Zoro watched as Kuina struggled to lift the boulder which was tied with a rope and decided to give her some advice as he did this training many times already and he was quite experienced:
"Try to lift with your legs first instead of with your arms, your arms are quite weak currently and you can't forcefully lift it or it would injure you, I know this myself as I pulled a muscle more than a few times forcing myself to lift it." Zoro then decided to get near her and help her a bit so she could get a better feel on how the training was supposed to be done.
Koshiro smiled at the two of them, at first he didn't want his daughter to follow in his footsteps but seeing her so determined and with that fire in her eyes which reminded of him in his youth, he decided to let her do whatever she wanted, he might even help the two of them with some advice here and there if he felt like it.
Zoro smiled as Kuina started to lift the big boulder slowly as her face puffed up and became red then the boulder fell down heavily leaving a dent in the ground, Zoro laughed and Kuina became even redder in the face as she shouted at him:
"Don't laugh, I will do it better next time!" Zoro stopped laughing at her and said with a smile on his face:
"Of course you will, you are almost as talented at me in swordsmanship!" Kuina huffed and said in a low tone of voice:
"Hmph inflating your ego much aren't you?"
Zoro ignored her words as he didn't know what they meant anyway, was ego something he could eat?
Zoro then let her do the special training he taught her and walked towards Koshiro while saying:
"Should I call you sensei now?"
Koshiro smiled and adjusted his glasses then said:
"If you want to Zoro, but you aren't forced to."
Zoro nodded at Koshiro then bowed while saying:
"Sensei!" Koshiro's smile never left his face as he nodded at Zoro then he called everyone over while also stopping Kuina from training:
"I will teach an important aspect of swordsmanship now, how you should be able to cut what you want and also cut nothing at the same time."
Koshiro walked into the dojo and walked outside with a few pieces of paper and a sword then he said:
"Observe, when you want to cut something you should be able to cut it." He cut the paper into two easily, then he put the piece of paper on the sword and did the same motion as before but the paper wasn't cut at all!
Zoro widened his eyes at Koshiro's control of the sword, it was almost inhuman!
Koshiro smiled at his students who were all bug-eyed and awed at his display, one even picked up the piece of paper that wasn't cut to take a closer look then he cried out in surprise:
"It's whole it isn't cut even one bit not even a nick!" Standing on the edge of a sharp blade and not being cut, what kind of control was that?
Zoro waited for Koshiro to continue explaining:
"As you see to be able to gain such control over your sword you would first have to be able to hear the sword and feel its 'breath' as long as you would be able to hear the breathing of your sword you should be able to cut nothing and everything at the same time." Koshiro's eyes glinted in the sunlight as he said that.
Some kids didn't really understand what he was saying and said:
"But Sensei swords don't breath, they aren't people or animals!" Koshiro chuckled at the student's words then he said:
"Everything in this world has a breath, be it object animal or human, it should be said you have finished my training at the dojo after you grasp this concept until then you will be my students!"
Zoro eyes shadowed as he started thinking about Koshiro's words, he didn't make much sense of them at first but as he thought more and more some of Miyamoto's experiences started to infiltrate his brain making him understand the concept of 'breath' better but he still couldn't really grasp it, the concept of 'breath' touched upon the realm of Haki which Miyamoto never encountered.
Kuina also had a thoughtful expression on her face, her father never taught her anything on the swords besides the basics as he said he didn't want her to follow his footsteps, he was also pretty lax on teaching the dojo as a whole.
Koshiro left the youth to their own devices after he gave them this piece of information, he knew that most of the children here won't be able to grasp the concept of 'breath' in their whole lives but he did it this way to teach Kuina and Zoro without being called out as him having favourites, the parents of the children paid for the food he and the children were eating, he left his swordsman past behind him so he wouldn't take action unless it was truly necessary.
Zoro was in a trance as he thought about 'breath' but Kuina awakened him by tapping him on the shoulder and said:
"Zoro are you okay? You spaced out for a bit there." Zoro shook his head as the influx of memories from Miyamoto settled in his brain, he now felt that his techniques increased a notch further and he also unlocked some skills that Miyamoto used while he was alive giving him inspiration on how to actually create his own sword style.
Zoro smiled towards Kuina and said:
"I'm ok, actually I'm better than before, Sensei's demonstration actually enlightened me a bit more about swordsmanship."
Kuina's eyes widened, then she took a wooden sword that was dropped on the ground in her hands and threw another one to Zoro:
"Show me!"
Zoro smiled and grabbed the sword from mid-air then entered the same stance from before with a few adjustments here and there, Kuina's eyes narrowed as she looked at Zoro's stance, there were almost no flaws she could find in it anymore!
Kuina stood in her own stance as she found out no openings in Zoro's defence so she couldn't attack at all, Kuina started to sweat as the pressure mounted on her, she was actually losing without Zoro even moving a muscle, Kuina started shaking and realized that she couldn't do anything to Zoro anymore then she sighed and dropped her sword.
