Zoro felt an annoying thumping on his head, waking him from another nap. Nothing annoyed Zoro more than being woken from his naps lately. Mihawk's training was exhausting beyond any training the marimo had ever pushed on him self. This meant Zoro had to rest, and this mean he could not keep up his strength if people kept waking him up.
More importantly, the closer he felt to becoming a better swordsman, the more he thought about his childhood rival. Every day, it pained him that she could never fulfill her side of the promise. He had no choice but to someday best his new sensei, he had promised that he or Kuina would be the world's strongest swordsman. If she could not be it, then he must fulfill his side of the promise. When he was awake, all he could think about was her. When he was asleep he could at least chance to dream of something else or nothing at all. Sleep was his best chance to escape the haunting memories.
"Baka, sleeping isn't cute. Now go make me that hot chocolate I've been ordering for days. And no talking, it isn't cute!"
This ghost girl, Perona, was quickly wearing on the swordsman, but any energy spent getting rid of her was energy wasted that he would need for training.
"Why are you still in my home? The swordsman is now my guest; you however are just an insufferable poltergeist." Mihawk say in his grand chair reading the news and sipping his usual glass of wine.
"Just go away and let me sleep." Zoro lowered his head and began to nod off within the second, but was met with another knuckle wrap on his head.
"Get me my chocolate and be cute about it and I'll go away"
Mihawk tried to tune out the bickering; they were like the children he never wanted. He couldn't help but notice how sluggish Zoro got wielding his 3 swords all the time, never fighting with less than 2 unless left with no other options. This wore the young man out far more quickly than the Hawk Eyes found acceptable. However something else was peculiar about his new pupil's habits. No matter the circumstances, he never let the white katana out of his sight. He would sacrifice hold of either of his other swords before risking losing that blade which he used the least. Having felt the blade himself before training began, he knew it to be the strongest of the 3 named swords, but did not understand the connection Zoro seemed to have to it, not even it out of his touch while he slept.
He also seemed to sleep a lot, far more than this training should require. If Zoro was not training or eating, he was sleeping. Even Mihawk took the time to enjoy his day and resting while awake. This sleep appeared light and fitful, easily broken but quickly returned to. This much sleeping would eventually cut into time that should be spent learning swordsmanship, not just training in it. And who knows what effects excessive rest could have. The more Dracule thought about it, the more unusual this sleeping habit became, and he finally decided to find out what was the deal with it.
Rapping the mossy hair with a knuckle, he awoke the sleeping swordsman again.
"Damn it, woman, I told you to- sensei, my apologies. I'll be ready to train in a mo-" Zoro moved from his seat to a knee about to stand, but was motioned to stay and listen.
"Not yet. I'm becoming concerned about your sleeping. How can you protect your loved ones and surpass me if you are killed in your sleep? Am I so much stronger than you that this training drains you completely while I am barely winded?"
"Yes, sensei. I mean no, Sensei. I mean…I just like sleeping." He could not meet his teacher's piercing eyes, fearing that they could see into as mind as easily as they saw through his every sword stroke.
"There is more to this than you let on. Why do you spend your days in such fitful, restless sleep?" Mihawk turned his chair towards Zoro's current napping territory and took his seat. "Tell me or I will cease your training."
Zoro slammed his fist on the floor and barked, "But you promised to-"
"You hold a pirate to his promises? What I do is for my own amusement, to see just how far you can go. I can find entertainment elsewhere."
Zoro had never told anyone the story. It hurt too much to talk about. Even excessive drink never weakened the lock on his lips on the subject of his childhood. But he could not sacrifice this training for anything, his nakama were too important for him to be too weak to protect.
"I sleep to ignore my past. It bothers me and I feel better not thinking about it all day." Zoro hoped this would be enough to satisfy the question, but knew it wouldn't suffice.
