48: Chapter 48 Childhood Sweethearts, Reunion and Showdown

The next day at dawn, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, the hazy morning light spilled across the rear training ground of the 18th Branch.

The training ground was vast and quiet, and the morning breeze swept by, carrying the damp chill of the sea.

Kuina had already been standing in the center of the field early on, wearing a form-fitting training outfit with a straight posture. With the wado ichimonji hanging at her waist, she slowly stretched her wrists, shoulders, and back, doing warm-up exercises.

Her breathing was long and steady, and her gaze looked toward the whitening sea in the distance, hiding a trace of irrepressible fluctuation deep in her eyes.

She hadn't slept soundly last night.

It wasn't because of nervousness, but because her mind was unsettled.

Not having seen each other in four years, the partners who used to compete every day at the dojo had now all become independent swordsmen.

Their first meeting upon reuniting would be an all-out sparring match.

Pushing down the distracting thoughts in her heart, Kuina gently let out a breath.

Old ties were old ties, but once the sword was drawn, there could not be a shred of slackness.

She could not live up to these four years of bitter cultivation in vain, nor could she let down her opponent's seriousness.

By the edge of the training ground, Luffy had taken the best spot early on.

He sat cross-legged on the grass, clutching a large piece of roasted meat in his hand, his cheeks stuffed full and his eyes sparkling as they stared at the center of the field.

Nami stood to the side, crossing her arms, looking at Kuina regulating her breathing in the field, and let out a helpless sigh.

They really ended up fighting after all.

Luffy chewed on the meat in his mouth and said unclearly,

"Strong people are supposed to fight in the first place. You can only get stronger after fighting, how great is that."

Nami rolled her eyes at him, too lazy to argue with this battle madman.

But deep down, she was also suppressing a sense of curiosity.

She had witnessed firsthand Kuina's formidable strength of snapping a blade with a single sword and freezing Arlong, and she had also watched all the way as Zoro grew stronger with every battle.

Two childhood-friend swordsmen with supreme talent, both holding back a surge of energy and going all out—who would ultimately come out on top?

Right at that moment, steady footsteps came from the direction of the base's main gate.

Zoro had arrived.

The black vest outlined his tight muscle lines, and his entire body carried a sharp chill.

Three swords hung at his waist, swaying gently with his footsteps.

The scabbard on the far left had a familiar style, and Kuina recognized it at a glance—it was made in imitation of the wado ichimonji.

Her heart stirred slightly.

After she left back then, Zoro had actually gone and found someone to replicate one.

The middle scabbard of Sandai Kitetsu emitted an eerie glow, while the scabbard of Yubashiri on the far right was plain and simple. With three swords by his side, the youthful swordsman's sharp edge was fully exposed.

Zoro walked step by step into the training ground, stopping ten meters in front of Kuina.

The morning light fell on their shoulders, casting two long shadows.

"You've come very early." Zoro spoke, his voice plain, yet unable to suppress the excitement underneath.

"You too." Kuina responded softly.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, coincidentally hooking up a similar smile.

That was the elation of a swordsman encountering an opponent, the competition engraved in their bones, having shed the childishness of youth, leaving only pure fighting spirit.

Zoro raised his hand, drawing the three swords one by one.

He clenched the imitated wado ichimonji in his mouth, gripped the Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri tightly in his left and right hands respectively, and the moment the Three Sword Style opening stance was formed, the murderous aura around his body suddenly soared.

"Kuina, I've waited four years for this battle."

Kuina raised her hand to grip the hilt of the sword at her waist and gently drew it out.

The wado ichimonji was unsheathed, its cold blade bathed in the morning light, floating with a layer of extremely faint white frost. The surrounding air instantly grew a bit cooler, and fine ice shards fell down along the blade.

"So have I."

As the words fell, the battle instantly began.

Zoro stomped hard on the ground with the sole of his foot, and the stone slabs trembled slightly.

His entire body was like an arrow released from a bowstring, instantly wiping across the ten-meter distance, and the three swords slashed down simultaneously from the left, right, and upper directions.

