(A/N: Forgot to check yesterday, but you guys had reached the 100 stones, so here's the bonus chapter.)
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[End of The Road]
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| Two weeks later, dueling day |
...
Dan sat in his spot, watching with his usual bored expression as the duel between two of his classmates finished.
'This has turned from an intimidating day into one that feels like it drags on forever.'
He sighed inwardly.
When he was still a novice, dueling day would strike nervousness in him like crazy. It was the day he'd get to know how much he had progressed, and feel himself rise through the hierarchy clearly.
Also the day he'd get beaten up.
Nowadays it was just routine, and a day where nothing interesting happened.
He could already beat everyone here—save for Koushirou. He wasn't quite sure about how strong he was, but judging from his status as sensei and as father of Kuina, he probably stood a bit above him.
But how that'd turn out if he used Tireless? Dan didn't have an answer.
Not that it would happen. He didn't have a reason to.
Sighing, his gaze turned to the window, watching the sunlight seep in.
As he observed the daylight, his mind quickly went to how his plans had progressed during this time.
'Pretty well.'
That summed it up.
He could consider navigation learned, for the most part. He wasn't a master of the craft, but he could now get from one point to another without dying... In theory.
He had yet to find out whether all the knowledge he'd built up would actually hold once it was time to test it himself.
He had also locked in on a suitable boat to "borrow" once he was done with his matters here, and the plan for stealing it was mostly laid out too.
He had bought plenty of resources for the trip, gotten a general sense of the direction he needed to follow after checking a rather vague but useful enough map of the East Blue, and worked out roughly how long it should take to reach his destination.
He was, in every sense of the word, mostly prepared.
All that remained was saving Kuina from some stairs.
'Why does it sound so stupid?'
Dan massaged his temple at the thought.
As for that matter...
"Next, Kuina vs Zoro!" Koushirou's voice rang out.
"It's happening?"
"Yeah, it's finally happening."
"Their 2,000th duel... god, they've come a long way."
"Will Zoro finally escape his loser status?"
"Nah."
The chatter of the rest of the students made things very clear.
Today was the day... allegedly.
After this duel, at night, the two would engage in one final duel using real swords. Then Kuina would win, and they'd make their promise to become the best swordsmen. Only for Kuina to die by morning.
At least, that's how it was supposed to go.
He, of course, wasn't going to let it happen—but whether things would even play out remotely similarly with or without his influence, Dan was curious to see.
Plenty of things had changed, not only in terms of timing and places, but also in the people involved themselves.
Kuina was a bit more confident... or so he liked to assume.
Also, many of Zoro's and Kuina's duels had probably been postponed, or outright skipped due to Kuina's erratic behavior, which meant the duel in the show would likely have already happened by now.
Fate was runnning late.
And of course, there was the matter of his own presence, which may have affected things in ways he couldn't account for.
All in all, plenty of factors that would make it hard for everything to play out the same.
But you never knew with fate.
Which was why he had plenty of contingencies prepared to make sure Kuina wouldn't be meeting heaven today—Or hell, you never know.
His own vigilance on standby would serve as the last line of defense.
If even that didn't work... then today would leave a very bad taste in his mouth, he supposed.
"Winner, Kuina!"
As he finished that thought, the victor was already decided.
His eyes went to the mat, seeing Kuina smirking over Zoro, who looked dizzy on the floor.
"Two thousand fights, and Zoro still lost?"
"Sensei, are you giving her some kind of secret training?!"
"Just because she's your daughter you shouldn't give her special treatment!"
"That's unfair!"
Outrage surged from the students as they watched their underdog fail to pull off a miraculous comeback.
Kuina didn't even look bothered. She simply walked back to her seat and sat down, calm and satisfied.
Koushirou, meanwhile, could only smile wryly.
"Everyone, I wouldn't do that. The truth is, while Zoro has become stronger, so has Kuina. She continues to push forward, even until today."
"Hngh..."
Zoro let out a soft groan as he pushed himself back to his feet. The rest of the students watched him with worry.
He looked impassive, though. Instead of breaking down like they'd expected, he shook his head briefly and walked toward the dojo's door.
"I'm going to clean my face." That was all he said before he walked out and closed the door behind him.
As he left, everyone looked at a loss.
But soon, all eyes shifted to someone else.
"Oi, Dan, avenge Zoro!"
"You've grown a lot stronger, haven't you?"
"Yeah, come on. You're the only one who can face her right now."
Dan gave them a lazy look.
"Nah."
They looked taken aback by his blunt refusal. But Dan shrugged their betrayed gazes off.
He had no intention of wasting energy on a duel against Kuina today. He had some busy hours ahead.
As he sat there, however, he felt two particular gazes settle on him.
One was Kuina's.
The other was Koushirou's.
Kuina's he could already guess. So he sent her an "even if you demand a duel, I won't accept" look and ignored her from there.
Koushirou's gaze, however, was stranger.
Dan couldn't quite put his finger on why. There was a trace of satisfaction in it.
'Well, who cares.'
