One Piece: The user of the Nen-Nen Fruit, who overturned the sea.

“Pah!”

A crisp sound.

Zoro's wooden sword spun into the air, flipped seven or eight times, and then stuck straight into the mud at the other end of the yard, its hilt trembling slightly upwards.

Meanwhile, Roy's thin bamboo stick had already firmly touched Zoro's forehead.

The whole process took less than a second.

Zoro remained in his charging stance, his feet planted firmly on the ground, his eyes wide open, his mouth agape, looking like a cat that had been stunned by a hammer blow.

He didn't see Roy's movements at all.

He only remembered rushing forward with the knife in hand, then feeling a sharp, crisp force on his wrist, causing his fingers to involuntarily loosen.

Then my forehead felt cool—a bamboo twig touched it, the force so light it felt like a brush.

"You, you just now—"

Zoro's voice was trembling.

"What kind of move was that?!"

"Nothing can be done."

Roy retrieved the bamboo branch and casually tossed it into the nearby trash can.

"I just destroyed your point of leverage. You're strong enough, but your grip on the knife is too stiff—if I were using a real knife, your hand would be gone by now."

Zoro looked down at his empty palms, as if he had been frozen in place by a spell.

He lost to Kuina for the 2001st time, and although he was unwilling to accept it, at least he knew where he went wrong—

Kuina's swordsmanship was faster, more accurate, and more stable than his; it was a genuine suppression of strength, he acknowledged.

But just now, this man used only a bamboo stick and in less than a second, he lost before he could even see what happened.

This feeling can no longer be described simply as "strong".

A deathly silence fell over the backyard.

The boys perched on the wall stood there, mouths agape, their eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

They had witnessed countless sword duels and seen Master Koushirou occasionally display his profound sword techniques.

But no one expected that this smiling stranger would casually deflect Zoro's full-force slash with a flick of his wrist.

Kuina stood to the side, a bright light flashing in her eyes.

She had been practicing swordsmanship with Koushirou since she was a child, and her understanding of swordsmanship far surpassed that of her peers.

Her father had taught her to maintain a steady pace, to be accurate with her sword, and to keep her mind calm. But that flick from the man just now gave her a completely different feeling.

That was no ordinary swordsmanship.

That's an understanding of the essence of swordsmanship—as long as you destroy the point of force, any attack will crumble on its own.

But how sharp must one's eyesight be to be able to see the point where Zoro exerts his power?

How terrifyingly skilled must a swordsman be to be able to accurately strike the point of force in a fraction of a second?

What's more, he was using a bamboo stick.

Kuina took a deep breath and bowed slightly to Roy:

"Who are you?"

Before Roy could speak, Koushirou had already put down the tea tray and strode over. His fingers trembled slightly on the edge of the tea tray, but he managed to maintain his usual gentle expression.

"This is Mr. Roy, a friend of Mr. Dragon."

When Koushirou said this, his tone was as calm as possible, but every word carried a hint of barely perceptible reluctance.

"By the way—Kuina, Zoro, it's one thing for you to fool around, but this Mr. Roy is a guest, and it's extremely rude to lay a hand on a guest."

Koushirou was about to reprimand Zoro when Roy raised his hand, speaking casually.

"No need to scold him. He's just straightforward, and I like that about him."

When Koushirou heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched again, but he really couldn't tell whether Roy's "like" meant he really liked him or if there was some other meaning behind it.

Zoro was still reeling from the shock he had just experienced.

He stood there, looking down at his empty hands, the image of that flick replaying in his mind.

"Who...who exactly are you?"

Zoro raised his head, his voice no longer carrying the arrogance of before, but instead filled with an unusual seriousness.

"How can you be so strong?"

"Didn't I just say that?"

Roy crouched down to be at Zoro's eye level.

"Just a swordsman passing by."

Zoro bit his lip and remained silent.

Of course he didn't believe it.

Although he was young, he had spent several years in the dojo and had a knack for recognizing strong individuals.

This man's strength was absolutely the strongest he had ever seen.

Even his own teacher, Koushirou, would probably be no match for him.

"You—"

Roy stood up and patted Zoro's green hair on his head.

"First, practice your most basic knife-holding posture to be standard."

"Mr. Long will be staying in Frostmoon Village for a few more days. If you can master your sword stance in these few days, I'll give you another pointer."

Zoro's eyes lit up instantly, like two newly charged light bulbs.

"You said it! You can't go back on your word!"

"What do you mean by 'go back on your word'?"

Roy smiled and waved his hand, his gaze passing over Zoro and landing on Kuina beside him.

The girl had been very quiet since the beginning.

She didn't rush up to challenge him like Zoro, nor did she chatter like the other boys; she simply watched him quietly, her eyes sparkling with contemplation.

Roy recognized what was in those eyes.

It is an admiration for what is "desirable but unattainable," and a silence that comes after recognizing the gap.

But more than anything, it was curiosity.

"Your name is Kuina?"

Kuina paused for a moment, then nodded. She looked up at Roy's eyes, hesitated for a second, and then spoke:

"My father's swordsmanship is the strongest I have ever seen."

In the kendo dojo in the East China Sea, my father's skill level has always been among the top.

But that move you just made wasn't swordsmanship—swordsmanship doesn't involve that kind of technique.

Roy raised an eyebrow and waited for her to finish speaking.

"So I'd like to know, were you using pure 'kendo' just now?"

Roy didn't answer directly, but just smiled and said, "You could tell?"

"Just a guess."

Kuina tried hard to keep her eyes calm, but a slight fluctuation in her tone betrayed her.

"My father said that above swordsmanship is the way of the sword."

Only those who can comprehend the way of the sword are true masters.

But he never taught me kendo—he said I couldn't learn it.

Upon hearing this, a knowing glint flashed in Roy's eyes.

He didn't say anything, just nodded slightly to Kuina, then turned and walked towards the reception room.

He took a few steps, then stopped, tossing out a sentence without turning his head:

"Kendo has no gender distinction. It depends on one's own will."

Kuina's body trembled slightly.

She watched Roy's figure disappear at the end of the porch, then looked down at the wooden knife in her hand.

Kendo is not gender-specific.

It is will.

Her father had never said this to her.

wrong.

Koushirou found an excuse to dismiss the boys early, and said that today's training was over.

Zoro didn't pester Kuina for another match as he usually did.

Instead, he ran to a corner of the yard, picked up a wooden knife,

He practiced the angle at which he held the knife repeatedly, muttering to himself the question Roy had just asked.

Kuina sat on the veranda, a wooden sword lying across her lap, gazing at the bamboo grove outside the dojo, remaining silent for a long time.