronger, but Kuina has been getting stronger too."

"I'm going to wash my face." Zoro did not stay in the dojo for long. He turned and walked toward the rear courtyard.

After washing his face, he made a decision: tonight, he would challenge Kuina one last time!

That night, as Kuina passed the tearoom that Koshiro had temporarily repaired, she heard some words that dealt her a devastating blow.

Her father, Koshiro, believed that a woman could never become the World's Greatest Swordsman.

Although she herself understood that, as a girl, she might truly be inferior to boys in some of the basic conditions needed to become a Swordsman, she simply refused to believe it. She refused to accept it. Why couldn't a girl become the World's Greatest Swordsman?

Kuina sat by the village road, silently trying to process her emotions on her own.

At that moment, Zoro arrived.

"What are you doing here?" Zoro asked.

Kuina wiped her nose with a handkerchief and asked in return, "I was about to ask you the same thing. It's so late. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for our two-thousand-and-first duel. This will be our final duel!" Zoro said seriously. "Let's settle this. Fight me with real swords."

Kuina froze for a moment, then curled the corner of her mouth. "All right."

She had originally intended to fight Zoro with Wado Ichimonji, but now she could only borrow someone else's sword for their duel.

On an empty stretch of grass.

The two stood facing each other, both ready for battle.

A breeze rose.

Zoro gripped two real swords and launched the first attack at Kuina.

The two exchanged blows again and again. Every time Kuina was about to defeat Zoro, he somehow managed to clumsily find a way to evade her in a dangerously narrow escape.

"Ha!" Kuina spotted an opening in Zoro's defense and immediately rushed forward, attempting to knock the two swords from the hands of the visibly exhausted Zoro with an upward strike.

As if he had known in advance that Kuina would use that move, Zoro instinctively retreated half a step.

Real swords were much heavier than bamboo swords, and he was wielding two of them. His stamina was naturally draining much faster than Kuina's.

Since he could not defeat her with stamina or strength, he could only rely on swordsmanship or see through her moves, find an opening, and turn the outcome of the duel around.

That instinctive retreat allowed Zoro to narrowly evade Kuina's attack. At the same time, under her astonished gaze, he found an opening in her defense for the first time.

Without hesitation, Zoro gripped his sword and used its back to slash toward Kuina's arm with the momentum of the movement.

A trace of disbelief flashed through Kuina's eyes. She reacted immediately and blocked the attack in time, then struck upward again and finally knocked Zoro's sword away.

Zoro collapsed to the ground, gasping heavily.

Although she had won, Kuina was not happy in the slightest. If her reaction had been even half a second slower, she would have been the one to lose!

Zoro had really caught up to her!

Chapter 11: Shimotsuki Village: Two Little Followers

Ding-ding! Changed Kuina's fate of death. Check-in progress +10%. Current total progress: 80%. Reward: Swordsmanship Level +1. Current swordsmanship level: Lv5.