Chapter 25

Kuina fell backward, landing squarely on the grass, gasping for breath with sweat drenching her hair.

Zoro stared blankly.

What had happened?

Had she... lost?

She had actually lost?!

"You managed to withstand three strikes from me; your progress is quite impressive."

Luo En said with a smile as he looked at Kuina.

"This brings the score to 364 to 0."

Glaring at him, Kuina said resentfully, "Next time, next time I will definitely land one hit on you!"

"Good luck."

Luo En replied casually.

Immediately, he rested the bamboo sword in his hand on his shoulder and turned to look behind him.

Upon seeing that familiar green algae-like hair, Luo En felt somewhat surprised:

"I wondered who it was, but it turns out to be you."

Seeing Luo En's childish yet mature and calm face, a flood of memories instantly rushed into Zoro's mind.

He stared at Luo En with wide eyes, pointed at him, and exclaimed in extreme surprise:

"Strange Stingy Ghost!"

"Strange Stingy Ghost?"

Hearing this title, Kuina couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

Black lines appeared on Luo En's forehead:

"Hey you! Stop giving people strange nicknames!"

17, A Huge Gap, Zoro's Reluctance (2/5)

Under the moonlight.

On the corridor behind the dojo courtyard.

Sat three small figures.

From left to right, they were Kuina, Luo En, and Zoro.

The three had blue short hair, black short hair, and a clump of green seaweed respectively.

"So you're actually this strong, Luo En."

Zoro said in surprise, "You don't look much older than me. By the way, how old are you?"

Luo En sat on the edge of the corridor, propping himself up with his hands on the floor, his lower legs swinging in the air.

Hearing Zoro's words, he lifted his head to gaze at the moon in the sky and smiled, "This year I should be nine years old."

In the blink of an eye, nearly a year had passed since coming to this world.

Quite a few things had happened during this year.

"Nine years old, so one year older than me."

Zoro counted on his fingers.

Resting her chin in her hands, Kuina puffed out her cheeks and said dejectedly, "One year younger than me."

"By the way, Luo En, where is your sword?"

Zoro asked curiously.

"I left it inside the room; surely I wouldn't carry it around with me in the dojo."

Leaning backward, Luo En pillowed his head on his arms, turned his head to look at Zoro beside him, and smiled, "Did you also join the dojo as a new disciple this spring?"

"Mm."

Zoro nodded, looked at Kuina, and said with eyes full of boiling fighting spirit, "I swear I will definitely defeat her!"

Kuina glanced at him, "With your skills?"

Her contemptuous attitude instantly enraged little Zoro.

"What did you say!?"

He immediately stood up and said angrily:

"Do you want to spar with me again right now?!"

"Hmph, fine. But no matter how many times we spar, you will never be my match."

Kuina stood up and said proudly.

Zoro gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

Their gazes met, and sparks seemed to fly in the air between them.

A moment later.

Zoro lay stunned on the ground in the courtyard, his bamboo sword flying far away from his hand.

"Hmph, you can't even hold your sword properly, yet you still want to use Two-Sword Style; I think you should focus on building a solid foundation first."

After saying this to him, Kuina looked at Luo En sitting under the eaves and said, "I'll wait for you at the usual spot tomorrow morning."

Without waiting for Luo En to answer, she took her bamboo sword and left first.

Luo En stood up, looked at Zoro lying on the ground, and smiled:

"Although Kuina is a girl, her strength is very formidable, and she trains extremely hard; if you want to catch up to her, I'm afraid it won't be easy."

"You must summon great determination and train twice as hard to have any chance."

After saying this, Luo En also left.

Zoro was left alone in the courtyard, sprawled on his back in a star shape.

"I lost again…"

"Kuina is already this strong—so strong I can't see any hope of winning at all. Yet Luo En is even stronger than her, and he's only a year older than me…"

He stared at the night sky, clenched his jaw, balled his fist and slammed it hard into the ground, his face full of unwillingness:

"Dammit!!! Why is the gap so huge?!"

…………

From that day on.

Zoro began training harder than anyone, and soon surpassed all the disciples who had entered at the same time.

He also challenged Kuina at least three times every day, each time returning in utter defeat. Every time he was beaten, he would go half-mad and train even harder.

Just two months after joining, he was already able to defeat a whole group of senior disciples.

His level could be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds, completely incomparable to when he had first arrived at the dojo.

His perseverance and effort also won the respect of all the disciples, and even Kuina's opinion of him changed considerably, and she began to take him seriously.

……

This one day.

Zoro, who was pulling a stone under a tree to train his arm strength, saw Kuina walking past with a bamboo sword, and called out without thinking: "Kuina, duel with me!"

Kuina glanced at him: "I'm busy right now."

She had just started to leave, but as if remembering something, she stepped back and said to him: "Follow me."

"Huh?"

Zoro's face was blank with confusion.

"Where to?"

"Coming or not? If you don't come, don't say I didn't warn you."

Kuina's face was mysterious.

Zoro's curiosity was piqued; he immediately put down the stone, came to Kuina's side, and followed her toward the back of the dojo.

When the two arrived at the empty ground in the mountain forest behind the dojo.

Zoro saw two figures—one large, one small—standing on that empty ground.

"The headmaster, and… Luo En?!"

Zoro was a little startled. "Are they… dueling?"

Kuina looked at the field and nodded:

"And with real blades."