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[Playing Dirty is What I Do]
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...
Kuina was walking home with a slight smile, letting out a satisfied huff through her nose as she moved through the woods.
At last, the 2,001st duel was over.
Zoro lost—and barely managed to put up a fight, even with real swords.
He may have been more of a challenge in the past, but after the Sunglassed Bandit outran her, and her subsequent defeat at Dan's hands, she had pushed her own training up a notch, which only widened the gap Zoro had already been struggling to close.
He was chasing from close, yes. But that gap had grown, and the duel—their last duel, according to Zoro's own words—had made it clear.
Though even with the loss plain on his face, and the tears that came with it, he hadn't looked completely down.
Despite Kuina's now cemented unbeaten status, he didn't wallow much on it, and rather revealed the next and only goal he'd be striving from now on.
To become the greatest swordsman. Just as she was aiming to.
Thus, seeing their aligning goals, they made a promise—that when both of them had reached the very peak, they would duel one final time and determine who was truly the greatest swordsman.
But until then, their duels were over.
And with that, the night was concluded. Kuina walked home with her sword in hand, watching its shine catch the moonlight with an excited look.
Once again, someone had recognized her worth.
Right now, the path she had doubted so many times felt the clearest it ever had.
If her conversations with Dan were true, the world was truly more vast and incredible than she could have known from this small island. The people stronger than she could have ever believed. And the goal to becoming the strongest swordsman way horrifyingly longer than it had seemed until now.
... But in contrast, nothing of the new things she learned showed her what she feared.
That her goal might be impossible for her.
If anything, it just settled greater heights in her sight. That was all.
The road might be harsh, and rocky... but that didn't mean impossible, did it?
She could do it. She could truly become the best swordsman in the world.
And all she had to do was to continue down this path, no matter what obstacle appeared.
—Though, ironically to this metaphorical path, the actual path ahead was pretty dark. More than a few times she had bumped into surfacing tree roots that hid in the shadows.
'I should have brought a lantern.' She groaned.
Despite it, however, her mood didn't dwindle.
It might be dark right now, but the darkness did little to suppress her growing determination.
Just like Zoro using this defeat as a new starting point, she was doing something similar.
From now on, she would continue climbing with a single objective, no matter what her father said to her.
And one day, she'd be standing at the peak.
"...?"
But as she approached her home, her smile faded. Something was reaching her ears.
-Clang!-
-Kashiiin!-
-Clink!-
The sound of metal meeting metal.
The sound of real swords clashing.
And it was coming from her house.
Her eyes widened, and she broke into a run, pushing past leaves and branches, nearly stumbling more than once on the dark, uneven forest floor.
Eventually she reached the clearing and finally got to see what was happening, her brows lifting at the scene.
"That's...!"
Her father was fighting someone. For a moment, in the darkness, she couldn't make out who.
Then the moonlight caught a familiar gleam over the other person's eyes, and she knew.
"That bastard!"
The Sunglassed Bandit.
Her grip on her sword tightened and she moved to step in—only for her body to flinch to a halt.
Normally, she would have jumped in without a second thought.
But the sight in front of her...
-Clang!-
-Kashiiin!-
-Clink!-
It was a majestic fight.
"Damn it." She took a step back, grip tightening, and could only watch as the two figures rushed at each other repeatedly, exchanging slashes and blocks in rapid succession.
If there was something more shameful for a swordsman than wounds on the back, or losing their sword in combat, it was receiving outside help mid-duel. This wasn't a formal duel with rules, and jumping in against the bandit would be common sense for most people.
But this wasn't about rules or common sense.
This was about what she was seeing—a clash between two experienced swordsmen that she had no right to interrupt. Especially not her father's fight. Not for his dignity as a swordsman, and not with her watching as his daughter.
So, all she could do was hide behind a tree and watch, eyes locked on the collision between her mentor and the criminal who had once slipped through her grasp.
—Screeeeeech!—
A grating sound split the air as both swords gnawed against each other, the two fighters locking gazes through the crossed blades.