"How can you ever hope to be the greatest swordsman if you are haunted by memories when you are awake? You must be ever vigilant, always clear of mind, indistractible. What would happen if your memories caught you off guard in the middle of a fight?" Zoro suddenly recalled every occasion of his path crossing the female swordsman from the Marines who had the uncanny resemblance to Kuina. He could never bring himself to fight properly against her because of the memories her face brought back.
"One mistake is always the difference between life and death for a swordsman. As long as you dwell on these memories and try to ignore them, you will never come close to my skill, not even worth facing my smallest blade again. You must come to terms with them, accept the past, and learn to move on."
Zoro never wanted to talk about this; it was hard enough simply to stop the memories from taking over his mind let alone doing so while letting them out. What other choice did he have?
"I guess I'm supposed to tell you my story now, sensei? Why I'm a swordsman?"
"If you think that will clear you of the problem and allow you to live a normal life."
"I guess I should start with how I started then. The first time I ever touched even a wooden sword, I was challenging a local dojo for its sign. The master declined to fight me, but instead said his daughter was the best in the school. I was just a kid, and she was barely older than me. I believed there was no way I could lose; I'd never lost a fight in any other dojo I challenged. I didn't even get a chance to swing before she hit me. She said I was 10 years too young to be trying to use two swords, let alone the ten shinai I was trying to hold. I decided to join the dojo and would train without stopping until I could defeat her. Within weeks I was the best the school had except for her. I was the greatest nitoryu fighter the Sensei had ever seen. But no matter how much I trained or how easily I defeated everyone else, she always beat me before I even came close to a hit. 2000 times she beat me in the year I was there, always reminding me that even though I was stronger than the adults, I wasn't as strong as a girl like her.
One day I decided to end the rivalry. For our 2001st fight, we would do it to the death with real swords. I had never used steel before but she had trained with her own katana all her life. Again she defeated me without even thinking of the consequences of being hit with the sharp steel, but instead of killing me, she went off on some tale about how even if I ever beat her, it would just be because I was a boy and she was a girl. Somehow just being a man would make me surpass her, not my skill. It was insulting. How could she say that I would only beat her because of how I was born? We both dreamed of being the best in the world, but she said it wasn't possible for a girl. I made her promise that one of us would someday be the world's strongest swordsman"
Mihawk sat patiently through the story but it did not seem to add up. Being 2nd best to someone with years more experience was nothing to be haunted for life about.
"The next day I resolved to train even harder. If I couldn't win with 2 swords, I would train to wield 3 or as many as it took to beat her. Then some of my classmates showed up looking as though they'd just seen ghosts. They told me…."
Zoro fought the tears but couldn't hold all of them back, a few escaping and trickling down his face.
"They told me she was dead. They were told she had lost her footing on the stairs of the store room where she kept her katana. Our fight was the reason she was there that night to begin with. It was my fault she was dead. It was my fault I could never again try to beat her. It was my fault she could never be the best. Her father later told me that her competition with me was what forced her to keep training. It was making her break down the barriers that a woman faces as a great swordsman. And now I couldn't help her improve, and she couldn't help me. But we promised. We promised one of us would be the world's best. If she couldn't, I had to. I had no other choice. I asked her father for her katana so I could remember my promise. He told me 'Kuina's soul and dreams. I give it all to you.' Since then this has been my most trusted sword." He held out Wado Ichimonji. "It hasn't left my sight since that day if I could do anything about it."
Mihawk understood the connection to the sword, and understood why Zoro wished to forget the tragedy of his past because he could never forgive himself. But one idea stuck in his mind: 'Her soul, her dreams, I give it all to you.'
"Let me see that sword again." Zoro hesitantly handed his most cherished possession to his master. Mihawk's hands moved along the handle and sheath as though seeing with his fingers. He slowly pulled the blade from the scabbard and rested the exposed blade on his arm. "The mythical samurai of Wano believed that a portion of their soul and the souls of their ancestors resided in their swords. This sword seems to bring out the best in you when your back is to the wall, sometimes allowing you to break your own barriers. It may be a crazy idea, even for this mixed up world…Perona, come here!"
