The next morning.

Neither Zoro nor Luffy became depressed or lazy and didn't exercise because of Kuina's death. Instead, they worked out harder than ever!

Both sides know in their hearts that they are not working alone now.

They have to work hard together with Kuina's share.

This is a promise between them and Kuina.

And just like that, the days went by for several days in a row.

Nothing special has happened these days, Luffy and Zoro's life is still exercise, exercise, and exercise.

Until today.

Zoro had just arrived at the Kendo Hall when he found that an uninvited guest had come to the dojo, and the master Koushiro was receiving this guy.

He recognized this guy.

This guy is the masked man who brought Luffy here to learn kendo.

Just seeing the masked man, Zoro felt a tightness in his heart.

Then he rushed out without saying a word.

Running wildly in the gym.

It wasn't until he ran to the courtyard in the backyard of the gymnasium and found that Luffy had already bid farewell to the other students one by one. Then he stopped and asked Luffy out of breath, "Are you leaving?"

Luffy's eyes were filled with reluctance.

But he still nodded.

Zoro rushed forward and grabbed Luffy's collar: "Damn! Didn't you promise Kuina that you would work together?! You leave now, what's up with that?!!"

"Even if I leave, I won't stop training."

"…"

Hearing this sentence, Zoro slowly calmed down and slowly loosened Luffy's collar.

Under Luffy's bewildered expression, Zoro suddenly turned and left.

Cross the courtyard and return to the dojo.

Ignoring Koushiro and Li Yaoxiang who were talking, he passed by them directly, took the four real swords hanging on the wall, and returned to Luffy.

He threw one of the real swords at Luffy's feet, bit the hilt of one of the real swords in his mouth, and said, "Before you leave, let's have one last test!"

Luffy smiled heartily.

Pick up the real sword.

The two sides set up their postures and rushed towards each other directly.

Immediately afterwards, there was the sound of a collision between swords in the courtyard.

Luffy's swordsmanship is not as amateur as when he first arrived. Even with the three swords of Zoro, they still went back and forth.

Zoro can't take down Luffy as easily as before. Clang! clang! clang! clang!

They played against each other for a while.

They come and go from both sides.

It's a pity that Luffy's talent in kendo is always inferior to Zoro.

He was finally caught by Zoro at the moment when he made a mistake, and he picked up the real sword in his hand and ended the match. The two stared at each other breathlessly for a while.

No one spoke.

I don't know how long it took.

Zoro retracted the blade into its sheath.

Then he said for no reason: "You are so weak, how can you become the strongest in the world?"

"I will become stronger, stronger than anyone!"

"Well, don't you always say that you want me to join you and become your partner? When we meet next time, if you can defeat me, then I will join you!"

Luffy's mouth corners rose rapidly.

But Zoro immediately added: "Don't be too happy! If I find out that you have broken your promise to Kuina and me, then I will kill you with my own hands!"

Luffy was startled.

But he soon regained his smile.

"OK!"

"It's a promise!"

"It's a promise!"

After a while, Zoro seemed to remember something, and suddenly asked: "By the way, you have been inviting me to join you, what do you want to do when you grow up?"

If it was before, Luffy would definitely answer without hesitation: I want to be a marine!

But after the Sabo incident, Luffy hesitated.

He discovered that not all marines are as good as he imagined.

He started to get lost.

I don't know what I want to do.

He only knew that he yearned for the sea and freedom.

Seeing the complicated look on Luffy's face, Zoro felt ashamed for a while, but he only felt that this time he was really in trouble. Zoro just knew that this kid was unreliable and didn't even know what he wanted to do, so he just invited others to join him casually.

After a while, Li Yaoxiang and Koushiro finished their conversation, came to the backyard, and was about to lead Luffy away.

Just as the two were about to step out of the gate of the dojo, Zoro chased after him, crying and shouting, "Luffy! You idiot! Don't forget our promise!"

Luffy's eyes were also a little wet, and he nodded hard.

…

After leaving the Kendo Hall, Li Yaoxiang took Luffy to a hidden place, called the air door, and took Luffy back to Mount Colubo.

Luffy walked back into Dadan's house as if nothing had happened. "I'm back——! Huh? Are you eating meat? Well, I happen to be hungry too!"

In an instant, everyone who was dining turned their heads and looked at Luffy in surprise.

Ace rushed over and knocked Luffy to the ground with one punch: "Damn! You disappeared for so many days! Where did you go?!"

Luffy was a little surprised.

He covered his cheeks.

He didn't understand why Ace suddenly rushed over to beat him.

"I...I...big brother took me to become stronger..."

"Big brother?"

Ace still knows a thing or two about Li Yaoxiang. During the time he spent with Luffy, Luffy talked a lot about him and Sabo.

"Idiot! Even so, can you leave without any explanation?! Do you know how worried everyone is about you during this time?!"

"I..."

Luffy didn't know what to answer.

Ace also saw the real sword that Luffy was holding in his arms. Luffy's current strength is not enough to suppress the Silver Eater, so Li Yaoxiang has not given the Silver Eater to Luffy.

Luffy's arms are just a real sword he brought back from Koushiro Kendo Dojo.

Ace also picked up his weapon that looked like a faucet steel pipe, pointed at Luffy and said, "Very good! You said you ran and became stronger, right? That is your weapon? Pick up your weapon and follow me. We're going out to duel! I want to see how strong you are, the missing guy, has become!"

After a while.

A group of people came to the open space outside Dadan's house.

Curly Dadan and other bandits were watching.

Ace is holding a faucet steel pipe.

Luffy is holding a real sword.

The battle is about to break out!

Ace, who was full of anger, took the lead in attacking. Before that, even though Luffy was stronger than he was in the original book when he was 7 years old, Luffy still never defeated Ace. After all, Ace was three years older than Luffy, and his training was better than Luffy.

At this time, Ace was no weaker than Zoro, and could even be said to be stronger!

However, this competition is not a simple swordsmanship competition.

Luffy doesn't only use swordsmanship like he did against Zoro.

In this battle, Luffy used his swordsmanship and rubber man's advantages to the fullest! Often when the real sword is suppressed, he will decisively abandon the sword, and use a few floor moves plus rubber legs, rubber fists, etc. to break Ace's offensive.

When the crisis is over, he will pick up the real sword back and continue to fight.

Sometimes they use their feet instead of their hands, and use their ankles to roll up the hilt to fight.

Ace not only had to avoid Luffy's oncoming attack, but also had to beware of the attack when the rubber legs retracted. This battle made Ace feel a lot of pressure.

Finally, after hundreds of turns, Ace's weapon was kicked by Luffy.

It's not impossible to keep fighting, but Ace didn't do that.

He threw the steel pipe away and scolded Luffy angrily: "If you dare to leave without any explanation next time, I will never forgive you!"

After saying that, he turned around and left for the jungle.

He looked very angry, but the corners of his mouth curved slightly without anyone noticing.

Because he knows that from now on, his troublesome brother is no weaker than him...