c3: Father and Daughter's Conversation, Dongze's Frenzied Practice of Mastery Level
As the sun gradually sank below the horizon, the golden light stretched their shadows longer and longer across the path leading back to Isshin Dojo, giving the quiet village an almost solemn atmosphere.
"Dongze, do you think girls can never reach the peak of swordsmanship? Just like Father said, no matter how hard I try, I'll never become the strongest in this life!"
Even after everything Dongze had said earlier, Kuina's voice still carried a deep sense of doubt and insecurity, something that had been rooted in her heart for a long time.
Looking at the silhouette of Isshin Dojo in the distance, now blurred by the fading light, Dongze fell silent for quite a while. Memories of what would eventually happen to Kuina surfaced in his mind, that tragic accident tied to her inability to fully overcome her inner struggle. After a long hesitation, he finally let out a soft sigh.
"Hey, Kuina, I once overheard some names in the village. They are all figures who stand at the top of the seas. If you're still uncertain about your future, you can ask your father about them!"
Kuina paused for a moment before asking hesitantly, "They are all women?"
This time, Dongze did not beat around the bush. He directly listed them out, his tone firm.
"Charlotte Linlin!"
"Tsuru! Gion!"
"Amazon Lily!"
...
Kuina stared at him in disbelief.
"You really heard those names in the village?"
"Doubt it or not, Kuina, women can stand at the very top of this world, but they have to pay a much greater price than others. You just need to believe that the path lies beneath your own feet, and as long as you keep moving forward, the future will open up before you!"
...
The next day, inside Isshin Dojo, when Kuina appeared once again, her entire presence felt completely different from before.
It was as though something within her had been broken and reforged overnight, her gaze sharper, her posture steadier, and her determination far more resolute than it had ever been.
Koushirou knelt calmly in the center of the dojo, observing the students as they practiced the most fundamental sword techniques, horizontal cuts, upward lifts, blocks, downward strikes, thrusts, and controlled redirections, the very foundation upon which all swordsmanship was built.
However, his thoughts were far from calm. Recalling what Kuina had said the previous night, he could not help but feel deeply shaken.
As someone born into the Shimotsuki lineage, a family originating from Wano Country in the New World, Koushirou was well aware of the standards that defined true strength. While he might not stand at the absolute peak like Dracule Mihawk, he still possessed the insight of a seasoned swordsman who understood the terrifying gap between ordinary fighters and true monsters of the sea.
And the names Kuina had spoken were not ordinary figures.
"Charlotte Linlin, once a member of the Rocks Pirates, now one of the Yonko who rule the New World, her strength is overwhelming, enough to dominate entire seas!"
"In terms of raw power, she stands among the very strongest, comparable to the legends of this era!"
"Vice Admiral Tsuru, one of the Navy's most respected figures, not only a user of the Woshu Woshu no Mi, but also a brilliant strategist who serves as the Chief Staff Officer of the Marines!"
"The others are no less remarkable. Gion, a swordswoman within the Marines, possesses extraordinary talent and is already renowned despite her relatively young age, a rising figure among naval officers!"
"As for Amazon Lily, that is the homeland of the Kuja tribe, a nation where even ordinary warriors can use Busoshoku Haki and Kenbunshoku Haki. It is no exaggeration to say that their combat capabilities surpass most forces in the Calm Belt!"
When Kuina had calmly spoken these names the night before, Koushirou had felt his scalp tingle, a chill running down his spine. It was not fear, but shock, because such knowledge was not something a child in a remote East Blue village should possess.
For a brief moment, even his composure had nearly broken, the sheer weight of those names making his entire body stiff as he struggled to maintain his usual calm demeanor.
However, Koushirou finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief after Kuina explained that she had merely heard of these figures and had never actually seen them in person.
As a swordsman who upheld both discipline and honesty, Koushirou would never speak falsehoods to his own daughter. Thus, when he carefully explained the true identities of those names, the weight behind them, and the heights those individuals had reached, Kuina's entire outlook underwent a profound transformation.
Yet afterwards, when Koushirou reflected on the matter in solitude, a subtle sense of unease began to grow in his heart.
Although Charlotte Linlin, Vice Admiral Tsuru, Gion, and the warriors of Amazon Lily were indeed well known across the seas, such information should not have easily spread to the East Blue, widely regarded as the calmest and most isolated of the Four Seas.