He was leaving soon. So he wasn't feeling particularly thoughtful about the opinion of the people from this island or his ties to them today.
They could think badly of him, or judge him. He didn't care.
His journey was about to begin, and they had no place in it.
...
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| Hours later, night time... |
...
Dan sat by a cliff, watching with squinted eyes as, in the distance, Zoro ran across the rice field in the direction of the village, carrying two real swords by his side.
"Finally. The wait was killing me," Dan muttered, sounding genuinely relieved.
And it was no wonder he felt like that, he'd been waiting for hours by now.
So, huffing, he stood up and walked away, heading down the cliff.
He traversed the forest that circled the village, moving at an unhurried but steady pace. Before long, he had circled the entire village and arrived at the stretch of forest right next to the dojo.
There, he searched briefly and quickly located the storage shed.
As he did, however, he caught sight of Kuina hurrying inside.
He slipped calmly behind a tree and watched.
A few seconds later she came back out holding a sword of her own, then circled around to the back of the dojo where Zoro was waiting. He gave her a nod, and the two disappeared into the forest to find a secluded spot for their final duel.
They passed close enough to the tree he was using to hide that Dan held his breath for a second.
Once they were gone, he stepped out and let out a quiet huff of relief.
Then his gaze shifted to the storage shed, hardening slightly.
"The moment of truth… Ten months of preparation finally end today."
After uttering those words, he pulled out the sunglasses of anonymity and flicked them on.
'Let's do this.'
Ready and determined, he left his hiding spot and made his way to the shed.
-Creaaaak-
As he entered, he pulled the door shut behind him, sinking the entire place into deep darkness.
Thus, Dan equipped his night vision hack into the passive slot, making the until then pitch black room clear up for him.
With his vision recovered, he smiled faintly and looked around. "Now, where's that cursed sharpening stone?"
He hummed as he scanned the room. Before long, something caught his eye.
Not the sharpening stone—but equally guilty.
"So this is the strongest swordsman in the world. Down D. Stairs."
The renowned stairs, leading to the second floor of the shed.
He sneered at the joke, grabbed the railing, and gave it a slight shake, finding it perfectly functional and not quite murderous.
"Appearances can be deceiving, I guess."
Shaking the humor off, he climbed up.
The second floor didn't take long to search. A large stone sat in plain sight, clearly well-used for sharpening. He picked it up without much thought—heavy, but not for the current him—gave it a brief look, and turned back toward the stairs.
At the top of them, he paused, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple.
"I'm not going to take the fall for Kuina, am I?"
Fate might be feeling funny today.
After enough seconds of hesitation, he shook the worry off and began climbing down carefully. Just in case.
Luckily, fate didn't try anything. He reached the first floor without incident and let out a relieved sigh.
Then, without further business, he stepped outside the shed, turned back, and set the sharpening stone right at the entrance of the shed, blocking the doors.
Why not take it away entirely, you ask?
Because even if he took it, Kuina would still go up the stairs to look for it. Leaving it at the entrance removed the need to go upstairs at all.
Of course, he had thought through a few scenarios in which she might go up anyway—so for those, he'd stay on standby.
—Or at least that was the plan.
"Well, this is an unexpected visit."
Dan visibly flinched as a voice came from behind.
He turned slowly, and felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek as he saw the worst possible person to find there at that moment.
Koushirou.
The only one on this island who might actually be able to kick his ass.
"Sunglassed Bandit. Given your lack of appearances over the past few months, I thought you'd have left by now. But from what I can see, I was wrong."
"..."
Dan didn't answer. He simply stared back at the slit-eyed Koushirou.
"So, why did you come here? Were you planning on stealing something from my shed?"
Koushirou tilted his head slightly to the side, his gaze catching the sharpening stone now sitting in front of the door.
"My sharpening stone? That's a strange thing to steal."
"There's no need for useless chatter." Dan cut him off.
He could try to explain—he was, after all, here to save his daughter. But given his criminal record and the sheer unbelievability of claiming to know the future, he knew it wouldn't really land.
That was simply one of the costs that came with taking this path to criminality.
He had made his peace with it a long time ago, when he decided what his goal would be.
With that settled in his mind, Dan drew his saber and took his stance. Brows furrowing threateningly at Koushirou.
"We both know how this goes, so let's get to it."
Koushirou smiled faintly. "I was just trying to lighten the mood… But very well."
—Kashiiiin—
He drew his sword too, the blade catching the moonlight as it cleared the scabbard.
'Quite fitting,' Dan thought, his mouth curling ever so slightly.
On the last day he was staying here, on the last act he had to carry out in this place, just before the moment of truth—the final boss had arrived to make the last wall to clear before moving on to the next stage.
'The ROB must be having an orgasm from the storytelling going on here.'
His slight smile turned into a smirk.
'Alright. If it's entertainment you want, entertainment you shall receive!'
It was time to fight the last wall in his way.
Time to put all his efforts to the test.
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: The last test for Dan. Will he be able to beat Koushirou at such a tender age, or will he be beaten, captured, and executed before all the village?
Hopefully the first one.)