Koushirou's brows furrowed as the contest of strength held. "For a criminal my daughter nearly beat months ago... you must have grown incredibly strong in such a short time to be able to fight like this. I'm not sure even Kuina could beat you now."
—Crckrckrkcr!—
Dan smirked, teeth grinding under the pressure. "Maybe so. But to be honest, it still feels too slow for me. For my goal to become real, this is barely a snail's pace."
"Impatience is the undoing of many."
"So is conformism."
A barely perceptible snort left Koushirou's nose.
Then the two shifted their weight and the clash broke. Their swords separated, and in the same breath they were swinging at each other again.
—CLANG!—
Metal rang out and sparks flew as their swords collided, followed by two separating once more, only to rush back at each other immediately.
To any outside eye, they looked evenly matched.
But Kuina, watching from the shadows, knew better.
'Father is going to win.'
Her face was not the slightest bit surprised.
There was a reason he was not only the sensei of this dojo, but the most respected sword instructor in the surrounding islands. He had reached a step further from the average swordsman. Something that no other swordsman was capable of.
She wasn't sure what. She was only aware of it because of the meetings her father had with other instructors, and what she had overheard from them.
But that didn't take away the fact that would decide this duel.
The bandit was good, but he wasn't exceptional… and that was enough to decide everything.
The only reason the fight was still going, she guessed, was that her father was gauging his opponent—measuring his strength, giving him the honor of showing his best before ending it. But once he'd seen enough, once the bandit neared his limit, it would be over in an instant.
"Still..." Kuina's brows furrowed as she kept watching. "When did he become so good?"
She remembered their encounter in the forest. His swordsmanship had been mediocre at best back then. If he hadn't run, she would have cut him down without much trouble.
But now he was actually holding his own against her father. If he were the same as he'd been months ago, this would have ended before she even arrived.
She couldn't make sense of it. How could someone's strength jump that much in just a few months? She had never seen anything like it...
—or actually, she had.
Her eyes widened slightly as the memory surfaced. Someone who, curiously, had shown roughly the same rate of progress in just as short a time.
But she shook her head a moment later.
"He looks too different."
The glasses in particular made the contrast stark. It just didn't add up.
—CLANG!—
While Kuina was lost in her own thoughts, after several more exchanges—deflecting, countering, closing and separating—both fighters pulled back for a brief respite.
Koushirou's breathing was audibly a little more hurried.
Dan, on the other hand, showed not the slightest sign of fatigue. His expression was as composed as at the start.
Koushirou noticed.
"You're a strange one. When Kuina told me she'd been outrun, I put it down to her age, or a gap in physical conditioning... but it seems I'm being outrun in my own way now." He relaxed his posture slightly. "I don't know how it's possible—your constitution and your technique don't seem to account for it… But it doesn't matter."
"..."
Then his posture shifted. It barely looked different from the relaxed stance he had seconds ago, but it wasn't the same. There was no stiffness, but no weakness either.
And in his otherwise serene face, a sharp focus made itself felt.
"I'm going to finish this now, before you can turn this into a battle of attrition."
"...!"
The instant those words left him, Koushirou's figure blurred—swift and sharp.
Dan barely had time to react.
But it was enough.
'I can see it.'
All the training he had put himself through hadn't been for nothing. As if in slow motion, his eyes traced the arc of Koushirou's blade—faster than his body could properly answer, but he moved regardless. Just as the sword came down, he lifted his own and blocked.
Shiiiiiiin!—
He succeeded. The blade never reached him.
-Shick-
But his relief didn't last. As he held Koushirou's gaze, something at the edge of his vision fell and clattered against the ground.
-Cling!-
He looked down.
The upper part of a blade.
"...?" He blinked in disbelief.
Then, he inspected what was still in his hand.
It was the lower half, together with the hilt.
His blade had been cut clean through.
"Dayum," Dan muttered, his mouth twitching in disbelief.
He had expected Koushirou to be strong. But expecting it and watching his steel sword split cleanly in two were different things entirely.
Especially because it had been steel.
'And that can only mean...'