The basic move, Onigiri, had long been practiced to the limit in his hands. Speed, strength, and angles were all maxed out, and the wind of the blades made people's faces sting.

If it were an ordinary pirate, they would probably be chopped down before they could even draw their swords.

But Kuina was no longer the little girl who would be forced back back then.

She did not dodge or evade, sinking her waist and stepping forward, charging straight ahead against the wind of the blades.

The wado ichimonji in her hand carved out a silver arc, precisely jamming into the weak intersection angle where the three swords converged, borrowing force and discharging it.

"Clang."

A harsh sound of metal collision burst out.

Zoro only felt the blades in his hands violently shake; the violent force was instantly deflected by the tricky angle, and his airtight offensive was forcefully torn open with a crack.

"Right now."

Kuina's wrist turned, her sword momentum instantly changing, and the chilling blade drove straight toward his chest.

In the split second of lightning and flint, Zoro's pupils shrank abruptly, his combat instinct forcing him to twist his body, and the sword clenched in his mouth was timely blocked horizontally in front of him.

Another crisp sound rang out.

The two forces counter-charged and exploded, each borrowing force to back away, stepping back three steps together and steadily standing firm.

The first round of confrontation ended in a draw.

"Not bad." Zoro raised an eyebrow, the fighting spirit in his eyes growing even more intense. "Your reaction is even faster than I thought."

"Your strength is also far too much stronger than when you were little." Kuina gently shook her wrist, discharging the remaining force.

"That's only natural." Zoro reset his three-sword stance with a focused gaze. "These past years, I haven't stopped practicing the sword for a single day."

"What a coincidence." Kuina held her sword horizontally in front of her, the sharp aura at the bottom of her eyes brightening. "I haven't ceased day or night either, and I've never slackened."

As her voice fell, the two simultaneously rushed forward again.

This time, there was not a shred of reservation left.

The sky-full of blade lights crossed, and the crisp sounds of metal collisions were as dense as raindrops, pounding one after another onto the empty training ground. The stone slabs beneath their feet constantly cracked, gravel splashed everywhere, and the blade edges tore through the air, bringing out a sharp whistle.

Luffy watched in a daze, the roasted meat in his hand hanging suspended in mid-air, completely forgetting to send it into his mouth.

"So amazing! Both of them are super amazing!"

Nami watched with bated breath, her palms quietly clenching, her gaze locked dead on the two intertwined figures in the field.

It was her first time seeing the two go all out, and she finally understood that these two swordsmen who had been competing since childhood had long since grown far stronger than ordinary people.

The battle completely entered a white-hot stage.

Zoro's Three Sword Style was overbearing and fierce, open and close, with every single strike carrying the force to split mountains and cleave rocks. His offensives came wave after wave, suppressing people to the point of being unable to breathe.

Kuina's swordsmanship, however, was completely the opposite.

Exquisite, agile, and tricky. She specialized in finding flaws to strike, borrowing force to hit back, and every sword strike was frighteningly precise, not wasting a single bit of strength.

Even more tricky was the unscatterable chill on her blade.

Every time their swords clashed, the piercing coldness would crawl up along the hilt, burrowing into the palm and seeping into the meridians.

After dozens of rounds, the two suddenly separated, each retreating several meters.

Zoro lowered his head to look at his palm.

A thin layer of white frost had condensed on his fingertips, his knuckles were numb, and even the strength to grip the sword had stalled by a fraction.

This bizarre chill...

A trace of astonishment flashed across the depths of Zoro's eyes, and immediately his fighting spirit grew even stronger.

"This is your trump card for defeating Arlong."

Kuina stood quietly holding her sword, breathing slightly hurriedly, her brows and eyes carrying a trace of a smile.

"Are we continuing?"

Zoro shook his hand to shatter the thin frost on his palm, suppressed the sluggishness in his body, and raised the corners of his mouth into an uninhibited smile.

"Of course."

He took a deep breath, reined in all distractions, locked his eyes dead onto the figure opposite him, and the aura around his body rose by another notch.

"This battle is only just beginning."