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[The Matchmaking Here is Awful]
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…
'Is this the rumored shonen body of One Piece?' Dan thought, sneaking quick glances at his own body.
He was seated in his usual spot along the border of the dojo, watching a pair of fellow students duel at the center while everyone else did the same.
—Yes, the monthly dueling class was today.
But he couldn't really give it much attention. His mind was elsewhere.
It had been a few days since the stunt he'd pulled to get the sword, the gun, and—most importantly—his Tireless hack.
After getting away from Kuina, he'd stashed the haul in a small cave by the seashore, well out of sight of anyone passing by, so nothing could be traced back to the cabin where he lived.
He hadn't expected to run into her on the way home, but it made sense in hindsight—after getting away from her, he kept on running the whole way to hide the weapons and then back, so he naturally caught up to her at the outskirts since she just walked the way back.
That, and also that she probably continued searching for him for a while after losing him, which helped a bit more for the coincidence to happen.
As for how his first experience with Tireless went—let's just say that even after collapsing on his bed several hours earlier than usual, he still woke up late the next morning.
Since then, he'd put the hack through a few more sessions during the evenings, pushing himself to the limit until the effect wore off and he dropped, then sleeping straight through to the next day.
To say it had done wonders for his physique would be an understatement. He was improving fast—for what had just been three days, at least. But what surprised him most was his recovery speed.
If he'd tried something like this with his old body—Tireless or not—the next day would have been spent bedridden without question.
Yet here he was, completely fine after a single long night's sleep. It wasn't on Luffy's level, where a piece of meat was enough to bounce back from near death, but these genes were nothing to complain about. It was making the combination of Tireless and SpeedyGains a lot smoother to abuse.
100% the right purchase.
His swordsmanship training hadn't sped up in the same way, though. An exhaustion-free hour just meant he could swing harder and longer—it wasn't going to hand him some sudden enlightenment.
If anything, it might be doing good things for his core muscles over time.
'Maybe I'll try focusing on that next.'
He smiled faintly to himself.
That's when a hushed conversation nearby reached him.
"Oi, why does Kuina look so on-edge today? She looks like she'll snap at anyone who breathes wrong."
"I heard Sensei chewed her out badly the day the merchant came. She took one of his swords without asking and went after the Sunglasses Bandit—only to end up back with a chipped blade and nothing to show for it, so Sensei ended up paying for the damage himself."
"That bandit beat Kuina?! He must be insanely strong."
"They fought with real swords and she doesn't have a scratch on her, though. Did she even lose?"
"Should we just ask her?"
"Are you out of your mind? Look at her face. We'd get beaten up before the question was out."
"... Fair."
Dan gave them a sideways glance and said nothing.
Even though he'd been trying to set aside guilt for the sake of his criminal path, he couldn't quite stop himself from feeling a little bad for her.
Though when he remembered that she'd tried to cut him down the other day, the feeling faded fairly quickly.
But aside from the misfortune that had befallen Kuina because of it, his stunt hadn't come without other consequences, either. The merchant had left later that day without a word, but the look on his face made it pretty clear he had no intention of returning.
That was going to sting for the villagers.
Hopefully, it wouldn't go the way Chinese fanfics did, where the guy would go crying to his senior brothers and ask them to blacklist the island from any further trading. Otherwise, he'd really feel bad.
And hopefully the man wouldn't go talking to the marines about it either—and if he did, that whatever description he gave wasn't enough to put a bounty above the 500K mark on his head. Things would get complicated very fast, otherwise.
'Well, I have a sword now at least. That counts for something if my bounty rises and people start coming for my head.'
Maybe that was wishful thinking. But still.
"The winner is Kotaro!"
Koushirou's announcement cut through his thoughts and pulled his attention back to the center of the dojo—or rather, to the tail end of the duel that had just concluded.
'Here I come.'
This was his fifth dueling class. By now, he had a solid enough feel of the duels' order, and he was pretty sure he was up next.
And sure enough—
"Next duel, Dan, against..."
What he hadn't accounted for was someone cutting Koushirou off mid-sentence.
"Father. I'd like to duel him instead."
Kuina's voice rang out, dipping the entire place into silence.
Everyone in the dojo turned to look at her. Even Zoro, who'd been sitting with his arms crossed, looked genuinely thrown off.
How come Kuina was challenging Dan instead of him?
Not just that. He was always the one doing the challenging—Kuina never did so herself. So what the heck was this?!
Dan, meanwhile, looked at her dubiously as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
'... I wasn't found out, was I?'
What other reason would Kuina—who had never spoken a word to him—have to challenge him, three days after his criminal persona escaped from her successfully?
The truth, as it happened, was both simpler and more complicated than he'd assumed.
Being outrun and outstamined the other day had lodged something unpleasant in Kuina's head—the possibility that her father had been right about physical differences being a ceiling on her goal. Watching the bandit look completely composed while she was struggling had been a harder blow than she'd expected.
Getting scolded by her father afterward hadn't helped.
Then there was the matter of watching day by day Koushirou give Dan the kind of direct, personal instruction she'd had to fight tooth and nail for. Like he was the son her father had never had.
And to top it all off—
'His height reminds me of that bastard...'
Kuina's eyes narrowed at Dan, who was still seated, watching her with a mildly helpless expression.
Basically: a pile-up of coincidences Dan had no part in creating. Pure bad luck.
Koushirou, at least, was aware of the gap between them. He shook his head.
"You're still too far ahead of him, Kuina. It wouldn't—"
"It's fine."
To everyone's surprise, however, Dan's voice cut him off before he could finish. Heads turned to see the brave or foolish classmate of theirs.
He was already on his feet, reaching for a sword from the basket.