A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, his eyes settling on Koushirou with a new assessment.
He might have bitten off a bit more than he could chew.
Koushirou's smile widened slightly as he watched his opponent realize he might have made a mistake in fighting him.
"This is the next step for a swordsman—a technique beyond strength or speed. A state in which the swordsman and the sword become one. What he doesn't wish to cut, the sword won't cut. What he wills to cut, the sword will split apart, even steel."
"Yeah... I can see that." Dan muttered, staring at what remained of his blade with gloominess—the one he'd been saving for Arlong, now halved and useless.
Koushirou looked at him with something close to warmth. "I don't know how long someone like you has practiced swordsmanship, but your ability is undeniable. Your style is also incredibly similar to my own, even though I don't remember ever teaching you. Regardless of its origin though, through it I can see a dedication to your goal that is nothing short of admirable. The entire village might hate you, and while that's justified, you have yet to commit something truly irredeemable. Which is why I showed you the path that lies ahead of your swordsmanship—even though I have yet to completely master it myself."
Dan pulled his gaze from the broken blade and looked back at him. "So... you're letting me go?"
Koushirou let out a quiet, amused breath and shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. As the sensei of this village and one of its protectors, I'll do what I must—I'll apprehend you. The reason I showed you this is because you've shown me a character worth changing. Once you've served your sentence, I hope you'll put this knowledge to use and lead your sword toward a better path."
Dan stared at him in disbelief, and Kuina, from the shadows, did too.
"That sounds a bit idealistic, don't you think?" he asked.
"Perhaps. But whether you attain this or not depends entirely on you. I only gave you knowledge of its existence."
"I see..." Dan nodded.
But then his grip on his half-sword tightened.
"Sadly, that won't do. I need to be somewhere else right now. So I'm not getting thrown in a cell."
"Unfortunately, I don't think you have a choice. You're bested."
"Am I?"
Dan smirked.
Then—
—Clang!—
"...?!"
He threw his half sword at Koushirou, who blocked it with a startled look. Understandably—tossing one's own weapon like a rock wasn't a conventional move, even with the blade reduced to a stub.
But that wasn't the end. Koushirou's eyebrows lifted as, after blocking, the other half came flying at him—kicked off from the ground by Dan.
—Clang!—
He blocked that too, but blocking both halves had cost him his focus on Dan himself, who had already slipped into the darkness of the night and become hard to track for that split of an instant.
By the time Koushirou picked him up again—the moonlight catching the gleam of his sunglasses—Dan was already right in front of him, a pistol leveled at his face.
Koushirou reacted on instinct, lifting his sword to knock it aside.
And in doing so, he didn't see the knee coming for his side.
-Thud!-
The blow landed harder than expected. Despite the size difference, Dan's strength was considerable, and even Koushirou couldn't stop himself from taking a few steps back, a sharp breath escaping him as the pain registered.
"That was a bit dirty, wasn't it?" he said, steadying himself with a frown.
"I never said I was a swordsman, did I?"
Koushirou's brows lifted.
Indeed, he hadn't.
The chivalrous code, the unspoken agreement to fight with swords only, the expectation of honor—Koushirou had assumed all of it. And that had been his mistake. This had never been a duel, even when it looked like one.
The only difference now was that one of them had stopped pretending.
Koushirou let out a quiet chuckle. "I see. I made a mistake, then."
He readied his sword.
"I'll apprehend you now."
"Will you?"
Koushirou lunged without answering.
And noticed immediately that something had changed.
Dan simply dashed back, opening distance. Koushirou gave chase, and Dan retreated again. They repeated this at least five times, Dan staying just out of reach each time, until Koushirou finally stopped, his breathing beginning to even out.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
Dan shrugged with a smirk. "Didn't I say I wasn't a swordsman? I don't need to clash with you like it's a duel anymore. I'll just let you wear yourself out chasing me."
"..."
The man in front of him was more troublesome than he'd seemed.
Koushirou let out a wry, faintly annoyed smile. "Then I won't give chase."
Dan looked satisfied by that. "Then I'll just walk away."
