For dinner that day, Koshiro specially prepared several of his signature dishes.
But the atmosphere at the table remained somewhat subtle throughout.
Koshiro maintained a polite smile throughout, but he never reached for the food in front of Roy with his chopsticks.
Ryu ate with ease, chatting with Koshiro about the Revolutionary Army's various strongholds in the East Blue while they ate, occasionally mentioning things about the New World.
Kuina sat at the other end of the table, quietly picking at her food and chewing, occasionally lifting her eyelids to steal a glance at Roy.
Roy always managed to catch her gaze, but he didn't say anything, just continued eating and drinking as usual.
After dinner, Koshiro personally escorted Ryu and Roy to their guest rooms.
The guest rooms are located on the side of the dojo, and you can see the sword-fighting area in the backyard just by opening the window.
After Koshiro left, Ryu sat by the window, took out his pipe, lit it, and looked at Roy through the smoke:
What did you talk about with those two kids?
I heard that green-haired kid yelling in the hallway; I thought you were tearing down the dojo.
"I took a knife from him."
Roy sat by the window, looking out at the sword-fighting arena under the moonlight.
The moonlight was so bright that it bathed every stone slab in a silvery halo.
A slender figure was wielding a sword in the moonlight. It was Zoro.
That Moss Head hasn't left the backyard since he finished eating, repeating the same action over and over again.
Grip the knife, raise the knife, chop, then grip the knife again, raise the knife again, chop again.
With each swing, he would stop, look down at his grip on the knife, grit his teeth, adjust the angle a few times, and then continue.
Roy looked at the figure, a smile playing on his lips.
This kid actually took it to heart.
The night grew deeper.
The night in Shimotsuki Village was so quiet it seemed to be submerged in a thin layer of water, with the sea breeze blowing in from the coastline.
The salty, damp air wafted through the bamboo grove, causing the wind chimes under the temple corridor to tinkle and jingle.
Roy wasn't asleep.
He leaned against the window of the guest room, the moonlight shining on his profile and outlining a distinct silhouette.
The wine jug in his hand was already half empty, but there was no sign of drunkenness in his eyes.
Zoro had been practicing on the stone slabs in the backyard for three whole hours.
Since dinner ended, that Moss Head hasn't stopped moving even once.
Roy could even hear the words he kept repeating to himself—
"Relax your wrists! Clasp your fingers tight! That's not how it works..."
No! Let's try again! It's like this! It must be like this!
This kid is really persistent.
This stubbornness is exactly the same as that of the Moss Head in the original work who challenges Kuina every day at the Isshin Dojo.
There's an inexplicable obsession with becoming stronger.
That's probably why this guy is so popular.
Unlike Luffy, who laughs and jokes around but gradually becomes 'abnormal' in strength, Zoro has always been working hard.
Just then, Roy's Observation Haki detected a presence.
The aura was very light, so light that it was almost moving close to the ground, sneaking out of a room on the side of the dojo and heading towards the backyard.
Kuina.
Roy raised an eyebrow, tilted his head back, took a swig of wine, and climbed onto the roof of the dojo.
He sat on the highest beam, leaning against the pillar, one leg dangling precariously over the edge of the roof, looking down at the entire backyard.
When Kuina reached the backyard, Zoro had just completed his thousandth slash; sweat streamed down his forehead, gleaming a pale silver in the moonlight.
The wooden knife handle in his hand was blackened by sweat, and the veins on his arm throbbed.
But when Zoro saw the wooden sword in Kuina's hand, Zoro paused for a moment, then grinned with extreme excitement—a smile that contained exhaustion, sweat, and a fighting spirit that even two thousand and one failures couldn't erode.
"I thought you were asleep," Zoro said.
"I can't sleep."
Kuina walked to the center of the stone pavement, turned to face Zoro, her wooden sword held horizontally in front of her, the moonlight casting a cold, silvery-white glow on its blade.
"Perfect timing, we haven't had a competition today."
The two thousand and second time.