"Might as well use this to broaden my horizons," he said plainly, and walked to the center.
Kuina's frown shifted into a grin.
Koushirou let out a quiet sigh. "Very well. I allow it then."
With that settled, Kuina stood and picked up her own sword. Both of them took their places at the center of the mat, facing each other.
And so, the duel was on.
"Bow to the Gods!"
Both turned and bowed to the shrine.
"Bow to each other!"
Both turned and bowed to one another.
Then they settled into their stances, swords raised. Koushirou let the silence stretch—Kuina managed it easily, expression still, while Dan swallowed quietly.
Then—
"DUEL!" Koushirou's shout marked the start.
Unlike in the forest, however, Kuina didn't wait even a fraction of a second—before Dan could even finish blinking, she was already upon him, swinging down.
-Tack!-
"Hngh…!"
Dan got his sword up just in time to catch the first strike—but in the slight rebound, Kuina was already turning the momentum of the bounce into her next swing, angling for his torso.
He reacted. Their brief fight the other day had at least given him a rough sketch of how she moved, and SpeedyGains had done its part in locking that in.
It wasn't enough to read her completely. But it was enough for this.
-Tack!-
His teeth clenched on impact. His hands stung, and his body was already heating up from the speed he'd had to pull out for just two blocks.
He tried to step back and buy a breath.
But Kuina didn't give him one.
She came straight at him again, sword swinging down hard.
He threw up a horizontal guard and took it crudely.
-Tack!-
What's worse, before he could think about what came next, she was already winding up again.
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
She began a relentless barrage of swings upon him. Wearing his guard down one hit at a time, and she knew it was working. Dan couldn't keep the wince off his face.
Truthfully, she could attempt other moves and probably end the fight there and then—Dan wasn't skilled enough yet to react to all her movements.
… but perhaps because of everything that had led her to take this fight, she wanted to prove something today.
To them, to her father, to herself.
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
—And she'd do it, once she broke through his guard!
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
… However, what she hadn't accounted for was that her opponent wasn't just going to comply.
Dan's eyes, filled with impatience and exhaustion, fired up. 'I'm going to get beaten up, that's for sure… but I'm not making it easy!'
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[Tireless Hack Activated!—Time left: 59 minutes, 58 seconds.]
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In that instant, the pain, the burning muscles, the short breath—all ceased.
The strain on his guard, which had been threatening to buckle with every next impact, simply wasn't there anymore. He felt like he could block forever.
Dan smirked.
"...!" Kuina's eyes flickered as she caught the change in his expression.
But she didn't stop.
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
-Tack!-
The downward swings came faster now, each one a little sharper, a little more urgent than the last.
But in the end, none of them made Dan move.
Eventually, Kuina felt it—the toll of that relentless output was catching up… and with nothing to show for it.
Unable to continue swinging, she jumped back at last and caught her breath.
Then she looked up and found Dan standing exactly where she'd left him, completely unruffled.
A deep, disbelieving frown crossed her face.
She didn't have long to sit with it, though. Because now—
'Who's tired now?!' He smirked and surged forward, swinging down.
—It was his turn.
-Whack!-
"...?"
At least, that's what Dan thought—before he felt something hit him.
When he looked down, he saw the tip of a bamboo sword cleanly resting on his rib.
His face lifted, and saw Kuina now right before him, holding said bamboo sword tightly in a thrust.
Then he understood.
Kuina had cut the distance and caught him on the torso with a clean hit the moment his arms went high.
Dan froze in place, arms still raised, and stared ahead with a flat expression.
'...Goddamnit.'
"Winner, Kuina!"
The entire dojo let out a collective breath. Finally snapping out of the trance that such an intense fight had produced in them.
Then, their eyes collectively drifted to the loser, a wave of newfound respect passing by everyone's eyes.
Nobody had expected Dan to last more than a handful of exchanges—or even one, if they were honest.
And yet he'd actually made her back off, however briefly. He'd make Kuina retreat!
Even if he'd gotten cocky at the end and handed her the opening, even if he had still lost…
Dan, who had been at the dojo for five months, had pushed Kuina to that point?
The unprecedentedness of what happened today would remain in their minds for a good while.
"..."
After the bow, Dan walked back to his seat with a calm expression.
Kuina stayed at the center a moment longer, watching him go—her expression caught somewhere between surprise and frustration, still catching her breath.
What was with her opponents lately? Why was she always the only one who ended up tired?
Her gaze drifted to Zoro, who looked just as baffled as the rest of the room, and narrowed.
"Oi, Zoro. You're next."
His head snapped toward her, immediately offended. "Hah?! You're not even recovered from that—it wouldn't be a fair fight!"
"You just don't want everyone watching when I still beat you in this state."
Zoro's jaw tightened. "Fine. But no excuses afterward!"
...
Two minutes later, he lost. Marking the 1519th duel.
Zoro was now flat on the floor, a fresh red bruise smeared across his face.
Kuina let out a short breath through her nose.
'That's more like it.'
But even as she thought it, a frown settled on her face.
Zoro had been training longer than Dan, and Zoro was stronger than Dan. So how the hell had Dan been the harder fight?
And saying she hadn't fought efficiently wasn't the answer. She used the same barrage of downward slashes, and Zoro ended up buckling in the end.
'In contrast…'
Her gaze found Dan across the room—
"...?"
—who was, to her confusion, on the verge of falling asleep, his head slowly tipping forward before he caught it, then tipping again.
She stared at him with a flat look.
'What's with him?'
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Some more showcases of how powerful Tireless is, at least at this stage, and also the start of Dan's climb to power.
Almost overslept again, but my body didn't dissapoint.)