"..." Koushirou's eyebrow twitched.
Right—he was here to apprehend him. Which meant he had no choice but to give chase. He couldn't simply let him leave.
"..."
"..."
The two stared at each other in silence.
Then—
"Is that so? Then I don't need to hold back either!" A voice came from just behind Dan, barely a meter away.
A blur of blue shot forward, followed by the gleam of a sword.
Kuina.
But just as her sword was falling down on him—
"Ah?!"
—Dan sidestepped at the last instant, slipped behind her, put her in a lock with one of his arms while batting her grip over the Wado Ichimonji away, and—
-Click-
—press the pistol to her head.
"Kuina?!" Koushirou's eyes shot wide.
"F-father!"
Kuina fought to break free, but Dan's strength held her easily.
He smirked at their reaction.
Her surprise attack would have worked on most people—but Dan had been running his night vision from the start and had seen her creeping up well in advance. He'd been perfectly ready when she moved.
"Let her go," Koushirou's expression had hardened.
"Not until you put down your sword."
"Don't listen to him, father—his gun was empty the last time!"
Dan laughed. "That was months ago. I've got ammunition now. Just not much of it, so I'd rather not waste any."
He didn't really.
"So? Drop the sword." He bluffed, gesturing toward Koushirou with a nod.
Conflict passed across Koushirou's otherwise composed face.
But his hesitation didn't last long.
-Clang-
His sword hit the ground, landing on the soft bed of grass.
Dan nodded. "Now kick it over. Since you cut the one I had, I'll need a replacement."
Koushirou did as he was told without a word. The sword slid across the grass and came to a stop near Dan's feet.
Kuina moved to break free and grab it.
Sadly, Dan didn't budge. With Tireless running, his grip and energy weren't going anywhere.
"That's it."
With the sword in reach, he gave a short nod—and released Kuina. But not the way they'd been expecting.
—Whack!—
He brought the pommel of the gun down on the back of her head before she could process she had been freed.
-Thud!-
So, down she went.
"Kuina!" Koushirou's face contorted.
Dan scoffed, crouching to pick up the sword. "Don't worry. I hit her just hard enough. She'll be out for a while, that's all."
Silence stretched as Koushirou stared between him and Kuina.
Dan's eyes drifted to her too, his expression briefly less certain than he'd like.
'She'll be fine, right? I didn't just become fate's replacement for her stairs, did I?'
-Groan-
A small sound escaped her, so Dan let out a quiet sigh of relief.
He looked back at Koushirou, who wore an expression Dan had never seen from him—genuinely angry, the usual calculative look behind those slit eyes replaced with something harder.
"Final order, and she stays safe."
"What is it now?"
"Turn around and drop to your knees."
"...!"
Koushirou's frown deepened. "You're going to kill me?"
"Just do it, or—"
He pointed the gun at Kuina. That was enough.
After a moment's hesitation, Koushirou complied, turning and lowering himself to his knees. His back to Dan. His neck exposed. Without his sword at hand, he wasn't a threat at this distance.
So Dan approached and set the blade against Koushirou's neck.
"I still have the gun on her, so don't try anything."
"..." Koushirou nodded slowly. "Just... spare her life. After you're done with me."
"Hah." A short laugh. "That won't be up for me to decide."
Koushirou didn't follow that, but he didn't have time to.
The sword left his neck.
His face tightened, bracing for what came next.
But what came instead—
-Tack-
—was a small bump on his head. Painful, but not much more.
"...?" Koushirou blinked.
"Checkmate." Dan's voice followed. "A bit dirty—but that's part of what I am, so I don't see the issue."
Koushirou tilted his head to look at him, seeing the smirk.
"I'm not going to kill you," Dan said, and Koushirou went still.
He looked at himself—kneeling, back turned, neck exposed. It was the picture of an execution.
"Then what was this?"
Dan let out a short snort. "Me establishing an absolute victory. At this moment, your life was in my hands. The fact that you'll continue living was my decision."
Koushirou sat with that for a few seconds, turning it over.