Zoro had a peculiar look on his face as he looked at Kuina and said:
"What are you doing weren't we supposed to spar?" Kuina didn't know whether to laugh or cry, the pressure that Zoro put on her wasn't even done consciously. What kind of monster was this kid that looked a few years younger than herself?
Kuina sighed as she looked at Zoro, she didn't feel like training anymore as quite a bit of time went by today, it was already starting to turn dark, she grabbed Zoro by the hand then dragged him outside the courtyard to a nearby empty field.
Zoro was flustered and blushed, he never held hand with a girl before so he didn't know what to say or do so he just let her drag him to the field, Kuina laid down on the grass and looked at the stars, Zoro mimicked her actions trying to look natural then he said:
"Why have you brought me out here?"
Kuina responded to his question with a tired voice:
"I always came to this field to watch the stars with my mother when I was young after my mother passed away I came to stargaze after all my swordsmanship training."
Afterwards, Kuina just stood there and looked at the stars, the silence was quite awkward for Zoro but before he could ask her anything else she opened her mouth and asked him:
"Zoro do you have a dream?"
Zoro got up from the ground and puffed up his chest while Kuina looked at him with an expression that asked if what he did was necessary, she was just asking him of his dream, he didn't have to puff up like that for it:
"I want to become the worlds greatest swordsman!"
Kuina's eyes widened at Zoro's response then she chuckled to herself and continued:
"What a coincidence, I want to become the worlds greatest swordswoman myself."
Zoro's eyes widened at her words then a grin appeared on his face:
"Won't that make us rivals then?"
Kuina brought a hand to her chin as she took a thoughtful stance then she replied with ease:
"I guess it does."
Zoro offered her a hand so she could get up from the ground and said:
"Then shouldn't we get some rest so tomorrow we could train even harder, Rival?"
Kuina smiled towards Zoro's outstretched hand and grabbed it, Zoro easily pulled her up but he miscalculated his strength and she ended up crashing into him.
Zoro nursed the back of his head with one hand as the other one was holding something smooth, it felt like he was holding a small apple in his hand which he gave a small squeeze, a startled 'yeep' came from above him as he looked upwards he saw a flustered and red Kuina glaring at him.
Kuina's eyes started to redden as Zoro immediately took away his hands from her budding breasts and bowed while saying:
"I'm sorry I'm sorry it wasn't on purpose." While Zoro was basically a caveman, he still saw how men were supposed to behave around women on his travels and he knew what he did was inappropriate.
Kuina's eyes stopped reddening but she was still quite angry as she huffed and left Zoro alone on the field.
Zoro laid down on his back as he continued to watch the stars and thought about what he did:
"Well the sensation was quite soft, hmm I wonder is this why those drunk men in the bar were groping the waitress chest?"
Zoro was navigating on uncharted waters with his thoughts but as he looked at the starry sky exhaustion overtook his mind as he started to sleep on the green field.
This wasn't a particularly exhausting day for Zoro, but Zoro was a man who liked and will like sleep, so him being asleep in peculiar places was something his friends will have to learn to live with.
Kuina ran back towards her room in the dojo, she didn't even greet her father who invited her to dinner, Koshiro didn't know what to say to Kuina, she never acted like that with him before so he just decided to let her sort her emotions on her own and only give her advice if she directly came to him.
Kuina closed the door of her room and jumped in her bed while covering her face she felt a strange feeling in her stomach and her face was still red, but she calmed herself soon afterwards and decided that she felt that bad that she just left Zoro out there without giving him an explanation, it was an accident, after all, he looked genuinely surprised when he felt her breasts.
She decided to go and check up on him and she saw how he was soundly sleeping on the green grass of the field, a snot bubble popped up near his nose as he slept soundly in an awkward position. Kuina shook her head at Zoro's antics she only met the boy today but he already started to grow on her, maybe it was because he was better swordsman than her while also being younger?
Kuina got back to the dojo and got an extra quilt from the dojo's storage and she dropped it over Zoro's sleeping body, Zoro snuggled inside the quilt and Kuina decided she did her good deed for the day and left him on the field, he was a very strong guy she didn't think anyone would be able to make problems for him, the field was also situated in the middle of the city near the dojo, there would be no people who came here.
Zoro continued to snuggle in the quilt while Kuina left for her own room, Koshiro was waiting for her near her room and said:
"Young lady, you have been out for quite a bit of time, may I know why?"
Kuina told Koshiro the truth of what happened, omitting the part where Zoro touched her breast, Koshiro nodded his head and indicated that they should get Zoro a room the next morning so he won't have to sleep outside anymore.
Zoro sneezed outside, even though he had a quilt over his body it was still a bit too cold for him, but the quilt made it so he wouldn't catch a cold.
Zoro smiled to himself as he dreamt about beating the worlds strongest swordsman and being crowned as the new worlds strongest swordsman. Kuina was also in his dream, she was near him congratulating him on his win but she also seemed sad at the same time.
Zoro woke up in the morning and stretched himself dream forgot, he looked over and realized he had an unknown quilt over him. He decided he would investigate how things went after he slept after he got his breakfast first.
Zoro picked up the quilt and started walking towards the dojo, he was already smelling something tasty, it smelt like cooked meat!