Not long after they left Foosha Village, their mapping progress in the East Blue reached 75%, and, just as expected, the upload icon appeared again.
Of course, this time Xie Wen resisted the urge to click it. Instead, he stuck to his plan to wait until he reached 100% before uploading to see what would be different.
There was no denying that Zoro's terrible sense of direction was really something. After leaving Foosha Village, Xie Wen and the others visited more than a dozen more islands before finally hearing that "there's a village nearby with a really big swordsmanship dojo."
And this place was almost halfway across the East Blue from Shells Town, where Zoro first appeared in the manga. Heaven only knew how he had managed to get that lost.
With a lead, the place was naturally easy to find, and Xie Wen soon reached the island where Shimotsuki Village stood.
After disembarking, Xie Wen asked a random passerby for directions, then led the cats toward Isshin Dojo.
Before they even entered the dojo, they heard shouts coming from beyond the walls. Judging by the voices, most of them were children.
That was only natural, though. Once ordinary civilians grew up, they had to think about making a living and hardly had much time or energy left to practice swordsmanship. Only someone as talented as Zoro could have Koshiro keep supporting him as his successor.
The dojo's gates stood open, but Xie Wen did not simply walk inside. He was here to seek instruction, not challenge the dojo, so manners still mattered.
"Excuse me. Sorry to interrupt."
Xie Wen knocked on the dojo's gate and called inside.
At the same time, he looked over the people practicing with swords in the courtyard...
There was a group of kids holding