Kuina's claim that she had heard those names casually within the village was clearly untrue. After gently but persistently questioning her, she eventually revealed the source of that knowledge, a name that caused Koushirou to pause in genuine surprise.
"Dongze!"
Koushirou did not have a particularly deep impression of Dongze. In his memory, the boy had always been diligent in training, but his performance remained average, neither particularly talented nor especially lacking, simply one of many ordinary disciples at Isshin Dojo.
Only a few days ago, Dongze had been decisively defeated by Roronoa Zoro, who had trained at the dojo for less than a year, and it was precisely because of that match that Koushirou had remembered his name again.
However, this time, he noticed something different, the boy seemed to share an unusual closeness with Kuina.
Others might not fully understand the significance of those names, but Koushirou certainly did. If Dongze truly grasped what those names represented, then it suggested that his background or knowledge was far from ordinary.
A faint glint of light reflected off Koushirou's round lenses as he carefully observed Dongze once more. Yet no matter how closely he examined him, he still could not find anything outwardly remarkable.
His basic sword techniques appeared stiff and rigid, lacking both fluidity and personal style, nothing like Kuina's agile and refined movements or Zoro's forceful and aggressive approach. Both of them had already begun forming their own distinct paths in swordsmanship, while Dongze still seemed trapped at the most fundamental level.
"Could I have been mistaken?"
Koushirou's gaze lingered on the boy as he fell into deep thought. But then, how could those names be explained?
At that exact moment, as Koushirou's mind wandered briefly, Dongze's eyes suddenly flashed with focus. Unlike the other students who practiced all thirteen foundational techniques in sequence, he concentrated solely on the thrust, repeating it again and again.
Yet within that brief moment of clarity, something changed.
When Koushirou snapped back to attention and saw Dongze's next thrust, his pupils contracted sharply, and his composure nearly broke.
"Impossible!"
"How could this be?"
The movement itself still followed the structure of a basic technique, but it was no longer the same. Where his previous strikes had been mechanical and lifeless, this thrust carried a distinct vitality, as if the blade itself had awakened.
It was as though something that had once been completely rigid had suddenly been infused with spirit.
This transformation differed from Kuina and Zoro's styles. Normally, the mastery of basic swordsmanship progresses gradually, most practitioners only reaching a limited level of proficiency, while truly talented individuals refine their techniques further, incorporating personal understanding to surpass those limits.
Every detail matters, the angle of the strike, the coordination of breathing, the muscles engaged, whether power flows from the arms alone or is transmitted through the spine to mobilize the entire body, even minute differences such as a shift of a single degree can determine the effectiveness of a technique.
All of these aspects are refined step by step through years of training and experience.
Yet Dongze's thrust had skipped those intermediate stages entirely and arrived directly at the endpoint of refinement.
For a swordsman, such a leap was akin to ascending from mortal to transcendent in a single step, crossing a boundary that most could only approach after years of discipline. It was no wonder Koushirou was so shaken by what he had just witnessed.
What he did not know, however, was what had truly happened to Dongze in that moment.
Although Dongze could see his own proficiency levels, not every repetition contributed to growth. Mindless repetition yielded nothing, a fact he had already discovered during his earlier experiments.
After reaching a bottleneck with the basic thrust technique, he had abandoned meaningless repetition and instead focused on refining every detail of the movement. Drawing upon his accumulated knowledge, he consciously adjusted his breathing, the angle of his strike, the distribution of force, and even his mental state.
That single thrust was the result of all those adjustments, a true breakthrough, a qualitative leap that brought his mastery of a basic technique to its peak. On the seas, anyone capable of reaching such a level could rightfully be called a true swordsman.
At that precise moment, a small line of red text appeared once again within his vision.
"Basic Swordsmanship Thrust 1000/1000."
However, aside from that, there was no further change.
Dongze sighed inwardly. After years of effort, he had finally pushed one of the foundational techniques to its absolute limit.
Based on his earlier deductions, if he wished to unlock the next stage, he would likely need to bring all thirteen foundational forms to the same level of mastery.
Of course, there was a faster method. Within the dojo stood Koushirou, a swordsman whose true strength remained unfathomable. If Dongze were willing to endure repeated defeats and push himself to the brink, he might be able to trigger further breakthroughs ahead of time.
But he also understood a fundamental truth, even the tallest tower must be built upon a solid foundation. Without mastering the basics, any shortcut would only lead to instability.
Thus, after a brief moment of temptation, he decisively abandoned that risky idea and chose to continue walking the path step by step.
…