What was this man after? Recognition? Self-assurance? Some kind of sadistic streak?
"... Why?" Koushirou asked, unable to piece it together.
The answer was simpler than he'd expected.
"Because the words of the absolute victor carry more weight than those of a loser."
"...?"
"I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll keep it short." A note of impatience crept into his tone. "Call it prophetic dreams, or whatever you like. The only reason I came to your house tonight—the sharpening stone, all of it..."
He pointed the sword toward Kuina, still on the ground. Koushirou's eyes followed it.
"...Was to prevent her death."
"...?"
Koushirou was speechless.
Dan continued regardless.
"A while ago, I saw it in a dream. Her death." He pointed at the sword beside Kuina, the Wado Ichimonji. "The morning after her and Zoro's duel with real swords, she decided to give her blade maintenance, went up to the second floor of your shed to fetch the stone, and fell. That's what my dream showed me."
"..."
"Believe it or don't—it's not a credible source, I know. But the point of telling you is so you can at least take some precautions."
"What do you mean?"
"The reason I left the stone at the entrance of the shed is so that she wouldn't need to go upstairs today. But that doesn't solve it for good. Whether her death is something fated, or just a coincidence that was solved with just what I did, it's unknown—and thus, the chance that it could still happen remains. That's where you enter."
"... How?"
"It's simple. Move the sword-maintenance equipment to the first floor. Keep it there. No stairs, no fall. Simple enough, even if I can't tell you how effective it'll actually be. There are countless stories where the path one takes to avoid fate is the one that leads back to it, but it's the only thing that I can think of that can be done that'll assure somewhat that a tragic fall from a second floor won't happen."
"You are speaking as if this is truly a certain future."
"Hey, it's your daughter that is in possible mortal danger, not mine. If you want to just treat this as me having schizophrenia and risk it really happening, be my guest. But I'm just asking you to move stuff down a floor, and watch out for it."
"..." Koushirou didn't have an answer for that.
With that, Dan stepped back, giving him space.
Koushirou rose to his feet, and turned to look at him, his expression difficult to read.
He didn't give chase, didn't move to apprehend him.
He just stared.
After a few moments of silence, he spoke up. "...Why do this? From what I know, you've been tormenting this village constantly, as if you drew pleasure in it. So, forgive me for doubting you, but it seems a bit contrasting."
Dan smiled wryly, and sheathed his new sword—the scabbard left it a little lose, since it was from a saber while Koushirou's sword was a katana, but it'd have to do until he could get a new one.
"You can see that torment I made you guys go through as my payment for doing this good deed—or call this good deed the payment for all that torment. Either way, it doesn't matter to me. You won't be hearing of me after this anyway… or you will, but not from this island."
He turned and walked away. Koushirou didn't follow.
With what he had learned, his lack of a sword, the other party's freaky unending stamina, and his daughter lying on the cold ground, there was no point in chasing after him.
So he only stared as his back slowly disappeared into the foliage.
However, just before he could truly disappear, the figure turned and gave Koushirou a look.
A grateful one.
"Thank you for your lessons until now. I'll be sure to put them to good use."
"...?"
Dan turned around without acknowledging Koushirou's confused expression, starting to walk away, but not before tossing one last line over his shoulder.
"The next time you hear of me, it'll be on a bounty poster."
And with those words, he truly left. Leaving a silent and pensive Koushirou behind.
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: And so, he won. A bit cheaply, but Dan was still not quite strong enough to take him one on one in an actual duel. Fortunately, Kuina arrived and came in clutch at the last second to decide the result of the duel for good.
Also, I decided for Koushirou to not have completely mastered the steel cutting thingy/haki, since it feels to me that he spent most if not all his life in the village, and thus, his knowledge about the boundaries of swordsmanship comes mostly from his father and whoever else came from Wano, plus whatever he discovered himself. He is beginning to understand it, given the teachings he gave Zoro in the canon, but hasn't achieved the whole thing. So in power scaling, he'd be pre-Arabasta Zoro—minus the super strength of course.)