The girl floated into the room starting to boast about how she knew they really wanted her around, but the master of the island quickly cut her off.
"You can extend your spirit out of your body, correct? And you can enter objects with your soul. Is it possible for you to pull a soul out of another object?"
"If you mean killing someone by pulling their soul out, I won't do it, that's disgusting, not cute at all! If you even think I'll-"
"Is there a soul in this blade?" He handed her Wado, making Zoro wince.
"It's warm, there's something in here. I don't know if I can bring anything out but I'll try if you get me-"
The two swordsmen stared at her. She knew that it was simply in her best interest to do what was asked of her without making her normal demands. As she held the sword, her eyes glowed a faint orange, along with the metal of the blade. Her eyes turned white and she floated down to the floor and appeared to be in a trance. A blue mist with no feel to it slowly emanated from the orange light of the blade and began to take form. Mihawk appeared calm as usual though a keen eye would have seen curiosity in those hawk-like eyes. Zoro could have died in shock and amazement at that moment. Before his eyes was his childhood rival. But not in the flesh, an extension of her spirit inside the sword. The spirit smiled with tears in her eyes, and leaned forward. But as she tried to touch Zoro, her hands began to disappear. As she pulled them back they reformed and her smile started to disappear.
Zoro could barely think straight enough to say her name. Mihawk understood what had to happen. Zoro had to finally make the peace that had been locked up in his heart for the years since the accident.
"Kuina-san, can you speak?" Mihawk asked the spirit.
The spirit shook her head. However Zoro swore he heard her voice, not in his ears, or his head, but in his heart.
-I've missed you so much Zoro. I've watched you every day and wished I could share it with you, pushing you to be almost as good as me. I know you think about me every day and I hate that it hurts you. Do you think you could have ever gotten this far if I had lived? Could you have done what was necessary to become this strong if you were only competing against me, not the whole world? It's a shame to think it's good that I'm dead, but it's the reason you can keep our promise. I've become the willpower that you told me makes a swordsman, not his strength.-
Zoro's tears flowed like rivers at the thoughts and sight. He had not cried like this since the day Mihawk first defeated him, showing him just how weak he was. He could think of nothing to say.
-Zoro, as long as you carry my sword, I will always be with you. Not just in the blade, not just in your memories, not just in your heart. Our destinies themselves have intertwined. No matter what, I'll always be with you. I can feel my bond straining, I have to go back or I'll be gone.-
Before she disappeared, he cried out, "The woman swordsman from the navy. Why does she look like you? Why does she always remind me of you? Why can't I fight her?"
As Kuina's form faded, he felt one last thought in his heart.
-I don't know, but until we do know, I'll never let you cut her.-
Kuina faded back into Wado and Perona seemed to come back to her senses.
"Nope, don't think I could do anything for you. Now where is that teddy bear I asked for 3 days ago?"
Zoro stood up and took back Wado and headed for the gates of the castle. Mihawk noticed that he had left Shusui and Sandai Kitetsu behind.
"Where are you going?" Mihawk inquired? Zoro could barely handle the Humandrils with his normal 2 swords, and Zoro was almost useless with just 1.
"Two swords are too heavy, it's about time I started listening to Kuina. I may not be 10 years too young, but I am 100 levels too low for not knowing how to use the one sword that she beat my 2 with."
Mihawk sat back in his seat for a moment thinking that either he had made a mistake in training this fool or Zoro had just made the breakthrough that would skyrocket him to the top of the pyramid. Changing his mind, he got up, put on his coat and hat, sheathed Kokuto Yoru on his back, and walked out of the castle to watch what damage his pupil would do to himself. Maybe today Zoro would learn the most important lesson for a swordsman: don't get hit. Maybe his training would beat this same lesson into the prospective World's Strongest Swordsman that his rival had done 2001 times before.
"What? Where are you going? Who's gonna' draw my bath and tuck me in for my beauty nap? Get back here! Oh not the ugly monkeys again, should I bring the bandages?" Perona floated out the door behind them.