Leaving the realm of spirits that is Bleach, we travel to the realm of the living that is Reborn! Where the current Sword Emperor is our target in this round.
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"You're not doing it right, Brat!"
CLASH!
"Your swings are still too soft! How do you plan on protecting your friends if you can't even strike!"
CLASH!
"That one actually had some force to it! Getting better, Yamamoto!"
"Arigatou, Sensei," said Yamamoto with a grin. He then had to quickly block an incoming sword strike.
"Stupid Brat! Don't let your guard down!" berated Squalo.
Withdrawing their blades, the two swordsmen decided to take a small break from training. Yamamoto reached into his bag and grabbed two bottles of milk, handing one to Squalo, to which the Varia member raised an eyebrow.
"It's good for you," said the grinning Yamamoto.
Squalo let out a growl, but took the bottle anyway. After taking a few gulps, the Sword Emperor spoke up.
"Have you decided to devote yourself completely to the sword?"
"…Not yet."
"Damn Brat! How are you going to reach your full potential if you can't give in to way of the sword!"
"I could do both baseball and the sword," suggested Yamamoto.
Letting out a deeper growl, Squalo stood up and pointed his blade towards the Vongola Rain Guardian.
"Stand your ass up! I'm going to show you how weak you truly are for not being devoted to the way of the sword!"
Without warning, Squalo started to attack Yamamoto, who barely had any time to bring up his own blade to defend. The spar went on for a while, even going as far as Squalo using Zanna di Squalo and Scontro di Squalo. The attacks were too much as Yamamoto was taken down from the force of the consecutive attacks.
Squalo walked over to the fallen Yamamoto with a sneer. "If you were more devoted to the sword, you would have been to block or at least dodge those attacks."
"But…"
"I'll ask again. How do you plan on protecting your friends if you can't even strike? If you are not completely devoted to the sword, you will get killed by someone who is and then who will protect your friends when that swordsman goes after them?"
Revelation appeared in Yamamoto's eyes at that thought. His eye then narrowed with determination as he stood and took a stance, making Squalo give a shark-like grin.
"That's more like it!" shouted Squalo.
The two continued their training on through the rest of the afternoon. Squalo noted that Yamamoto was getting better with his blade as they went on. The kid must have finally chosen the sword over baseball.
Later on, night had settled in so the two were making their way back to the city. Yamamoto then spoke up.
"Do you really think I have what it takes to be a good swordsman, Squalo-sensei?"
"You beat me during the Ring Battles, didn't you? Granted, I underestimated you back then, but with the proper training, you could surpass me."
"Really?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Brat! You still have a long way to go before that ever happens!"
Yamamoto could only laugh at how Squalo seemed to get defensive about loosing his title as Sword Emperor. Soon the two had to go their separate ways. As Squalo headed back to the Varia's base, he thought about his times training Yamamoto and let out a smirk. The day Yamamoto would surpass him would be a day to remember and the fight that would happen that day would go down in history.
"If I'm lucky, it'll be even better than that fight with Tyr."
FIN
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First time writing for Squalo and Yamamoto, so hopefully I did them justice. As to where this takes place in canon, this is supposed to expand on the training Squalo gives Yamamoto that was only shown in the form of a very small flashback.
I wanted to add Belphegor and Flan in this, but a friend who is farther into the series than I am informed me that the two were not in Japan when Squalo trained Yamamoto, so that idea was put to pasture.
With this one-shot done, there is only one more in the series and that will take place in the world of Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom with the shark demon of The Resistance, Jeek the Crazy Freak. Stick around for some insane fun!