Zoro resumed his starting stance, this time with his right wrist noticeably relaxed and the angle at which he gripped the sword more properly.
" Kuina, I've changed my ways this time! I'll definitely beat you tonight!"
Kuina didn't speak, but pointed with her wooden sword to the position of his left foot. "You've taken another two centimeters forward."
"What--?!"
Zoro instinctively looked down at his feet, Kuina's sword had already slashed in front of him the moment he looked down.
The strike was so fast it was almost invisible to the naked eye; the wooden sword trailed an arc of silver-white light in the air, precisely slashing at Zoro's right wrist where he was holding the sword.
when--!
Zoro's wooden sword flew out of his hand, spun several times in the moonlight, and stuck into the sand.
The boy plopped down on the ground, clutching his right wrist, which was numb from the shock, his forehead veins bulging.
"You cheated! I wasn't ready!"
On the battlefield, the enemy won't wait for you to be ready.
Kuina sheathed her sword, the moonlight illuminating a wisp of pink hair on her forehead.
"And you still haven't gotten rid of that bad habit—your hand is too stiff when holding the knife."
It's all about brute force.
I knew it when Mr. Roy was talking about you. I've wanted to correct you for a long time, but you never listen, even after I've told you thousands of times.
Zoro muttered "Here we go again," scrambled to his feet to pick up his sword, admitting defeat with extreme reluctance.
But his indomitable spirit made him grip the hilt of the wooden sword tightly again the moment he picked it up, assuming the starting stance:
"Again!"
"It'll be the same no matter how many times you do it."
Kuina's sword drew a circle in the air, this time even slicing off a section of Zoro's sleeve.
"The two thousand and third time."
Zoro lost again, but he practically jumped up from the ground laughing.
"I dodged the first blow this time! Did you see that?! I dodged it!"
That's because I slowed down my second cut.
"You call that slowing down?! You didn't even blink when you were cutting me!"
"It blinked. You just didn't see it."
Roy sat on the roof, drinking and listening to the two little ones bickering below, his smile growing wider and wider.
These two children.
One is calm to the core, the other is passionate to the core.
One was born a darling of the sword, the other grew stronger through sheer grit and determination, defying all odds.
They are the two purest seeds in this East Blue. As long as they are given enough sunlight and soil, they will grow into towering trees sooner or later.
Just as Roy was reflecting on the moment, the 2004th duel came to an end.
Just like the previous two thousand and three times— Kuina won.
Zoro slumped to the ground, panting heavily, glaring at Kuina with a face full of resentment.
"I will definitely defeat you! Just you wait!"
Unlike usual, Kuina didn't coldly reply, "You can't beat me."
She simply stood in the moonlight, head bowed, looking at the wooden knife in her hand, her eyes churning with extremely complex emotions.
Resentment, grievance, confusion, and deep-seated inferiority and fear.
" Zoro."
Her voice was so soft that it was almost drowned out by the sound of the wind in the bamboo forest.
Zoro looked up and saw Kuina's lips trembling slightly. He paused for a moment, then his playful expression vanished.
"Do you think girls really can't become the World's Greatest Swordsman?"
The moment Kuina uttered those words, her eyes instantly welled up with tears.
She didn't cry, but the moonlight shone on the mist in her eyes, making her originally clear and cold eyes appear fragmented.
"Dad said that girls become weaker as they grow up, and they are not as strong or physically capable as men. No matter how hard they train, they can't make up for the lack of natural talent."
He said a girl like me would never become the World's Greatest Swordsman.
Zoro fell silent.
He looked at Kuina, at the tears welling up in her eyes, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he found his throat was blocked and he couldn't speak.
He was the person closest to Kuina in this dojo.
He was knocked down by her every day, and then got up and was knocked down again. More than two thousand encounters made him understand Kuina's talent better than anyone else.
From childhood to adulthood, he had never won against Kuina even once.
Such a person was told he could never become the World's Greatest Swordsman.
For the first time, he found that statement absurd.